Your BEST BOOKS of 2018

What were the 10 best books you read this year? Are you going to struggle to get your list down to 10? Are you going to struggle to come up with 10?

Tell us your best reads of the year, and if you're inclined, one line about why they made the list.

Best of 2006

Best of 2007

Best of 2008

Best of 2009

Best of 2010

Best of 2011

Best of 2012

Best of 2013

Best of 2014

Best of 2015

Best of 2016

Best of 2017

Happy list making!

2018 Best Reads
A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr Fiction
The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George Mystery
Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe by Cullen Murphy Non-Fiction
The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution by Jonathan Eig Non-Fiction
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss Children's
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin Biography
Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman Non-Fiction
Footsteps in the Snow by Charles Lachman NonFiction

MYSTERY/THRILLER/SUSPENSE
Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
Charlatans by Robin Cook

HISTORICAL FICTION
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict

GENERAL FICTION
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

NONFICTION
Little Book of Lykke: Secrets of the World’s Happiest People by Meik Wiking
Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García
The Beginner's Guide to Buddhism by Jack Kornfield
Higher Loyalty by James Comey

Circe

Song of Achilles

the above two are tied for first place on my list. The rest I enjoyed but the list is not nec in order_-

The Overneath

I am I am I am

The 6:41 to Paris

A Gentleman in Moscow

Mary B (a fascinating take on the third Bennett sister. Some folk too attached to the characters were upset by how this author wrote them, but I found it very realistic)

The Library Book Susan Orlean

Code Girls by Liza Mundy
Sargent's Women by Donna Lucey
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovici
My Own Country by Abraham Verghese
Calypso by David Sedaris
Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn

that's it for me. there were others I liked, but those were the favorites. I couldn't get to 10 without including some four-star books and favorites should be five-star-only in my opinion. Most of my picks are nonfiction this year.

First place, without even a close contender:
The Plague by Albert Camus

Other wonderful books I read this year:
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo by Biruté Galdikas
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
O Pioneers by Willa Cather
The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson

Honourable mentions to:
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
I'm Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson

Thank you everyone for sharing your lists!

My 10 favorites in the order I read them were:

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Gangsterland: A Novel by Tod Goldberg
The Bear and the Nightingale & The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden - counting these as one since they're from the same series
Duma Key by Stephen King
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou

In the order in which I read them:

Friends and Relations - Elizabeth Bowen
The Friend - Sigrid Nunez
Travelling in a Strange Land - David Park
In the Distance - Hernan Diaz
Upstate - James Wood
Other People's Houses - Lore Segal
The Winter Soldier - Daniel Mason
Open City - Teju Cole
Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know: The Fathers of Wilde, Yeats and Joyce - Colm Toibin
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata

The Unwomanly Face of War Svetlana Alexievich - Non Fiction
Sudden Times - Dermot Healy - Fiction
Kafka on the Shore - Hurana Murakami - Fiction
War with the Newts - Karel Capek - Fiction
Under the Frog - Tibor Fischer - Fiction

I found it quite difficult to reduce my favourites down to ten. There are so many books out there which are in my preferred genres that I rarely pick up a book I don't like. All are fiction and are in the order in which I read them (most recent first):

The Birthday Mystery an absolutely gripping whodunit from a million-selling author - Faith Martin
Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan
Shattered: A Drew Patrick Crime Thriller Novel (Drew Patrick Private Investigator Series Book 1) - Jason Richards
The Billionaire’s Sham Girlfriend (The Beaumont Brothers Book 1) - Leslie North
The Songbird Girls: An absolutely gripping crime thriller - Richard Parker
Wedding Wipeout (A Rabbi Kappelmacher Mystery Book 1) - Jacob M. Appel
The Paris Apartment - Sophia Karlson
Sugar: My Life as a Sugar Babe - Monique X
The Twelve Dice of Chrismas - Gail Oust
Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

>1 PaperbackPirate: Thanks for starting this thread, Pirate! Wasn’t Homegoing a great read!?!

Some 2018 Favorites in the order I read them:

Fox 8 by George Saunders
American Wolf: A True Story Of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Have Dog, Will Travel by Stephen Kuusisto
Into the Raging Sea by Rachel Slade
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Secrets Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
Don’t Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Bibliophile by Jane Mount

When I compiled my list, I was surprised that there were so many non-fiction titles since I mostly read fiction. I’m so glad I finally got around to reading Jane Austen!