2018 on Goodreads

Goodreads Year in Review

by Various

Whether or not you've had time to write your own reviews, here's a chance to review your entire 2018 reading and post it under this title so that others can see what your reading year was like. Together, all the reviews of 2018 on Goodreads should make an interesting and varied catalogue of books to inspire other readers in 2019.

For those of you who don't like to add titles you haven't actually 'read', you can place 2018 on Goodreads on an 'exclusive' shelf. Exclusive shelves don't have to be listed under 'to read', 'currently reading' or 'read'. To create one, go to 'edit bookshelves' on your 'My Books' page, create a shelf name such as 'review-of-the year' and tick the 'exclusive' box. Your previous and future 'reviews of the year' can be collected together on this dedicated shelf.

Concept created by Fionnuala Lirsdottir.
Description: Fionnuala Lirsdottir
Cover image: Still Life with Milk Jug and Fruit, c.1900, Paul Cézanne
Graphics by Jayson

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Travel, Classics, Biography, Short Stories, Plays

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Emily May · Rating 4 out of 5]

💫 2017 on Goodreads
💫 2016 on Goodreads
💫 2015 on Goodreads

The last few years have certainly been interesting! This year I have discovered so many amazing new authors and returned to old favourites - it's been a really good year for books. I also attended the Goodreads Choice Awards celebration, visited an amazing Austrian library, and had another baby! A Gryffindor, methinks.



Now for the annual Emily Choice Awards.

Best Fantasy: Circe and The Poppy War
Best YA Sequel: Muse of Nightmares
Best Science Fiction: Vengeful
Best Mystery/Thriller: The Lost Man
Best Historical Fiction: The Great Alone
Best Graphic Novel: Saga, Vol.9 and The Prince and the Dressmaker
Best Non-Fiction: Sapiens
Best Memoir: Becoming
Best YA Contemporary: Sadie
Best Romance: The Kiss Quotient
Best General Adult Fiction: A Ladder to the Sky and An American Marriage
Weird But Good: Damsel
Cracktastic Shit: The Wicked King (2019 release)
Classic in the Making: An Orchestra of Minorities (2019 release)

Others worthy of mention: Once Upon a River, I Stop Somewhere, Bright We Burn, (Don't) Call Me Crazy, There There, Not That Bad, Beneath the Sugar Sky, Girls Burn Brighter, Spinning Silver, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Children of Blood and Bone and The Queen of Sorrow.

****

Terrible Message: The Last Mrs. Parrish
All the Old Tropes Rebranded: Heart of Thorns
I Am Fantasy, Not Romance (I Also Lie): Shadow of the Fox
I Am Not a Six of Crows Rip-Off (I Also Lie): Ace of Shades
Obnoxious People Being Obnoxious: Lake Success
Let Me Spend a Chapter Crushing Garlic: Sky in the Deep
Is This A Novel or a Lecture? Unsheltered
Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make Good Protagonists: Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix
Weird and Not Good: A Room Away From the Wolves
Loves Dogs Maybe Too Much: Watchers

****

And a bonus absolutely nobody asked for: my three favourite songs of 2018! They're all depressing so you're welcome.

💫 Night Shift by Lucy Dacus
💫 Next Year by Donovan Woods
💫 Summer's End by John Prine

Until next year...



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[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every Rating & Review for 2018

Wonder Woman, Volume 1: Blood by Brian Azzarello
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 01/03/2018
Notes: A rōnin tale of finesse and survival. It's Old World and folklore focused, insulated from America and its superheroes.

Wonder Woman, Volume 2: Guts by Brian Azzarello
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 01/06/2018
Notes: It endows humanity upon gods, who, in their cold divinity, admit forsakenness and love as fountainheads to motive.

Wonder Woman, Volume 3: Iron by Brian Azzarello
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 01/9/2018
Notes: Soap-operatic, it feeds off the milk of family dysfunction, and amasses its fellowship by empathy and common cause.

Wonder Woman, Volume 4: War by Brian Azzarello
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 01/12/2018
Notes: It uses villains as soundboards, distillers of character, against whom heroes quench mettle in waters of peril and fear.

Wonder Woman, Volume 5: Flesh by Brian Azzarello
(B+) 79% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 01/14/2018
Notes: A book of burdens, against which characters crumble, rage, withdraw, resign, cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.

Wonder Woman, Volume 6: Bones by Brian Azzarello
(A-) 81% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 01/18/2018
Notes: Eschewing the real world, it goes full sword and sorcery, innerving pathos and woe with the primal viscera of myth.

Wonder Woman, Volume 7: War-Torn by Meredith Finch
(B-) 70% | Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 01/22/2018
Notes: Puerile and simpleminded, it chokes on ineptitude, sinking listless in the quicksand of its own visual self-indulgence.

Wonder Woman, Volume 8: A Twist of Fate by Meredith Finch
(C+) 66% | Almost Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 01/29/2018
Notes: Tedious and maddening, it blunders along tangled in the dregs and chaff of feckless fickleness: all fatuity and hot air.

Wonder Woman, Volume 9: Resurrection by Meredith Finch
(B-) 68% | Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 02/02/2018
Notes: Regressive and dreary, it's a cold, flavorless, curdled gruel of soggy dialogue, canned sentiment, and half-baked plot.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
(A-) 82% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 02/06/2018
Notes: It's sugar and caffeine: a dulcet pop sonnet moved by rhyming couplets of worldbuilding and perilous confrontation.

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
(A-) 80% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 02/10/2018
Notes: It finds emotion and character in shame and open wounds; set beyond humanity's shores, adrift in primeval bedlam.

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
(A-) 84% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 02/14/2018
Notes: It deals in decision and destiny, drawing by doubt, defeat, and demure desire the draining disquiet of deep devotion.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
(A-) 83% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 02/18/2018
Notes: It's about awakenings, transgressive cracks, and how dread, desire and death indwell the formless chaos of potential.

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
(A-) 84% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 02/24/2018
Notes: A battlefront ballad to salvation in sacrifice, where willing oneself to weakness wins affinity, accession, and affection.

Teen Titans, Volume 1: It's Our Right to Fight by Scott Lobdell
(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 02/28/2018
Notes: Bright, buoyant pablum colored by contrivance and quirk, it lacks teeth and flesh: seeking in vain to be hip and edgy.

Teen Titans, Volume 2: The Culling by Scott Lobdell
(C+) 66% | Almost Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 03/05/2018
Notes: Slapdash and scattershot, it's a piddling patchwork of partial plots, perniciously pointless, and palatable by art alone.

The Culling: Rise of the Ravagers by Scott Lobdell
(C+) 64% | Almost Satisfactory | ⭐ – 03/07/2018
Notes: Musty, monotonous slop, it's asinine and slumbersome, blighted by the benumbing cud of incessant speech-fighting.

Aquaman, Volume 2: The Others by Geoff Johns
(A-) 80% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 03/10/2018
Notes: Art takes the storytelling wheel, while speech punctuates pathos in its infrequency: by sharpness and negative space.

Birds of Prey, Volume 1: Trouble in Mind by Duane Swierczynski
(B) 75% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 03/12/2018
Notes: Distinctly ordinary, it pays no mind to raison d'être; while both characters and art lack depth, detail and roundedness.

Superman, Volume 1: What Price Tomorrow? by George Pérez
(B-) 71% | Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 03/16/2018
Notes: Superman gets trapped in the Friend Zone, and mopes around like Charlie Brown between city-wrecking kaiju fights.

Batman and Robin, Volume 1: Born to Kill by Peter J. Tomasi
(B+) 78% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 03/19/2018
Notes: It retells Eden: where Robin defies the father, falls to temptation, wakes to mortality, and in sin knows good and evil.

Deathstroke, Volume 1: Legacy by Kyle Higgins
(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 03/23/2018
Notes: A hyper-violent onslaught, it seeps in just enough story to avert a bloody slog through the dank and wanton overkill.

Justice League, Volume 2: The Villain's Journey by Geoff Johns
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 03/26/2018
Notes: Wherein the Justice League are the cool kids at school, the most exclusive clique: objects of worship, blame and envy.

Batwoman, Volume 1: Hydrology by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 03/29/2018
Notes: It effuses poetry in luscious, evocative art, yet loses lucidity and form in the ethereal gloom of its smoky dreamscape.

Batwoman, Volume 2: To Drown the World by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
(B) 73% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 04/01/2018
Notes: Strained by dull contrivance, it's swivel-necked and dizzy: ambling inarticulate through the land of forever prologue.

Batwoman, Volume 3: World's Finest by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
(B+) 79% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 04/04/2018
Notes: Visually transgressive and stunning, it expresses in grandeur and vivid chiaroscuro the intensity and horror of detail.

Batwoman, Volume 4: This Blood Is Thick by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 04/09/2018
Notes: It's about family in all its manner and monstrosity: layering depth and flesh by reunions, concessions and absolution.

Batwoman, Volume 5: Webs by Marc Andreyko
(B) 72% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 04/16/2018
Notes: An exsanguinous pasteurization, it staggers listless and ramshackle, aspiring to adequacy in the most ordinary ways.

Batwoman, Volume 6: The Unknowns by Marc Andreyko
(C+) 64% | Almost Satisfactory | ⭐ – 04/20/2018
Notes: It's sham storytelling: a puppet show parody, perfidiously phony, and not pretty enough to camouflage its stupidity.

Batman, Volume 2: The City of Owls by Scott Snyder
(A-) 83% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 04/26/2018
Notes: A Wagnerian opus of fervor and delusion, weaving amongst all its crash and rumble resonant beats of emotive song.

Batman: The Dark Knight, Volume 1: Knight Terrors by David Finch
(B) 74% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 05/02/2018
Notes: A brag-book artistic showcase, it's formulaic eye-candy, portioning by plot a daisy-chain of cheesecake and fisticuffs.

Nightwing, Volume 2: Night of the Owls by Kyle Higgins
(B+) 77% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 05/07/2018
Notes: A modern arrangement of classical tunes, it sings pallid renditions, elevated by art and intriguing only in its changes.

Batgirl, Volume 2: Knightfall Descends by Gail Simone
(A-) 80% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 05/13/2018
Notes: Delightfully colloquial, it finds melody in the offbeats: accentuating imperfection and playing the past for poignancy.

Red Hood and the Outlaws, Volume 2: The Starfire by Scott Lobdell
(B+) 76% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐ – 05/18/2018
Notes: It lives off dialogue, art and irreverent charm: a watery brew, all sugars and creams, with no body or kick to its plots.

Birds of Prey, Volume 2: Your Kiss Might Kill by Duane Swierczynski
(B) 73% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐⭐ – 05/21/2018
Notes: A schlocky series of splinter stories and sour, slapdash sundry. It's fruitless fodder: illustrative of its own irrelevance.

Birds of Prey, Volume 3: A Clash of Daggers by Duane Swierczynski
(B) 72% | More than Satisfactory | ⭐⭐ – 05/27/2018
Notes: It's tedious, derivative pap, an aimless cry for attention: pumping up a nineties jam of gimmicks, sass and bloodshed.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
(B+) 79% | Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 06/05/2018
Notes: It treats memory as the primordial stew of personality: a precious, bubbling cistern of affection, anguish and intrigue.

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
(A-) 83% | Very Good | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – 06/16/2018
Notes: Wherein boundaries matter, and transgressive misfits find strength and self in demon lands beyond the borderlines.

*character limit

Click here for the rest: Addendum

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omg!! I forgot about updating this damn thing! I have 6,498 books to add. I don't know if I can do this! I might just add a few here and there. I'm starting to get burnt out on GR. I didn't plan on coming on here after cancer and being the same boring person. I want to get to know more of my friends in groups and stuff. Damn it all ........



*So far this year I have re-read some books and loved a few that I have read for the first time. I'm only going to list favorites and 5 stars (including just star reviews) on here and try to keep up through the year as long as everything goes well in real life. ♥

BOOKS

Favorites & Five Stars!

1. Red Rising MY REVIEW

2. Golden Son MY REVIEW

3. Morning Star MY REVIEW

3. Saga, Vol. 8 MY REVIEW

4. Night Broken MY REVIEW

5. Iron Gold MY REVIEW

6. Silence Fallen MY REVIEW

7. The Dragon Reborn MY REVIEW

8. The Last Namsara MY REVIEW

9. Wizard's First Rule MY REVIEW

10. Wires and Nerve, Volume 2: Gone Rogue MY REVIEW

11. Gardens of the Moon MY REVIEW

12. Demelza MY REVIEW

13. Streams of Silver MY REVIEW

14. Kitty Saves the World MY STAR REVIEW

15. The Cruel Prince MY REVIEW

16. The Walking Dead, The Official Cookbook MY REVIEW

17. Midnight Crossroad MY REVIEW

18. Beginnings: Obsidian & Onyx MY REVIEW

[Miranda Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Never reviewed a year before, but here goes!!

2018 was absolutely full of books - 290 to be precise - and with those books came some amazing highs and some pretty deep lows.

I discovered the pure awesome of Sarah J. Mass (courtesy of Angela's Booked)... and the pure headache of Gena Showalter (also courtesy of Angela's Booked).

Actually, a huge shout out to Angela's Booked in general for getting me on this site - she's literally the best.

I read over 90 books from authors and publishing companies - an opportunity to which I'm eternally grateful and amazed by. Thanks to them, I discovered many amazing books that I wouldn't have found otherwise.

So, without further ado, here are the best, the worst and the favorite books for 2018.


Miranda Reads' Best Books Read in 2018

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - the fully illustrated edition truly makes the book magical. The illustrator must be a wizard.
2. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas - this chick is a Maaster ('nuff said).
3. Eragon by Christopher Paolini - loved this one the first time through and every time after that. AND there's a new one coming out.
4. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - hilariously heartwarming. Absolutely adorable and truly memorable.
5. Where'd you go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple - all I can say is YAAAAS! The humor was completely spot on and I literally laughed out loud
6. Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas - seriously, where has the Maaster been all my life?
7. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown - I will fight anyone who claims that middle school books are "too young" - this one was truly excellent and the audiobook was amazing.
8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - ohhhhh man, this book will never grow old. I want to reread it in 2019.
9. Nevernight by Jay Kristoff - super psyched by the savagery of this one. So gloriously brutal.
10. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - I know, I know but the nostalgia is too much for me. Loved this one.


