Top four best books of 2016

This year I read 38 books. I am quite proud of this number, it is more than in the last three years. Although there are definitively areas of improvement, the list is pretty diverse. In numbers this means I read:
– 19 books by female writers
– 18 books by male writers
– 17 middle-grade/Young Adult books
– 10 books by Dutch writers
– 13 fantasy and science-fiction books (far less than usual)
– 7 mysteries
– 5 historical novels
– 3 books by a writer of color (on this point I hope to do better next year)
– 2 re-reads (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and World War Z)

Linking up with the weekly meme Top Ten Tuesday, created by The Broke and The Bookish here is my top four best books of 2016. To make it a little easier I chose books of four different genres.

1. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Without doubt the best book of the year! I loved everything about it: the unique way it was told, the amazing story set in two spaceships and the characters who felt very real. As I mentioned last week I hope to read the sequel very soon!

2. A Disocvery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
It all starts with an old manuscript that has been lost for centuries. But after a few chapters I found myself in a world full of witches, vampires and daemons. This book left me with a small book hangover, but fortunately it is the first part of a trilogy.

3. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
A beautiful novel set in the late 1700’s in the United States. A small Irish girl grows up among the slaves of a plantation. But if she like it or not, her skin sets her apart from the people she calls her family. I found this book by accident (it was an e-book, therefore it is not in the picture) and it kind of broke my heart.

4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A story about a life in Nigeria, about being an black blogger in the United States and being an undocumented immigrant in London. But ultimately this is a story about love.

My question to you: What is your favourite book of 2016?