Best and Worst Reads of 2018

[Ursula]

As we are rapidly approaching the end if 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I thought it might be fun to resume doing our list of our favorite and least favorite reads of 2018.

Worst Book of 2018 would have to be Prairie Fires by Carolyn Frasier.  This biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for 2018. This is the second time a Pulitzer Prize winning book disappointed me (remember The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt?).  It was also chosen as our least favorite book by my F2F book club.  It was very repetitive and dragged on forever.

Best Book of 2018, I am going to split this one into 2 categories.

Fiction: Maybe it was because of the wait (publication delayed from the usual August to November) or because I am a dyed-in-the-wool fan, but I vote for the latest Louise Penny novel, Kingdom of the Blind.  Her characters are so well developed and feel like old friends.  Plus she keeps coming up with inventive and compelling stories.

Non-fiction: If you haven't read Jon Meacham's latest, The Soul of America, put this book on your TBR list.  This book will bring you hope in these troubled times in which we live.  Very readable and a look back at other bad times, which our nation survived.  BTW, Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize winning author, so they must get it right once in a while.

[rapa]

One of the fiction books I enjoyed most was:

The Borrowing of Bones. by Paula Munier.    Enjoyed every page and it didn't strain my brain.

A non-fiction that I can recommend is SMALL FRY by Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Lisa is Steve Jobs daughter and tells her story with no holds barred. 

Will have to get back with my worst read but am sure it'll be one that I either didn't finish or quickly skimmed. 

[Carci]

rapa, I just finished A Borrowing of Bones and liked it very much. Thanx for the recommendation. I always like a good dog story. 

But I couldn't help comparing it to The Right Side by Spencer Quinn, which is one of my favorites of the last several years.  Have you read that one?  BB was good but RS was wonderful.

Speaking of dogs, I noticed that David Rosenfelt has one out last year that I missed.  Rescued is his 17th book in the Andy Carpenter series which I always enjoy...  a little self-deprecating humor with the mystery. :)

[Ioruach]

I just love David Rosenfelt. But who could not love an author who runs an animal rescue foundation? While not in the Andy Carpenter series, the most recent book I read by him was Fade to Black a stand alone novel featuring Doug Brock who was introduced in Blackout. Brock suffers from amnesia as the result of trauma occurred as a police officer several years earlier. That amnesia plays a major role in the story line. I can also recommend those Rosenfelt novels.

And, yes, Spencer Quinn as well, because I am a dog lover, always have been and always will be. One of my favorite quotes is one attributed to Mark Twain: "The more I see of people, the more I like my dog."

[Ioruach]

As far as fiction goes, at the end of any year I always have a terrible time identifying a best read. I have enjoyed books by many of my favorite authors, including David Rosenfelt (Fade to Black), Linwood Barclay (Parting Shot), David Baldacci (The Fallen), and my current read, Desolation Mountain by William Kent Krueger. For a worst book, I agree with rapa; I would have to do some digging.

For non-fiction it would be Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine by Alan Lightman. In his review of the book in the New York Times, Michael Shermer wrote "...an elegant and moving paean to our spiritual quest for meaning in an age of science." I originally borrowed the book from my library, but I liked it so much I bought it, because it contains so many thoughts and ideas that were meaningful to me.

[Carci]

Had to dig through my library history to remember many of the books this year...2 of them jumped out at me.

Best Fiction Novel: The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

Best Novella: And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer & Longer by Backman

Worst Book: The Paris Architect   ...too gruesome for me

[rapa]

Carci,

Thanks so much for introducing me to Robert Dugoni.

Last night I started The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell. Read 139 pages before I could put it down. It grabbed me from the get-go! Plan to get some of Dugoni's mysteries next. Love the way he writes!

Also agree with you on the Best Novella.  I bought two copies of this book as gifts. 

[Ioruach]

Carci I'm glad you showed Dugoni's novel as a "Best." His name was familiar so I checked my history and found I had read five of his books and liked them. But the one you mentioned was not on it. So I will be checking out my library to see if it is available.

And rapa, I picked up A Borrowing of Bones a bit ago and will start it as soon as I finish Tailspin by Sandra Brown, my current read.

[rapa]

I did go back and checked my reads and can say that my worst read was BABY TEETH by Zoje Stage. Couldn’t get into it and returned it to library. 

Thinking again about my best read and believe it to be Kristin Hannah’s THE GREAT ALONE.   I won’t forget this read and highly recommend it!

[rapa]

Carolyn Tewell's second best book read of 2018 is HOW HARD CAN IT BE by Allison Pearson.  Have any of you read this?  I 'll have to give it a look/see.

[Mandy Muffin]

High gang.  I'm back.  The reason I knew you guys were still around is that Aggie (Randy Aggemeyer) joined the EONS group on facebook.  He put out a call to any TBDers to come back.  My best book is "The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell" by Dugoni.  Great read with a simple story line and a heartwarming ending. My book reading was way down last year, gong through some health issues as well as other problems. My list only had 87 books.  I was reading in the low 100s in past years. I'm not going take the time to root out the turkeys, but there were a few.  I'm really good at spotting the stinkers early, and just don't read them. Life is getting too short to waste my time on the poorly written and plotted.  The bulk of my reading is now on my I-phone.   

[Lip Service]

Welcome back Mandy Muffin

So good to see you posting here

[Mandy Muffin]

Thanks.  I went through a couple of bad years with the passing of my wife, the selling of two homes and relocation to a Senior Retirement Center here in Lebanon, Ohio. But Aggie, who runs your web site posted in my facebook group, inviting people to come to TBD, so I did.  I will try to pop in from time to time as I come across a book of note.  I am now finishing up a Jeffery Deaver title in his Lincoln Rhyme series in which the forensic team goes to Italy in search of a serial killer.