Your top picks of 2018

[minzy]

What were your favorite books read in 2018?

[abs]

My 5 star reads were:

Beartown--Fredrick Backman
Us Against You--Fredrick Backman
The Great Alone--Kristin Hannah

My 4 star reads:

An American Marriage--Tayari Jones
One of is Lying--Karen McManus (more like 4.5 stars)
The Wedding Date--Jasmine Guillory

I read a lot of novels this year that I enjoyed at the time but were pretty forgettable afterwards. These are the ones that stuck with me.

[charlatti]

Absolute best was The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai — beautiful and heartbreaking.

Nevermoor and Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend, first two in a middle grade series, are both fantastic. I think the second is better than the first, which doesn’t often happen.

Also really enjoyed We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride and Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan. 

Best nonfiction: Antarctica by Gabrielle Walker

[ssmjlm]

I didn't have any 5 star books this year. As I was telling a friend, this year seemed quantity over quality for me. So many sophomore books for authors I loved were bad and the thrillers that everyone seemed to be talking about just also didn't do it for me. I mean, if you couldn't figure out the twist in The Woman in the Window before the end of the book, I'm not sure we should be friends, ya know?

I will thank ufcasey for getting me to read the Hathaways. I've enjoyed all 3 books in the series so far.

My top rated this year:
Still Me by Jojo Moyes
Killman Creek by Rachel Kaine
We Should all be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Mine Til Midnight by Lisa Klepas
Chasing Shadows by Catherine Bybee

[scribellesam]

My favorite book of the year was Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I also really enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden, and Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Maas.

[ufcasey]

I had 20 books that I gave a 5 star or 4.5 star rating in 2018, out of 161 books I read. Not bad!


Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant, #1) by Ilona Andrews
Magic Triumphs (Kate Daniels, #10) by Ilona Andrews
The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy, #2) by Katherine Arden
Us Against You (Beartown, #2) by Fredrik Backman
Ghosted by J.M. Darhower
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier
The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N.K. Jemisin
The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3) by N.K. Jemisin
Love in the Afternoon (The Hathaways, #5) by Lisa Kleypas
The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #5) by Louise Penny
A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7) by Louise Penny
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Kyland by Mia Sheridan (re-read)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1) by Laini Taylor
Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
The Winter King (Weathermages of Mystral, #1) by C.L. Wilson (re-read)

[ufcasey]

Though some of these are repeats of my above list, this was the reading recap I made up for my friends/family who ask for recommendations at the end of every year, broken up by book genre in case you want to view them that way to find a book you might want to read. I've bolded the ones that were not on my list above, so I probably should have rated it higher than I did at the time

Top fiction:
Us Against You by Fredrick Backman (first you must read 'Beartown')
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon
Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan

Top non-fiction:
A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea by Masaji Ishikawa
The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union
Educated by Tara Westover

Top classics:
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Persuasion by Jane Austen

Top fantasy/science fiction:
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (starts with 'The Fifth Season')
The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden (starts with 'The Bear and the Nightingale')

Top mystery:
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny (starts with 'Still Life')
The Ghostwriter by Alessandra Torre
Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone
Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier

Top romance:
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
Ghosted by J.M. Darhower
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas

Top young-adult:
Strange the Dreamer duology series by Laini Taylor

[rainbowchip]

I had a really good year. Most of my books were 4 or 5 stars. My favorites were:
Bird Box
The Last One
Before We Were Yours
They Both Die In The End
What Happened
Children of Blood and Bone
Becoming

[wesleycrusher]

I read 200 books in 2018, I gave 21 5 stars reviews.

Historical Fiction:
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (audio)
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Abigail by Joan Druett

Contemporary Fiction:
Beartown and Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Memoir:
Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years by David Litt (audio)
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui (graphic novel)
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee
We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union
Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein (audio)
Educated by Tara Westover

Fantasy/Horror:
Circe by Madeline Miller
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Non-fiction:
I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Craig Marks (oral history)

YA:
A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi

As the Waltz Was Ending by Emma Macalik Butterworth (memoir- this is childhood favorite I re-read)

There are also a couple of other books I'd recommend that weren't 5 star, but were just really enjoyable:

The Crazy Rich Asian series by Kevin Kwan

The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson (audio)

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute  by Zac Bissonnette

Redshirts by John Scalzi (audio)

[minzy]

5 star nonfiction
Bloodsworth - The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence - Tim Junkin
This Changes Everything - Capitalism vs The Climate - Naomi Klein
Educated - Tara Westover
Body of Work - Mediations on Mortality From the Human Anatomy Lab - Christine Montross
*Venture Girls - Raising Girls to be Tomorrow’s Leaders - Cristal Glangchai, PhD
*Drawdown - The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming - Paul Hawken, ed.

