I never get tired of best books of the year lists! Always fun to compare and discover books I missed. Assata sounds so interesting. I've noted it down to read. Personally, I got frustrated with Eleanor Oliphant because of the oddly pitched humour of the novel's story, but I thought some scenes were really powerful. I loved Circe but haven't yet listened to your interview with Madeline Miller so I'll go do that now. :)
Great list Jean, I definitely agree about many of these books, particularly Turtles All the Way Down, Circe and Monstrous Regiment! Monstrous Regiment was actually my first Discworld book, I just picked it up one day because I heard you talk about Terrry Pratchett, and I absolutely love it! :D I'm now on a mission to read all of the Discworld books! Also I just picked up Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor a few days ago, very excited to read it soon after hearing you talk about Binti!
Thanks so much for this list which you present in such a delightful style. I am grateful for the suggestions taken from the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres as I know next to nothing about them. I too love the writing of Jeanette Winterson. THANK YOU.
This is such a great list! I love how diversely you read because I get introduced t great books across genres. Thank you for the great recommendations!
Thanks for another solid video. Some very interesting picks. I think that the nature of myth necessitates retelling. A myth lives only as long as it is retold! Thanks for giving Juliet Marillier some love. She is fantastic! I want to read more of her.
I've just started with the Discworld the other day, so that's one's a great tip! I think my favourite read this year was 'The watchmaker of Filigree Street' by Natasha Pulley. I saw it in a bookstore, picked it up because it fulfilled a prompt of my yearly reading challenge, knew only what it said on the back and I just slowly fell in love with the characters. I usually don't care much about relationships in books, if their done well, fine, but if not then I'm fine too, but these two... I just from the bottom of my heart wish these two all the happiness in the world, because they are just wonderful together ^^ It was hands down the best reading experience of 2018. I didn't expect it to do anything, and it is this soft, simple yet beautiful story. Plus, for whatever reason I'm always drawn to stories that include clockwork, so spending most of the story in a watchmakers workshop was perfect.
I’ve been saving this as a treat and what a treat it was. I loved Circe so much too. I’d forgotten how much she’s involved in some of my favourite myths. I must read Pat Barker this spring. I loved Sing, Unburied, Sing so must read more Jesmyn Ward this year. Salvage The Bones might have to be the next one. Would you say Daughter of the Forest is a good place to start if you’re wanting to give fantasy a whirl? Assata’s book sounds amazing. Yippee for Eleanor. Great selection of books.
I read Daughter of the Forest on your recommendation and absolutely loved it! I couldn’t put it down! One of my favorite books of all time for sure!💕💕💕
Juliet Marillier is so amazing. I LOVE the first three books in the series starting with Daughter of the Forest. After that I didn't love them as much, but they were still must reads for me. 🤓
Eleanor Oliphant was one of my favourites too! Her story was very touching and beautiful to me. I loved the combination of the very serious and humourous sides to it. I'm so eager to read Daughter of the Forest in 2019! I'm hoping to find a good copy soon, as they seem to be a little difficult to get.
My favourite book last year was Jen Campbell's anthology 'The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night'. Jen just has a way with words and imagery like no one else. It was beautiful. Unfortunately was also my only 5star read of 2018. Love Jen. Can't wait to read 'The Girl Aquarium' now.
Best book lists are the best. The only book I’ve read on your list is Daughter of the Forest, which really drives home that it’s time for a reread, as I read them over ten years ago 😱😱 My favourite this year gone by was Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I also loved Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. Such a great book.
i should've made a list of predictions of what would be your favorite books after watching all your wrap ups back to back you sold me on the silence of the girls the minute you talked about it in one of your wrap ups city psalms has an incredible cover!! ahhh binti!!
Great list. I loved Monstrous Regiment and that is now in my top ten of Practchett. I also was surprised how much I enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant..The twist at the end really made me gasp.
I’ve just finished The Song of Achilles, where Briseis was portrayed as safe and relatively happy with the friendship with Patroclus, and she didn’t have to be Achilles’ sex slave. The silence of the Girls sounds like a very different story, I don’t think I want to read that soon because I’m still in the bubble of enjoying The Song of Achilles, but I am curious to why this is so different!
Yeah I think the focus of song of Achilles is very different but the silence of the girls more accurate to the reality of captive women during war, at the end of the new it is a forced relationship with no equality :(
Started to read "Convenience Store Woman" yesterday and I'm about halfway through and I'm absolutely loving it, it's a very interesting story and I love her comments about humanity and the conformity most go through to fit in and it's very humorous too.
I read Binti because of your reviewb and loved it so much!! Ok actually about halfway through the sequel now. Since you like poetry I'd recommend Megan Valley's book Drive Here and Devastate Me. I finished it on December 31st and it was phenomenal.
is it weird that I love the way you say "Earth" with your accent during that Binti recap? LOL also thanks for the recommendation about Convenience Store Woman! I need to read it!
I read Kindred at the end of 2018 too! it's such a great book and a new favorite of mine! It was the first book by Octavia E. Butler I read and I really want to read more of her books.
