I’m so excited to share with you my top books of 2016. At first I was going to share a top 10 type of post, but I couldn’t pick just 10, so I am going to share my 1 or 2 or 3 (ok, maybe even 4) in different categories. I hope you enjoy! (Psst, affiliate links present, at no cost to you! Thanks for supporting MLS!)

Best General Fiction

I think I will always and forever be a general fiction type gal.

*Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

*What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

*Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

The Never Open Desert Diner by James Anderson

Best Thriller

Oh man, I am a sucker for thrillers. While these two books don’t fall into my favorite thrillers ever list, they are still both worth reading.

*The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight

Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi

I used to avoid fantasy and science-fiction books like the plague (except for Harry Potter, obviously) but as I’ve gotten old, I’ve really come to enjoy some of them. All three of these were fantastic and are definite favorites of mine!

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett

*Eleanor by Jason Gurley

*The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Best Historical Fiction

I am really picky about my historical fiction. If I like it, I really like it. If I don’t like it, I really don’t like it. Needless to say, these 4 books were all ones I really liked 😉

*The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

*Glory Over Everything by Kathleen Grissom

The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jefferies

Then Sings My Soul by Amy K. Sorrells

Best Faith-Based

The older I get, the more non-fiction I’m reading. These two books were amazing and I recommend them to every mom and woman.

Everyday MOMents by Jessica Poe

*Fervent by Priscilla Shirer

Best Memoir

These could technically go under faith-based as well, or self-help (see below) but I decided to give them their only little category of memoir. Both are so so inspiring. (In fact, you might remember that my 2016 phrase was Show Up, because of the book Just Show Up!)

*Just Show Up by Kara Tippets and Jill Lynn Buteyn

More Than The Tattooed Mormon by Al Fox Carraway

Best Self-Help

I used to loathe self-help books, and now I love them! Both were great reads.

*Breaking Busy by Alli Worthington

The Recovering Spender by Lauren Greutman

I hope you enjoyed scrolling through the list of my top books of 2016! I’ve put asterisks by the books I would recommend to anyone, but reall I did love all of these and think they are all top books of 2016 material, obviously 😉 Have you read any of them? I’d love to know your thoughts. Also drop your own reading round-ups below so I can see what you read and loved.