the books of 2018

i cracked the code last year, for last year was the year i really discovered fiction. (choir of angels sing)

i know, i know… please stop rolling your eyes. but if you’ve seen any of my past books of posts, you may notice that non-fiction has by far been my favorite thing to read. until now. 

i think it’s because i mostly have used my reading time as a chance to learn more about topics that interest me, but it happened more than once over the past several years that i couldn’t even crack a goal of twenty books in a year.
this year, i read more than thirty! thanks, fiction!

but now, for some of my most worthy mentions….

best book: the secret history, donna tartt
i’ve got to start with best book because 2018 was the year that i read what is now my absolute favorite, the secret history. it makes other books look like garbage and it was really difficult actually getting into a book after this. (don’t you hate that?) it had everything i love: gloomy beautiful prose, outstanding character development, a fascinating dark academia setting… and a good murder cover-up story.

second favorite: looking for alaska, john green
late in 2017 i got my first introduction to john green novels and man, i just really love them. but more than turtles all the way down which i also really enjoyed was looking for alaska, one that stuck in my mind far longer. also sort of fits in with the academia theme, but more of a high school-aged way. what is your favorite john green book?

(ultimate) best memoir: my life in france, julia child
ohhh, i think every woman should just read this, whether you’ve ever lived in a foreign country or not, but especially if you love france and europe in general. julia child is the ultimate expat and after reading so many expat and travel blogs, i loved essentially, reading julia child’s expat blog. i’m glad i own this so i can go back and page through it again and again, although it was particularly perfect in the run-up to our holiday in france last summer.

another amazing memoir: mastering the art of french eating, ann mah
another book read in the run-up to france, but i totally didn’t expect this book to be as good as it was! mah can really write and does an excellent job of bringing her readers into the emotional folds of living in paris… without your partner… when you moved all the way across the ocean just to be together. it’s got recipes, full to the gills with #expatlife stuff and also happens to be an excellent primer into different regions of france and how they differ both culinarily and culturally.

other honorable mentions that were most enjoyed…
a year in provence – peter mayle (a classic expat memoir)
goodbye, things – fumio sasaki (minimalism inspirado)
the house by the lake – thomas harding (a must for berlin history buffs)
eleanor oliphant is completely fine – gail honeyman (top notch fiction)

so, i fulfilled my wish to read more fiction in 2018 (and a lot of memoirs), but i didn’t read as much philosophy as i had hoped to, although i did remember that goal in the last quarter of the year but have not yet finished plato’s great dialogues. will continue this goal right into 2019. i’ve already got my head (and my holds list) so full of books that i can’t wait to get going.

have you read any of these books as well? tell me – what was the best book you read in 2018? any philosophy recommendations? bonus points if you know where any of the photos in this post were taken.

ps, let’s be friends on goodreads!