"The following list of 72 books represents some of the finest works published in English, mostly in America, in 2017. The usual caveats apply. The easiest one: We missed some, no doubt, probably including your favorite. Our list is arbitrary and inconsistent; it is adamantly not a "best of the year" compilation. It doesn't take into account wonderful titles published in Nigeria this year, or the Netherlands. It's based on our own reading, plus recommendations from family, publishers, critics, authors, hardcore reader types, short lunches in San Francisco, long breakfasts in New York, and an eloquent drug dealer we met at a party. Also, none of us on the ToB committee have read all of the titles below; none of us have even read most of them. But we do think the list contains some very, very fine books that we happily recommend."
