new authors alongside literary heavyweights. science fiction mindbenders combined with historical narratives. When it came time to rank the best novels of 2016, the paste books team nominated a wide range of titles.
We know that every bibliophile has unique tastes, and no two readers make identical lists. While making this one, we cut through dozens of fantastic novels and realized there were dozens more we wish we had read. that’s the beauty of fiction: there will always be more books to discover and treasure.
You are reading: Most interesting books 2016
this list includes 25 books that we loved in 2016 and we think you will too. So whether you love fiction in translation or prefer to snuggle up with contemporary thrillers, we promise every book on this list will make for a gripping read.
25. cynthia d’aprix sweeney’s nest
as the curtain rises on cynthia d’aprix sweeney’s first novel (soon to be adapted by amazon films and transparent creator jill soloway), the eldest of four adult siblings catalyzes a series of events that cost everyone an inheritance. Tracing the fractured lives of Leo, Beatrice, Jack and Melody Plumb, The Nest shows the tension between dreams and reality, with the promise that money warps both decisions and relationships. The book offers both heart and humor, weaving together a saga that focuses on the complex nature of a family’s love at its toughest and most tender. —eric swedlund
24. the yid of paul goldberg
in paul goldberg’s action/comedy, february 1953 is turning into march and uniformed thugs are arresting jewish citizens around moscow. A retired actor and an aging surgeon, both former Red Army specialists, along with an expatriate African-American engineer and a vengeful young woman, form an unpredictable alliance. each of them vows, for obvious reasons besides their own, to band together and stop a second holocaust. The magic of the yid is in how it combines the wacky black humor of its grizzled leads with the prestige of the theatre, transforming play-format storytelling into high-action points. Goldberg’s cheerful and descriptive voice in the middle of Spitfire’s dialogue is a comfort, despite the chills of our drama’s setting and the dangers in every other scene. —jeff milo
23. after emma newman’s atlas
Emma Newman’s 2015 novel Planetfall followed the crew of the Atlas, a spacecraft that left Earth “to seek truth among the stars.” Newman’s latest, After Atlas picks up 40 years after the crew’s departure in a standalone story exploring life on a dystopian Earth. Detective Carlos Moreno, whose mother left with the infamous team, is tasked with investigating the murder of a cult leader. but what begins as a crime story turns into a riveting narrative that explores modern day slavery, religion and mental health. come for the mystery and inventive technology; Stick with Newman’s insights into human nature. —frannie jackson
22. witch seed by margaret atwood
with hag-seed, margaret atwood reinvents shakespeare’s tempest in a contemporary novel that blurs the lines between genius and madness. The book follows Felix Phillips, an art director who is fired from his job at a theater festival and resorts to staging plays in a prison. felix features a vibrant and disarming group of inmates in their own unique version of the tempest, seeking revenge as he finds himself caught up in the drama of producing a shakespearean play in prison. Atwood weaves spikes of profound social commentary throughout the novel, leaving the reader to contemplate what constitutes imprisonment and what value can be placed on the enterprise of revenge. —Jeff Milo and Bridey Heing
21. frontier heroes by dave eggers
with his latest novel, frontier heroes, dave eggers joins the ranks of writers setting their characters free in alaska, searching for something as close to freedom as the world will allow. modern world. Josie, a former dentist, guides Ella’s sensitive eight-year-old son and Ella’s fierce five-year-old daughter through the vast state to escape from the children’s father. Traveling in an RV that becomes a character unto itself, the trio weaves together a snappy narrative that, while set in Alaska, actually takes place in Josie’s mind. A novel that’s driven by both live action and Josie’s neuroses, Frontier Heroes promises a breath of fresh air for those who love a good soul-searching story. —bridey heing and jeff milo
20. the regional office is under attack! by manuel gonzales
Two years after publishing a gripping collection of short stories (The Miniature Wife), Manuel Gonzales returns with an entertaining debut novel that defies gender labels. The regional office is under attack! features a shadowy organization of female assassins who may or may not be the “bad girls.” As the title suggests, the organization’s headquarters is under attack, and what follows is a thrilling narrative that jumps between the action-packed siege, the events leading up to the attack, and the chilling origin of the regional office. gonzales weaves a web of intrigue and distraction from page one, guaranteed to captivate you from start to finish. —frannie jackson