Miranda Reads' Worst Books Read in 2018

1. Bear by Marion Engel - what the hell Canada? Just what the hell.
2. Warstorm by Victoria Aveyard - I think I lost half my brain cells with that one.
3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - Hannah is a b*tch. Nuff said.
4. Firstlife by Gena Showalter - anyone ready for the most annoying special snowflake in existence?
5. Darkest Night by Gena Showalter - mind numbingly awful, with a dash of casual rape.
6. Perks of Being Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - maybe this was good for its time... but it definitely isn't good now.
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell - my hatred of this book is only matched by the volume of fans who claimed that I only dislike it because I "didn't get it."
8. The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware - this one wasn't too terrible but it was so similar to her other novels that it honestly felt like I was rereading.
9. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - let's make the Nazis beautiful, poetical and tragically misunderstood. And then make it horribly depressing for no apparent reason.
10. Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer - sometimes it's better to quit while you're ahead.


Miranda Reads' Favorite Books in 2018 **

1. Vox by Christina Dalcher - earned a well-deserved Goodreads nominee for best in science fiction!
2. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett - fabulous start to a thrilling series (also, two words: talking. key.)
3. The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason - absolutely riveting. Loved it cover to cover.
4. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikwa - I cried. I cried so hard. But it was the best cry I had all year.
5. The Man Who Walked Backward by Ben Montgomery - the title says it all. Such a sweet novel!
6. The Lifeboat at the End of the Universe by Simon Brading - loved the premise, and the ending!!
7. The One and Only by Julia Ash - a fresh take on the zombie trope!
8. Therapy Mammals by Jon Methvan - dark humor at its finest!
9. Can a Princess be a Firefighter? by Carole P Roman - extremely well-done children's book. Fabulous illustrations!
10. Aftermath by Tom Lewis - a riveting read. Aliens and teenagers - two things that should mixed!
11. The Squeezor is Coming! by Becky Benishek and Matt Fiss - loved this book, literally couldn't be cuter. Technically, I wasn't given this one to review but I know the illustrator through a friend of a friend... Anyway, loved this one so much that I bought copies for all my little cousins!
12. The Tribe of Iodine Wine by Brian Pacini - rarely have I read a book with so many teenagers portrayed so realistically!
13. Who's Minding the Store? by David Lucero - a whole new take on retail therapy!
14. Shivers in the Night by Various Authors - a fun collection of spooky stories.
15. If Nuns Were Wives by Shani Chen - a fun book about marriage from a somewhat unusual perspective!

**note: these are chosen from the books sent to me throughout the year to review. With over 90 books to choose from, it was incredibly difficult to narrow this down. If you are interested in other books I've recieved to review click here

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[Sean Barrs · Rating 5 out of 5]

2018 = 200 books!

Here's my top five (in no particular order!)

1. Midnight’s Children


2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane


3. The Waves


4. Circe


5. Spinning Silver


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[Melanie (meltotheany) · Rating 5 out of 5]

2018 was actually a really good year for me; reading wise and life wise. This was the first year I've read 200 books and I really can't believe it! But more importantly, I have made so many more friendships and connections and I truly feel so blessed that I get to gush about books with so many people! Thank you so much to everyone who interacts with me and takes the time to read my reviews. It means more to me than you'll ever know! And I'm wishing you all pure happiness, unconditional love, good health, and all the good reads in 2019! But let's talk about some stats now!

➽ And thanks to the amazing Brock at Let's Read, here are some other statistics that I was able to gather from his amazing spreadsheet:

























➽ And if you’re interested, here is his spreadsheet for 2019! (File>make a copy for your use)

My Top Ten Favorite 2018 Publications:
➽ 10.) Sadie by Courtney Summers
➽ 9.) Bloody Rose (The Band #2) by Nicholas Eames
➽ 8.) The Heart Forger (The Bone Witch #2) by Rin Chupeco
➽ 7.) The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
➽ 6.) Grey Sister (Book of the Ancestor #2) by Mark Lawrence
➽ 5.) Blanca y Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
➽ 4.) Girls of Paper and Fire (Girls of Paper and Fire #1) by Natasha Ngan
➽ 3.) Circe by Madeline Miller
➽ 2.) Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton
➽ 1.) The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black



My Favorite 2018 Publications that ALMOST made my Top 10 (Books 11-15):

➽ Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake
➽ Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno
➽ Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
➽ Shadow of The Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) by Julie Kagawa
➽ Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer #2) by Laini Taylor

My Five Favorite Books NOT Published in 2018:

➽ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) by Becky Chambers
➽ Radio Silence by Alice Oseman
➽ The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
➽ Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1) by Cassandra Clare
➽ The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade #1) by Seth Dickinson

But The VERY Best Book I Read all Year?

➽ The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) by Holly Black

Extra End of the Year Things:
➽ Most Disappointing Reads of 2018
➽ My Ten Favorite 2018 Author Debuts
➽ My Favorite Book Quotes of 2018
➽ Ten Things I’ve Loved in 2018 that weren’t Books
➽ I Read My “Top 12 Books I Must Read in 2018” List

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➽ My 2017 Reading Challenge
➽ My 2016 Reading Challenge
➽ My 2015 Reading Challenge

[Brina]

Greetings goodreads friends. In 2017, I enjoyed a surreal experience where I managed to read over 200 books. The year 2018 has shaped up to be a year where reading has been at a premium due to a variety of real life factors including family celebrations. It has been a small miracle that I even approached 90 books this year. Many of the books I have read were earmarked special books in order to maximize the reading time I do have. I also cut down on reviewing due to time constraints even for books that ended up being 4 or 5 stars for me. One of my goals for 2019 is find time to write reviews again even if they are briefer than before. Despite these factors, I still participate in and enjoy a variety of goodreads groups including but not limited to Retro Chapter Chicks, The Nonfiction Book Club, Reading for Pleasure, and The Baseball Book Club. I also managed to complete classics bingo in the group Catching up on classics and continued with a personal Pulitzer challenge across all platforms. I value the friendships I have made in all of my goodreads groups and hope that they will continue in the years to come. I wish everyone a happy and productive reading year ahead.

Ongoing Top Reads of 2018:

Fiction--
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangaremgba
Wade in the Water: Poems by Tracy K Smith
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
Doc/Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan S. Paton

Nonfiction--
Tinker to Evers to Chance: The Chicago Cubs and the Dawn of Modern America by David Rapp
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea by Jack E. Davis
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King
Jackie Robinson: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad

[Nayra.Hassan · Rating 4 out of 5]

تمر الايام ببطء..و تمضي السنوات بسرعة
و ها قد انقضت سنتي الثالثة على الجودريدز
و التالتة دايما تابتة

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i...
تكشف الكثير و تجلب الكثير و تخفي ايضا الكثير
لم يعد فيها الجودريدز باكمله كما كان
اختفى منه اعزاء لفترات او للأبد ؟
صمت خلاله البعض بعد طول تألق
صارت التعليقات /المناقشات/المشاحنات اقل و اقل
ظهرت على السطح فقاعات عجيبة و حسابات زائفة بالمئات . .و صار الغباء الالكتروني مضربا للامثال

قرات فيها نفس عدد الصفحات ..كسبت الاف الاصدقاء و المتابعين..و خسرت القليلين..سذاجتى صارت اقل..صدماتي اقل و اقل ..
لا اعتبر موقعنا العبقري للقراءة فقط. .بل هو لنتشارك القراءة و كل ما يتبعها من خبرات
لنتاكد اننا لسنا وحدنا.. لا ؛في مننا كتير
Freaks لسنا غرباء الأطوار أو

على المستوى الشخصي ..كانت السنة حزينة..شهدت مرضا عاتيا لعزيز على ..

و فقدنا فيها كقراء: اخا و ابا عزيزا قبل ان نعرف اللغز وراء سطوره

اضغط على صور الكتب لتدخل صفحة الكتاب مباشرة *

تحققت لي رغبات بعد فوات الاوان ..بكثير ؛ لذا صارت مراجعة و رواية "لائحة رغباتي" تحتل المركز الاول عندى " وعندكم بالاصوات في 2018


افضل مجموعة قصصية: حدائق موراكامي

و بعيدا عن المجموعة استحسنت له "كينو" و كهف الرياح"ا

و قد اعدت قراءة مجموعتى: شهر العسل و الجريمة لمحفوظ
شهر العسل
الجريمة
و مازلت على مدى عام أقرأ بتأنى على التوازى مجموعته الافضل
على الاطلاق : همس الجنون مع مجلد تشيكوف لاهداف ادبية نميسة

افضل جزء من سلسلة مترجمة :سجين السماء

و افضل جزء من سلسلة عربية : الرصد و هى افضل رواية رعب بين الاثني عشر الذين قراتهم هذا العام

افضل رواية بقلم نسائي و تمسني بشكل شخصي كانت: طعام معاناة حب

وتليها "بائعة الكتب"رغم عيوب السرد منحتها ريفيو من القلب


ربما لا يعرف البعض انني اعتبر ان مهمتى هنا للتاريخ هي : كتابة ريفيوهات عربية مشجعة عن كلاسيكيات الادب العالمي
و ان تحتل مراجعاتي مركز متقدم على صفحات اهم تلك الروايات ..رغم اني قراتها منذ زمن بعيد الا أنني اواصل مهمتي رغم تعثري ؛ و هذا العام افخر بمراجعتى الغريبة لقصة مدينتين


eat pray love و الريفيو الاغرب


و مغامرتي الكبري بكتابتي عن رائعة تعتبر للرجال: العراب


افضل رواية لمؤلف اقرأ له لاول مرة كانت بلا جدال :صدى الارواح

اما الرواية التى فاجاتني كثيرا فهي: نسيم الصبا و كانت اول لقاء لي مع الادب النمساوى و كذلك الادب الرومانسي الذي قاطعته منذ دهر و لكني من مدمنى ادب الرسائل كما تعلمون

لكن جزئها الثاني افتقد لبريق المفاجأة

الريفيو الكوميدي لهذا العام كان من نصيب امنيتي ان اقتل رجلا



في مشروعي المستمر عن كتب الطعام قرأت كتابين و راجعت ثلاث كتب قديمة و لكن كان اغربها :الترويح عن النفس بدون طعام

من بين حوالى20رواية مترجمة حرصت على تنويعها بشدة فقرأت لكويلو ..جوان رولينج..دولاكور ..غيوم ميسو ..موراكامى ..اجاثا..كافكا..البير كامو .. ادجار بو ..تولستوى ..تشيكوف طبعا ..فاز معى و معكم هربرت ويلز برائعته للابد : ارض العميان


افضل كتاب سيرة ذاتية و مقالات و منحني مفاجاة حقيقية و وقتا ممتعا كان : اذاعة الاغاني

قراءاتي الدينية افتقرت الكتب الدسمة هذا العام و لكني قرات ثمانية كتب فقط كان افضلها كتيب مائتي كلمة قرانية قد تفهم خطأ " و افضل فكرة ل:30شهيرا دخلوا الاسلام و افضلها اثرا
الابتلاء علمني



قرأت 74كتاب و لكني قدمت 125مراجعة هذا العام ..لان هناك قصص قصيرة لم ادرجها في التحدى.. و كذلك قدمت ريفيوهاتي المعتادة عن قراءاتي القديمة

كل سطر نقرأه ننتفع به يوما ما ..و كل كلمة نتبادلها كاصدقاء هنا تضيف لنا انسانيا و عقليا و في الوقت الذي كاد اليأس يتملكني ..عاد اصدقاء و ظهر اخرين و عادت المراجعات تتالق بالنقاش و المزاح و منحتوني كالعادة عاما لا ينسى و راحة و واحة و حكمة لا اجدها الا عند : أصدقائي
و مازلت عند وعدي اطل عليكم يوميا قدر الإمكان و ما زلتم على عهدكم تمنحونني ونسا لا يقدر بثمن

♥🎉 عام سعيد باذن الله

[Ilse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking about life with books, attempting to recapitulate the reading year for the fourth time, maybe just one word could do for 2018: Middlemarch. Reading Middlemarch in 2018 to me was pure bliss. In the afterglow of it, reading Zadie Smith’s essay on the novel in Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, I caught myself nodding at Smith’s eulogy: In Middlemarch love enables knowledge. People are still all that people really have: our knowledge of, and feelings for, one another. Eliot is thinking with the heart and feeling with the head’. It would be hard to explain why, but these words and the novel equal for me the feeling of cuddling up close to the warmth, near the fireplace.

Another memorable highlight was the rounding of Giorgio Bassani’s lyrical The Novel of Ferrara cycle after I had read The Garden of the Finzi-Continis long ago. Fionnuala rightly and astutely drew some parallels in the various episodes with Proust’s In search of lost time – but also without associating it with its distinct Proustian hues and references, this cycle on the plight and lost world and culture of the Italian Jews of Ferrara in the aftermath of WWII enraptured by its subtle melancholic beauty.


(Picture by Ferdinando Scianna on the cover of the fourth episode of Giorigio Bassani’s cycle, Behind the door).

To be honest, there was a bit more to 2018’s reading than Middlemarch, as the prospect of reading Eliot was the decisive element why I chose to embark on Alexandra’s alphabetical challenge of reading women in 2018. Although it was not simple to find an author I fancied reading for each letter (the letters I, Q and X particularly challenging) the reading itself went smoothly and overall it was a rewarding reading experience. I managed to read a for me agreeable mixture of familiar and newly discovered authors – next to George Eliot, I greatly enjoyed reading Fleur Jaeggy, Edith Wharton, Penelope Fitzgerald, Maeve Brennan, Han Kang, Angela Carter and Nora Ikstena. With regard to poetry I was enthralled by the poems of Margaret Atwood (thank you for pointing me to her poetry, Julie!), Louise Glück, Edna Millay St Vincent, Christina Rossetti and Jenny Xie.

