So I typically create a post at the beginning of each year listing the books I read the previous year. Since I started doing this, I’ve realized this is probably one of the most boring posts I write so I’ve added a few things to ‘spice up’ this year’s list. I won’t stop writing out the list though, I enjoy that part too much.
Looking back on last year’s list, I kept my expectations quite low because I assumed I wouldn’t have much time to read, giving birth to my second child and all. But I was pleasantly surprised when he finally did arrive and he was a wonderful sleeper, so I took advantage of that and dug my nose into a book whenever I had the chance. I’ve started waking up at 6am to get in some reading before the rest of my typically family awaken for the day AND
I’ve significantly reduced the amount of time I watch Netflix, sometimes I’ll go weeks without watching a single thing. These factors allowed me to read a total of 77 books in 2018, not including the short story advent calendar, parenting books, and picture books I read with my kids. That’s 3 more books than I read in 2017-not bad.
Despite some health challenges for the first few months after my son’s birth (I’m totally fine now!), I was also able to conduct some memorable author interviews, and even made my first television appearance to discuss books, so all in all it was a pretty fabulous year. Not including the loss of our beloved Pearl, that still smarts a bit, although Smokey seems pretty over it (the monster). I’m looking forward to what 2019 has in store for my bookshelves.
I didn’t get around to writing a review of every single book I read, but that’s just because I had a few busy weeks where I couldn’t get to them. As a rule, if more than a few weeks pass since I read a book I give up on writing the review because I’m worried it won’t be fresh in my mind.
I wanted to celebrate this new year with a special giveaway too! Comment below with the name of the best book you read in 2018 to enter. This is open to everyone, regardless of location, I will mail this sucker anywhere. The prize is my copy of the 2018 Short Story Advent Calendar-a $70 value, and if you followed along on my youtube channel, you will know this was a great year to be a part of #SSAC2018.
My Favourite Book of the Year: Calypso by David Sedaris (stories)
My Least Favourite Book of the Year (it wasn’t terrible, just ok) : The Only Cafe by Linden MacIntyre
The Book I Recommended Most: The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
*Giveaway is now closed, thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations Dustin!!!
- The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
- The Futures by Anna Pitoniak
- Mitzi Bytes by Kerry Clare
- Dazzle Patterns by Alison Watt
- Selection Day by Aravind Adiga
- Louis Undercover by Fanny Britt and Isabelle Arsenault
- The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel by David Casarett
- The Boat People by Sharon Bala
- This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
- The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 85 1/4 years Old by Hendrik Groen
- The Shoe on the Roof by Will Ferguson
- The Child by Fiona Barton
- Fly Me by Daniel Riley
- Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys
- Bellevue Square by Michael Redhill
- Let Darkness Bury the Dead by Maureen Jennings
- The Last Girl by Nadia Murad
- Hysteria by Elisabeth de Mariaffi
- Into the Sun by Deni Ellis Bechard
- The Dead Husband Project by Sarah Meehan Sirk
- The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place by Alan Bradley
- The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien
- At This Juncture by Rona Altrows
- The Unravelling by Clem Martini and Olivier Martini
- Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro
- Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley
- Word by Word by Kory Stamper
- Liminal by Jordan Tannahill
- The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
- The Figgs by Ali Bryan
- F Bomb; Dispatches from the War on Feminism by Lauren McKeon
- Murder, She Wrote: Close-Up on Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
- The Only Cafe by Linden MacIntyre
- Blame by Jeff Abbott
- Mrs. by Caitlin Macy
- The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
- The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman
- Hunting Houses by Fanny Britt
- Calypso by David Sedaris
- The Good Pilot Peter Woodhouse by Alexander McCall Smith
- The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
- Foe by Iain Reid
- Our Little Secret by Roz Nay
- From the Corner of the Oval by Beck Dorey-Stein
- Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga
- Tin Man by Sarah Winman
- How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
- Vi by Kim Thuy
- Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave
- Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall by Suzette Mayr
- The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
- Up From Freedom by Wayne Grady
- Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
- Twin Studies by Keith Maillard
- All Things Consoled by Elizabeth Hay
- No Good Asking by Fran Kimmel
- The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman
- The Library Book by Susan Orlean
- The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
- Dracul by Dacre Stoke and J.D. Barker
- The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
- The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams
- Fed Up by Gemma Hartley
- Maid by Stephanie Land (review to come)
- Very Rich by Polly Horvath (review to come)
- Motherhood by Sheila Heti (review to come)
- Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee
- At-Risk by Amina Gautier
- Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent (review to come)
- Miss Marley by Vanessa Lafaye
- Something for Everyone by Lisa Moore (review to come)
- Half Spent was the Night by Ami McKay (review to come)
- Shrewed by Elizabeth Renzetti (review to come)
- Wenjack by Joseph Boyden (review to come)
- Border Child by Michel Stone (review to come)
Quite an impressive list! I do this too. Stay tuned.
thank you!
