The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

December 12 2017
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Books on books on books. It was a great year for reading, and we wrote lists of so many outstanding books this year. As much time as we spend talking about our favorites, we’re really curious about your favorites. So we did a little research. Here are the 10 most popular books lists on Off the Shelf in 2017.

All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr

The New “O” Book Club: 12 Fiction Picks From President Obama

Former President Obama made it clear over the his eight years in office that books are a big part of his life—whether he’s shopping on Small Business Saturday or releasing his vacation reading list. A bestselling author himself, our reader-in-chief followed his predecessors in recommending some great nonfiction titles, but surprised us all by being a particularly prolific fiction reader as well. Here are some of the books he picked up during his time in office.

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All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr

Already beloved by millions of readers, this novel follows a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as they both try to survive the devastation of World War II. The breakout hit of 2014, this beautiful novel was a finalist for the National Book Award and it just won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. If you haven't read it yet, this one should be at the top of your spring reading list.

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MENTIONED IN:

The 10 Most Popular Reads of March

By Off the Shelf Staff | March 31, 2020

Life Got You Down? Pick Up These 8 Comfort Reads

By Off the Shelf Staff | March 23, 2020

10 Very Long, Very Captivating Books to Hunker Down with on Winter Nights

By Alice Martin | January 24, 2020

Our Top 20 Books from the 21st Century (So Far)

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 15, 2020

Readers’ Choice: Our Top 25 Most Popular Books of the Year!

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 30, 2019

Tis’ The Season: The Best Books You Received As Gifts

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 17, 2019

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The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

15 Dystopian Novels for People Who Don’t Read Dystopian Novels

With dystopian classics like George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE resurfacing at the top of bestseller lists, it may feel like the world is ending–or at least radically changing. As we imagine what the future holds, we’re reminded of these 15 talented writers who envisioned, and perhaps warned, of a future more sinister than we’d like to imagine.

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The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood

This horrifying vision of our society radically overturned by a theocratic revolution has become one of the most powerful and widely read novels of our time. It has endured not only as a literary landmark but also as a scathing satire and dire warning of a possible future that is still chillingly relevant.

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MENTIONED IN:

9 Books to Give to Important Women in Your Life

By Carrie Cabral | December 10, 2019

13 Essential Books Everyone Should Have In Their Home Library

By Tolani Osan | September 10, 2019

The 10 Best Books We Read in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | January 5, 2018

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

24 Books for the Hard-to-Shop-For Person on Your List

By Aimee Boyer | December 11, 2017

15 Dystopian Novels for People Who Don’t Read Dystopian Novels

By Taylor Noel | April 13, 2017

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The Passage
by Justin Cronin

13 Extra-Long Books to Read While You Wait for Spring

With the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer, winter is the perfect time to sit by the fire and lose yourself in a deliciously long book. From epic fantasy to searing romance, these 13 books are some of our extra-long favorites to enjoy while waiting for spring!

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The Passage
Justin Cronin

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MENTIONED IN:

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

13 Extra-Long Books to Read While You Wait for Spring

By Kerry Fiallo | January 19, 2017

The Most Epic and Beautiful Post-Apocalyptic Novel You’ll Ever Read

By Kevin Myers | September 2, 2014

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The Disaster Artist
by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell

10 Books to Read Before You See the Movies this Fall

A late-life romance, a murder mystery upon a snowbound train, an extraordinary kid with an extraordinary face—these are just a few of the stories we’re excited to catch on the big and small screen this fall. . . and they’re straight from the pages of our favorite books. Like any true book nerd would, we’ll be reading the source material of these movie releases before we watch them come to life on the silver screen.

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The Disaster Artist
Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell

Hailed by The Huffington Post as “possibly the most important piece of literature ever printed,” The Disaster Artist is the hilarious, behind-the-scenes story of a deliciously awful cinematic phenomenon as well as the story of an odd and inspiring Hollywood friendship. Greg Sestero, Tommy’s costar, recounts the film’s bizarre journey to infamy, explaining how the movie’s many nonsensical scenes and bits of dialogue came to be and unraveling the mystery of Tommy Wiseau himself. But more than just a riotously funny story about cinematic hubris, “The Disaster Artist is one of the most honest books about friendship I’ve read in years” (Los Angeles Times).

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MENTIONED IN:

The Best Narrative Nonfiction Books for Non-Nonfiction Readers

By Kerry Fiallo | April 4, 2019

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

Staff’s Choice: 12 Recently Shelved Books from the Off the Shelf Team

By Off the Shelf Staff | November 24, 2017

10 Books to Read Before You See the Movies This Fall

By Tolani Osan | October 3, 2017

#TheDisasterArtist and Other Mistakes I’ve Made on Instagram

By Grace Stearns | November 11, 2014

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The Invisible Circus
by Jennifer Egan

15 Favorite Novels from 15 Favorite Authors

Do you remember back in March when I was telling you about the can’t-miss debut novels by authors with highly anticipated summer books? I was losing my mind over new novels from writers like Paula Hawkins and Arundhati Roy. Well, now I’m really losing it over the incredibly exciting books coming out this fall. I mean there are new books coming from Jennifer Egan and Dan Brown and Alice Hoffman and Gabrielle Zevin and, well, you get the point. To keep myself together, I’m revisiting old favorites by authors with big books coming out this fall.

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The Invisible Circus
Jennifer Egan

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MENTIONED IN:

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

15 Favorite Novels from 15 Favorite Authors

By Taylor Noel | September 7, 2017

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We Are Called to Rise
by Laura McBride

12 Debut Novels You Don’t Want to Miss

I’m losing my mind over the amazing crop of new novels slated for publication in 2017. The excitement over highly anticipated new novels from Paula Hawkins, Celeste Ng, and Nickolas Butler may actually induce heart palpitations. But I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. While some of these books are already out, we still have months to wait before most hit bookstores. To quell your impatience, make sure you’ve read the dazzling debut novels and story collections that first introduced these writers to the world.