My whole women author’s list from December 2017 until now:
A: Austen, Jane- Lady Susan(*****); Atwood, Margaret - Morning in the Burned House (****1/2); Allende, Isabel -And of Clay Are We Created (**)
B: Brennan, Maeve - De twaalfjarige bruiloft en andere verhalen(****) ; Beard, Mary - Women & Power: A Manifesto(****)
C: Carter, Angela - The Bloody Chamber (*****); Carrington, Leonora - Down Below(***); Colette - Barks and Purrs(***)
D: DiCamillo, Kate - Louisiana's Way Home(****); Dicksinson, Emily - De Mooiste Gedichten van Emily Dickinson(*****)
E: Eliot, George - Middlemarch(*****); Emcke, Carolin - Gegen den Hass(***)
F: Fitzgerald, Penelope - The Bookshop(*****)
G: Glück, Louise - Meadowlands(****); von Goeth, Aurora & Harper, Jules - Louis XIV, the Real Sun King(***); Goodman, Allegra - La Vita Nuova(****); Geraerts, Elke - Mentaal kapitaal(**)
H: Han Kang - The White Book(*****); Herzberg, Judith - Soms vaak; Herzberg, Judith - Klaagliedjes(**); Highsmith, Patricia, Sauce for the goose (****)
I: Ikstena, Nora - Soviet Milk(****1/2)
J: Jaeggy, Fleur - S. S. Proleterka (****)
K: Kressmann Taylor Kathrine - Address Unknown(***1/2)
L: Lasters, Ruth - Vouwplannen(***); Li, Yiyun - A Small Flame(***)
M: Macdonald, Helen - H is for Hawk(****)(13.03.2018); St. Vincent Millay Edna - Second April(*****); Morrison, Tony - Beloved(*****)
N: Nérimovski, Irene - Suite Française(***1/2) (16.04.2018); Nors, Dorthe - Karate Chop(***1/2)
O: Olivier, Christiane – Les enfants de jocaste(***); For the Love of Willie(****); Øyehaug, Gunnhild - Knots: Stories(***)
P: Petrushevskaya, Ludmilla - There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbour's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales(***) (18.05.2018); Parker, Dorothy - The Custard Heart(***); Parker, Dorothy - A Telephone Call(****) (2.12.2017)Plath, Sylvia Tres mujeres(****); Platzova, Magdalena - Alle beschavingen hebben hun hoogtepunt(***)
Q: Quin, An - Passages(***)
R: Rossetti, Christina - Christina Rosseti: Liefdessonnetten(****)(18.05.2018); Rie, Therese - Die Geschichte der schönen Simonetta(****)
S: Smith, Ali - Winter (****) (19.01.2017); Schmidt, Annie M.G. - Poes, poes, poes(***); Sinclair, May - Life and Death of Harriet Frean(****1/2); Slimani, Leïla Adèle(***); St.Clair, Kassia - The Secret Lives of Colour(****); Strout, Elisabeth - English Lessons: A Memoir(**); Smith, Zadie - Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays (****)
T: Tsushima, Yuko - Of Dogs and Walls(****); Tsushima, Yuko - Territory of Light(***)
U: Ugrešić, Dubravka - Baba Yaga Laid an Egg(***)(04.06.2018); Ulmer, Renate - Alfons Mucha, 1860-1939: Master of Art Nouveau(***)
V: Vorpsi, Ornela - The Country Where No One Ever Dies22206](****)
W: Wharton, Edith - Xingu(****); Wharton, Edith - Roman Fever(****)
X: Xie, Jenny -Eye Level: Poems (****1/2) (
Y: Yourcenar, Marguerite - Coup de Grâce (***1/2); Yourcenar, Marguerite - A Blue Tale and Other Stories (***); Yanique, Tiffany - Wife(**); Yelin, Barbara - Irmina(****)
Z: Zeh, Julie - Unterleuten(*****)

Which means 62 out of the 160 distinct works I have read were written by women (the ones marked in bold I have written a review about).

Thanks to the group read Kris initiated, I finally got to read the The Iliad(in two editions) and the The Odyssey, for which I shied away until now and now both read with great eagerness and joy.

Other books that will stay with me were a few poetry collections (Rilke’s The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke, William Carlos Williams, Cavafy) and last but not least Kafka’s Aphorisms – fragile, mysterious, poetic, thought-provoking as well as making me dream.

I enjoyed reading Julian Barnes essays in Through the Window: Seventeen Essays and a Short Story, so much that I now look for more essayistic work (currently Zadie Smith). Singularly gratifying was Jan Brokken’s fine travelogue Baltische zielen: Lotgevallen in Estland, Letland en Litouwen in which we meet with Mark Rothko, Eisenstein, Hannah Arendt, Gidon Kremer, Arvo Pärt, Romain Gary and many other fascinating personalities from the 20th century connected to the Baltic States. I managed to wrestle me through Bertrand Russell’s A History of Western Philosophy, ending up with mixed feelings.

A first acquaintance with John Berger (The Red Tenda of Bologna). touched a particular esthetical chord in me – I will return to his work in 2019.

Like in 2015, I had a few moments of bookish (and other) existential doubts this year, wondering anew whether I simply can continue ‘reading my whole life away’ like this or rather consider going for fundamental change in life. Again the books decided and I seem not yet willing and able to forsake them. Bearing T.S. Eliot’s words in mind, I still assume that books and cats are what makes life good. And as Julian Barnes this year reassured me that ‘Life and reading are not separate activities. When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge deeper into it.There may be a surficial escape – into different countries, mores, speech patterns – but what you are essentially doing is furthering your understanding of life’s subtleties, paradoxes, joys, pains and truths. Reading and life are not separate but symbiotic.’, there seems even less reason to abandon the delight of reading. Maybe, like a friend did earlier this week, I also will look back on this year as a bittersweet one, but I still feel blessed and grateful for this life with books as it was and is the life of my choice.

Approaching the ending of the year I came across a wonderful, beauteous essay of the Belgian-Polish philosopher Alicja Gescinska in which she explores the question if music can make people and society better (Thuis in muziek. Een oefening in menselijkheid). She shows how music can play a major role in our personal and moral development and how music is fundamental rather than ornamental to our existence, allowing us to come home in ourselves, forming our home in the world. And it is her essay that now points me where to head for in the year 2019: I will read more on music and composers and particularly return to listening to music, considering to go back to dancing as well if I see a chance to.

I mostly didn’t write reviews of what I read, but greatly enjoyed reading the reviews of friends on the moments I managed to drop by here. My heartfelt wishes and thanks to all of you making this place a haven of bookish friendship by reading and writing reviews and discussing books. May 2019 be another great year of reading, joy and love for each and every one of you and for your loved ones.

A complete list of what I read in 2018 can be found here.

Review 2015
Review 2016
Review 2017

[Jaline · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful reading year I had in 2018! Sometimes, I think I know what books to choose and it doesn't turn out that great. This year, for the most part, I allowed the books to choose me - and the results were a pleasure.

A preliminary note for my personal rating system might be warranted here:

1-Star Reads: this is not something I have experienced yet

2-Star Reads: these are, plain and simple, bad choices on my part

3-Star Reads: books in this category are, for me, most likely ones that were good, but had flaws that prevented me from feeling moved, or the flaws hindered my thoughts or learning process.

4-Star Reads: this is a category that designates a great reading experience for me with a minor flaw or two that I noticed but that didn't affect my enjoyment.

5-Star Reads: these books are ones that almost always jump out at me and say, "Read me!!" They were my most frequent reads during 2018 - and I consider them a Gift!

Beyond 5-Star Reads: This category is where the books are so good and so memorable and that enveloped me on so many different levels that they ended up on my Favourites shelf.

Speaking of shelves, I do create a new shelf for books I have read each year. This helps me to keep more organized, but also, for friends who are looking for my most recent reads, the yearly shelves open far more quickly than my "Read" shelf. I plan on going back and creating shelves specific to previous years also.

I have had many problems this year with my Goodreads Friends' reviews not showing up on my Update Feed. If I have missed any, I apologize - and it is without doubt my loss. I do receive my email notifications of "likes" and "comments", though. I have resorted to keeping a separate folder for "likes" because I can click on the person's name and go to their Profile page. If there are reviews or adds or updates there, I will "like" anything I can find - and I hope it makes up for some of the missed ones.

If you are interested in which of my reads from 2018 are 5-Star reads, that shelf would be the place to go. I won't add them here because they might not all fit! Instead, I will include below the books that became new inhabitants of my Favourites shelf this year, in the order that I read them:

January
Crossing to Safety, by Wallace Stegner
The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien
(Plus 7 other 5-Star reads)

February
The Tie That Binds, by Kent Haruf
(Plus 5 other 5-Star reads)

March
The Wide Circumference of Love, by Marita Golden
(Plus 6 other 5-Star reads)

April
(Seven 5-Star reads)

May
(Seven 5-Star reads)

June
The Princes of Ireland (The Dublin Saga #1), by Edward Rutherfurd
The Rebels of Ireland (The Dublin Saga #2), by Edward Rutherfurd
(Plus 4 other 5-Star reads)

July
Doc, by Mary Doria Russell
Epitaph, by Mary Doria Russell
The Last Child, by John Hart
(Plus 9 other 5-Star reads)

August
Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
Snap, by Belinda Bauer
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, by Joanna Cannon
Three Things About Elsie, by Joanna Cannon
(Plus 13 other 5-Star reads)

September
The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje
(Plus 9 other 5-Star reads)

October
Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan
Annie Dunne, by Sebastian Barry
Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje
(Plus 6 other 5-Star reads)

November
The Sea, by John Banville
The Friend, by Sigrid Núñez
(Plus 6 other 5-Star reads)

December
Sweet Thunder, by Ivan Doig
The Bartender's Tale, by Ivan Doig
The Word Is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz
Kingdom of the Blind, by Louise Penny
Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay
Mr. Dickens and His Carol, by Samantha Silva
(Plus 2 other 5-Star reads . . . so far)

None of this wonder-filled reading year would have been possible without some very special and kind and generous Goodreads friends. I appreciate each one of you from my heart for helping to keep this a safe place to share our thoughts, feelings, and reviews.

Only a couple of times this year have I witnessed people hi-jacking someone's review thread and being outright rude. In all of those incidents, I am proud to say that my Goodreads friends were unfailingly polite and just let the ranters rant. Sometimes I think we all need to be reminded that our opinions are all valuable, but attacking people for their own opinions is just wrong.

Again, thank you from my heart to all the wonderful BookFriends, both long-term and short-term, for helping to enrich my reading life through your choices of books, your reviews, and also your comments and/or "likes" for mine.

I am grateful for all of it: the people, the reviews, the books, the exchanges. May 2019 be filled with the best possible in all those categories for all of us!

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awwwww, 2018...or as I like to call it...That Year I Was the Shittiest of GR Friends...

As you can tell by that^ bullshit title, this is going to be more of a quick-and-dirty-lifestyle-verbal-diarrhea monologue. So if you have no interest in that, you've been warned. Thoughtful discussion of the books I read this year? Sorry, not so much.

This is more for those wonderful and caring people who have sent me, "Are you ok? You aren't around anymore," messages throughout the year.

2018 was one of the most stressful years of my life and, as someone who considers themselves pretty tough and "roll-with-the-punches," my lack of...constant grace and poise when tackling said year was a tough pill for me to swallow. I know we are all but human, but still...it usually takes a lot to ruffle my feathers so to speak, so on top of being stressed, I found myself pissed at myself for being stressed.

But, it is what it is.

One of the many things on the chopping block of life this past year was anything even resembling a halfway decent review. My inner quirky Snark-Monster was all but silent this year as she was being choked to death by her distant, more evil cousin, Fuck-Off-I-Don't-Have-the-Energy-For-You.

What a bitch, that one.

I'm not trying to tease anyone with the mystery of my life stress here or anything. I underwent a major career shift, which is a positive - albeit stressful period, which I know will pass. And, in the midst of that, I had a lot of other life stresses, mainly, the loss of my beloved 10-year old dog (which as a dog lover who has chosen dog children over human children) felt like like losing a limb.

In short, I am simply attempting to explain why I was the shittiest GR friend of all time this year. I know I owe no one any explanation and I know you will all understand as that's real life and real life comes first.

But I also just want to express my hope that 2019 is a better year.

I missed chatting with my favorite GR peeps over the last 12 months or so and I truly hope to rectify that this coming year. I missed getting excited over your reads and reviews and I look forward to getting back into things.

So, I hope everyone had a wonderful 2018 and cheers to 2019 and all the wonderful books it promises to bring.

Some books goals I am looking forward to tackling this year (since I should probably have something book-related in this hot mess of spam):

1) Finish the Harry Potter series.
2) Finish the last book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and then tackle the rest of his catalogue.
3) Start Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters series (yes, I am that late to the party)
4) Read one classic or mythology book a month
5) Get my physical TBR shelf pared down to 100 or less.

What are some of your goals this next year, guys?

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

2018
This is a list of my top books of 2018. The books on this list may not have been published in 2018, but I READ them in 2018, and that counts in my book.

So, without further ado-
Top Ten of 2018
The Dream Daughter- Diane Chamberlain
Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne
From Sand and Ash- Amy Harmon
Before We Were Yours- Lisa Wingate
The Secret Keeper- Kate Morton
The Shadows We Hide- Allen Eskens
An American Marriage- Tayari Jones
Tangerine- Christine Mangan
And Then She Was Gone- Lisa Jewell
The Traveling Cat Chronicles- Hiro Arikawa


Thrillers- Mystery- Suspense:
The Wife – Alafair Burke
The Fourth Monkey- J.D. Barker
A Gathering of Secrets- Linda Castillo
The Long and Faraway Gone- Lou Berney
The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
Why Kill the Innocent- C.S. Harris

Self- Published
Trouble in Glamour Town by S.R. Mallery

Non- fiction:
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI- David Grann
Robin- Dave Itzkoff
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America- Beth Macy
I’ll be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer- Michelle McNamara


Romance:
Rainy Day Friends- Jill Shalvis
The Prince- Katharine Ashe
Intercepted by Alexa Martin
The Duke with the Dragon Tattoo- Kerrigan Bryne

Historical Fiction:
The Last Suppers- Mandy Mikulencak
Only Killers and Thieves- Paul Howarth
Country Dark- Chris Offutt
Next Year in Havana- Chanel Cleeton
Jane Steele by Faye Lyndsay
The Locksmith’s Daughter- Karen Brooks


Contemporary Fiction:
Dreams of Falling- Karen White
Us Against You- Fredrik Backman
Unmarriageable- Soniah Kamal
The Beach House Reunion- Mary Alice Monroe
By the Book -Julia Sonneborn

Horror:

We Sold Our Souls- Grady Hendrix
Dracul- Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker
The Outsider- Stephen King
The Silent Companions- Laura Purcell

Cozy Mysteries:
Death by Dumpling- Vivien Chien
Murder with Cinnamon Scones- Karen Rose Smith
Cut to the Chaise- Karen Rose Smith
Dead to Begin With- Bill Crider

Most Gritty Crime Dramas:

Don’t Send Flowers- Martin Solares
The Force- Don Winslow

Cookbooks:

Turnip Greens & Tortillas: A Mexican Chef Spices Up the Southern Kitchen- Eddie Hernandez

Gothic:
The Witch of Willow Hall- Hester Fox
The Darkling Bride- Laura Anderson

Short Story Collection:
The Dead Still Here- Laura Valeri

Comics:
Book Love- Debbie Tung
To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel- Harper Lee and Fred Fordham

Strangest Book:

The Social Creature- Tara Isabella Burton

2018 was an unusual year for me. I never, ever, in a million years would have thought I’d find myself enthralled with Graphic Novels, Comics, or Manga. Now, I am moderately addicted and loving every minute of it.

