By Deirdre Parker Smith

deirdre.smith@salisburypost.com

Time for the annual best books list. The past year was tumultuous, on all fronts, and some of the selections reflect that.

It was also a year that claimed many artists, writers, actors, musicians, so 2017 may be the year of biographies.

One the most read books of 2016 was “The Underground Railroad,” by Colson Whitehead. It is the story of a young woman’s escape from slavery through a physical, but imaginary railroad that showed her different versions of America. Oprah picked it for her book club, it won the National Book Award for fiction and the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. It has been on national bestseller lists for months. Whitehead wrote the book over a 16-year period.

Zadie Smith’s “Swing Time,” though it came out later in the year, quickly hit the best books list, as well as the bestseller lists. It’s about two mixed-race young dancers growing up in England. Written in first person by an unnamed narrator, the book explores the narrator’s relationship with Tracey, whom she meets at dance class. The narrator ends up working for a starlet, and Tracey ends up a bitter, angry woman. Smith addresses class, fame and racism.

“My Name is Lucy Barton,” by Elizabeth Strout, is a short, introspective novel that takes place mostly in a hospital room, where Lucy lies recovering from a massive infection. Her estranged mother visits for a few days. So much is said as the two talk, but volumes remain unsaid. Lucy’s parents were abusive in various ways; they were abjectly poor. Lucy lacks confidence because no one ever encouraged her, except for a few teachers. There is great pain here, from Lucy and her mother, neither knowing how to express it. But through the book, we can see that Lucy is fighting hard to regain herself and a future. Strout’s families are complex, just like real families. Her ability to capture that and lay open all those emotions is masterful.

For a thrilling mystery that was fun to read, I enjoyed Megan Miranda’s “All the Missing Girls.” It’s not great literature, but it was told backwards, and that made it challenging and kept my interest. And for a literary thriller, John Hart took us on a desperate, dark ride along “Redemption Road.” The long-awaited book delivered a strong female lead and a host of moral, ethical dilemmas that took the reader into unexplored places. His book made the Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2016 list.

Happily, he has a new book in the publishing process, “The Hush,” set for release in spring 2018.

Ann Patchett’s “Commonwealth,” another book that came late in the year, is on many lists. Patchett, as only she can do, weaves a tale of four parents and their six children, spanning five decades of secrets, relationships and tragedies.

“A Gentleman in Moscow,” by Amor Towles, has not garnered huge press, but ask anyone who read it — it’s a winner.

Bruce Springsteen is winning praise for his autobiography, “Born to Run.” Critics call it plain spoken and eloquent as he tells of his rise to fame from Freehold, N.J.

“The Gene: An Intimate History,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, stayed on bestseller lists for quite a while. The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Emperor of All Maladies” tells the history of genetics and the philosophical questions the science raises.

Along the same lines, “Lab Girl,” by Hope Jahren, surprised many as the geobiologist with a literary talent made her science successful and her life captivating.

Another mainstay on the bestseller list was “When Breath Becomes Air,” by Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon. Kalanithi learns he has lung cancer and comes to terms with the meaning of life and death.

Candice Millard, author of “The River of Doubt” and “Destiny of the Republic,” has another fascinating, well written work of history, “Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, A Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill.” Millard tells of Churchill’s quest for fame as a young man and his later gambles on the world stage in elegant turns of phrase, bringing the man to life.

Other books that should be considered include:

“Barkskins” by Annie Proulx. Described as “an epic, dazzling, violent, magnificently dramatic novel about the taking down of the world’s forests.”

“Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi, a debut novel I really want to read. A story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a British slaver.

“The Wonder” by Emma Donoghue. A nurse is brought to a small Irish village to care for a miracle girl who is actually starving to death.

“What is not yours is not yours,” by Helen Oyeyemi. A collection of short stories about any and everything with a theme of keys and all that keys can do. The writing has been called magnificent.

”Hidden Figures,” by Margot Lee Shetterly, on which the movie is based, the story of black women mathematicians who worked on the space program.

“The Fire This Time,” edited by Jesmyn Ward. A follow-up to James Baldwin’s 1963 book, “The Fire Next Time,” about race in America.

The good news is that our authors are beginning to reflect our nation, with many outstanding contributions from African and African-American writers, writers of Asian descent and others from around the world. The issues in these books can be painful, but they reflect where humankind is and the challenges we face.