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We Are Called to Rise
Laura McBride

Far from the casinos and lights, the Las Vegas suburbs sprawl out into the desert. In this desolate boomtown, three desperate souls—a middle aged woman attempting to revive her marriage, a veteran just returned from Iraq, and a brave eight-year-old Albanian boy—must decide whether to give in to despair, or to find the courage and resilience to rise.

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MENTIONED IN:

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

Readers’ Choice: The Top 10 Books on Off the Shelf Right Now

By Off the Shelf Staff | May 16, 2017

12 Debut Novels You Won’t Want to Miss

By Taylor Noel | March 21, 2017

10 Cross-Cultural Novels that Illuminate the World We Live In

By Tolani Osan | September 24, 2015

12 Favorite Novels from a Longtime Industry Insider

By Wendy Sheanin | August 20, 2015

Celebrate Summer With Off the Shelf!

By Off the Shelf Staff | June 25, 2015

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You
by Caroline Kepnes

The 13 Best Suspense Novels by Women: From Agatha Christie to Gillian Flynn

From Gillian Flynn to Agatha Christie, some of the best-loved authors of the greatest dark psychological thrillers have been women. Yet until recently, the works of female authors were often overlooked in favor of their male compatriots. We want to celebrate our favorite women behind the most ominous and suspenseful novels with this list of shivery thrillers. Be sure to read these with the lights on.

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You
Caroline Kepnes

Joe doesn’t like artisanal soda, trust fund kids, Dan Brown, Brooklyn hipsters, or Vice magazine. He does, however, like you, ever since you walked into his East Village bookshop looking like Natalie Portman. Shame that Joe is a cold-blooded killer and adept stalker. In the all-too-rare second-person narrative, YOU takes place inside the obsessed brain of Joe Goldberg, who’ll stop at nothing to make boho-wannabe Guinevere Beck (the “you” of Kepnes’s page-turning novel) his.

Crazy like: The lovesick and the just-plain-sick.

Best crazy moment: The DA VINCI CODE reading marathon.

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MENTIONED IN:

Literary Landmarks: Visit Our Favorite NYC Spots From Caroline Kepnes’s YOU

By Amy Cardoza | August 29, 2019

Readers’ Choice: The Top 25 Most Shelved Books of All Time

By Off the Shelf Staff | March 29, 2019

8 Books We Can’t Stop Thinking About

By Off the Shelf Staff | March 7, 2019

An Essential Reading Guide for Netflix’s Thrilling Drama “You”

By Tolani Osan | November 13, 2018

8 Books to Read Based on Your Favorite TV Shows

By Tolani Osan | October 4, 2018

Enter for a Chance to Win the Ultimate Book Lovers Prize Pack

By Off the Shelf Staff | September 10, 2018

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Mermaids in Paradise
by Lydia Millet

10 Books We Can’t (and Won’t) Stop Talking About

If you ask an Off the Shelf writer “What’s your favorite book?” don’t expect to get a short answer. We have, and will continue to, evangelize about all the books we’re currently in love with until you beg us to stop. But, if you’re into that kinda stuff, we’ll always be here for you. Here are 10 authors we’re currently crazy about, characters whose honor we will defend until death, and the well-worn books we will forever keep on our shelves—because. . . you just never know when you will need it, okay?

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Mermaids in Paradise
Lydia Millet

Who wants to hear about someone’s honeymoon? Ugh, not me. Unless it’s the story of how Lydia Millet’s Deb and Chip began their wedded bliss spotting mermaids in the Caribbean. Oddly heartwarming and super hilarious, this is an unmissable voice-driven novel about keeping it real in the face of absurdity. —Elizabeth

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MENTIONED IN:

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

10 Books We Can’t (and Won’t) Stop Talking About

By Off the Shelf Staff | April 4, 2017

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The Vanishing Velázquez
by Laura Cumming

Best Beach Reads: 11 Nonfiction Books that Read Like Fiction

Who says beach reads can’t be based in reality? Each of these 11 true stories is so utterly compelling that it reads like fiction. Whether your favorite genre is political thrillers or mysteries, tales of friendship or dystopia, historical fiction or science fiction, horror or adventure, any of these compelling nonfiction titles in your beach bag will happily take you away to a truth that is stranger than fiction.

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The Vanishing Velázquez
Laura Cumming

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MENTIONED IN:

Bookshop Thrillers: 5 Suspenseful Reads Set Among the Shelves

By Get Literary | May 1, 2020

Readers’ Choice: The Top 10 Most Shelved Books in July

By Off the Shelf Staff | July 27, 2018

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

Best Beach Reads: 11 Perfect Nonfiction Books That Read Like Fiction

By Allison Tyler | June 26, 2017

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The Return of the King
by J. R. R. Tolkien

8 Really Great Books We’ve Lied About Reading

We have a confession to make. We bet you’ve done it, too, nodding along when your friends bring up the book that everyone has read. We’re just fudging, right? You can’t read everything, can you? No judgment, now: here are 8 books we’ve lied about reading. But please don’t take our lies as condemnation—these are fantastic books. We’re just really, really busy. . .

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The Return of the King
J. R. R. Tolkien

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MENTIONED IN:

The 10 Most Popular Lists on Off the Shelf in 2017

By Off the Shelf Staff | December 12, 2017

8 Really Great Books We’ve Lied About Reading (Sorry)

By Off the Shelf Staff | July 17, 2017

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