19. before the fall of noah hawley
fargo showrunner noah hawley delivers a thriller that begins with a plane crash and becomes more captivating with each page. Of the 11 people on the private flight from Martha’s Vineyard to New York City, the only survivors are artist Scott Burroughs and the young son of the cable news heavyweight. As investigators become increasingly desperate for answers about what brought down the plane (engine failure? foul play? terrorism?), Burroughs finds himself in the crosshairs of conspiracy theorists. Brimming with three-dimensional characters, Before the Fall leads the reader down rabbit hole after rabbit hole in an electrifying mystery. —heing girlfriend
18. anatomy of a player by jonathan lethem
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Mixing genre and theme with ease, Jonathan Lethem’s latest novel is the unpredictable story of high-stakes backgammon con man Alexander Bruno. The plot begins in the form of an underworld thriller, chasing Bruno from Singapore to Berlin to Berkeley as Lethem confronts its protagonist with a seductive problem: he has a tumor, but successful surgery returns Bruno’s latent telepathic powers. a millionaire drifter and an anarchist burger cook join the cast as lethem draws his attention to questions of self-perception and the nature of consciousness. Difficult to define but easy to enjoy, the anatomy of a gamer is pure lethemy. —eric swedlund
17. sir. split foot by samantha hunt
part spooky goth, part backroad novel, mr. splitfoot tells the story of two foster brothers thrown into a sadistic world of evangelical oddities. of children hold séances for other resident orphans, summoning “mr. splitfoot” to contact the deceased parents of the children. Samantha Hunt finally weaves together one of the brothers’ childhood and adulthood adventures into a ghost story that’s as confusing as it is compelling, spanning the burning district of present-day New York City along the Eerie Channel. In the 21st century story of Hunt, you can hardly swing a dead cat without hitting a leader or member of a religious cult, exerting an influence that spreads like contagion. —steve nathans-kelly
16. among strange victims by daniel saldaña parís
This two-part novel first follows Rodrigo, a lazy office worker, as he happily marries his boss’s assistant. It then focuses on Marcelo, a pretentious Spanish academic who moves to a town in the Sonora desert to conduct research and begins an affair with Rodrigo’s mother. Later, it becomes a novel about Rodrigo, Marcelo and the women among them. somewhere between a narco novel (although daniel saldaña parís avoids clichés) and even a time warp story at the end, among strange victims will make you laugh too hard to categorize it. —lucas iberico lozada
15. morning star by pierce brown
Red Rising, the first book in Pierce Brown’s science fiction trilogy of the same name, introduces readers to an interstellar caste system made of nightmares. From the almighty Golds who rule the universe to the lowly Reds who work beneath the Martian surface, everyone is born with a specific role in society. When Darrow discovers the horrible truths behind his existence as a Red, he joins a plot to end the rule of the Golds. golden son continues the saga, following Darrow as he infiltrates golden society in a story that is as violent as it is captivating. With morning star, brown offers a brilliant conclusion to the epic series, proving that his trilogy deserves a place among the best science fiction narratives. —Frannie Jackson and Eric Smith
14. a gentleman in moscow love towles
A far cry from, say, a day in the life of solzhenitsyn’s ivan denisovitch, towles’ seductive love novel captures a very different kind of soviet gulag. The new Bolshevik government finds Count Alexander Rostov guilty of sympathizing with the old aristocratic order, and sentences him to life in prison at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. what unfolds within the confines of the metropolis is a dazzling vision of two diametrically opposed social orders, the Bolshevik and the Tsarist, co-existing uncomfortably within a political order that has summarily banished the latter. the Count embodies these contradictions as a man whose highly aristocratic manners and noble upbringing make him strangely indispensable to a regime seeking to eradicate them. Beyond these pleasant ironies and family drama that imbue A Gentleman in Moscow with such quiet delights, the Count’s last act engulfs the reader in a riveting frenzy of escape and revenge. —steve nathans-kelly
13. lesser bohemians by eimear mcbride
In the sequel to her acclaimed novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, Eimear McBride delivers a rich love story written in equally light-hearted prose. Eily has just arrived in London to study theater when she meets Stephen, some kind of celebrity with whom she begins a tumultuous relationship. Haunted by their own trauma, both Eily and Stephen fear their growing intimacy and engage in dangerous self-sabotage as they struggle to determine what they want from a relationship. Set in Camden in the early 1990s, The Lesser Bohemians is a mesmerizing mix of danger and sensuality from McBride’s singular voice. —heing girlfriend