Congrats on the baby and the 77 books!
thanks very much! Proud of both 🙂
Calypso was my favourite too! And not far behind, The Kiss Quotient. Happy new year!
isn’t it hilarious?
Congratulations and thank you for a much needed dose of Seinfeld gifs!
there’s nothing better!
A Killer Harvest by Paul Cleave. Thanks for turning me on to this author…love the way he writes even though the content can be a little dark. Happy New Year! It’s going to be a challenge for you to surpass 2018. Good luck😁
Thanks Irene!!!! Bonus points for picking a book that’s on my list hahah
My favorite from your list was Home for Unwanted Girls. My favorite read from 2018 was a tie between the Noise Downstairs by Linwood Barclay and the Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Looking forward to all of your 2019 reviews! I think I only managed to read about 35 books!
35 books is still pretty good! I love Linwood Barclay too, I haven’t read any of his for awhile but I do enjoy his stuff.
Adorable baby! He’s probably thinking mom, I’m a little young for this book don’t you think? 🙂
Great list of books though I must admit I’m leery of Sedaris after his diaries were a massive fail but Calypso might be the one to give him another try on. Have a great year!
Ooohhh see i haven’t read the diaries yet, but I did hear they were terrible. I must seem for myself! Have a goo dyear too 🙂
Such a fantastic set of books you read this year! One of my favourites was AJ Finn’s The Women in the Window!
Oh I have that one on my shelf! Haven’t gotten to it yet though…
One of my favourite books this year was AJ Finn’s The Woman in the Window. You sure read some great books this year!
Selection Day should have been your favourite book – go and learn all about cricket and then read it again! Arthur looks as though he’s mulling over the plot of his first blockbusting novel… will it be crime? Heavyweight fiction? Or romance? My favourite was of course Endurance, which you’ll know since I’ve banged on about it endlessly for months…
Oh yes Endurance! I knew you would say that about Selection Day, it was actually one of my least favourite books from 2018 (I know, I know) maybe if I was from the UK and cricket was a bigger part of my culture I would feel differently?
Books and babies! Sounds like a good year!
Indeed it was!
Congratulations on your impressive year! I’m pretty sure I didn’t even come close to reading that many books when I was in the middle of having babies!
I forgot you had read Twin Studies – do you have a one-line review of it for me? 🙂
No, I didn’t review that one on the blog because it was during my ‘super busy wordfest time’ so I didn’t do reviews of those, which is sad because they were some of the best books of the year! I did really enjoy Twin Studies, Maillard NAILS the female voice of Karen
Good to know!
it’s difficult keeping up with the reviews I find – mainly because I take so long to write each one….. I could do as you do and skip them but I tend to use the blog as a memory bank for my reading.
so true! This seems to be the bane of every book bloggers existance-we just want to keep reading!
Oh yes, I know that feeling. Someone must have come up with a way to describe this syndrome
Hooray for so much reading post-baby! I’m glad he’s a good sleeper.
If it’s been two or more weeks since I read a book I usually skip reviewing it too. I hope 2019 is just as productive for you!
thank you!
Less by Andrew Sean Greer was the favourite book I read in 2018. It’s not for everyone thought; only half my book club liked it.
Annie Proulx, ‘Barkskins’. It was the impetus, and trigger, to get on with my own historial fiction, TRILLIUM. ~ Congrats Anne on the babe & a super reading list! Busy gal! 🙂
Thank you!
Congrats on such a satisfying reading year! (I’ve been slow to return to the online bustle after the holidays, so I’m late to your post.) I completely hear you on the NetFlix reduction plan. I’ve cut my viewing to a quarter of what it was (I track the episodes I watch so that I can’t fool myself about how much I’m watching) in the past two years (well, TV in general – we haven’t had NF very long) and it makes a huge difference in available time for books. Woot!
I own the complete box set of Murder She Wrote, but NEVER knew the protagonist books were real. I need to get on this 🙂 I also enjoy Ruth Ware, you may enjoy my reviews on some of her books
https://reallifeofanmsw.com/tag/ruth-ware/
well ‘real’ is a relative term, but there are lots of ‘her’ books available and they are so fun!
ha! ha! your correct about ‘real’ being a relative term.