Books 2018

We have a nice list. We have a naughty list. As for everything in between, I still give them a hardy nod.
 
Asterisks denote rereads
 

1. Silent Spring—Rachel Carson
2. Legion and the Emperor’s Soul—Brandon Sanderson
3. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives—John Palfrey and Urs Gasser
4. *Mrs. Dalloway—Virginia Woolf
5. The Circle—Dave Eggers
6. The Internet of Us—Michael P. Lynch
7. We Have Always Lived in the Castle—Shirley Jackson
8. Dragonflight—Anne McCaffrey
9. The Hours—Michael Cunningham
10. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex—Mary Roach
11. The Fishermen—Chigozie Obioma
12. The Wind in the Willows—Kenneth Grahame
13. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Next—Stieg Larsson
14. Ready Player One—Ernest Cline
15. A Head Full of Ghosts—Paul Tremblay
16. Remains of the Day—Kazuo Ishiguro
17. Come As You Are—Emily Nagoski
18. Big Questions—Anders Nilson
19. A Gentleman in Moscow—Amor Towles
20. Middlesex—Jeffrey Eugenides
21. The Well of Ascension—Brandon Sanderson
22. The Disaster Artist—Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell
23. Phaeton—Marc Hobbs
24. I Am Malala—Malala Yousafzai
25. Speak No Evil—Uzodinma Iweala
26. A Sand County Almanac—Aldo Leopold
27. Into the Wild—Jon Krakauer
28. Edge of Eternity—Ken Follett
29. *The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke—Suze Orman
30. How Democracies Die—Steven Levitsky
31. East of Eden—John Steinbeck
32. Jude the Obscure—Thomas Hardy
33. *Maus—Art Spiegelman
34. Theft By Finding—David Sedaris
35. The Hero of Ages—Brandon Sanderson
36. Archy’s Life of Mehitabel—Don Marquis
37. Eating Animals—Jonathan Safran Foar
38. A Tale of Two Cities—Charles Dickens
39. Never Cry Wolf—Farley Mowat
40. *Holidays on Ice—David Sedaris
41. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
42. The Polygamist’s Daughter—Anna LeBaron
43. The Looming Tower—Lawrence Wright
44. Track of the Cat—Nevada Barr
45. And Then There Were None—Agatha Christie
46. The Bees—Laline Paull
47. The Color Purple—Alice Walker
48. Storm Front—Jim Butcher
49. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing—Hank Green
50. The Catcher in the Rye—J.D. Salinger
51. Fool Moon—Jim Butcher
52. Six of Crows—Leigh Bardugo
53. The Haunting of Hill House—Shirley Jackson
54. Grave Peril—Jim Butcher
55. The Two Towers—J.R.R. Tolkein
56. If You Come Softly—Jacqueline Woodson
57. Summer Knight—Jim Butcher
58. The Godhead Game—David Clement-Davies

 
 
Best of the Best of the Best:
 
Middlesex
I enjoyed this one on audio and it’s especially good. I’d put it up there with My Antonia narrated by Patrick Lawlor for favorite listening. It’s a wonderful story spanning three generations culminating in one young man who was born female. I look forward to listening again one day.
 
We Have Always Lived in the Castle—Shirley Jackson
I love it. I love it. I love. If Tim Burton tried to write a Lemony Snicket book, this would be the result.
 
 
Pretty Great:
 
The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke—Suze Orman
Almost everyone I know in my generation is struggling with student loans, car payments, saving for retirement, and kissing goodbye any hope of ever being a home-owner (myself included). This is not a book of miracles, but gives advice in plain language on how to overcome debt and make investments. I highly recommend it to anyone who falls into one or several of the above categories.
 
How Democracies Die
Overwhelming. Everyone should read this book, but I fear its readership will play choir to the authors' preacher. We have so much work to do as a nation, and yet the examples of our peers are so very bleak. 
 
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex—Mary Roach
This book is for everyone. Who doesn’t want to read about historical and modern experiments in sexual behavior? It borders on cringy too bizarre, all of it engrossing.
 
Archy’s Life of Mehitabel
I doubt you’ve heard of this one, but for being about a cricket and a cat, it’s oddly profound (and hilarious).
 
The Catcher in the Rye
I’m not sure why I enjoyed this one so much. Stream-of-consciousness stories usually don’t appeal to me. Maybe I just love a good anti-hero.
 
Other mentions include the Mistborn Trilogy, Silent Spring, Maus, The Disaster Artist, The Color Purple, and everything by David Sedaris.
 
 
Skip
Dragonflight—Anne McCaffrey
Maybe it’s petty jealousy, but I have yet to fall in love with a dragon book. The late McCaffrey has oodles of fans. She doesn’t need me. But domestic abuse and bland protagonists aside, I thought it was boring. I’m sorry.
 
Wind in the Willows—Kenneth Graham
Again, maybe it’s petty jealousy at far more lucrative animal-authors. But it went on. And on. And on. And on…. in under 300 pages. If you want personified English wildlife, read Redwall.
 
The Circle-- Dave Eggers
Science fiction demands some degree of suspension of disbelief. But this takes place in the real world in the not-too-distant future, and yet our dumbass protagonist doesn’t question the total relinquishing of privacy. She just dances through the book happy to have a 24 hour twitter feed. The message is a good one, but the execution didn’t hit the mark.
 
A Tale of Two Cities—Charles Dickens
I don’t like Charlies Dickens. There. I said it.
 
Ready Player One
Putting this on the skip list might be a little harsh. It’s not the worst thing ever. Some of it’s clever. But it gives into bad-teen-romance bull-crap you can smell from a mile away. 1) Girl says she is hideous and you can never look at her---you know it’s going to end up being some barely visible birthmark. Spoiler: it is. 2) Girl tells guy to leave her alone. A life-threatening situation compels him to send her another message. Unnecessarily tacks on “P.S. I saw a picture of you in RL and you’re super hot.” Bite me.
 
 
 
What did you read? What did you love! Let me know!!
 
Happy New Year,
Kelly