12. all the brave are forgiven by chris cleave
in chris cleave’s world war ii drama, young british men gather as the bombing of london begins. Tom and Mary join the war effort on the home front and fall in love while educating the children left behind in the evacuation. But when Tom’s roommate is home on leave, they find themselves drawn to each other in a way they both find disturbing. Set in the horror of the war’s early years, when victory over hitler’s germany was far from a foregone conclusion, all the brave are forgiven weaves humor, stoicism, and violence into a gripping narrative. . Cleave manages to make a hackneyed story, that of the British force during World War II, feel fresh and urgent. —heing girlfriend
11. my name is lucy barton by elizabeth strout
Elizabeth Strout, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge, has established herself as a writer of exquisite and often tumultuous relationships. her latest novel explores the bond between a mother and a daughter, revealing the complexities of her shared history. my name is lucy barton begins when the titular lucy, bedridden in hospital after surgery, is visited by her estranged mother. her conversations over the next few days gradually illuminate the past, highlighting the tension of decades and the dazzling memories. In just 191 pages, Strout offers a disturbing and emotional narrative without falling into sentimentality. —frannie jackson
10. a skeptic’s almanac by ethan canin
A portrait of genius as a debilitating condition, A Skeptic’s Almanac chronicles the cradle-to-grave misadventures of field medalist mathematician Milo Andret. The book begins in a closely watched third-person narrative, then completes Milo’s story from the alternately jaundiced and self-indulgent point of view of Milo’s gifted (and tormented) son. Ethan Canin portrays Milo’s genius as some kind of congenital wrecking ball, precisely timed to destroy his owner and everyone else in his path. the result is a story of majestic length, presented in mathematically precise and delightfully distinctive language. —steve nathans-kelly
9. seeing red by lina meruane
An extraordinary story categorized as an “autobiographical novel”, Viendo Rojo recounts the aftermath when a young Chilean writer named Lina goes blind while studying in New York. Redefining the word “visceral,” Lina Meruane’s harrowing prose probes both the sensory world and memory in a heady mix. One can only hope that her editor, Deep Vellum, and her translator, Megan McDowell, are working on the rest of Meruane’s oeuvre. —lucas iberico lozada
8. emma cline’s girls
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Can a book about manipulation and ritual murder be one of the most electrifying coming-of-age stories of 2016? yes you can Emma Cline’s debut novel exudes a sinister vibe as 14-year-old Evie struggles to find her way in Northern California during the summer of ’69. The teenager is lured to a ranch populated by a gallery of eccentric rogues, many of them they girls powerless to resist the charms of a fake bearded shaman. Cline gradually pulls you into Evie’s head, revealing how easy it is to lose your grip on reality when you’re under the influence of extraordinarily intense relationships. —jeff milo
7. sudden death of Álvaro enrigue
Álvaro Enrigue’s first novel to be translated into English captivated the literary world this year, offering a centuries-long journey through the Mexican Conquest, the Italian Renaissance and the Spanish Inquisition. however, don’t be fooled: this is not his grandmother’s historical novel. Get ready to learn more about the history of tennis and Caravaggio’s revolutionary painting technique than you thought possible. Sudden Death also features a couple of love stories along with an amusing back-and-forth correspondence between a writer, who looks a lot like Enrigue, and his publisher. (In a unique twist in the English version of the book, his translator also appears.) This novel reminds the reader that books can be funny, daring, and smart all at the same time. —lucas iberico lozada
6. moon glow by michael chabon
structured like a memoir, michael chabon’s moonglow finds its essence in the intersection between small moments of family history and the most important global events of the 20th century. As a dying World War II intelligence officer turned salesman tells his life story to his grandson, decades of revelations emerge. Chabon weaves threads from the lives of his characters with threads from world history—the Holocaust, World War II, the space race—and offers an illuminating book on humanity’s search for meaning. Deeply meditative and brilliantly relatable, Moonglow is Chabon at his best. —eric swedlund
5. everyone is a fool by richard russo
