Goodreads Staffers' Top Three Books of the Year

Posted by Cybil on December 17, 2018
This post is sponsored by Becoming: An Inspirational Memoir by Michelle Obama.


As we wrap up our 2018 Reading Challenge, we decided to ask our Goodreads coworkers a simple yet tough question: What were the top three books you read this year?

Oh, the angst we caused among our well-read colleagues as they whittled down their lists to just their top few books! But hopefully our picks will inspire additions to your Want to Read Shelf.

You'll notice that our reading habits run the gamut. But if you look carefully, you can see some office favorites emerge, including multiple picks of the true-crime page-turner I'll Be Gone in the Dark; Naomi Novik's fantasy retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, Spinning Silver; and Angie Thomas' bestselling young adult debut, The Hate U Give.

Now it's your turn! What are your top three books of the year? Share them with us in the comments!


Tomas Batalla, Senior Software Development Engineer



Dana Epstein, Ad Sales Executive



Brooke Ginnard, Visual Designer



Marie Pabelonio, Associate Editor



Emily Fortner, Community Manager



Elizabeth Khuri Chandler, Cofounder & Editor in Chief



Mariana Gamboa Aguilar, Goodreads Expert



Jeff Wong, Software Development Engineer



Joseph Soltzberg, Software Development Engineer



William Cline, Senior Software Development Engineer



Brian Percival, Software Architect



Caroline Moeller, Account Executive



Meg McGill, Experts Quality Program Manager



Zoe Wheeler, Software Development Engineer



William DePhillips, Senior Software Development Engineer



Lisset Cruz, Account Management Manager



Sam Julian, UX Designer



Sofia Chavez, Goodreads Expert



Katie Boyer, Account Manager



Danny Feekes, Managing Editor



Carmen Marks, Goodreads Expert



Jaclyn Woods, Community Content Expert



Stephanie Watson, Goodreads Expert



Emily Pardoe-Wessels, Goodreads Expert Lead



Lisa Jablonsky, Sales Director



Cybil Wallace, Senior Editor



Emily Finley, Director of Operations



Alex Lewis, Program Manager



Dan Lopez, Account Manager



Eric Asuncion, Account Manager



Veronica Moss, VP Revenue & Operations



William Siu, Ad Operations



Tristan Leigh, Software Development Engineer



Shaun Ponting, Goodreads Expert



Margo Throckmorton, Senior Account Manager



Heino Colyn, Customer Service Manager



Jamay Lau, Senior Product Manager



Hayley Igarashi, Editor



Nimmy Mathew, Software Development Manager



Monique Galvin, Goodreads Expert



Amy Bickerton, Designer



Karen Bezuidenhout, Goodreads Expert



Corin Carper, Software Development Manager



Bryce Weitzel, Head of Sales Marketing & Development



Joe Thomas, Software Development Engineer



Michael Sewell, VP of Engineering



Lauren Deyce, Experts Learning Coordinator



Aditi Sharma, Software Development Engineer



Dany Avila, Goodreads Community Expert



Otis Chandler, Cofounder & CEO



Justine Wheeler, Goodreads Expert



Roslyn Bristow, Goodreads Expert



Robin-Lee Moos, Goodreads Expert



Rory Crane, Goodreads Expert Manager



Amanda Cooper, Goodreads Quality Specialist



Mimi Chan, Senior Marketing Manager



Brian Colombini, Software Development Engineer



David Wong, Software Development Engineer



Erin-Mari Kelsey, Account Manager



Suzanne Skyvara, VP Communications



Sarah Chang, Program Manager



What are your three favorite books you read in 2018? Share them with us in the comments!

Check out more recent articles:
Catch Up Now: These Big Series All Have Books Coming Out in 2019
Celebrate Your 2018 Year in Books!
The Sci-Fi & Fantasy Trends of 2018

Comments Showing 51-100 of 373 (373 new)


message 51: by Gauri (new)

Gauri I always love these recommendation posts - I find a lot of interesting books I otherwise would never have found. I appreciate posts that cover books that aren't necessarily popular or well known and are across a wide variety of genres and tastes.


message 52: by Felix (new)

Felix Melchor The Girl in the Tower
Wrath of Empire
A Gentleman in Moscow


message 53: by Cindi (new)

Cindi Hanson The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain, The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris and The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni.


message 54: by Mary (new)

Mary A Gentleman in Moscow/Amor Towles
Manhattan Beach/Jennifer Egan
Educated/Tara Westover


message 55: by nitya (new)

nitya The Astonishing Color of After, When Breath Becomes Air and The Prince and the Dressmaker


message 56: by Bianca (new)


message 57: by Pops (last edited Dec 17, 2018 05:56PM) (new)


message 58: by D.M. (last edited Dec 17, 2018 05:44PM) (new)

D.M. Grents A Little Life/Yanagihara
The Stone Sky/Jemisin
Little Fires Everywhere/Ng


message 59: by Amelia (new)

Amelia Sadie!


message 60: by Noninuna (last edited Dec 17, 2018 05:54PM) (new)


message 62: by Tria (new)

Tria Poppy Wars, City of Brass and Children of Blood and Bone


message 63: by Steph (last edited Dec 17, 2018 06:33PM) (new)


message 64: by Lorna (new)

Lorna The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker, All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover and Gaslight by Dannika Dark
(Honorable mention to Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang and Midnight Valentine by J.T. Geissinger)


message 65: by Mary (new)

Mary Vasquez The Nightingale, Eleanor Oliphant is Perfectly Fine, A Man Called Ove


message 66: by Paperback (new)

Paperback Prinsass Children of time , Educated, Hyperion....and several others that I really enjoyed


message 67: by Daniel (new)

Daniel Kimberley wrote: "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The Hate U Give
The Elegance of the Hedgehog"


