My 5-Star Rated Books From 2018
In yesterday's post, I mentioned that of the 62 books I read in 2018, I rated 14 as 5-stars, meaning that I thought they were amazing, according to Goodreads' rating system. Since I also suggested that they would make a good list for anyone looking for books to read, I thought I'd do that here (yeah, I also wanted to knock out another post in 2019).
Title, Author
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American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, Nate Blakeslee
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Educated: A Memoir, Tara Westover
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Go the Fuck to Sleep, Adam Mansbach
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How to Stop Time, Matt Haig
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The Impossible Fortress, Jason Rekulak
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The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border, Francisco Cantu
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Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
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Make It Till You Make It: 40 Myths & Truths About Creating, Brendan Leonard
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Narrow River, Wide Sky: A Memoir, Jenny Forrester
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Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy, Sheryl Sandberg
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Pure Land: A True Story of Three Lives, Three Cultures, and the Search for Heaven on Earth, Annete McGivney
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Reincarnation Blues, Michael Poore
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The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, Michael Finkel
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Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North, Blair Braverman
If you end up reading any of these, please leave a note, letting me know what you think.
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My 2018 Year in Books
62. That’s how many books I read in 2018. I think that’s a lot of reading. Once again, I participated in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, with a goal of 52 books for 2018. I reached that mark in early September. Obviously I slacked off after that. However, I feel like I finished strong, with 5 books in December.
Here’s the number of books completed by month:
Month | Books |
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January | 9 |
February | 9 |
March | 7 |
April | 5 |
May | 3 |
June | 5 |
July | 7 |
August | 5 |
September | 3 |
October | 1 |
November | 3 |
December | 5 |
Of those 62 books, I enjoyed all of them. If I’m not enjoying a book, or able to identify some high value in finishing it, I put the book down, often for good. To be sure, there were a handful of books that I simply wasn’t able to get into during the year. Some I will come back to, others, well, I gave it a good try. Here’s the final rating breakdown:
I try to follow the Goodreads guidance when rating books, which is: 3-stars: I liked it; 4-stars: I really liked it; and 5-stars: it was amazing.
My overall favorite book in 2018 is American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, by Nate Blakeslee. I won’t provide a review here, but know that if you enjoy great story telling, adventure writing, and nature writing, move this book to the top of your to-read list NOW. Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover is a very close second place, and should be placed right behind American Wolf at the top of your to-read list. Since both of those books are non-fiction, I’ll include my favorite fiction book: Reincarnation Blues, by Michael Poore. Favorites aside, if you’re looking for books to read, the 14 five-star rated books I read in 2018 (the 5-stars are listed first, but ignore the order within each star grouping) is a great place to start, IMHO.
What’s next? My focus is currently on Limits of the Known, by David Roberts. Following that, I’ll be tackling: God Save Texas, by Lawrence Wright; The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah; The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli; and Home Grown, by Ben Hewitt.
Finally, here’s a link to my Year in Review that Goodreads put together.
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Bryan
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