Best Books Read in 2018

I've been working on this post since last week because it turns out I read a LOT of books in 2018, and many of them were outstanding! I had to make some tough choices here to choose favorites. First, some stats and fun facts, then my top picks, and then lists of my Top 10 (or whatever) in each category. You can see a complete list, with links to review, of all the books I've red in recent years on my Book Reviews page.

Stats and Facts:

The numbers in ( ) are my 2017 stats.

Total Books Read in 2018 = 88 (84)

Fiction – 45 (43)

Nonfiction – 17 (12)

Graphic Novel/memoir – 11 (8)

Poetry – 1 (plus parts of 3)

Teen/YA – 15 (12)

Middle-Grade – 10 (17)

Audiobooks – 28 (26)

Note that some categories overlap. 

So, I read fewer middle-grade novels in 2018 but more of everything else! I was pretty surprised to see that I read 88 total - that number has steadily gone up in recent years, thanks in part to audio books and graphic novels/memoirs.

Of those 88 books:

Here, the number is the number of books and in the ( ) is the percent of total books.

Women Authors – 44 (50%) - 61% in 2017

Diverse books – 22 (25%) - 29% in 2017

From my own shelves – 33 (38%) - 33% in 2017

These kind of surprised me - I thought I'd read more diverse books, I think because the ones I read had such an emotional impact on me.

Best of the Best:
These were difficult (sometimes impossible!) choices to make, with so many excellent books to choose from, so be sure to check out my Top lists below.

Best Novel

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell 

Best Nonfiction
Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley

 

Best Poetry

Celebrations by Maya Angelou

(granted, it was the ONLY poetry book I read in full! The others were complete collected works that I dipped in and out of, but Angelou is my favorite, nonetheless)

 

Best Graphic Novel/Memoir/Nonfiction

  Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees by Olivier Kugler 

Best Teen/YA

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

Best Middle-Grade

Refugee by Alan Gratz

Best Audio Book

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Top Ten (or Top Whatever) Lists:

(each list is in no particular order and some books appear on more than one list)

Top 10 Adult Fiction  

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen
The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick 
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie 
American War by Omar El Akkad  

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper

Top 10 Nonfiction

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman and David Polonsky (illustrator)

Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees by Olivier Kugler

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni

Happiness Is a Choice You Make by John Leland

Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley 

The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World, by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner 

The Light Years by Chris Rush

Top 5 Graphic Novels/Memoirs

Swing It, Sunny! by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm

Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman and David Polonsky (illustrator)

The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing

Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees by Olivier Kugler
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka 

Top 5 Teen/YA

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
  Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka 

Top 4 Middle-Grade

Swing It, Sunny! by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
Refugee by Alan Gratz

City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing 

Top 10 Audio Books

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy
She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper
Refugee by Alan Gratz

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni
Look Alive Out There by Sloane Crosley

Wow, it was an outstanding reading year! What were YOUR favorite books read in 2018? Tell me in the comments below and/or leave a link to your own 2018 summary.

Favorite TV Shows Reviewed in 2018

It was another AMAZING year for TV shows! There is just SO much available now, between streaming services, cable channels, and networks, that it's impossible to keep up with all the amazing shows - but we gave it our best! In fact, our movie viewing has fallen off in recent years because we are watching so much more TV.

The full list of TV reviews I wrote this year (22 in all) is included below, and these have all been added to my TV Reviews tab (along with the ones previously reviewed). They are sorted by genre. Making this list reminded me of some great shows that I had forgotten about!

As usual, we watched a mix of genres and on a wide variety of platforms. We still watch most of our shows On Demand through our cable service (though all are available elsewhere), but many of them are continued from previous seasons (so you can find their reviews in the TV Reviews tab).

Here are a few superlatives from my 2018 reviews to whet your appetite (click the links to see the reviews) - these were painful choices to make in some cases because there were so many excellent shows (so I sometimes cheated a bit and declared a tie). Just to be clear, I only write reviews of shows that I enjoy, so everything on the list at the end is worth trying!

Best Comedy

The Letdown (N) - Netflix

(a hilarious Australian show about being a new parent)

Best Drama

For the People (A, C, I, H?) - ABC

(a new legal drama by Shonda Rhimes)

Best Dramedy

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (A) - Amazon Original

(tough call but it has everything & even my husband is watching it now)

Best Crime/Mystery/Thriller  

 American Gothic (A, CBS) - CBS (thriller with dark humor)

Killing Eve (A, C, I) - BBC America (straight-up thriller - outstanding)

 

 Best Sci Fi

 11/22/63 (A, H) - Hulu 

(it's also a Drama & Historical, so also Best Sci Fi for those who don't watch sci fi)

 

 

All TV Shows Reviewed in 2018
 
In addition to the reviews listed below, also check out my post, When Good Shows Get Cancelled, a round-up of One-Season Wonders still worth watching!

KEY: Available on:

A = Amazon

C = Cable and/or Cable On Demand

CBS = CBS All Access 

H = Hulu

I = On network’s own website

N = Netflix

Note that Amazon Prime original shows are available free only to Amazon Prime members (just like Netflix or Hulu), but some shows are available on Amazon (A) to anyone for a fee.

Most TV shows are also available on DVD (to buy or borrow from your library), which works well if you want to see a show in a streaming service that you don't subscribe to. That's how we watched 11/22/63.

Comedy
The Letdown (N) - Netflix
Splitting Up Together (C, I) - ABC


Drama
Alias Grace (N) - Netflix
Breaking Bad (N) - AMC
For the People (A, C, I, H?) - ABC
The Resident (A, C, I) - FOX
Rise (A, C, I) - NBC



Dramedy (both Comedy & Drama)
Forever (A) - Amazon Original
Glow (N) - Netflix
Good Girls (A, C, I) - NBC
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (A) - Amazon Original


Crime/Mystery/Thriller
The Alienist (A, C, I) - TNT
American Gothic (A, CBS) - CBS
Goliath (A) - Amazon Original
Instinct (A, C, I) - CBS (also Dramedy)
Jack Ryan (A) - Amazon Original
Killing Eve (A, C, I) - BBC America
Safe (N) - Netflix
You (A, C, I) - Lifetime



Sci Fi
11/22/63 (A, H) - Hulu (also Drama & Historical)
The Crossing (A, C, I) - ABC
The X-Files (A, C, I) - FOX