I also re-discovered the horror genre after abandoning it, almost entirely for decades, with only an occasional re-read during October- for Halloween.
I read more non-fiction than ever before, and historical fiction remained one of my favorite genres this year.

I did manage to slip in a few classics, something I vow to do every year, but I am normally an underachiever in that area.

I failed miserably at completing or keeping up with all the various series I have vowed to catch up on. Not only that- I started new ones!! Maybe in 2019??? But, don’t hold your breath, though. LOL!
I also failed at ‘groups’ on Goodreads-again. I love groups, but seldom can align my reading schedule with the book of the month selection. Again, maybe in 2019!!
I handed out a one -star rating for the first time in years- but overall, I enjoyed most of the books I read this year. However, it seems as though I was a little more critical and less tolerant of sub- par efforts, than in years past.

Solid, ‘go-to’ authors and all- time favorite, ‘auto-buy’ authors disappointed me this year, while new and fresh voices made deep and lasting impressions. The psychological thriller- a favorite genre in 2016-17- became so over saturated and diluted, I burned out on it. So, it went the way of Regency Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance and Nordic Thrillers from years past. Don’t expect to see me reading anything from this sub-genre anytime soon.

What do I plan to read in 2019? Well, PLAN is the operative word. Perhaps hope is a better one. I hope to read more from my vintage paperback collection, while also putting a hold on collecting more of them, as many of resources have dried up and caring for our aging parents keeps me grounded. I plan on organizing my Kindle books this year, instead, and work on getting my Netgalley percentage into the elusive 80% bracket. I am also going to work on making my subscription services pay off, which means more books from Scribd and Kindle Unlimited.


I hesitate about addressing this issue- but...

This was a part of my experience in reading this past year.

More and more, our reading experiences are intertwined with social media, in one form or another. Goodreads is the site I used more than any other for book interactions. Naturally, if you put yourself out there, on any social media platform, inevitably you will encounter a troll, a spammer, or a scammer. Sadly, for me, this year was worse than any other since I’ve been a member of Goodreads. I have made official complaints, flagged comments, blocked members, and deleted ugly comments in record numbers this year. I was even book-shamed on more than one occasion. I was also schooled in the way I present my book reviews from time to time.

However- The positives far outweighed the negative!

Goodreads is a vast, enormous place. While I use the site nearly every day, there are huge portions of it, I never have been a part of. I have found that, by and large, the people I’ve met here are simply amazing. I never experienced the level of support, kindness, and helpfulness, as I did this past year. I am so lucky to have such a great group of friends and followers who ‘like’ my reviews and leave the nicest comments for me.

Writing reviews does not come naturally for me, so, I do hope everyone understands just how much I truly appreciate all you do, and how much I value your friendship!

I am looking forward to seeing what books everyone is reading in 2019!! I have found so many great books and discovered new authors, I never would have otherwise, all because you are willing to share your books and reviews with me. One of my favorite things about being a member here, is the diversity and how the love of books can transcend so many barriers, break down walls, and cross deserts and oceans to touch people in so many ways. I have friends from all walks of life, from all across the globe, and I absolutely love it!!

I hope 2019 will bring everyone health, prosperity, peace and goodwill and lots and lots of fantastic new book discoveries.

Happy New Year!!

[Charlotte May]

Update 14.11.18

I've completed my challenge of 90 books and the year isn't over! (4.1.19) EDIT: I actually finished the year on 103

Here are some more favourite's from the second half of 2018 :)

A Shiver of Snow and Sky

Station Eleven

Lost Boy (this was a phenomenal retelling, and I am definitely going to read more of her books!)

The Shock of the Fall

A Thousand Perfect Notes

The Song of Achilles

Lie With Me (I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller)

A Darker Shade of Magic and A Gathering of Shadows (a new fantasy series for me to obsess over)

The Roanoke Girls (An absolutely twisted thriller!)

They Both Die at the End

Beartown

Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Days of Blood & Starlight

The Dry

Nevernight

Update 22.6.18

So, we are about halfway through the year and so far I've read 50 books. I thought I'd get in early and list some of my favourite books/series I've read from the first half of 2018 :)

I completed A Song of Ice and Fire with A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust and A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast

Completed The Raven Cycle with Blue Lily, Lily Blue and The Raven King

Crooked Kingdom

The Old Kingdom series - beginning with Sabriel this was an epic series!

Reread of The Declaration series! The Declaration

The Wayfarers series! This series convinced me to give Sci Fi a shot, and it was totally worth it! The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and A Closed and Common Orbit

All the Bright Places

And Then There Were None

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

We Were Liars

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

One of Us is Lying

Bone Gap

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and Leah on the Offbeat

Heartless

The mirrorworld series - The Petrified Flesh, Living Shadows and The Golden Yarn

The Bone Season series - starting with The Bone Season

The Lies of Locke Lamora ,Red Seas Under Red Skies & The Republic of Thieves

What You Want To See

Been so lucky this year with some great reads and hopefully plenty more to come! :)

[هدى يحيى]

قد لا يكون هذا هو العام الأغنى في القراءة
فالمشاغل وتقلبات الحياة استطاعت أخذي من هوايتي المفضلة
وعملي كمترجمة بدوام كامل بالإضافة إلى التدريس يأكل من وقتي الكثير

قد لا يكون هذا هو العام الأغنى في القراءة
ولكنه هو العام الذي بدأت فيه الخروج من قوقعتي
ورؤية العالم

هذا العام ورغم كثرة انشغالاتي وزواجي حديثا
قررت السفر داخل مصر إلى أماكن لم أرها قبلا
وهو قرار كان صعبا وسط كل هذا الازدحام
ورأيت من جمال بلدي القليل
ولكنه أشبعني وعزز بداخلي متعة المغامرة والاستشكاف

هذا العام لم تعد القراءة هي هوايتي الوحيدة
وجدت في السفر متعتي الجديدة
وعرفت أنني قوية
وقادرة على التحرك بعيدا عن عوالم الكتب
والعودة إليها وأنا أكثر نشاطا ومرحا وحبا للحياة

*********

هذا العام يقول التحدي أنني أتممت 130 كتابا
ما بين الكتب التي قرأتها للمتعة والتي قرأتها للعمل والتي ترجمتها أو راجعت ترجمتها

130
كتابا لم أستطع أن أضمن خلالها كل ما أردت
لم أستطع السير على الخطة التي وضعتها بالقراءة لمن أحبهم وعدم تأجيل الكتب المهمة لفترات أطول
لكني سعيدة بما حققته في هذا الوقت الممتلئ بالعمل والسفر ورؤية عالمي الخارجي الذي طالما أجلت رؤيته

كان عام تعرفت فيه أخيرا على مارجريت أتوود
وندمت على كل تلك السنوات التي لم أقرأ لها فيها
كونها كاتبة مذهلة ذات حس أدبي وفكاهي لا يضاهى

وكان عام اكتشافي للمبهر أفونسو كروش
الذي بروايته دمية كوكوشكا انضم إلى قائمة كتابي المفضلين
وهذا يعني أنني سأقرأ كل ما كتب بنهم واستمتاع

وقرأت سيرة تشارلز سيميك
ذبابة في الحساء
للمترجمة المقتدرة إيمان مرسال
وهي من السير المهمة التي يجب على الجميع قرائتها
وحظيت هذا العام بقراءتها على شكل كتاب صوتي
وكانت تجربة ممتعة
أتبعتها بعدة كتب صوتية أخرى

وأهم كتاب صوتي لهذا العام لن يكون سوى أبناء الأيام
لكاتبي المفضل أبدا إدواردو غليانو
بترجمة الرائع صالح علماني

كما قرأت ما قُدم حتى الآن من سلسلة الجليد والنار
واستمتعت بمغامرات عالمي المفضل الذي صنعه مارتن وترجمه هشام فهمي باقتدار

وقرأت أعمال جديدة لمحفوظ
وأعدت قراءة مفضلتي الحرافيش
خير ما كتب العرب إلى الأبد

وقرأت أيضا ديوان حافظ مترجم
لم أحب الترجمة كثيرا ولم تستهوني طريقة إخراج الكتاب
لكن كل هذا لا يمنع استمتاعي بواحد من أهم شعراء بلاد فارس
ومن استمد منه محفوظ أناشيد روايته الأعظم تلك

وكذلك قرأت بليغ لطلال فيصل ودهشت لمدى النضج الذي صار عليه صاحبه
وسررت لذلك وتمتعت برواية بديعة كانت من أجمل ما قرأت حقا

وقرأت رواية الأصل وتمتعت للغاية بالمزيج الذي صنعه دان براون هنا
حتى لكأنه كتب الرواية لي بما يناسب مزاجي تماما

وقرأت المزيد لمولانا وإمامنا خورخيه بورخيس
واطلعت أخيرا على كتابه الوحيد من ترجمة الباذخ صالح علماني "صنعة الشعر"
لذي أرشحه لجميع محبي الأدب والقراءة

واطلعت على الكتيب الظريف
أشياء غريبة يقولها الزبائن في متاجر الكتب
وأعجبتني الفكرة وأسعدتني قرائته كثيرا

كما أنني قرأت كتاب فن القراءة للجميل ألبرتو مانغويل
ورغم أسفي على الترجمة غير اللائقة إلا أنني تمتعت كعادتي مع عاشق الكتب وراهبها الأول في عصرنا

من الكتب المهمة كذلك كان كتاب الغرفة المضيئة
تجربة لا يمكن نسيانها وشديدة الخصوصية

وكذلك كتاب المخلص دوما فنسنت الذي بدأته ولم أستطع إنهائه بعد
إلا أنه كان كتابا رافقني طيلة العام وأنا سعيدة بفكرتي التي جعلتني أستمر في قرائته على مدار السنة

وهذا العام خسرنا بعض أهم الكتاب والأدباء
وعلى رأسهم كانت خسارة الجميل أحمد خالد توفيق
والذي اطلعت على مجموعته الأخيرة أفراح المقبرة
وكانت القراءة فرصة للدعاء له والترحم على أثره الأخضر كقلبه على الشباب

وكذلك قرأت مقتنيات وسط البلد للجميل المصري حتى النخاع
أستاذنا مكاوي سعيد
رحمة الله عليه
وكانت إحدى أجمل قرءات العام

*********

2018
هذا العام صار لدي أكثر من 10000 متابعا أتشرف بمتابعتهم لي
واهتمامهم وحبهم ورسائلهم

هذا العام أنا هدى القارئة التي استطاعت أن تكون أكثر من ذلك

هذا العام أنا هدى السعيدة
وهذه مجرد بداية

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads tells me my average rating for 2018 is 4.1, so rounding that to a solid 4 stars. It was a great year for reading and it was the most 5 star books I have had in a year since joining GR in 2012.

It was also the year I became the social media/Goodreads pariah because of my controversial feelings about a book. More on that below!

Here is the basic breakdown:

Best book this year: - I cannot wait for the third one!

Least favorite book this year: - many of you know there is a lot of backstory behind the response to my review of this book. This is the review that lost me friends, caused me to be told I am an awful person, etc. But I did also have some great and insightful discussion. In the end, it's just a book I didn't care for. If you don't agree, that's fine!😃 Let's move on in 2019.

Pleasant surprises:

Expected more:

Series I liked:

Series I didn't care for: - ended the trilogy kinda blah

[Justin Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read 68 books this year. These were my favorites:

Fumio Sasaki - Goodbye, Things
Ernest Hemingway - A Moveable Feast
Iain Reid - Foe
Tara Westover - Educated
Priya Parker - The Art of Gathering
Ernest Cline - Ready Player One
R.L. Stine - Please Do Not Feed the Weirdo
Stephen King - Pet Sematary (Re-read)
Octavia E. Butler - Kindred

Most intriguing:
Ice by Anna Kavan

Most unexpectedly great:
Heidi by Spyri Johanna
The President is Missing by Bill Clinton & James Patterson

Most quirky and fabulous:
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update: 2019/01/01

Since 2018 is officially over I made a list of my top 15 books that left either a good or bad impression. *lol*
If you want to read it you can find it on my blog:
Top 15 of my bookish 2018 - The Awesome, The Meagre & The Series

I hope your 2018 was a good reading year too and I'm already looking forward to your reviews, updates and challenges in 2019!!
_____________________________

Haha! What to write in here?
I think so far I’ve been A HUGE FAIL when it comes to my reading goals of 2018. XD

”Bookish New Year’s resolutions for 2018:
- Don’t read more than 4 books at the same time!!! (2017: I always read at least 5. >_<)
- Don’t add more than 300 books to your to-be read pile. (Current status: 298 books. *facepalm*)
- Read the books you already own. (But my gift cards need to be used! ;-P)
- Don’t borrow more than 2 books from the library. (Uh oh, I have no control!)

In short: I’m already screwed! *LOL*”

That’s what I wrote on Dec 30, 2017. XD
Guess I was right. Of course we can also put that into a nice statistic. ;-P

This year there were 60 books I wanted to read.
Well, I reached that goal, but the “HOW” is where the fun comes in.

