I found 20 “Best Books of 2016” lists on the Internet and combined them into one meta-list. The results are below: every book on two or more of the original 20 source lists.
NOTE: These are not my personal opinions.
On 18 “Best Books” Lists
Fiction
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. By Colson Whitehead.
HOMEGOING. By Yaa Gyasi.
On 9 Lists
Fiction
SWING TIME. By Zadie Smith.
Non-Fiction
WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR. By Paul Kalanithi.
On 8 Lists
Fiction
BARKSKINS. By Annie Proulx.
Non-Fiction
EVICTED: Poverty and Profit in the American City. By Matthew Desmond.
THE GENE: An Intimate History. By Siddhartha Mukherjee.
7 Lists
Fiction
THE NIX. By Nathan Hill.
ANOTHER BROOKLYN. By Jacqueline Woodson.
Non-Fiction
SHIRLEY JACKSON: A Rather Haunted Life. By Ruth Franklin.
6 Lists
Fiction
MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON. By Elizabeth Strout.
THE VEGETARIAN. By Han Kang. Translated By Deborah Smith.
WHAT BELONGS TO YOU. By Garth Greenwell
Fiction/Memoir
MOONGLOW. By Michael Chabon.
Non-Fiction
BORN TO RUN. By Bruce Springsteen.
ALL THE SINGLE LADIES: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation. By Rebecca Traister.
5 Lists
Fiction
THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS. By Karan Mahajan.
TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT. By Maria Semple.
HERE COMES THE SUN. By Nicole Dennis-Benn.
THE GIRLS. By Emma Cline
COMMONWEALTH. By Ann Patchett.
IMAGINE ME GONE. By Adam Haslett
Non-Fiction
HILLBILLY ELEGY: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. By J.D. Vance.
I CONTAIN MULTITUDES: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. By Ed Yong.
4 Lists
Fiction
ZERO K. By Don DeLillo.
LAROSE. By Louise Erdrich.
THE MOTHERS. By Brit Bennett
ALL THAT MAN IS. By David Szalay.
THE STORY OF A BRIEF MARRIAGE. By Anuk Arudpragasam
HERE I AM. By Jonathan Safran Foer.
NINETY-NINE STORIES OF GOD. By Joy Williams.
SWEETBITTER. By Stephanie Danler
PRIVATE CITIZENS. By Tony Tulathimutte
THE LITTLE RED CHAIRS. By Edna O’Brien.
THE SPORT OF KINGS. By C. E. Morgan.
Non-Fiction
WHITE TRASH: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America. By Nancy Isenberg.
WHITE RAGE: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. By Carol Anderson.
BLOOD AT THE ROOT: A Racial Cleansing in America. By Patrick Phillips.
LAB GIRL. By Hope Jahren.
SECONDHAND TIME: The Last of the Soviets. By Svetlana Alexievich. Translated By Bela Shayevich.
IN THE DARKROOM. By Susan Faludi.
Poetry
LOOK: Poems. By Solmaz Sharif.
3 Lists
Fiction
THOMAS JEFFERSON DREAMS OF SALLY HEMINGS By Stephen O’Connor
NEWS OF THE WORLD By Paulette Jiles
WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS. By Helen Oyeyemi
NUTSHELL. By Ian McEwan.
DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING. By Madeleine Thien.
THE WONDER. By Emma Donoghue
MODERN LOVERS. By Emma Straub
HEAT & LIGHT. By Jennifer Haigh
POND. By Claire-Louise Bennett
TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD. By Eowyn Ivey
THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT. By Alexander Chee
THE WANGS VS. THE WORLD. By Jade Chang
UNDERGROUND AIRLINES. By Ben Winters
Non-Fiction
DARK MONEY: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. By Jane Mayer.
IN A DIFFERENT KEY: The Story of Autism. By John Donvan and Caren Zucker
STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. By Ibram X. Kendi
THE LONELY CITY: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone. By Olivia Laing
THE RISE AND FALL OF AMERICAN GROWTH: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War. By Robert J. Gordon.
PUMPKINFLOWERS: A Soldier’s Story. By Matti Friedman.
HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS. By David France.
AT THE EXISTENTIALIST CAFÉ: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails. By Sarah Bakewell.
2 Lists
Fiction
BEHOLD THE DREAMERS. By Imbolo Mbue.
END OF WATCH. By Stephen King.
VALIANT GENTLEMEN. By Sabina Murray.
THE GOOD LIEUTENANT. By Whitney Terrell
THE TRESPASSER. By Tana French.
THE THROWBACK SPECIAL. By Chris Bachelder
IN GRATITUDE. By Jenny Diski.
THE SUMMER BEFORE THE WAR. By Helen Simonson
THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT. By Graham Moore
HIGH DIVE. By Jonathan Lee
THE REGIONAL OFFICE IS UNDER ATTACK! By Manuel Gonzales
THE YEAR OF THE RUNAWAYS. By Sunjeev Sahota
SWEET LAMB OF HEAVEN. By Lydia Millet
ELEVEN HOURS. By Pamela Erens.
PROBLEMS. By Jade Sharma
I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS. By Iain Reid
THE FORTUNES. By Peter Ho Davies.
THE GLOAMING. By Melanie Finn.
YOUR HEART IS A MUSCLE THE SIZE OF YOUR FIST. By Sunil Yapa
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW. By Amor Towles.
PAPER GIRLS. By Brian V. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
THE NORTH WATER. By Ian McGuire.
Fiction/Non-Fiction
WRITING TO SAVE A LIFE: The Louis Till File. By John Edgar Wideman
Non-Fiction
SING FOR YOUR LIFE: A Story of Race, Music, and Family. By Daniel Bergner.
HERO OF THE EMPIRE: The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill. By Candice Millard.
THE DEFENDER: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America From the Age of the Pullman Porters to the Age of Obama. By Ethan Michaeli.
THE PIGEON TUNNEL: Stories from My Life. By John Le Carré.
WEAPONS OF MATH DESTRUCTION: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. By Cathy O’Neil.
ON TRAILS: An Exploration By Robert Moor.
AMERICAN HEIRESS: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst. By Jeffrey Toobin.
BLOOD IN THE WATER: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy. By Heather Ann Thompson.
THE ATTENTION MERCHANTS: The Epic Scramble To Get Inside Our Heads. By Tim Wu.
KILL ‘EM AND LEAVE: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul. By James McBride.
TIME TRAVEL: A History. By James Gleick.
BORN A CRIME. By Trevor Noah.
TRUMP REVEALED: An American Journey of Ambition, Ego, Money, and Power. By Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher.
A KINGDOM OF THEIR OWN: The Family Karzai and the Afghan Disaster. By Joshua Partlow
CODE WARRIORS: NSA’s Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union. By Stephen Budiansky
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: The War Years and After. Volume Three: 1939-1962. By Blanche Wiesen Cook.
A RAGE FOR ORDER: The Middle East in Turmoil, From Tahrir Square to ISIS. By Robert F. Worth.
SO SAD TODAY: Personal Essays. By Melissa Broder
IN OTHER WORDS. By Jhumpa Lahiri. Translated By Ann Goldstein.
Poetry
HOUSE OF LORDS AND COMMONS. By Ishion Hutchinson.
NIGHT SKY WITH EXIT WOUNDS. By Ocean Vuong