* = tie for my top two favorites of the year

5 star fiction
Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng
You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories - Curtis Sittenfeld
The Great Alone - Kristin Hannah
When the Moon is Low - Nadia Hashimi

4.5 star nonfiction
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate - Discoveries from a Secret World - Peter Wohlleben
The Bright Hour - A Memoir of Living and Dying - Nina Riggs
Antarctica - An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent - Gabrielle Walker
A Higher Loyalty - Truth, Lies and Leadership - James Comey
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Grit - The Power of Passion and Perserverance - Angela Duckworth
The Fifth Risk - Michael Lewis

4.5 star fiction
Beartown - Fredrik Backman
Pachinko - Min Jin Lee
An American Marriage - Tayari Jones
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance - Ruth Emmie Lang
Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Who is Vera Kelly? - Rosalie Knecht
Before We Were Yours - Lisa Wingate
Ordinary People - Diana Evans

[mrspez07]

The following reviews also note whether I listened to the audio and any notes related to that:

My 5* books (10 of 66 books read):
Alice Network by Kate Quinn
American Marriage by Tayari Jones (audio) - really good narrators
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Before we Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (audio) - would also be good hard copy
Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling (HP #3)
Call Me American by Abdi Nor Iftin (audio) - highly recommend listening
Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (audio)
My Grandmother Ask Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (audio) - highly recommend listening
Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilts by Jacquie Gering, Katie Pedersen


My most memorable 4* books (I rated 21 books at this level):
The Short Drop by Matthew Fitzsimmons
Louise Penny Inspector Gamache - 1st 2 books (audio), highly recommend listening
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew J Sullivan (takes place in Denver, so I really enjoyed the familiar setting)
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (audio)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
The Dry by Jane Harper
Broken Harbor by Tana French
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
The Martian by Andy Weir
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco (audio - narrated by author, good)

[travella]

My favorites this year:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Into The Light by Aleatha Romig
Away From The Dark by Aleatha Romig
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
Educated by Tara Westover
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
A Girl in a Tower by Katherine Arden
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan

[dontlook]

I read a lot of great memoirs/non-fiction: Tiffany haddidh, shonda rhimes, Trevor Noah, jenifer Lewis, the immortal life of Henrietta lacks and Retta.

Other great books: the great alone, the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, an American marriage, the wedding date, the radium girls, educated, a place for us, and the chaos walking trilogy.

[Vespasia]

Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Circe by Madeline Miller
Children of Blood and Bone

I had a few other 5 star books but those are the standouts. 

[Gato]

I’m lucky; I really enjoyed almost all the books I read last year. My absolute favorites were:

Fiction:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Nonfiction:
Selfie by Will Storr
Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas
The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy

[pinotgrig]

5 star books
This is How It Always Is (soooo good!)
Just Mercy
Hamilton: The Revolution
IOU: Why Everyone Owes and No One Can Pay
On Tyranny

4 star books
Calypso by David Sedaris
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
Rich People Problems
Flash Boys by Michael Lewis (non-fiction about high frequency trading, something I’d never heard of before - it was fascinating)
The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House (non-fiction)
Between the World and Me
Fear: Trump in the White House
Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (my first Neil Gaiman Book)
Then She Was Gone
Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death, and Brain Surgery

[expectantsteelerfan]

I reread the Harry Potter and the Dark Tower books and really enjoyed them all again! Almost all were 4 or 5*

My 5*s that weren't rereads
This is how it Always Is
Turtles All The Way Down
Shrill (Lindy West)

Notable 4*s that I actually remember
Before We Were Yours
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane
Beartown
The Heart's Invisible Furies
The Summer Wives