2018 End of Year Book List

This year I managed to get a lot more reading done, which is significant mainly because in the latter part of the year I discovered the “Deck the Hallmark” podcast which took up a LOT of my time that would normally be spent listening to audiobooks.  I think I could have easily had another 4-5 books read this year had I not been so consumed with every word that Bran, Panda and Dan spoke about this season’s Hallmark Christmas movies.

Having said that, I managed to read 39 books this year, which is a lot for me.  Normally I only hit the low-30s!

The list (which can be sorted by any of the table headings):

[table id=4 /]

 

Sadly, I did not read too many standout books this year.  In fact, in the fall I hit a lull where I read a lot of books that were just okay, or that I did not care for, and wondered if I’d ever love a book again.  A couple were that bad.

I really only read ONE book that was a 5-star book, and that was a non-fiction pick, “Columbine” by Dave Cullen (picture is link to Amazon).

[amazon template=thumbnail&asin=0446546925]I’ll admit that I did not follow the long-lasting effects of the Columbine school shooting in Colorado once it left the national headlines, and never gave thought to how accurate those headlines were at the time. This in-depth analysis of the entire 1999 event is illuminating, intense and important to the current national narrative about school violence (and the media that covers it). This book is remarkable in its determination to set the record straight once and for all. Think you know Columbine? Read this book and THEN tell me if you really knew about Columbine. This is a rare non-fiction book that I might consider reading again in the future. It was that good.

Closely behind that is another non-fiction book I read this year: “Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea” by Barbara Demick (picture is link to Amazon).

[amazon template=thumbnail&asin=0385523912]Think you know North Korea? Read this book and THEN tell me if you really knew about North Korea. This was another book that blew me away and taught me a lot of new information. Those poor people. Those poor, poor, desperate people. This book is not new – it was written in 2010 – but I’m sure a lot of what Demick wrote about still holds true today for the plight of the average North Korean citizen. I heard about this book at a book reading by David Sedaris a few years ago – he recommended the book and I made a note of it, finally buying the audiobook this year. It did not disappoint, other than the fact that at one point I felt like it could have moved a bit more quickly in some of the storytelling. It was riveting and a book I highly recommend.

The worst books of the year? Well, I wrote an entire post about them just last month. Flannery O’Connor, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury all disappointed me in 2018. BIG TIME.

As of hitting “publish” on this post I still am reading through a few books but they will get counted in 2019 because I doubt I’ll finish any of them before January 1. Wonder if I’ll be able to read 40+ books in 2019?

If “Deck the Hallmark” keeps recording new podcast episodes in 2019, I likely won’t.