Books I wanted to read that were on my list: 60
Books I read so far: 109
Books I read from that list: 28
Difference: 81

So I kinda read 81 books that weren’t even on my list. *lol* I’m such a hopeless case. *shakes head*
But hey the year isn’t over yet, I can still read some of them, right?!
Nope, not really. Knowing me I’ll just continue to read the books that aren’t even on my tbr pile. Haha!

But hey what can I say, I promise improvement!
Maybe I’ll read 5 more books of the list? ;-P
I can do it!!! I know I can! *lol*

Wish me luck guys!
I’ll need it! XD

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack)]

Woo! What. A. Year. I have a lot to say, but first of all, let's talk books:

💜H O N O R A B L E M E N T I O N S

A sortable shelf of all my 2018 faves is available here.

backlist: school reads
→The Oedipus Cycle by Sophocles
→Dracula by Bram Stoker
→Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
→The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
→Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

backlist: contemporary
→It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
→Hunger: A Memoir of Body by Roxane Gay

backlist: scifi-fantasy
→This Savage Song (#1) by Victoria Schwab
→Godsgrave (#2) by Jay Kristoff
→An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
→The Bear and the Nightingale (#1) by Katherine Arden

new 2018: contemporary
→(read in 2017) American Panda by Gloria Chao
→People Like Us by Dana Mele
→Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke
→Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
→What If It's Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera

new 2018: series continued
→(read in 2017) Dread Nation (#1) by Justina Ireland
→(read in 2017) Beneath the Sugar Sky (#3) by Seanan McGuire
→Give the Dark My Love (#1) by Beth Revis
→All Systems Red series (#1-#4) by Martha Wells
→Girls of Paper and Fire (#1) by Natasha Ngan
→Not Even Bones (#1) by Rebecca Schaeffer
→Witchmark (#1) by C.L. Polk
→A Study in Honor (#1) by Claire O'Dell

new 2018: scifi-fantasy
→The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
→The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
→All Out by Various
→The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
→The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse

💜T O P 1 8 O F 2 0 1 8

(This is just a little out of order. Handle it.)

18. Queen's Thief series (#2-#5) by Megan Whalen Turner
This was so much fun. I’ve read five books of this now, and I’ve been thinking a lot recently about why I’ve loved this series’ progression so much. And I think it's this: I love the sense of hope in this series, the sense I have that Turner really wants recovery, rather than torture porn.

17. The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson (2018)
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza is like nothing I have ever read before or will ever read again. It is an existential and oddly hilarious book about choices, with a wide cast of amazing characters and some weird mystery thrown in. And I loved it so much. I could have read this forever over and over again. This book is about a Lot Of Things– existential fear, the realization that no one is who you think they are, the realization that death is never in our souls, the importance of making choices, and most of all, the importance of free will. It’s a very funny book hiding a whole lot of serious discussions. Bonus points for thinly veiled jokes about U.S. President Cheeto.

16. The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N.K. Jemisin (2015)
In a world that barely thinks of you as human, how can you garner the respect you deserve? And in the end, when you’re forced to fight for the respect others will receive without condition, when you’re shown from the beginning your inherent inferiority, how can you find a sense of being? And in a book driven by an all-black cast, and several queer leads [perhaps the most prominent two side characters are a gay man and a trans woman] this feels especially significant. As a story about how we can be taught to believe in ourselves only as cogs in a great wheel, it is utterly gut-wrenching.

15. Black Iris by Elliot Wake (2014)
I still have no idea what to say about this?? There is something very deeply twisted about this book, and Elliot Wake owns it. I think this book could have really easily been kind of overdramatic and forgettable. But it is so not. The reasons are as follows: Elliot Wake’s writing is so freaking amazing, and it's got one of the best endings to any book I have ever read. It's really a bit sad how rare it is that I don't guess the twist, but I did not guess the twist at ALL, and its implication for the themes of the novel is amazing.

14. Mirage (#1) by Somaiya Daud (2018)
Somaiya Daud didn’t have to come for us like this..... she’s like “here take this amazing multidimensional narrative about colonization and agency and internalized hatred for one’s culture, driven by a fantastic lady lead and her complex relationship with a fantastic lady antivillain, featuring fantastic setting descriptions and a really good romance, and also I write like a fucking Pulitzer Prize winner and this is my debut” and im just. out here eating a bag of chips

13. Final Draft by Riley Redgate (2018)
This is one of the most organic and real books I will probably ever read. Final Draft stars a pansexual biracial Ecuadorian plus-size lead with anxiety, and the way Riley Redgate writes Laila is so… empathetic. Redgate knows exactly where to place her quotes and exactly how to compose the narrative so that every aspect of Laila’s life feels like an authentic part of a big picture and more importantly, a fundamental part of her character arc. (OH, AND THERE'S A SAPPHIC ROMANCE AND IT'S REALLY GOOD.) At its heart, I think this book is a perfect conveyment of what it is really like to be a teenage girl growing up in our current society and what it is like to struggle with yourself, to struggle with friends right before college.

12. Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu (2018)
In the spring of this year, as some of you know, I was in a serious relationship that did not end well. The lead character's experience in this book spoke to mine in that relationship... far too well. I think it might be worth reading the full review for more.

11. The Infernal Devices series (#1-#3) by Cassandra Clare (2010s) +Lady Midnight
Strange how Cassandra Clare managed to get me so wrapped up in these books when I hated some of her earlier stuff so much. Here's my opinion: all of them are in love and it should end in all of them dating. I am not giving up this opinion. Jem and Will are both in love with Tessa, canonically, and Tessa is in love with both of them, canonically, and let’s just be really fucking honest with ourselves and say that Jem and Will are completely in love. It's 2018 and it's time to admit that, as a society. It is my firm belief that under different circumstances, they would all be dating, and I do not care who fights me on this. Queen of Air and Darkness agrees with me. I'm going to bed.

10. The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (2016)
This is a book about how the smallest gestures can form the biggest pictures, how the smallest actions can change the course of a life. How seeing a girl can change your life. How falling in love with your secretary can change the course of someone’s life forever. How swerving in a car can get two teens together. How calling a security officer for help can save her life. This is marketed as a romance, but the romance is not at all what this book is about. The real focus of the book, instead, is the issues faced by immigrants: What is happening to Natasha is horrible, and Yoon absolutely refuses to shy away from its horror. This book .... sort of tore my heart into a million pieces. I can't believe it took me so long to read it.

9. Circe by Madeline Miller (2018)
The thing that brings this whole novel together is Circe’s character: lonely, and harsh, and hiding herself in sarcasm much of the time, and there is not a moment in this novel in which I didn’t adore her. This novel is so interesting because at its core, it is an exploration of the voice of women in Greek mythology. Circe is a character we see nothing of in the narrative of Greek mythology, a character with seemingly evil intentions and little motivation – and all this despite showing up in several different stories. There’s something supremely excellent about seeing a character like this who is essentially a plot device be given a story. Madeline Miller is one of the best writers of our time and I can't wait to see what she'll come up with next.

8. The Cruel Prince (2018) and The Wicked King (2019) by Holly Black
You know, I keep coming back to why this is one of the best and most-hyped series of 2018, and why I fell so deeply in love, and I think I know why: Jude Duarte. Young adult so often pulls away from truly flawed, morally grey characters, but this character is a genuine unapologetic bad person. And her narrative agency is the source of all the conflict - her ambition vs. Cardan's, her ambition vs. Taryn's, every single variation.

7. Before the Devil Breaks You (The Diviners, #3) by Libba Bray (2016)
This is both the scariest book I've read this year and just one of the better ones. Evie’s character development within this book is my favorite she’s gotten so far. But I think what I like about this series is how it makes the personal political. This is a story set in the freaking 1920s, a time that could easily be whitewashed dry of racism and discrimination. But this story is so directly about the issues of the 1920s, the racism, the classism, the homophobia - the dark side you don’t always see. The villains of The Diviners are not the ghosts, scary as they are. The villains of this book are classism, eugenics, racism, prejudice. This story gets its true staying power because it is so grounded in reality for these characters, on the edge of society both through a paranormal society and through their very identities.

6. Bright We Burn (The Conqueror's Saga #3) by Kiersten White (2018)
GOD. THIS SERIES!! This series is about misogyny, about internalized homophobia, about religion, about learning what you deserve in a world that wants you to accept nothing. It is a character and theme study that I just… adore. But most of all, I absolutely adore that instead of using a historical setting, a setting framed against the backdrop of religion, no less, as an excuse to end the story in Tragic Dead Gays, that the four major queer characters in this story are, in essence, the ones who get the happiest endings. that a gay, Muslim lead character is the one to get the happy ending; that one of the most admirable characters in this story is a Hijabi lesbian, that religion - specifically, Islam - is framed as a route to happiness for multiple queer characters, that the series proudly uses mlm/wlw friendship as a marking ground for healthy friendship. I. love love.

5. Sadie by Courtney Summers (2018)
All my favorite thrillers are about women taking back power from men who hurt women. Sadie is such a fantastic lead character; she’s out for a revenge, bitter and angry, a sexual assault victim, pansexual, grew up poor, and has a major stutter. I absolutely adored her, and watching her go further down this awful track was so horrifying. This is a stark, horrifying book in which Courtney Summers refuses, at every turn, to shy away from the harsh realities of this world.

4. Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (2018)
This is why horror can be so good. All I can say is the blurb of this as “girls loving girls, girls kissing girls, girls being friends with girls, girls helping girls” was really not pulling its fucking punches.

3. Vengeful (Vicious, #2) by V.E. Schwab (2018)
Vengeful was absolutely a wild ride and I read it in, literally, two sittings within the same day. I think Schwab’s writing style for Vicious is the best of every talent she has in the writing department; she’s abstract, a wide world without clear boundaries, but with enough detail that it’s hard not to be enthralled. This is a book of the power of women, a book of plotting and scheming that is so complex it almost feels as if it shouldn't work. But it completely does, mostly through having such strong lead characters. Victor Vale is one of the best well-intentioned villain-from-one-point-of-view characters of all time. Schwab is a legend and this is, in my opinion, her absolute best.

2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)
This is a book about being a bisexual woman in an era where your life is considered public property, and any attraction to women would be demonized by the whole culture. It is one of hiding yourself for ambition, one of trying to decide which one takes precedent, one of aging, and one of never knowing whether your choices were right. Despite its marketing, this book is really about Evelyn. Awful, complicated, completely lovable Evelyn. And, as she says, once you start reading, you'll really be more interested in knowing about her wife.

1. Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake (2018)
This is not a book I am worthy of reviewing. This is a masterpiece of human emotion, of writing, of character development.
While this book is blurbed and described as a book about the rape of best-friend Hannah by lead character Mara's own brother, it is also a story about the unspoken trauma so many young people face - the trauma of having someone you trust violate you in a society that refuses to believe you. Mara, Charlie, Hannah, Alex, and Mara's family have all lost someone they trusted, all in their own way, and Girl Made of Stars knows this. With a bisexual lead character, a genderqueer love interest, and one of the best discussions of consent I have ever had the pleasure of reading, this was a crying letter and an amazing one.

💜T H I S Y E A R: S U M M A T I O N

As some of you may have noticed, my my reading goals did not go as well as I had hoped. In fact, I've barely been here. I figured it might be time to explain.

Before my junior year of high school, I was told keeping up with reading and reviewing would be nigh-impossible. I refused to acknowledge this or give in and decided to keep on reading. And... I still made my 250-book goal, only ten books behind. Naturally, this year I expected the same would be true for the first semester of my senior year, especially when I got all my college applications done early. Yes, I was taking six academic classes, five of which were at some advanced level, but I figured I'd overcome.

Well, I managed to keep my real life very, very organized. Not so much my book life.

I read far less, and then only for school; my blog somehow did not get behind, but was not scheduled far ahead. Perhaps worst of all, I gave up time with book friends I value a lot (luckily, my close friends are amazing).

But I got into college! And next semester, I have free time. You can hear more from my full blogpost.

💜L A S T, N O T L E A S T

🍁Melanie, thank you for understanding how... absent I was the last couple months, and always being so funny and kind and talented.

🍁May, can you believe it was only this year I figured out you don't take your own blog headers as photos? I love you... so so much. You are one of the funniest people I know and you work so hard - at dance, at reading, at your own mental health.

🍁Julianna, I am so sad we didn't get to meet! I feel like this year, I've seen you open up even more, and I hope that continues. I (loaf) you.

🍁Emma, meeting you again this year was so fantastic. You are straight-up one of the kindest people I know, and the best to talk to about everything (especially herongraystairs. let's be real.)

🍁Chaima, you are THE funniest person I know. I am so sad we didn't get to meet (missed chances!!) but so happy to know you.

There are so many people I could put here, and I want to add more shoutouts to this list later. All of you guys - including all of the reviewers I've interacted with - are seriously such important members of my life and I couldn't have gotten through it without you. Thank you.

Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

[Annet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well… here’s my review of 2018. On a personal note, my year has been really difficult. Without going into much detail, my partner Peter, while already having a heavy medical record, became seriously ill. It made our year into a real challenge and emotional rollercoaster.
I decided to stop my Master studies after finishing the first module, to support him as best as I could. We are now hoping for a better year and are working to achieve this as beste as we can. I also hope to pick up studies again in spring, we’ll see.
So… I haven’t read as much as I would have liked to, but did get to 56 books. My books were my most favorite getaway from the difficult circumstances.

Now, back to the books then… You won’t see 1 or 2 star ratings in my page, or hardly. My rule is, life is really too short to read bad books. I just stop when I don’t like a book, or retry later.
My friends at goodreads have become very dear to me. I’ve also seen people go away or even de-friend me sometimes for whatever reason. That hurts a bit I have to say, but I guess everyone’s entitled to their decisions. I respect that.
And I do have so many lovely friends here who bring me so much good books, friendship, a good laugh and great book dialogue. Thank you my friends, simply for being here and sharing books with me! Met new and great friends here too. I love it. Okay. Let’s have a look at 2018:

Best reads in 2018!
• Tombland by C.S. Sansom: Finally Shardlake is back! Slow but wonderful, loved it!
• A place for us by Fatima Farheen Mirz, very special and emotional book. Thank you Sarah Jessica Parker for bringing this to my attention and publishing it.
• Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee, I love this dark series in India… can’t wait for the next.
• Leviathan by Paul Auster, another grand book by this exceptional renowned author. Not everybody likes his work, but I love it.
• The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker, raw, very raw story. But I can’t not give it five stars. Great book, penetrates your brain and stays there.
• The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, another scary and emotional book, heartbreaking, exceptional read.
• In a dark wood wandering: a novel of the Middle Ages: historical masterpiece by the grande dame of Dutch literature Hella Haasse
• The Baltimore Boys by Joel Dicker, not liked by everyone, this book and the previous one, but I do love his storytelling.

Almost five stars, a selection of great books!
• Circe by Madeline Miller, were it not for the slightly boring middle part, this would have been a five star. Great read.
• Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, not immediately my type of book but loved this read. Got this author on my to read list now.
• The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh, weird, dark and intriguing story.
• Lemons by Melissa Savage, cute and sad read.
• World of Trouble, by Ben H. Winters, really good apocalyptic trilogy. Looking forward to his new book in 2019!
• Made in India, by Meera Sodha, not used to mention cookery, but this is such a great Indian cookbook, lovely dishes!
• Dead souls by Ian Rankin, what can I say, I love my inspector John Rebus and the dark writing of Rankin. 10th book in the series
• A pale view of the hills, by Kazuo Ishiguro, beautiful once again and sad. Grand writer.
• Bluebird, bluebird by Attina Locke, solid and atmospheric southern dark crime read.
• White crocodile, K.T. Medina, new writer for me, unusual book, good reading.
• As good as gone, Larry Watson, another new writer known by many goodreads people here, I am behind on his oeuvre and will certainly read more of this author.
• The strange disappearance of a Bollywood star by Vaseem Khan, charming and delightful return of Private investigator Chopra and his baby elephant Ganesha
• Snap by Belinda Bauer, great unusual crime read!
• The death of sweet mister by Daniel Woodrell, wew, what a nasty and great book…

And more... Hoping for a much better 2019 personally with great Goodreads friends around the world. Here’s to many great reads to come and to share!

[فؤاد]

مهم ترین تصمیم امسالم در رابطه با کتاب، شرکت نکردن توی چالش گودریدز بود، که باعث شد فارغ‌بالانه‌تر کتاب بخونم. تعداد کتاب‌هام به طرز چشمگیری کم شد، ولی عوضش خودمو مجبور به خوندن نکردم. البته هنوز معتقدم چالش گودریدز خیلی خوبه برای هل دادن آدم برای استفادهٔ بهتر از وقت‌های مرده.

کتاب های امسالم شاید چندان نظم و ترتیبی نداشته باشن. به برنامهٔ همه‌چیزخوانی بهاءالدین خرمشاهی ادامه دادم. خرمشاهی گفته بود تا قبل از سی سالگی همه چیز بخونید، و بعد از سی سالگی تخصصی مطالعه کنید و پراکنده‌خونی رو کنار بذارید. مثلاً تاریخ اسلام، آیین زردشتی و مانوی، ذن بودیسم، یا موضوعات مختلف دیگه، جزء موضوعاتی بودن که به صورت مقدماتی باهاشون آشنا شدم. چیزهایی که حس کردم نیاز دارم در موردشون تا حدی بدونم.

هنوز موضوعات مشابهی هستن که می خوام به صورت مقدماتی بخونم. مثل جنبش مزدک، تاریخ ایران قبل از اسلام و ایران مدرن، یا تاریخ روم و... که سال آینده قصد دارم بعضی از این موضوعات رو دنبال کنم.

امسال به مقدار جدی شروع کردم به خوندن راجع به داستان، و چیزهایی هم یاد گرفتم. کتاب های دیگه ای در نظر دارم که سال دیگه بخونم و یه کلاس داستان‌نویسی هم دارم میرم که تا حالا چندان چیزی یادم نداده.

[Susanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

What made this year so special? Well, buddy reads of course! (You know who you are!): Thank you for always being there, for being an amazing friend and for making me laugh daily.

This was an amazing year for me from a reading perspective - I’ve read more than ever before, far surpassing my reading goal, which astonishes me.

I’ve also interacted with and formed genuine friendships with many more of you and for that I am so very grateful. I am very close with a few of you and I appreciate you all (I think you know who you are, I hope so!). I think all of us have friends in real life who read, but I don’t think they read like “we” do and therefore, we (to quote from Harry Potter) form an “unbreakable bond” - though, obviously I hope ours doesn’t end up the same way… (fingers crossed guys and gals (lol))! 😂 What I mean to say is, you mean a lot! In some ways, I feel closer to all of you than I do with some of my “real life” friends, it’s pretty amazing and I count myself lucky. Thank you all for making this year so special. Here’s to an amazing year of books ahead in 2019!

That being said, what this is actually about is the Best and Worst of 2018. The year started out strong and then petered out for a while, thankfully the last few months ended with some great reads. So here goes:

My Best Of 2018:

“Us Against You” by Fredrik Backman - For me, this book embodies characters with heart, just like the first book in the series, “Beartown.” The character that I still can’t get out of my mind is Benji. As soon as I think about him, my eyes well up. His struggles became my struggles. And if you read this book, they will becomes yours as well. Something a character named Ana said at the end of the hockey season strikes me as being prevalent to all of us, it’s about a being community (which we definitely are): “Those are my brothers and sisters, They stand tall, if I stand tall.” Cue the tears.

“Things You Save in a Fire” - Katherine Center’s novel turned me into a complete mush. Sweet, sad, funny and just incredibly special. Talk about crying one minute and laughing out loud the next. This is life at its most real and it just might be my favorite buddy read of the year (thanks Ms. Kaceey!).

“The Hearts Invisible Furies” - Cyril Avery - your life fascinated me in ways no other characters’ ever has. Brilliant, funny, scared, vulnerable. John Boyne - you are a god.

“November Road” by Lou Berney - some of the words used by Mr. Berney simply mesmerized me. “Guilt is an unhealthy habit,” he said, “it’s what other people try to make you feel so will do what they want, but one life is all we ever get as far as I know, why give it away.” Need I say more?

“The Line That Held Us” - David Joy, you tore every single emotion out of me.

“Becoming” by Michelle Obama. Talk about the epitome of Grace! I am bowled over by your accomplishments.

“The Power” by Naomi Alderman - Made my own skin tingle! I sort of wish I had that Power! I swear I’d use it for good... (Giggle giggle - you guys believe me, right?).

“One Day In December” - Laurie, Jack and Sarah’s story almost made me believe in love at first sight. Almost.

“Dark Sacred Night” - Be Still My Heart. This is Michael Connelly at his best. He consistently finds a way to keep Harry Bosch interesting and satisfy the readers. Love my Harry Bosch! (Ballard is pretty great too!)

“UNSUB” - Most thrilling suspense ever! Made my heart race faster than any book I’ve ever read so far.

“Stillhouse Lake” / “Killman Creek” - I loved the character of Gwen! If I’m ever on the run, I’m going to call on Rachel Caine for assistance.


Honorable Mentions:

“Dark Matter” - What a Brilliant Sci-Fi/Mystery-Suspense! Blake Crouch could have made this complicated (as the idea of it was) but somehow he didn’t. This is a book that everyone can enjoy, even Non Science Fiction lovers.

“The Witch Elm”- I loved the storyline and Toby’s character development. Classic Tana French.

“The Shadows We Hide” by Allen Eskens. One of the best storytellers around!

“A Place for Us” by Fatima Farheen Mizra - a novel with a myriad of life lessons which broke my heart time and again.

“My Lovely Wife” by Samantha Downing - Divine, Delicious, Wicked and Wild.

“A Ladder to the Sky” by John Boyne. Simply Masterful.


Most Disappointing Reads of 2018:

“Down to the Woods” by MJ Arlidge - a very disappointing follow up in the Helen Grace series.

“Baby Teeth” by Zoje Stage

“The Burglar” by Thomas Perry

“The Perfect Liar” by Thomas Christopher Green

“Forget You Know Me” by Jessica Strawser


Favorite New to Me Author:

Katherine Center - Oh how I love thee!
My 200th book of the year was How to Walk Away. How apropos!
My book buddy and I will be reading all of your books as soon as we can get our hands on them!

***
A huge thank you to Goodreads, NetGalley, Edelweiss, and all of the authors and publishers who are so incredibly generous to me and all of us for providing complimentary copies of books for us to read and review.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update : I'm just adding a couple of books in here, and I forgot to mention my Author of the Year (see below)

THE GOOD

Goodreads page of stats tells me that the least popular book I read this year was The Top 1000 Doo Wop Songs Collectors Edition, by Anthony J Gribin and Matthew M Schiff which has only been read by one person so far, myself.

Interestingly, according to the stats, the most popular book I read this year was The Top 1000 Doo Wop Songs Collectors Edition by Anthony J Gribin and Matthew M Schiff – it has a collective rating of 5 stars. This is because only one person has rated this book, which is me, and I gave it 5 stars.

Plunging back into the mainstream, three top favourites this year were graphic novels, hey, how with-it and cutting-edge and au courant am I – they were

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso – this one is a must read & a good test for anyone still dithering about whether graphic novels are really novels or what the hell are they. If you don’t like this then graphic novels are Not For Youse.

Then there was Square Eyes - so so beautiful. Could have done with a better story, but did I mention how beautiful?

The third one was Here by Richard McGuire – more like an art installation than a novel per se, but who’s counting. Another knockout.

What about regular novels then.

My secret favourite novel of the year was Eleanor Oliphant is Fine by Gail Honeyman – not because it’s that good (it isn’t – 3 stars! No more!) but because I had such fun reviewing it.

Problems by Jade Sharma was another in the deluge of carcrash memoirs pretending to be novels (like Days of Abandonment or Love me Back or Dept of Speculation) but it was just the right dose of goth black humour for me.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt was a great follow-up to True Grit, my favourite novel of 2016, but it was written by a different guy; so, another deadpan hilariously gruesome Western. If there are any more of those, let me know. Blood Meridian by ole Cormac does not count as it is very gruesome but not even slightly funny.

HHhH was the irritatingly offputting title of a historical novel about the assassination of Heydrich by Laurent Binet (I should say Laurent Binet wrote the book, he did not assassinate Heydrich) and was really very good indeed. I was persuaded to give Tom Wolfe another go & so read A Man in Full, another bad title, and it was rollicking good fun. Mr Wolfe then immediately up & died, hopefully not as a result of reading my review. Other even older stuff turned out to be great – The Collector by John Fowles, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (!), The House of Mirth and – one I picked up with a grudging feeling of “this author was from Nottingham, my home town, and this novel is the famous Nottingham novel, and so I should have read it by now” – Saturday Night and Sunday Morning by Alan Sillitoe, and bam! Turned out to be brilliant!

Actually the best book I read this year was A High Wind in Jamaica which I read last year but too late to be included in 2017 in GR so has to be included here – what a wonderful unexpected delight – pirates kidnap children and everyone has fun! Must read!

Also great short story collections mentioned hurriedly cause I know most people don’t like all the stopping and starting – Redeployment by Phil Klay, tough tough tales of the US Army ; Love & Other Wounds – tough tough tales of methheads and appalling violence by Jordan Harper, and A Good Man is Hard to Find – southern southern tales by your friend & mine Flannery O’Connor

THE THREE STRANGEST NOVELS I READ


If you like having your brain bent in two, I do recommend these. Inverted World by Christopher Priest – ha ha haaaaah!!

What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson – ha ha ha haaaaah haaaaahhhhh!!

and graphically, Gyo by Junji Ito. If your nightmares have been a bit dull recently, read this and freshen them up with some really disturbing imagery.

THE BAD

I have been such a well behaved reader this year – last year I abandoned 10 books in disgust but this year only four. An Instance of the Fingerpost, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Birdman and The Sheep Look Up were the bad novels that had to sit on the naughty step. Don’t talk to them until they have learned how to behave.


THE OTHER STUFF

I recommend Germaine by Elizabeth Kleinhenz – this biography shows quite clearly that Germaine Greer is not the nicest of people but surely one of the most outrageous. Speaking of biographies, maybe fans of Joni Mitchell will not want to read the excellent Reckless Daughter by David Yaffe because it is unsparing and downright nasty in places If anyone on the planet hasn’t seen Breaking Bad then watch it and read Breaking Bad 101 by Alan Sepinwall alongside, it will thrill your very marrow. If there are any Philip Roth fans who need an expert summing up of his vast output with a lot of laughs and of course much offence along the way, I recommend Roth Unbound by Claudia Pierpont – fantasy dinner party guests – GG and Philip Roth and Joni Mitchell! I guess though that my non fiction book of the year is When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – sometimes everyone is right and everyone loves this memoir of the young neurosurgeon who died from cancer at the age of 37. Another must read. You know, there are so many must reads!

Oh, nearly forgot – most beautiful book this year was The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell, a tiny book with great great illustrations. Ideal extra Xmas present for everyone except the irredeemably blackhearted.



AUTHOR OF THE YEAR

Dan Leo, who wrote & self published Railroad Train to Heaven. I get a steady trickle of people sending me a friend request and then as soon as I accept it, in comes a message asking me to review their book. It's corny and tiresome - authors, do not do this! Dan however was making frequent comments on my reviews and was a real actual genuine human being on GR for a few months before sending me a really long request for me to read his book. So I kind of knew who he was already, and I thought, I don't mind if I do. And it was pretty good too! So, authors, that's the way to do it.

[Glenn Russell]

Thanks to each and every one of my Goodreads friends for exchanges revolving around books this past year. I so appreciate every time someone takes a moment of their valuable time to read and/or comment on one of my reviews. Onward in 2019! We have a spectacular thing going here.

In addition to several works of non-fiction, for the fun of it, I kept a list of the titles of the novels I've read and posted a review in 2018. Here they are, all 94:

The Information - Martin Amis
Tishomingo Blues - Elmore Leonard
Ivory Pearl - Jean Patrick Manchette
Slow Death - Stuart Home
Gone Tomorrow - Garry Indiana
The Garden of Blue Flowers - Michael Barsa
The Hand - Georges Simenon
Ghost of Chance - William Burroughs
Death Squeeze - Márcio Souza
High Art - Rubem Fonseca
Blood of Requited Love - Manuel Puig
The Gradual - Christopher Priest
Heretics - Leonardo Padura
Vast Emotions and Imperfect Thoughts - Rubem Fonseca
In Case of Emergency - Georges Simenon
The Literary Conference - César Aira
Eternal Curse on the Reader of These Pages - Manuel Puig
The Dream of My Return - Horacio Castellianos Moya
The Suspect - George Simenon
Money to Burn - Ricardo Piglia
The Last Days of William Shakespeare - Vlady Kociancich
Spy’s Fate - Arnaldo Correa
The Adventures of a Photographer in La Plata - Adolfo Bioy Casares
The Diary of the War of the Pig - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Darwin’s Ghost- Ariel Dorfman
Havoc - Tom Kristensen
The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin - Vladimir Voinovich
The Queue - Vladimir Sorokin
Bro- Vladimir Sorokin
Ice - Vladimir Sorokin
23,000 - Vladimir Sorokin
Sand - Wolfgang Herrndorf
The Slynx - Tatyana Tolstaya
Breakfast at Cannibal Joe’s - Jay Spencer Green
The Havana Room - Colin Harrison
The Seven Madmen - Roberto Arlt
The Snow of the Admiral - Álvaro Mutis
Ilona Come with the Rain - Álvaro Mutis
Un Bel Morir - Álvaro Mutis
Houses - Borislav Pekić
The Tramp Steamer’s Last Port of Call- Álvaro Mutis
The Glass Cage - Georges Simenon
Amirbar - Álvaro Mutis
The Devil in Montmartre - Gary Inbinder
The Butterfly Kid - Chester Anderson
The Song of Percival Peacock - Russell Edson
Galactic Pot-Healer - Philip K. Dick
The Dream Archipelago - Christopher Priest
Dictionary of the Khazars - Milorad Pavić
Thank You For Smoking - Christopher Buckley
Riotous Assembly - Tom Sharpe
The Game-Players of Titan- Philip K. Dick
Indecent Exposure - Tom Sharpe
The Truth of Bebe Donge - Georges Simenon
The World Jones Made - Philip K. Dick
The Throwback - Tom Sharpe
The Accomplices - Georges Simenon
The Room - Jonas Karlsson
You Belong to Me - Colin Harrison
Varamo - César Aira
The Venice Train - Georges Simenon
Nausea - Jean-Paul Sartre
The Great Pursuit - Tom Sharpe
Macbeth - Jo Nesbø
Shantytown - César Aira
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
Asleep in the Sun - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Return From the Stars - Stanislaw Lem
A Dream of Wessex - Christopher Priest
The Extremes - Christopher Priest
The Star Diaries - Stanislaw Lem
The Deadbeats - Ward Ruyslinck
Memoirs of a Space Traveller - Stanislaw Lem
The Emerald - Donald Barthelme
Going Native - Stephen Wright
The Pastel City - M. John Harrison
Fowl Play - Jay Spencer Green
A Storm of Wings - M. John Harrison
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
Monday Begins on Saturday - Boris & Arkady Strugatsky
The Food of the Gods - H. G. Wells
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
In Viriconium - M. John Harrison
Transfigurations - Michael Bishop
The Island of Doctor Moreau - H. G. Wells
The Body Snatchers - Jack Finney
A Canticle for Leibowitz - William J. Miller
Roadside Picnic - Boris & Arkady Strugatsky
The Encyclopedia of the Dead - Danilo Kiš
The Good Soldier Švejk - Jaroslav Hašek
The Elephant - Sławomir Mrożek
Insatiability - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz
Omon Ra - Victor Pelevin
The Door - Magda Szabó

[Fionnuala]

When lots of you were reading ghost stories in November, I thought of joining in, and perhaps finally reading The Haunted Bookshop or the
The House by the Churchyard but then a shiver of recognition ran through me and I realised there was no need to purposely read a ghost story — I've been reading them all year in one form or another.

Yes, the innocent looking books on my 2018 book shelf are awash with ghosts — from the many suffering spirits in Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing to the troubled inhabitants of Lincoln's Bardo. I'm shivering again just thinking about them.

I actually started 2018 in mourning. Yes, I was grieving over the fact that I'd finished my final Flaubert book, Salammbo. I'd read seven Flauberts in the last months of 2017 and had become a die-hard Flaubertian. So, with no stories or novels of his left to read, I chose to join Julian Barnes in his search for Flaubert's ghost, or rather, Flaubert's Parrot's ghost. The search raised my spirits but I did notice that the ghost that seemed to haunt the book the most was not Flaubert, nor his parrot, but Charles Bovary's wife, Emma, and not in a good way. Eleven months on, I still feel Barnes was rather hard on poor dead Emma. Regardless of that, I decided to stick with Barnes, moving on to a little book in which he contemplated the various Levels of Life. I quickly found that the slim little book was also about Death, and that it was quite haunted by the ghost of Barnes' own wife — but in a beautiful way.

Next up was John Banville's attempt to bring Henry James's Mrs Osmond back from the dead. That book was haunted by the ghost of The Portrait of a Lady as Banville insisted on retelling entire sections of James' earlier story.

After Banville I spent some rewarding time with Joseph Roth as he explained how the Austro-Hungarian Empire finally gave up the ghost — to the lively rythym of The Radetsky March

Now that you're all groaning at the way I'm overdoing the ghost theme, let me say that I'm beginning to rethink it as an angle for my review of the year. How on earth can I work it into Bernard McLaverty's Midwinter Break, for example? But oddly enough, that story had a little crack in it, a little space in which the main character's unborn children could be heard wailing. Only you had to listen carefully.

I'm guessing you've really had more than enough now. No? You want more?

Ok, the next book I read was Margaret Drabble's The Dark Flood Rising. It had an epigraph from the poem, 'The Ship of Death' by DH Lawrence:
Piecemeal the body dies, and the timid soul
has her footing washed away, as the dark flood rises
Do I need to add that the book was pretty much all about death?

After that I read eight books by George Eliot, in which there were no ghosts — but there was a coffin or two. And in The Lifted Veil, there was even a haunting. Not by a ghost exactly, but by the strange eyes of a figure in a painting. In addition, the story told of a slow murder by poison. It really gave me the willies.

Mothering Sunday was quite a haunting story too, as the elderly narrator relived every moment of the day in her youth when her lover met his death.

John Banville's melancholic memoir, Time Pieces, was full of echoes of people now dead and places that no longer exist.
And while I was reading Banville's book, I heard him speak at a literary event to mark William Trevor's 90th birthday. But, alas, William Trevor couldn't be present at the event because he died when he was 88. I'm sure he'd be pleased to know that I bought (and eventually read) his Last Stories at the event, and that I was reading one of his books the day I heard he had died two years ago — one that contained more than a few ghosts.

There were ghosts in Ali Smith's Autumn and Winter too. The ghost of a dead sister in one, a disembodied head in the other. And in both, a sense of being haunted by the darkness of WWII.

Now, how can I fit the next book I read into this review theme, MJ Nichol's The 1002 Book to Read before you DIE? Oh, right, the title managed to do the trick all by itself!

My summer reading turned out to be full of ghosts and graveyards and hauntings. First there was Sing, Unburied, Sing in which some of the characters were actual ghosts — if that isn't a contradiction in terms. In any case these really were fully existing ghosts and the story, in any realistic sense, couldn't have functioned without them.

Then there was the book about the ghost of a missing girl, a girl in a white hoodie and one canvas shoe. I'll let you guess the name of that book (hint: water).

Next came the graveyard story of the year, Lincoln in the Bardo, where dead people, who didn't really know they were dead, got up and walked, and talked and...did other body stuff too. I know — enough to give anyone the willies!

And as if I hadn't had enough of graveyards, I purposely chose to stick with the funereal atmosphere and read Graveyard Clay, a real fun book in which every single character is dead. There are no ghosts or hauntings however — everyone just carries on with life as usual. It really is very funny.

Intermingled with all the graveyard stuff were six Carson McCullers books, not a few of which involved death. There was Mr Singer of course, but also Mr Malone who dies very slowly during The Clock Without Hands, while Time, the endless idiot, runs screaming across the world. (The Mortgaged Heart).

In Italy in September, I had a strange experience while reading The New Adventures of Socrates. I was visiting Dante's tomb in Ravenna when it happened. Well, 'happened' is a portentous word. All I know is, that for a moment, I thought I was having a dialogue with the ghost of Dante. I blame it on Socrates.

As a result of that trip to Italy I read a bunch of books about dead people: people who died in fifteenth century Urbino, people who died in twentieth century Ferrara, including the man who opens the door of a wardrobe and comes face to face with his own dead body in Giorgio Bassani's The Smell of Hay. Then there were the condottieri who died in wars throughout the centuries, and the many WWI related deaths in See You in Heaven.
I also read a WWII book, Brodeck's Report which was haunted by a dead man, along with his dead horse and his dead donkey.

There was a 'real' ghost in David Park's Traveling in a strange Country, a spectre who just turned up every now and again, in the passenger seat of the narrator's car, or across a street, or around a corner, an unhappy Northern Irish ghost that just needed to be deleted from the narrator's camera. Simple really.

There was nothing simple about the dead Milkman who turned up in seventies Belfast however. I'd say his white van still manages to haunt people.

And let me not forget to remember all the people who died from overdoses in the Vernon Subutex series

I could go on and on counting all the dead people in the books I've read this year but I'll stop now.

By the way, did I mention what I'm currently reading? A great book about a man who likes to count dead people — Dead Souls

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful year in reading I've had ~~ really off the hook.



My biggest accomplishment as a reader in 2018? I finished Ulysses! I feel this to be my greatest accomplishment as a reader to date. James Joyce is a genius, and Ulysses solidified my love and respect for Joyce. You can check out my review here: My Ulysses Review.

My biggest, best & favorite discovery this year was Haruki Murakami. Thank you Srđan, for urging me to open this door. I love Murakami. My favorite book of his so far is Kafka on the Shore. It's brilliant. I've explored Murakami's short stories too, the best being All God's Children Can Dance. It is fantastic. Murakami's writing inspire me.

I revisited some wonderful, old friends, Hemingway, Chekhov, Bradbury & Shakespeare. Studied Shaw, Wilde & Sondheim in-depth. Fell in love with the poetry of Kaveh Akbar, Chen Chen & William Carlos . Discovered a wonderful new voice, Celeste Ng. And I took a couple of short excursions with Virginia Woolf & Lev Tolstoy, and long one with Trevor Noah visiting the South Africa of his youth.

In addition to all these wonderful writers, there were graphic novels, comic books, & play scripts.

In December, I ventured to the Ukraine with Gogol, and read his The Night Before Christmas. It was not at all what I expected, which made it even more enjoyable to read. Then I made my yearly pilgrimage with Dickens to England, reading two of his Christmas short stories.

Shortly before Christmas I was visiting a local used bookstore, where they had a rack of children's Christmas books. I sat for an hour and read quite a few of them, and loved it. My favorite discovery that day was The David Series by David Shannon. It was a fun reading day

I closed out 2018 filling in a hole by reading Call of the Wild, by Jack London. It is a magnificent book. I truly loved it. I wish I had read this years ago. London is a magnificent writer; it is easy to see why London was widely mourned at the time of his death.

All-in-all, I'd say I've had a most excellent reading adventure in 2018. Next up, WAR & PEACE.

[Lex Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best Lesfic Books of 2018

Before I start the best of awards I just want to give a few thoughts on the year. I do have to say overall I felt the books that came out this year were good. I felt like I gave out many 3.5 star and 4 star ratings. What I was missing was more of the 5 star books. 2017 seemed to be packed with books that need to be re-read and sit on my forever favorite’s shelf, 2018 not as much. Luckily, I still had plenty of books to choose from for my yearly awards so I can’t complain too much.

When it comes to Goodreads itself I had a great time this year. In an era where social media is so infested with trolls and just nastiness, I appreciate Goodreads as a place I can be myself and be fully accepted for it. I want to thank everyone who has read my reviews, liked them, commented, followed or private messaged me. Writing 300 reviews a year would get old really quick if it wasn’t for all of you. And to all the reviewers I follow, I appreciate you. I read some really fantastic reviews that gave me great recommendations this year. I was also lucky to make some new friends this year and continue strengthening friendships I already had. This great community is the reason why I keep coming back. Thank you all so very much!

Now it’s time for my best of list in the world of lesfic. Like previous years, the only books eligible are books published in 2018. I’m being strict this year. For instance, I heard so much hype about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but because it was published in 2017, it would be ineligible so I didn’t rush to read it this year. Anyway, all the books star either lesbian or bisexual women and cover just about every category I felt had a worthy winner. If you see (Book 2) that means the book is part of a series and the number corresponds to where the book is in the series.

Best Book of 2018: The Music and the Mirror by Lola Keeley

Best Romance: Gold by E.J. Noyes

Best Slow Burn Romance: A Wish Upon a Star by J. Levig

Best Erotic Romance: The Sex Therapist Next Door by Meghan O’Brien

Best Fauxmance Romance: Breaking Character by Lee Winter

Best Medical Romance: Irregular Heartbeat by Chris Zett

Best Butch/Femme Romance: Breakthrough by Kris Bryant

Best Family Drama Romance: The Goodmans by Clare Ashton

Runner-ups in the Romance Category: Just for Show by Jae, Love Like This by Melissa Brayden (Book 4), Playing the Spy by Maggie Brown, When the Stars Sang by Caren Werlinger and My Lady Lipstick by Karin Kallmaker.

