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Ahead, see EW’s list of the 20 Best Books of 2016.

Not even harself.Leah Greenblatt

OrderHere Comes The Sunhere.

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: ALL CROPS Image Tout

12.The Sport of Kingsby C.E.

9.Lab Girlby Hope Jahren

As a little girl, Jahren dreamed of beakers, not Barbie dolls.

Though the clear Manson-family parallels are fascinating, its Clines hothouse evocation of girlhood that stays.Leah Greenblatt

OrderThe Girlshere.

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Here Comes the Sun, Nicole Dennis-Benn

Is her denial driven by spiritual rapture?

Or is it a perfectly sane response to a lifetime of compulsory obedience and quiet desperation?

Kangs erotic, unnerving, and utterly mesmerizing novel is far too shrewd to tell.Leah Greenblatt

OrderThe Vegetarianhere.

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Today Will Be Different, Maria Semple

2.When Breath Becomes Airby Paul Kalanithi

I cant go on.

1.The Nixby Nathan Hill

If any novel defied an elevator pitch in 2016, it wasThe Nix.

At the core of its wild narrative rumpus sits Samuel Andresen-Anderson.

GALLERY: Best Book Jackets of 2016: Stephanie Danler, Sweetbitter

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: ALL CROPS: Modern Lovers (5/31/2016) by Emma Straub

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Jane Mayer, Dark Money

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Barkskins, Annie Proulx

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: C.E. Morgan, The Sport of  Kings

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Brit Bennett, The Mothers

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Lab Girl, Hope Jahren

GALLERY: Best YA Books of the Year: The Sun Is Also a Star, Nicola Yoon

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: Emma Cline, The Girls

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: The Vegetarian, Han Kang

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation (3/1/16)by Rebecca Traister

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: LaRose, Louise Erdrich

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GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi

GALLERY: Best Books of 2016: The Nix, Nathan Hill