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gracerene
gracerene
28 December 2018 @ 09:52 am
2018 Book Review  
In 2017 I did quarterly book wrap-ups, and I really enjoyed the process. I let it fall by the wayside in 2018, mostly because I was pretty much only reading M/M Romances, but I'm hoping to pick it up back up in 2019. In the meantime, I thought I'd do one massive wrap-up for the year. :D

As of today, I've read a total of 265 books in 2018. 256 of which were M/M Romances, and 4 of which were Pulitzer Prize Winners. It's not quite the end of the year, and I suspect I'll read 1-2 more books before it's over, but I don't think any of them will be my favorite of the year, so it's probably safe to post now. :D

FAVORITE BOOKS:

Fantasy: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Gorgeous, gorgeous novel! If you read and liked Uprooted, you'll love this one as well! Rich world-building, lovely fantasy aspects, and some seriously brilliant characters. Adored.

Pulitzer Prize Winner: The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau
I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this one. A point of view/story angle I'd never read before that really made me think. And the ending gave me chills.

M/M Romance: Fake Out by Eden Finley
Good clean Nice and dirty fake/pretend relationship fun! Loved the twist on this trope here, and the characters and dynamic just really, really worked for me here. :D

M/M Romance: Brothers of the Wild North Sea by Harper Fox
Gorgeously written historical m/m romance. The world-building was wonderful and I loved the thought and care that went into crafting this beautiful work. Stayed with me for awhile.

RUNNERS UP:

Pulizter Prize Winner: Less by Andrew Sean Greer
Devoured this in a single sitting, I enjoyed it so much. Touching and charming and, of course, brilliantly written.

M/M Romance: The Master Will Appear by L.A. Witt
This author is quite hit or miss for me, but this one BLEW me away. Hit so many of my buttons, and I thought the delicate emotional balance and relationship development was really expertly done.

M/M Romance: Honeymoon for One by Keira Andrews
I do love this author and I thought this was a super lovely and enjoyable read. Having a partially deaf MCis not the norm in this genre, and it was clear a lot of thought and care went into the writing.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Mystery: Lethal White (Cormoran Strike #4) by Robert Galbraith
I really do love this series, and though this wasn't my favorite in the bunch, I did really like it. I think this is sort of like book 2 in a trilogy, where the author needs to lay a lot of groundwork and sort of bridge between earlier and future events, so it's not always the most fun, but it sets things up for the future. At least, that was the vibe I got from it. :D

Memoir: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Really thought-provoking collection of short stories. Because they're short stories, sometimes the flow wasn't as cohesive as I wanted it to be, and the stories didn't always dig quite as deep as I wanted them to, but overall a really engaging read.

M/M Romance: Taboo for You by Anyta Sunday
This book just hit ALL of my buttons. I'm sure there were flaws, but it was one of those books that just really fucking worked for me, and I'm already planning to reread it in the new year, LOL. :D

M/M Romance: Tactical Submission by Ada Maria Soto
Fabulous BDSM book with poly representation! I thought the whole thing was really brilliantly written, the kink was fabulous, and I really loved the relationship dynamics.

UGGHH:

Honestly, given how many M/M Romances I read this year, there were understandably A TON that I couldn't even finish, and quite a few I made it through, but only just. I've decided the UGGHH section is too difficult to do across an entire year, but I shall bring it back for more quarterly reviews when it's more manageable. :D

COMING UP:

Any Old Diamonds by K.J. Charles
The Dark Artifices Series by Cassandra Clare
The Ghost Had an Early Check-Out by Josh Lanyon
Circe by Madeline Miller
Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik
Invitation to the Blues by Roan Parrish
Riven Series by Roan Parrish
Craft Brew by Layla Rayne

And now, a question for you all! What was the single best book you read in 2018? Tell me about it! <3
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evandar: English[personal profile] evandar on December 28th, 2018 08:37 pm (UTC)
Oooh, I’ve not read Spinning Silver yet, but I’m glad you’ve rated it. I’m looking forward to it even more now. And I’ll be checking out Brothers of the Wild North Sea too.

Because I read so few books for fun this year, it’s not much of a contest, but. The Terror by Dan Simmons. It’s long and has some hella ugly sentence structure in places, but it’s definitely worth a read. His characterisations were on point and there was a good amount of gothic flare throughout. It’s also not completely identical to the TV series, if you’ve seen that; Simmons tortures people more.
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 28th, 2018 10:25 pm (UTC)
Yes, I adored Spinning Silver! I mean, I love that author's fanfic, so I'm not surprised I also love their original stuff!

And ooo, The Terror certainly looks interesting!!
nia_kantorka[personal profile] nia_kantorka on December 28th, 2018 08:59 pm (UTC)
I'm very curious what you're going to say about the Temeraire series. I read a few but let's talk about them later once you've done so as well.

My favourite book of the year was The Book Smugglers of Timbuktu. Tbh I didn't even know where Timbuktu is before I've read the book and I learned so many things about West Africa, especially Mali (you've guessed correctly that's where Timbuktu is), Arabian and colonial history. It wasn't for the faint of heart, but a great read. There are two timeliness and in 2012 a lot of books and manuscripts were really smuggled by people, but if you want to know why or how better read it yourself. It's by Charlie English and definitely not one of the usual lighter books I read. I've gifted it to a few people and it was a hit for all of them. :D

Edited 2018-12-28 09:00 pm (UTC)
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 28th, 2018 10:31 pm (UTC)
Yes, I'll def share my thoughts once I've read them! I've heard it starts out slow but gets better, but I guess I'll see!

