Favorite Books of 2018


I read 36 books this year (not counting the books I read for blurbs, workshops, etc.). Someone told me yesterday that they don't read because they don't have time.  Only a nonreader would think that's a valid excuse.  That person certainly has more time on their hands than I do but I still managed to devour almost forty books (and I'm a pretty slow reader, I think). We readers know that one makes time to read.  It's not a choice.  We're not happy if we're not doing it.

Here are twenty-one of my favorites from that pile (in alphabetical order by author's last name).. Books that were published this year have a * by them.  I'm always hesitant to make lists because they're so objective and really only reveal the taste of the reader.  Most of the big magazines and awards failed to recognize many of the books I found the best and lauded several other books that I struggled to finish. Often I see books that are incredibly hyped and realize that I just don't get it.  Other times, the hype gets it exactly right, as happened with a couple of my favorites on this list.  But most of all I think we can't look to others and compare ourselves to what they deem as the best--we have to just love what we love.  The older I get, the more comfortable I am with not listening to the reviewers or prizes as much as I just listen to other readers I trust, or, even more often, I trust my own instinct on choosing books.  And most of the time my gut gets it right.

Also, I want to add that the exclusion of certain books doesn't necessarily mean I didn't like them.  In many cases there are books that I just haven't gotten to yet, despite very much wanting to.  Off the top of my head, a couple of books released this year that I am anxious to read are The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai and In the House of Wilderness by Charles Dodd White.

Transcription-Kate Atkinson*
-Doesn't quite compare to her masterpieces, Life After Life and A God in Ruins, but I couldn't put it down and especially loved the way it put me in the London of the 1940s and 1950s.

A Ladder to the Sky-John Boyne*
-Not nearly as good as my favorite of his, The Heart's Invisible Furies, but this was one of the most readable and suspense-filled books I've ever read.  It's The Talented Mr. Ripley meets the cutthroat literary world.

The Absolutist-John Boyne
-Few authors can sweep you away to a particular time and place like Boyne can, and this is one of his best.

The War I Finally Won-Kimberly Brubaker Bradley*
-I loved The War That Saved Me and this sequel was nearly as good.  These are characters I came to really love and I was so glad to see this continuation of their story in war-torn England.

On the Black Hill-Bruce Chatwin
-The story of twin brothers who live in a house straddling the English-Welsh border is one of the most beautifully written novels I've ever read.  It's a very well-known novel in Great Britain but barely read here in America. That should change.

West-Carys Davies*
-This is the best novel I read this year. Despite being only 160 pages long, it is a complete epic and it's the book I continue to think about.  The prose is efficient yet elegant.  The images stay with me.  The characters are heartbreaking and vivid.  This novel about the dangers of obsession is a master-class in novel-writing and I've been stunned to find that it has been barely mentioned on any Best-of lists nor won any major awards this year.  A criminally overlooked and underrated novel that made me envy the author's powers.

Louisiana's Way Home-Kate DiCamillo*
-I've always loved DiCamillo and this story about a young girl trying to find a home is one of her best.  Charming without ever being cloying, moving without ever being sentimental.  I loved everything about it.

Varina-Charles Frazier*
-Ambitious and lyrical, simultaneously intimate and epic.  This is one of Frazier's best.

Less-Andrew Sean Greer
-I think this is a pretty perfect novel.  I laughed, I was moved, and most of all, I really cared about what happened to Arthur Less.  Much was made of this comedic novel winning the Pulitzer Prize--a real feat, since the prize usually goes to much more serious fare--but it completely deserved it.  Also, I think it possesses one of the best structures in a novel I've ever read.

The Go-Between-L.P. Hartley
-This classic novel from the 1960s still holds up despite having been copied by a legion of writers, especially people like Allan Hollinghurst and Julian Barnes (both of whom I love).

Treeborne-Caleb Johnson*
-Announces a major new voice in Southern Literature.  You can taste the peaches and feel the heat in this lyrical and witty study of an eccentric and unforgettable Alabama family.

Unsheltered-Barbara Kingsolver is doing some very difficult things in a novel filled with laughter and tragedy, expertly floating back and forth between a family suffering through the most recent presidential election and a female scientist in the 1800s.

The Outrun-Amy Liptrot
-The only memoir on my list this year, and one of the best ones I've ever read.  I didn't think I'd actually want to read another memoir about addiction but Liptrot makes it into something completely new and fresh, especially by finding her healing in studying birds and the world itself.

The Overstory-Richard Powers*
-There were sections of this novel that were some of the most powerful and beautiful I've ever read.  Truly breathtaking scenes, some of which were actually life-changing.  I was often frustrated by the book (too many characters, some sections are too long) but overall I think it's an amazing novel and it has completely changed the way I look at the natural world.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society-Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
-This book is a complete confection, and I mean that in a wholly positive way.  Compulsively readable, suspenseful, with a sense of place so vivid it made me want to visit Guernsey and characters who are so memorable I felt like they were old friends. Probably the most entertaining thing I read all year.

Autumn-Ali Smith
-I didn't have high hopes for this novel.  To me, it had all the markings of an overhyped novel.  But I loved every bit of it.

Saints for All Occasions-J. Courtney Sullivan
-This one is a close second for my favorite book of the year.  This story of two sisters and the incredible bond they have that ultimately leads to their estrangement is one of those novels that I think I'll long remember. I cared about everyone in the book, faults and all.  

The Valley at the Centre of the World-Malachy Tallack*
-As a writer, sometimes I read a book that makes me envious of the writer's talent.  This is one of them.  The story of a group of people all fighting against a changing--perhaps even disappearing--way of life is the kind of novel I love best in that it explores the lives of ordinary people in quiet, slow ways that ultimately illuminate what is so extraordinary about human beings, period.  In my top three favorites for sure.


Anne Tyler-Clock Dance*
-Tyler makes it all look so effortless, every time.  As always, she is a master of structure, and I especially loved the way she gives us four defining moments in a woman's life, with special emphasis on the last one.

Tin Man-Sarah Winman*
-This is a heartbreaker, but in all of the best ways.

The Serpent King-Jeff Zentner
-I can count on one hand the number of novels that have made me weep.  This one did, and more than once.  Zentner amazes me at his ability to get into the hearts and minds of teenagers, and into the complexities of small town life in a way that tells the complete truth, warts and dignity, and all.





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