Best Drama: The Smell of Rain by Cameron MacElvee

Best Drama Romance: Ask Me Again by E.J. Noyes (Book 2)

Best Sports Romance: Code of Conduct by Cheyenne Blue

Best YA: Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Best YA Adventure Fantasy: White Heart: The Prophecy by Destiny Hawkins (Novella)

Best Steampunk: Raven, Fire and Ice by Nita Round

Best Steampunk Romance: Demon in the Machine by Lise MacTague

Best Adventure Fantasy: The Sagittarius (Book 3) and The Archer (Book 2) by K. Aten. (These two are from the same series so they can’t really compete against each other. Plus they both deserve to be on the list)

Best Epic Fantasy: Daughter of the Sun by Effie Calvin (Book 2)

Best High Fantasy: The Tattered Lands by Barbara Ann Wright

Best Paranormal: Gnarled Hollow by Charlotte Greene

Best Paranormal Romance: The Wrath of the Chosen by K.C. Hamby

Best Urban Fantasy: Dreadful Ashes: A vampire dark urban fantasy thriller by Annathesa Nikola Darksbane (Book 4)

Best Urban Fantasy Romance: Both Ways by Ilendra Young

Best Sci-Fi: Rescues and the Rhyssa by T.S. Porter

Best Futuristic: Waking the Dreamer by K Aten

Best Action: Easy Nevada and the Pyramid’s Curse by Gorgette Kaplan

Best Action Romance: Mercy by Michelle Larkin

Best Crime: Answering the Call by Ali Vali (Book 2)

Best Crime Romance: Against All Odds by Bryant, Cummings and Ullrich

Best Thriller: Alias by Cari Hunter

Best Mystery: Invalid Evidence by Stevie Mikayne (Book 3)

Best Mystery Romance: Under Your Skin by Lee Winter (Book 2)

Best Intrigue: A Matter of Blood by Catherine Maiorisi

Best Post-Apocalyptic: Survival Instincts by May Dawney

Best Post-Apocalyptic Romance: Chosen by Brey Willows

Best Historic Fantasy: Isle of Broken Years by Jane Fletcher

Best Superhero Book: Chasing Stars by Alex K. Thorne

Best Comedy: Lost for Words by Andrea Bramhall

Best Short: The Sea by K.L. Hughes

Best Novella: The False Knight on the Motorway by Arden Ellis

Biggest Surprise of 2018: Three Reasons to Say Yes by Jamie Clevenger

Best Book More People Need to Read: As the Crow Flies by Karen F. Williams

That’s it for the book awards. I took away a few categories from last year but I also added some new ones. Hopefully there are books that will appeal to everyone. The last two awards are for published authors.

Best Published Author of 2018: K. Aten Runners-up: E.J. Noyes and Lee Winter. This was tough competition this year but Aten had 3 books on my list which edges her past both Noyes and Winter with 2 each.

Best New Published Author of 2018: Lola Keeley. Runners-up: Michelle Larkin and May Dawney. Keeley is the author of The Music and the Mirror which I picked for best book of 2018. The fact it was a debut just makes it even more special. Larkin put out two quality books this year (one was Mercy that made my list) so she is an author to watch. Dawney had her first full length published book in Survival Instincts which was in the running for best book of the year.

That is it for my 2018 awards. I do have all these books on a shelf titled “2018 favorites”. I also have last year’s winners on a “2017 favorites” shelf for anyone who might have missed them. Thank you again everyone for a great year. I wish you all a happy 2019 filled with great reads.

[Angela M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks so much to all my Goodreads friends for the wonderful reviews, recommendations, discussions, comments and for the gift of connection to others who love to read as much as I do. Happy New Year to all of you !

My favorite book of the year is Tin Man and it touched me so much I could hardly write a review. I just don’t know if I could do it justice. It’s followed by The Very Marrow of Our Bones.

There were so many others that moved me in so many different ways. Here are some of them not in any special order. I rated these either 4 or 5 stars.

The Italian Teacher
White Chrysanthemum
The Eight Mountains
Educated: A Memoir
Us Against You
In The Shadow of 10,000 Hills
Gateway to the Moon
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
Our Homesick Songs
A Place for Us
My Real Name Is Hanna
Where the Crawdads Sing
The Winter Soldier
Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom
Becoming
Returning
Housekeeping
Home
That Night
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
Book Love
The Sadness of Beautiful Things: Stories
Auschwitz Lullaby
Praise Song for the Butterflies
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
My Name Is Venus Black
Winter Kept Us Warm


I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my Goodreads friend Fionnuala for coming up with this idea . I love taking the time to look at what I’ve read each year and seeing what my friends’ have chosen as their favorites. Thanks, Fi !

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd always planned to write my GR end of year review, as close to the end of the year as possible, but just in case I end up drinking one too many cocktails, thus hampering my ability to hit the right keys and look at the screen properly, I will get it done and dusted now, with a clear head, a strong coffee, and some Debussy soothingly playing away in the background.

2018 then, was (technically speaking it still is) another stunningly good reading year for me, in fact it's five years ago, roughly around now, that I took the plunge and joined goodreads, and as they say - the rest is history. It's been a great journey, of many highs, very few lows, and an all round feeling of being part of something truly special, that of course, is all down to my friends, you really are such a wonderful and stimulating bunch of people, that do the GR community proud.

Thank you!


Right, that's the emotional bit out the way, now for what really matters - the books!

Three novels stick in my mind when thinking back over the year, Boris Pasternak's 'Doctor Zhivago', Roberto Bolaño's massive '2666', and Hungarian Antal Szerb's beautifully evocative 'Journey by Moonlight', about a couple honeymooning in Italy, and how attempting to make sense of one's past has an effect on the present. I have to say I loved it to bits, so it gets the gold medal.

Disappointingly, although to be honest I don't really care, my worse read of the year was Salman Rushdie's misogynistic 'The Enchantress of Florence'. Hang on...he was my worse read of last year too, safe to say he won't be featuring next year, as there is more chance of Donald Trump turning into a male feminist than me reading Rushdie again.
Bye-bye Salman, it's been a pleasure, er...not.

I also despised Elfriede Jelinek's deplorable and messy novel 'Greed'. How on earth she bagged the Nobel Prize in Literature is still a mystery.

Best of the rest read in 2018, a mixture of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
In no particular order -

Kaputt - Curzio Malaparte
The Snows of Yesteryear - Gregor von Rezzori
Patterns of Childhood - Christa Wolf
Love Poems - Pablo Neruda
A Lover's Discourse: Fragments - Roland Barthes
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
The complete Poems - Anne Sexton
The real Life of Sebastian Knight - Vladimir Nabokov
Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall - Anna Funder
Death in Rome - Wolfgang Koeppen
Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me - Javier Marías
Bride of Ice: New Selected Poems - Marina Tsvetaeva
Extinction - Thomas Bernhard
Madwomen: The Locas mujeres Poems - Gabriela Mistral
Orlando - Virginia Woolf
W or the Memory of Childhood - Georges Perec
Billiards at Half-Past Nine - Heinrich Böll
The Woman of Rome - Alberto Moravia
Chernobyl Prayer: A Chronicle of the Future - Svetlana Alexievich
Disaffections: Complete Poems - Cesare Pavese
The Garden Party & Other Stories - Katherine Mansfield
Perched on nothing's branch: Selected Poems - Attila József
The Little Virtues - Natalia Ginzburg


Hope you all have a great time over the festive period, and I look forward to sharing many more fab reading experiences in 2019!.

[Kaylin (The Re-Read Queen)]

2018 was a hell a of year. I think the fact that I’m posting my year-in-review 10 days late shows I’m still reeling a bit. Like my 2017 review, the first half is personal-reflection and growth, the second half is sexy pie-graphs.

⑳⑱ for me:
• This was the year I moved in with my 4 y/o nephew. I don’t want to get into the details, but his home was no longer a healthy environment for him, and I’m so happy he has a great support system. I’ve never been a kid person, but this past year I had to step up and be there for him, and I just love him a lot. My life is 200% more stressful on a day to day basis, but I also smile and laugh more than ever.

• This was the first full year I was both out (as bisexual) and also pursuing relationships. And let me just say, being a queer girl in small-town Georgia ain’t that fun. Before coming-out, I didn’t realize it was something I’d have to do again and again and again. And I didn’t realize how hard people will work to make you doubt yourself. (Which backfired a lot because I’m more sure in myself and my identity than I’ve ever been???)

• Living with chronic illness is never fun and while this was mostly a good year, my pituitary tumor did come back. It is BENIGN, just meant I was feeling a little more crummy than usually for a little while.

• This was also the year I lost friends. This is complicated, and still hurts, so I won’t talk about it except to say sometimes a person can mean a lot, but the relationship is harmful for you both.

• A family member I was raised with passed away unexpectedly a couple of months ago. She was my age and this was also the first time my close-knit family has grappled with death, so I think grief still is affecting and changing us all right now. I don’t have an easy way of explaining this or addressing it.

• I mention all these things not because I want to depress anyone, but to give context when I say 2018 was one of the most difficult, painful years of my life. And that it can fuck right off. But because of that, I’m damn proud of myself. I’m still here, I’m still smiling, I’m still working, I’m still doing the best I can. As I move into examining my reading goals, what I’m absolutely not going to do is bemoan the goals I didn’t reach. Instead, I’m focusing on everything wonderful I read, discovered and learned, all while continuing to challenge
myself.

⑳⑱ Reading Goals

In addition to my Goodreads Challenge, I tend to set more focused goals for myself, leaving me with five total goals.

1. Read 150 books [X] (142/150)

2. Read 20 Classics [check!]


3. Read 10 Nonfiction Books [check!]


4. Finish these series I’ve owned forever: [X]
Harry Potter (4/7)
The Mortal Instruments (1/6)
Vampire Academy (3/6)

5. Read more of different genres [check!]

This is the only goal that isn’t easily quantifiable, but I do think I succeeded! I took one of my last English classes, which was a ‘modern-American-Lit’ class that looked at a lot of award-winning literature of the last two decades. This led to me reading wayyy more literary fiction than ever before. Because of small-fry, I also started researching children’s books. Together we read various classics, new publications, and what we could find at the library. I feel this is more varied than the primarily-YA I read in 2017. As much as I continue to love YA, it was really exciting to discover different stories, ideas and parts of the book community!

⑳⑱ Statistics

Alright let’s get to the good stuff, because this year I have not just pie charts but uber-sexy column charts thing.



- I gave out less half-stars than ever before, so maybe I’m finally learning to make decisions
- Out of the 11 books I rated five stars, six were re-reads
- My average rating for the entire year was 3.23. Which is awesome to me, because my lifetime average on goodreads has been 3.23 for years now. So I’m nothing if not consistent.



- I read 30-something Children’s books this year, but that screwed the chart up, so I removed it and a few one-offs. (Like I only read one or two mangas or biographies)
- Sometimes books were several genres (i.e. both a classic and a sci-fi) so that skewed things up
- I have got to read more magical realism. And more sci-fi. I genuinely love both genres but every year contemporary is top.

LGBT+ Representation



- Out of 142 books roughly 42 featured a prominent character identifying as LGBTIQA+
- I actively tried to seek good representation this year, so I’m surprised it only increased from 23% to 30%. But, I did read more nonfiction and children’s books, where orientation and identity aren’t always discussed.
- If anybody has any recommendations for good books with ace rep, please send them my way! I read very few this year.

Prominent Person of Color:



- Out of 142 books roughly 42 featured a person of color as a prominent character
- (No I don’t know why the number 42 keeps coming up either, but it’s starting to skeeve me out)
- This really isn’t what the world looks like, y’all. I need to try harder in 2019.
- I tried to track ownvoices, but it felt kind of weird and gatekeepy for me. Instead, I made a conscious effort to seek out such stories, but stopped labeling it in my graph.

Mental Illness, Chronic Illness, & Disability:



- Somehow I only managed to read five books with a character who has a chronic illness or disability.
- I will say I actively tried seeking out representation this year, but the first two books I read were so horrible and ableist I sort of stopped looking.
- Only 11% of the books I mentioned featured a character with mental illness. This was harder to classify as I've discovered a lot of books cover mental health issues, but don't use the actual terminology or are ill-defined.

Other Stats:

I lived up to my name this year by re-reading 10 books (compared to four last year):


My favorite reads of the year (the only 5 that got five-stars from my picky self!):


I also listened to more audiobooks than ever before. With a solid 35% of all my reading being audio. I think this also lead to me reading more books from the library than anywhere else

In Conclusion + My Future with Goodreads:

This year marked my third year reviewing books and the 300th review I've posted. Going into 2018, I had all sorts of big plans. I was emailing more publishing houses about ARCs and upcoming releases. I had some great online friends and idea for different groups for promoting great books, reading together and having fun. I even actually filmed a couple videos for a booktube channel I never created.

Instead, I took hiatuses. I stopped replying to messages and disappeared during buddy reads. Release dates passed by and the ARC I was lucky enough to get sat unread. ‘RTCs’ piled up. There was so much going on in my life, I had to channel my energy into work, family and taking care of myself.

So, I had to re-evaluate. Why was this bothering me so much? And I realized that at some point, I’d started to view GR as a popularity contest. I wanted more likes. I wanted in on all those inside jokes. I wanted all those friendships everyone else seemed to have. I wanted access to the newest book the hype was raving about. I’d forgotten the whole damn point.

I’ll never reach Goodreads fame. I simply can’t devote the time and energy so many other fantastic and talented users can. And that’s okay. I’m just here because I love books, and I love talking to other people who love books. I’m here because it gives me the chance to feel creative and like myself, which is undervalued. I'll continue to read great books and I'll continue to review them, but I'm no longer going to compare my content/account to everyone else's.

Thank you for all the support, conversation, and friendship. Your words mean more than you could ever know, and I’ve interacted with too many amazing and kind people to tag them all the way I want to. "Books help us understand and feel understood." I still believe that and I can't wait to see what amazing stories and characters 2019 brings us!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another good year in reading for me, I only set a goal of 52 for the year, I did surpass that by a few.


My 5 Star reads:

The Great Alone
Everything Here is Beautiful
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances
Malagash
Educated
A Place for Us
Tin Man
A Parchment of Leaves
Calypso
Where the Crawdads Sing
My Real Name is Hanna
Ladder to the Sky
The Choice: Embrace the Possible
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
The Things We Lose, The Things We Leave Behind
Becoming


High 4 Stars

Gods of Howl Mountain
The Immortalists
Heart Spring Mountain
As Bright as Heaven
She Rides Shotgun
Rust and Stardust
Sadness is a White Bird
West
An American Marriage
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
The Fighter
The Madonna of the Mountains
Southernmost
Button Man
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter
Waiting for Eden
Divisadero

Looking forward to more good books in 2019 and continued interaction with all my Goodreads friends!

Have yourself a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
🎄🎅🏻✨