And oo, that book sounds really interesting! I'll have to add it to the list. :D
Avid Supporter of the Booty Floo[personal profile] lq_traintracks on December 28th, 2018 10:06 pm (UTC)
Awesome! <3

My favorites this year have been "Less", for sure, then "Call Me By Your Name" and "The Handmaid's Tale". All of them, fucking amazing. I'm reading another by Aciman (CMBYN) called "Enigma Variations" and am really enjoying it! I also read the "Captive Prince" trilogy and omfg YES! Runners up for me would include "There, There" by Tommy Orange (and lo and behold Obama just recced it, yay!), "Jane Eyre", and "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi.

Next up for me over the next few weeks/months: I'm going to read a Madeline Miller too, but I'm starting with "Song of Achilles". "Circe" sold great this year though. Also, Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Left Hand of Darkness", Donna Tartt's "The Goldfinch", Yanaghara's "A Little Life", Rainbow Rowell's "Carry On", Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray", Capote's "In Cold Blood", Tracy Chevalier's "Falling Angels", "Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda", and, like, 10 million others. *bangs head*

I look forward to hearing what's good for you in the coming year! :D
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 28th, 2018 10:31 pm (UTC)
Oooo, I've actually read a bunch of the books on here and pretty much enjoyed all of them, so good picks!! I think you'll really like "Song of Achilles" in particular--it's one of my favorites! I listened to it on audio and the narrator was fab.

I'd not heard of "There, There", but it looks right up my alley and I just put it on hold at the library! I'm #548, so I think it may be awhile, LOL! And "The Left Hand of Darkness" has been on my list for ages--I'd be curious to hear your thoughts when/if you read it!
kerrilee[personal profile] kerrilee on December 29th, 2018 03:03 am (UTC)
Look at me commenting on DW. Who even am I?!?

I finally gave in and added KU after telling myself forever that there weren’t any decent authors on there. But I found a few I really My fave this year is probably NR Walker. I’m not quite through everything she has on KU but I’ve mostly enjoyed her stuff quite a bit. My other favorite author/reads of the year were Roan Parrish. I hope you enjoy her stuff on your TBR!
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 29th, 2018 11:03 pm (UTC)
Yes, both of those authors are two of my absolute favorites! And yes, I've found a lot of great stuff on KU. I actually have a shelf on my Goodreads where I mark the books I read via Kindle Unlimited if you're looking for recs! Some real duds in there, but some amazing stuff too!
[personal profile] magpie_fngrl on December 29th, 2018 05:09 am (UTC)
I had an appaling reading year. I used to do quarterly book wrap-up posts on tumblr before I joined the fandom, back when I read 100 books a year, but this year I read 38, several of which were short stories this week to try and complete my goodreads reading challenge.

Anyway, the books that stood out this year are both from KJ Charles, who I only discovered a few months ago. The Magpie Lord is amazing, but the first book of hers that I read was Think of England, which I adored. I wonder if I'm so attached to it because it was my first Charles experience idk. Anyway I don't believe I could choose between the two, so both tied for best book of the year.

I'm planning to read Temeraire and the rest of Novik's works this year too :)
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 29th, 2018 11:08 pm (UTC)
I really love K.J. Charles, as you know, and I thought Think of England was great! It was definitely a book that made me want more, though. I feel like a sequel would be brilliant. :D

And yes, I'm very curious about Temeraire! I've been putting it off because ain't nobody got time for a 9 book series, but I love her writing so much that I figured it was time to give it a go. :D
emansil[personal profile] emansil on December 30th, 2018 03:30 pm (UTC)
You know it's always hard for me to resist anything related to books. :)

There were three books that warranted a 5 star rating from me this past year. I tend to rate based on the emotion that the book leaves me with more than any other criteria. They were: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which I know you know of, so I'm not going to bother you with a review--but it is quite excellent and very emotionally devastating (but in a good way). The Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, a wonderous tale based on myth, mythology, folktales, legends and magic of Nigeria and it's peoples. Her world building is incredible.

But you asked for the favourite, so here is mine. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen. Granted, it is a sequel to the original Garden Spells, which should probably be read first. The books are full of tiny bits of magic, of people's individual magic. No wands or spells, just certain traits that they have that helps them and those they love make it to the next day. There's a magic apple tree set in a garden with it's own form of magic, but subtle. Her books just left me with a feeling of warmth and sense of all's right with the world. And, in this day and age, we can all use some of that.
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 30th, 2018 11:43 pm (UTC)
Ooo, those all sound great!! I've had The Hate U Give on my TBR list for ages, and I definitely want to prioritize reading that one in 2019. Thanks for the reminder, lol. :D
nerakrose[personal profile] nerakrose on December 30th, 2018 09:54 pm (UTC)
I need to get around to spinning silver sooner rather than later! It's been sitting on my shelf for so long.

Temeraire! ♥ it's so, so good. Some of the books I like better than others (well, it *is* a nine book series), but it's honestly so delightful. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did when I started it, but I love it so much now. (It's very different from her fanfics though!)
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on December 30th, 2018 11:36 pm (UTC)
Yes, you definitely should! I put off reading it for ages, but once I did, I immediately wished I'd read it sooner! :D

And I've heard that about the Temeraire series, and I'm really curious to read them!
Walgesang[personal profile] walgesang on December 31st, 2018 10:30 pm (UTC)
I just finished Circe and it was amazing! I was a little skeptical when I read about comparisons to Le Guin but was pleasantly surprised.
gracerene[personal profile] gracerene on January 1st, 2019 07:33 pm (UTC)
That's great to hear! I loved their "Song of Achilles" and have heard great things about Circe so I'm looking forward to getting to that one. :D