Set in the dying industrial cities of New York, Richard Russo’s early novels introduced readers to the remarkable cast of characters that inhabit these places. Perhaps the most beloved among them is Donald “Sully” Sullivan, the enduring antihero of Nobody’s Dumb. If fans thought they’d seen the last of him, this spring brought an unexpected delight when Sully and the denizens of the fictional Russo’s North Bath, New York returned in Around the Silly World. Six years in the making and 25 years in the making, this sequel offers a captivating look at Sully’s second act from a writer very different from the man who wrote nobody’s fool a quarter-century ago. This story is packed with laughter and heartbreak, wild action and empathy, and offers a fresh take on old friends. —steve nathans-kelly
4. mothers sunday by graham swift
A quiet tale revolving around an afternoon in the spring of 1924, Mothers Sunday highlights a maiden’s secret affair with the heir to an English noble house. Graham Swift’s slim book, however, transcends the trappings of the “love affair,” developing the maid as a three-dimensional protagonist and illuminating moments throughout her entire life. the result is an emotionally compelling novel that promises to haunt you long after you’ve read the last page. —frannie jackson
3. homecoming by yaa gyasi
In yaa gyasi’s first novel, each character given their own chapter is the descendant of two 18th-century Ghanaian half-sisters. Effia is from Fanteland and marries a British slave trader, while Esi, a member of the Asante nation, is sold into slavery. As addictive as a binge-worthy TV show, the book follows both of their bloodlines to this day. and while each descendant experiences life (and blackness, love, family) differently, these characters have at least one thing in common: the inability to ignore a certain call they hear, sometimes in their minds, sometimes in their own bones, of those who came before them. Following in the tradition of her ancestors, such as Toni Morrison, Edwidge Danticat, Assia Djebar, and Bessie Head, Gyasi has created a wonderful work of fiction that embraces and rewrites history. perhaps best of all, homegoing demands more stories to follow; it is a tempting invitation for other artists to investigate their own past and do the same. —shannon m. houston
2. swing time by zadie smith
It’s hard to sum up a sweeping text like swing time, but it stands out as that rare job of successfully embracing the romantic (yet unsettling) notion of having a friend who knows you better than you do. you know yourself. The novel’s protagonist is the London-born black daughter of an activist mother and a loving father. her best friend, although she comes from the same neighborhood and shares a similar passion for dance, she might as well be from a separate universe. however, the narrative counteracts the glaring differences between their lives by presenting a poignant portrait of childhood, that distinctive moment in a woman’s life when race, class, sexuality, and gender are alluring but not yet ( at least for some of us) overwhelming.
zadie smith lets us in on many of the swing time jokes with her conversational prose, but there are times when you get the distinct feeling that you’re an outsider looking in, and that every story might not be for your understanding, empathy, or entertainment. you are not always a welcome voyeur; you can see a woman dancing, but that does not mean that she is yours. That swing time dares to say so much, while offering an intimacy rarely found in storytelling of any kind, is reason enough to celebrate this bold and singular story. —shannon m. houston
1. the underground railway by colson whitehead
There is an expectation in American history that sacred subjects require a certain orthodoxy in the way they are portrayed. But Colson Whitehead ignores that precedent in his National Book Award-winning novel, The Underground Railroad. It starts in the deep south. he does not mention the cooperation between blacks and whites that ends well for blacks. and features an underground railway that is really underground and really a railway.
In recounting the surreal (and sometimes terrifyingly humorous) odyssey of a runaway slave into the gaping jaws of white supremacy, Whitehead isn’t looking for Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad, but rather the “true face of America” only seen through a dirty windows of the subway train. and who better than the author of the uncompromising john henry days and the intuitionist to lift a broken mirror from the funhouse and show us that true face, which has begun to look as ugly outside the novel as in? it’s a fascinating phenomenon when a book with little reverence for historical orthodoxy casts an unflattering light on the present, and that’s precisely what makes The Underground Railroad the best novel of 2016. —steve nathans-kelly
For more “best of 2016” reading recommendations, check out our best nonfiction and best young adult books lists.
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