2018 Book Review
Goodreads records the entirety of my 2018 reading, here, but I’d like to specifically offer to you the books that I enjoyed the most.
I didn’t read any books this year that I gave 5 stars (these are rare for me), but I read many that were very good (4-stars). I’d be delighted to discuss any of them!
Nonfiction
- No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters - Ursula K. Le Guin - This year cemented Le Guin as my favorite author, and this collection of blog posts demonstrates how much her talent can shine through even in such a simple form
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree - James H. Cone - Cone explores the parallels between them, why they were obvious to oppressed people, and why white theologians ignored those topics
- Upside-Down Kingdom, The: Updated Edition - Donald B Kraybill - if you’re frustrated that many modern Christians don’t seem very Christlike, you may find this Anabaptist perspective refreshing
- The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds - Michael Lewis - a biography and history of some of the pioneers of Behavioral Economics
- You Need a Budget: The Proven System for Breaking the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Cycle, Getting Out of Debt, and Living the Life You Want - Jesse Mecham - budgeting that’s not about shaming, but about making sure you are mindful about putting your money where your values are
- Religion and Empire: People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit (Facets) - Richard A. Horsley - not a fully coherent work, but nevertheless a collection of insightful essays, particularly the one examining how secular religious holidays are molded to support empire
Fiction
- The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth) - N. K. Jemisin - great speculative fiction
- The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth) - N. K. Jemisin - book 2 and still really liking it
- The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin - what if you had the power to change the world with a dream?
- Changing Planes - Ursula K. Le Guin - delightful stories of fantasy cultures from someone who’s learned to visit other realms of existence
- To Kill a Mockingbird, 50th Anniversary Edition - Harper Lee - you probably know this one, already
- Embassytown - China Miéville - philosophical speculative fiction
- Scythe (Arc of a Scythe) - Neal Shusterman - YA dystopian, with lots of fodder for great philosophical discussions
- The Last Unicorn The Lost Journey - Peter S. Beagle - I’m not familiar with the common version of this work, but this new edition of the original draft was very good
- The Gruffalo - Julia Donaldson - in this children’s picture book, the trickster is a mouse that avoids being eaten by all the predators
- The Last One - Alexandra Oliva - a suspenseful book that makes skillful use of dramatic irony
- A Coffin for Dimitrios - Eric Ambler - a classic crime novel with many points for consideration
- Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder - the start of the classic series
- Brief Cases (Dresden Files) - Jim Butcher - This collection from the Dresdenverse has some fun vignettes, especially from the bigfoot “River Shoulders”
- Glass Houses: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel) - Louise Penny - This was a fun mystery, made better by the audiobook narrator we heard (didn’t require prior knowledge of the series)
- Uproooted - Naomi Novik - I had trouble rating this one, as it vacillated anywhere from 3 to 5 stars
Related: other 2018 Review Posts: