What I read in 2018

December 31st, 2018Posted by Nancy

I don’t keep lists or rate things in Goodreads (I know, I know, I should, but it seems like writing work and I try to save my creativity for my own stuff).  The only reason I know roughly how many books I read this year is because much of my reading comes via the Toronto Public Library (the largest neighbourhood-based library system in the world – yay us!) and they kindly maintain a history attached to  your account.

I borrowed 137 books in 2018.  Throw in another 10 to 15 physical books I read and that puts me at over 140 books.

In reviewing the list, what surprised me is how much non-fiction I read (one of my goals) and how many of my favorite books of the year fall into that category.  My reading was triggered by reviews, by Twitter (check out the historians on Twitter and you’ll never lack for things to read), by Lapham’s Quarterly and the related World in Time podcast, by the Ken Burns documentary on The Vietnam War, by conversations with friends, and by the craziness in the political world to the south.

Non-Fiction I read and blathered on to other people about in 2018

Praire Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

Heartland by Sarah Smarsh

Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys  by Viv Albertine

To Throw Away Unopened by Viv Albertine

Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracy Thorn

Beautiful Scars by Tom Wilson

My Own Devices by Dessa

(Note: more information on the five music-related titles above can be found in earlier posts)

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

The Things they Carried by Tim O’Brien

Dopesick by Beth Macy

Blood at the Root by Patrick Phillips

In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi

One Nation under God by Kevin Kruse

The Unwomanly Art of War by Svetlana Alexievich

The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Ghosts of the Tsunami by Richard Lloyd Parry

On the fiction front, I read a lot, enjoyed much of it, only bailed completely on one book but found it much harder to select things that truly left an impact.

Fiction I read and found memorable in 2018

The Bone Mother by David Demchuk

The Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee

The Amateurs by Liz Harmer

The Cabin at the End of the World and Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay

The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford

Bannerless by Carrie Vaughan

The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series by Theodora Goss

Dreadful Young Ladies and other stories by Kelly Barnhill

The Only Harmless Great Thing by Bo Bolander

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin

There you go. And yes, I do know that I did not provide links for these.

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