--- description: For those of us who read for a living, paperbacks provide an opportunity to catch up on some of the best books that came out last year. title: The Best Paperbacks of 2017 So Far image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2c11b788ad05cc5/6988ce01fb4eac72be89210f/paperbacks.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Best Paperbacks of 2017 So Far by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 25, 2017 11:00 AM CUT  by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 25, 2017 11:00 AM CUT For those of us who read for a living, paperback releases provide an opportunity to catch up on some of the [best books ](http://time.com/4363326/best-books-2016-so-far/ "undefined")that came out last year, too. Our favorite paperback releases of 2017 (so far) include a [Pulitzer Prize](http://time.com/money/4298173/pulitzer-prize-amazon-sales/ "undefined") winner (Matthew Desmond, _Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City_) and a Pulitzer finalist (C.E. Morgan, _The Sport of Kings_), as well as an original book of poetry. ### [_Witness to the Revolution_, Clara Bingham](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812983262/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0812983262&linkId=bee6fd26cc170cf08485de75897652ac "undefined")  The journalist’s oral history of 1969 and 1970 includes interviews with movers and shakers of the day (Bill Ayers, Daniel Ellsberg, Robin Morgan) as well as lesser known figures who played a role in key events, like an FBI agent tasked with keeping tabs on the leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society. The book is a rich tapestry of a volatile period in American history. [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812983262/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0812983262&linkId=bee6fd26cc170cf08485de75897652ac "undefined") **_MORE:_**[_Best Non-Fiction Books of 2017 So Far_](http://ti.me/2rI00I1 "undefined") ### [_Evicted_, Matthew Desmond](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553447459/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0553447459&linkId=249dc099aa5aa9fde8a504917be6e351 "undefined")  This Pulitzer Prize-winning book examines the plague of eviction, following eight Milwaukee families who struggle to stay in their homes in the face of a rigged system. With compassion and an expert understanding of the many obstacles to a solution, Desmond illustrates the ways that eviction serves to exacerbate the traumatic cycle of poverty. [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553447459/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0553447459&linkId=249dc099aa5aa9fde8a504917be6e351 "undefined") ### [_Sudden Death,_ Álvaro Enrigue](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735213445/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0735213445&linkId=a020937af8be64a5df0e87adaadce4a4 "undefined")  In the Mexican author’s first novel to be translated into English, Enrigue playfully weaves together an imagined tennis match in Rome between two giants of the Baroque period, Caravaggio and Francisco de Quevedo, and the very real destruction of the Aztec world happening across the Atlantic Ocean. [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735213445/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0735213445&linkId=a020937af8be64a5df0e87adaadce4a4 "undefined") ### [_The Nix_, Nathan Hill](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101970340/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1101970340&linkId=c4cd3454fb9a77ad74d2f706dd937e11 "undefined")  In an expansive debut novel that covers the upheaval of the 1960s, the Iraq War, the Occupy Wall Street movement and many other political moments and locales of the past six decades, Hill proves his chops as both a wry social commentator and an affecting portrait artist. [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1101970340/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1101970340&linkId=c4cd3454fb9a77ad74d2f706dd937e11 "undefined") ### ### [_The Sport of Kings_, C.E. Morgan](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250131847/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250131847&linkId=f84ac389fd8b67d8415a7c09ad56ab75 "undefined")  Morgan uses horse breeding as a lens through which to explore questions of race, heritage, family and the legacy of slavery in this lyrical, provocative novel about a contemporary black groom and the white family that employs him. [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250131847/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1250131847&linkId=f84ac389fd8b67d8415a7c09ad56ab75 "undefined") ### [_There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé_, Morgan Parker](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1941040535/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1941040535&linkId=d360d44bdeed18bc5cc57ccd8859eb8c "undefined")  In this paperback original, Parker’s poems brings heat to the art of Mickalene Thomas, the racial politics of [Barack Obama](http://time.com/4782154/barack-obama-donald-trump-opinion/ "undefined")’s presidency, the body politics of [Beyoncé](http://time.com/4725106/beyonce-most-valuable-celebrity-social-media/ "undefined") and the danger of moving through America in a black body: “I walk into a bar. / I drink a lot of wine and kiss a Black man on his beard. / I do whatever I want because I could die any minute. / I don’t mean YOLO I mean they are hunting me.” [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1941040535/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1941040535&linkId=d360d44bdeed18bc5cc57ccd8859eb8c "undefined") **_MORE:_**[_Best Fiction Books of 2017 So Far_](http://ti.me/2qMgq4g "undefined") ### [_Mothering Sunday_, Graham Swift](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/110197172X/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=110197172X&linkId=ddddc708ca9a2cc1bf560708e90498e6 "undefined")  A young maid in 1920s England marks Mothering Sunday — an annual day off for domestic workers to visit their moms — with a final rendezvous with her lover, a gentleman engaged to a woman of his own class. Decades later, she looks back on the day as the moment she became a writer. The book’s emotional heft far outweighs its slim size. [_Buy it now_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/110197172X/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fsp%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=timebestbooks2017-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=110197172X&linkId=ddddc708ca9a2cc1bf560708e90498e6 "undefined") [(_Read TIME’s affiliate link policy_.)](http://time.com/4605406/time-affiliate-link-policy/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4788148/best-paperbacks-2017-so-far/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4788148/best-paperbacks-2017-so-far/"},"headline":"Best Paperbacks of 2017 So Far","datePublished":"2017-05-25T11:00:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:50.067Z","description":"For those of us who read for a living, paperbacks provide an opportunity to catch up on some of the best books that came out last year.","url":"https://time.com/4788148/best-paperbacks-2017-so-far/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2c11b788ad05cc5/6988ce01fb4eac72be89210f/paperbacks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2c11b788ad05cc5/6988ce01fb4eac72be89210f/paperbacks.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"paperbacks","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4788148/best-paperbacks-2017-so-far/","name":"Best Paperbacks of 2017 So Far"}}]}] ```