Musings, reviews, and miscellany
This year was my first year using a spreadsheet to document my reading and I LOVED it. I used Brock’s spreadsheet, which I plan on using again this year. It helps me keep all my reading organized, keep track of which books I still need to review, and gives me plenty of fun stats. So, today’s post will be a nice little wrap-up of my reading stats for 2018!
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Ahh, it’s that time of year. Time to reflect back on all the books we’ve read and rank them based on completely subjective opinions. I love seeing everyone’s new favorites, and I hope you all are excited to see mine! Any book I read for the first time in 2018 was eligible for this list, but here were the best 10 that I read, in my extremely humble opinion:
A cute, contemporary NA romance about a relationship that blossoms through text messages. While not life-changing, it was definitely one of the most enjoyable books I read this year.
One of the few books I did not review this year, Red Clocks is set in the not-so-distant future and tackles a lot of issues surrounding reproductive rights, and one’s place as a woman. I went through a gamut of emotions while reading this and writing about it makes me want to reread it again in 2019.
Two unreviewed books in a row on this list! Crooked Kingdom was SUCH a fun fantasy novel and I absolutely devoured it. I definitely recommend the Six of Crows Duology if it sparks your interest, you’ll end up sucked into the world and will fall in love with the characters.
Certainly one of the most influential books I’ve read this year, I already want to pick this up again. Shirley Jackson creates such a spooky atmosphere out of so little and I am wildly impressed with her mastery of writing. I’m actually thinking of getting a small tattoo inspired by this work and might reach out to my artist about it sometime in early 2019.
I am apparently very bad at reviewing books I love, but this was another one that I just raced through. I’m really enjoying The Raven Cycle and have been putting off reading the last book in the series because I don’t want it to end! I basically lived for the romances in this one because I’m a hopeless romantic and love mushy books, sorry.
Fun fact: this is the only book on this list that I consumed as an audiobook. I listened to almost the entire thing in one day because it was so compelling. And I had a long bus ride after work. I just loved how the story was laid out and can’t wait to pick up another one of Paul Tremblay’s books. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long!
Honestly, my heart hurts even thinking about my reading experience with this. There was no way I couldn’t include it. This was one of the most meaningful books of the year for me. I read it all in one sitting and ended up just sobbing my eyes out by the end. It deals with a lot of intense subjects, but imo it was all handled in such a great way. I definitely recommend reading this if you’re in a place to do so.
Possibly THE most meaningful book I read this year, this was a timely experience for me. This is a memoir detailing the author’s life with and diagnosis of endometriosis. I’ve talked about this a bit on twitter, but I’m currently dealing with an undiagnosed medical issue, potentially endometriosis, potentially not. I’m glad I started off my year reading this, as it’s been helpful in making me advocate for myself as well as making me believe in what my own body is telling me. I really, really highly recommend everyone read this.
This book struck me so deep that I put Melissa Broder’s memoir on my Christmas wishlist because I just know I’ll love it. This is an extremely divisive book, as I note in my review, but it was the perfect read for me. I wanted to pick it back up as soon as I finished it so that I could experience it all again. Ugh, I just can’t even express how much this book means to me.
I think I knew within the first 20 pages that this would be making my end of the year list, although I don’t think I realized it would be #1. The writing in this just cut me right to my core, Jeff VanderMeer is such a talented author. While I’ve enjoyed the rest of the books I’ve read by him, nothing has held up to Annihilation so far.
And there you have it! Those are my top 10 books of 2018. I’m glad I got to read so many wonderful books this year and can only hope I’m just as blessed in 2019. Make sure to let me know what your top books were in the comments, and drop a link if you’ve made a similar post!
