One of the lists I try to write every year is my best books list. While I didn't do a whole list last year, I thought I would do one this year considering it's one of my non-film topics that I'm trying to be consistent with. While I didn't hit my reading goal this year, I did enjoy quite a lot of what I read, and instead of writing about every book I loved, I've broken down my honorable mentions into categories, saving my top/favorite books of the year at the end of the post.
Entertaining Books of the Year (fun, light reads)
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (fiction)
Grace and the Fever by Zan Romanoff (young adult fiction)
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (mystery, young adult fiction)
I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (contemporary romance, young adult fiction)
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (fantasy, young adult fiction)
The Fandom by Anna Day (fantasy, young adult fiction)
New Favorites (books that have joined my favorite books of all time)
Reflection by Elizabeth Lim (fantasy, young adult fiction)
Freshers by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison (young adult fiction)
My Life with Bob by Pamela Paul (non-fiction, memoir)
Books I Meant to Finish in 2018 (and would have probably made the list)
Educated by Tara Westover (non-fiction, memoir)
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (fantasy, historical fiction)
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (fantasy)
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (fantasy)
Favorite Books Read in 2018 (in no particular order)
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
The film adaptation of the well-written novel had swept the world at the start of the year. While the relationship between the characters is a debated topic among film viewers, the prose was absolutely stunning. Andre Aciman's style borders on descriptive writing, and the novel is peppered with fantastic sentences that readers brush through over and over again. He writes his character through their emotions, and the range of thought and feeling displays the character development as the novel goes on.
Enigma Variations by Andre Aciman
I went ahead and read this one to see if my love for the novel and Aciman's writing style was a fluke because it was being overshadowed by the film. As much as I loved Call Me By Your Name, it was Enigma Variations that I keep on going back to. The book was emotionally confusing and yet it makes you think about it, makes you want to understand what was going on in the character's head as we follow him through five different moments of his life, moments that make sense and could leave us confounded as to why events spiraled the way it did. It is through this novel that I found myself looking forward for more of Aciman's writing, as he has a fantastic way with words.
Circe by Madeline Miller
Classic retellings have also dominated my reading sphere this year, with Circe one of the best books I have read. It tells the story of the Odyssey through the eyes of Circe, one of the goddesses Odysseus encounters to his journey back in Ithaca. Madeline Miller has made a tonally sound character that displays a wide range of emotion, as she tells her life story. She too, has a way with words. This is one story that I would love to revisit again because of the way Miller has told her story.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Now this is the Iliad I want to see! The Song of Achilles is set in the eyes of Patroclus, and the deep bond that he and Achilles shared from the first time they met to the great battle of Troy. Like Andre Aciman, Miller's characters also show development through the array of thoughts and emotions that the character invokes in the novel. Miller presents a fantastic re-telling, and her writing is particularly wonderful as well.
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
By the pattern here, I should have picked out two books by Jessica Townsend - and I did! I read Nevermoor and its sequel (the title is a major spoiler for the books, so I left it out) and it was the magical adventure story I could immerse myself in. It's a middle grade book that is being touted as the next Harry Potter (big and assuming shoes to fill), but it's a magical book of its own. While the first book establishes the foundation of Morrigan Crow's history and legacy, it is in the sequel where the reader gets to see and experience more of the world.
Have you read any of these books? What were your favorite books read in 2018?
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