Why aren't more people reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? Wow, what a masterpiece. Seems like we should read this in high school rather than stumbling upon it in our 40s.


message 68: by Mel (new)

Mel Us Against You - Fredrick Backman
The Bronze Horseman - Paullina Simons
Red Notice - Bill Browder


message 69: by Elise (new)

Elise That's tough and I'm not done reading yet for the year so it could change, but in no particular order I'd say

Grey Sister
The Prey of Gods
Age of War


message 70: by Harriett (new)

Harriett Milnes House Girl/Tara Conklin
How to Be Both/Ali Smith
Newcomers/Helen Thorpe


message 71: by Tina Rafii➹ lives in Fandoms (last edited Dec 17, 2018 10:53PM) (new)

Tina Rafii➹ lives in Fandoms my top 3 favorite books are:

1) The Burning Maze
2) The Ship of the Dead
3) Vicious
very hard to choose!


message 72: by Sabreen (new)

Sabreen NourAldin 1. Granada by Radwa Ashour

2. Wonder (Wonder, #1) by R.J. Palacio

3. The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren


message 74: by Heather (new)

Heather Feltenberger Eleanor Oliphant is Perfectly Fine by Gail Homeyman, Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult


message 75: by Shani (new)

Shani This is fun! Get some authors to post their top 3!

Here are mine:
Little Comfort by Edwin Hill
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleaton
A Place For Us by Mirza


message 76: by Catherine (new)

Catherine Watson The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer
Parsnips, Buttered How to win at modern life, one email at a time by Joe Lycett
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

I picked the three that made me laugh with so very much delight.
The Grand Sophy audiobook with the old British guy narrating...
Parsnips, Buttered audiobook with Joe narrating
and a graphic novel that has teaching moments served up with guffawing humor


message 77: by crx (new)

crx I’m really surprised at how underrated ‘The Sun Does Shine’ is 🙁


message 78: by Micha (new)

Micha Circe by Madeline Miller
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne


message 79: by Jen (new)

Jen I gave 5 * to 4 books this year (so far and probably total because I'm mean).
Big Bang (Simon Singh)
The Martian
13 Reasons Why
The Mountain Between Us.

The top 3 would probably be the first 3 because they have stayed with me more and were more of a surprise in how much I liked them.


message 80: by Ann (new)

Ann Tai Pan by James Clavell, Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon and Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke


message 81: by Alleona (new)

Alleona Marie Deb wrote: "How does one become a Goodread's Expert. I think that's my dream job."

Same, Deb. Same.


message 82: by Sally (new)

Sally The Stand
Educated
The Dream Daughter
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

(I cheated and did 4 - sorry.)


message 83: by Eleanor (new)

Eleanor Zavada I didn't get to read a whole lot of books this year, but out of what I read my favorite books were:

Bird Box by Josh Malerman How to Be Yourself Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety by Ellen Hendriksen Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity by Imi Lo


message 84: by Mary (new)

Mary I hope that I will be so brave as the doctor in When Breath Becomes Air.


Nitya wrote: "The Astonishing Color of After, When Breath Becomes Air and The Prince and the Dressmaker"


message 85: by Susan (new)

Susan The Sun Does Shine
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko


message 86: by Manjulaa (new)

Manjulaa Devi 1) Conquering the Desert of Death : Across the Taklamakan by Charles Blackmore
2) When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
3) The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran


message 87: by Myrtha (new)

Myrtha After some deliberation:
THE CLOCKMAKER'S DAUGHTER
SPINNING SILVER
MANHATTAN BEACH


message 88: by Nadia (new)

Nadia Incredibly challenging to narrow down over a 100 reads this year to 3; however, I managed barely -:)

1) The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar - lyrical prose
2) Soul Centered Astrology - Alan Oken - luminous resource
3) Midlife is not a Crisis - Virginia Bell - pertinent & wise


message 89: by Nisanka (new)

Nisanka 1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
2. The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff
3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden


message 90: by Col (last edited Dec 20, 2018 07:05AM) (new)

Col Under Locke by Mariana Zapata
Jack the Giant Killer by Charles DeLint
That Guy by Kim Jones


message 91: by Kayla (new)

Kayla C Obviously I loved more than 3 this year, but here are 3 I chose...

The Kite Runner
Little Fires Everywhere
To All the Boys I've Loved Before


message 92: by Bonnie (new)

Bonnie A LITTLE LIFE
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW
THE SHEPHERDS HUT


message 93: by Liz (new)

Liz W The Lilac Girls
The Red Sparrow
Beneath the Scarlet Sky

Just something about this genre' that fascinates me.


message 94: by Jasmine (new)

Jasmine Liz wrote: "The Lilac Girls
The Red Sparrow
Beneath the Scarlet Sky

Just something about this genre' that fascinates me."


You really like books with colors in their title :)


message 95: by Jasmine (new)

Jasmine Gauri wrote: "I always love these recommendation posts - I find a lot of interesting books I otherwise would never have found. I appreciate posts that cover books that aren't necessarily popular or well known an..."

Same. And they aren't always the latest books either, so you can find out about older books.


message 96: by Bruce (new)

Bruce Korol My Year of Rest and Relaxation - Ottessa Moshfegh

Everything is horrible and wonderful: A tragic death memoir of genius, heroin, love and loss -- Stephanie Wittels Wachs

My sister the serial killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite


message 97: by Charles (new)

Charles Oconnell Stalin, vol 1, paradoxes of power, Stephen Kotkin
The Dawn Watch, Maya Jasanoff
The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars, Daniel Beer


message 99: by Martin (new)

Martin Braunton A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne.
The new Tiger Woods biography. Even if you do not like golf this is a fascinating read.
The Late Show by Michael Connelly. Readable as ever.


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