Our Favorite Books of 2017
What astonishes us about this year's best books is their audacity, their inventiveness, and their ability to delight and devastate in equal measure. In a field rich with powerful voices, these spoke to us most urgently.
By Natalie Beach, Hamilton Cain, Leigh Haber, Claire Luchette
8 of 11
Her Body and Other Parties
By Carmen Maria Machado
248 pages;
Graywolf Press
Machado's
work doesn't bend genre so much as explode it. Her first volume of stories
mixes elements of surrealism, fairy tale, urban legend, and, in the case of "Especially
Heinous," reimagined plots of Law & Order: SVU.
Her women—victims, martyrs, and heroines—are both archetypal and entirely new.
Filled with sex, horror, and the absurd, this singular collection will blow
your mind.
Published 11/10/2017