Circe, already on TBR Silence of the Girls already on TBR City Psalms (Not sure it's for me) Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit added to TBR due to this video Salvage the Bones ( On the fence) Convenience Store Woman (Not sure it's for me) Binti added to TBR due to this video Kindred added to TBR due to a previous video Daughter of the Forest (On the fence with this one as I have grown up with The Children of Lear so I don't know if I want to read this sort of retelling.) Monstrous Regiment (Not sure it's for me) Heart of the Fae added to TBR due to a previous video Assata An Autobiography (On the fence) Misogynation added to TBR due to this video Turtles All the Way Down added to TBR due to a previous video Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine added to TBR due to a previous video
I loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I thought Eleanor was a wonderful lead protagonist. So much depth to her character. A charming if somewhat disturbing read. I like how the author sets the book up as quite sweet and charming but underneath there are some quite dark tones and passages. It reminded me of The Trouble With Goats And Sheep by Joanna Cannon. I adored that book but again it had some very dark passages and undertones. Another fav of 2018 was The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Such a complex tale with so many twists and turns. A murder mystery with an exciting twist. Really puts a spin on Agatha Christie. The other fiction book I loved was Normal People by Sally Rooney. I found it a compulsive read. I couldn't put it down it was so good. Not to everyone's taste because of Sally's very modern style of writing. I found the writing style raw, powerful and very emotive. A memorable book. As for non-fiction I powered through Tara Westover's Educated book. A tale of one girls determination to get an education and how her upbringing influenced her choices and modelled her life. A very interesting and at times unsettling read but worth reading that is for sure. You picked some good books for your books of the year. I like Benjamin Zephaniah a wonderful advocate for the spoken word and poetry in general. His poetry is profound and so passionate. Not enough is said about this talented man!
Dear Jean, This year one of the highlights is finding you and your channel (although we crossed paths four years ago when I discovered Booktube).But this is the year we, through the distance, bounded. Sorry if it is sounds cheesy, but I actually feel it like that. Your analysis on books is so accurate and intimate that I feel I already know you. Thanks for your love for Greek mythology and classics. I am interested in the topic myself and I am want to use it for a project so your recommendations and your podcast (which is incredible!) means the world to me! And of course, I will add Madeline Miller to my wishlist. Having said that, I had quite a good year of reading. I discovered Dark Academia with "If we were villains' by M. L. Rio. Have you read it? It is about a group of Shakespearean students that get along very well but, at some point, one of them appears dead...and the killer is, of course, among the rest of the actors. I adore Shakespeare so this was amazingly spooky and enchanting at the same time. In fact, I loved Dark Academia so much that I got two books of that genre for Christmas and one of them was thanks to one of your reviews: The Secret History' by Donna Tart. In addition, I discovered 'The hate u give' by Angie Thomas and it blow my mind because of the commitment to social representation of a very unfair and dangerous situation that, unfortunately, keeps happening (I know it is being there for a while but it was very new to me). Lastly, I read 'The Power' by Naomi Alderman and the analysis of our society hit me so hard that, even though I don't share all the opinions stated in the book, I still think about it. I hope my long message doesn't bother you...but I have been meaning to write you for ages (I am listening to the Circe episode of your podcast while writing this so I am very into this. Great interview, by the way!)
see if you can get hold of the 1980s BBC adaptation of Oranges are not the only Fruit - it's incredible, though i'm sure simpler than the books - the child actors are incredible
I have read four books from your list, and really liked them all! I was wondering, as I am looking for more non fiction to read in 2019, would you recommend me to pick up Misogynation or Everyday Sexism?
Did you discover the *really big* secret about Eleanor Oliphant? The newspaper headline which Raymond shows her says "Kiddie Killer", which can be read two ways. That's a hint. 😉
assata shakur! she's still alive in Cuba isn't she or is that one of the others? you can follow her on facebook. So many black panthers were framed or murdered by the cia
The three chapters in the middle of the book with Odysseus are absolutely wonderful, bursting with personality, but otherwise, yeah, I had a tough time getting through it. It's difficult to write divinities well (generally, *weirdness* is the only way to make them truly work) but throughout I felt like I was reading 'the Kardashians on Olympus.' They were all one shallow, carbon-copied personality after the other.
I never get tired of best books of the year lists! Always fun to compare and discover books I missed.
Assata sounds so interesting. I've noted it down to read. Personally, I got frustrated with Eleanor Oliphant because of the oddly pitched humour of the novel's story, but I thought some scenes were really powerful.
I loved Circe but haven't yet listened to your interview with Madeline Miller so I'll go do that now. :)
Great list Jean, I definitely agree about many of these books, particularly Turtles All the Way Down, Circe and Monstrous Regiment!
Monstrous Regiment was actually my first Discworld book, I just picked it up one day because I heard you talk about Terrry Pratchett, and I absolutely love it! :D I'm now on a mission to read all of the Discworld books!
Also I just picked up Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor a few days ago, very excited to read it soon after hearing you talk about Binti!
Thanks so much for this list which you present in such a delightful style. I am grateful for the suggestions taken from the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres as I know next to nothing about them. I too love the writing of Jeanette Winterson. THANK YOU.
This is such a great list! I love how diversely you read because I get introduced t great books across genres. Thank you for the great recommendations!
what an amazing list! i have so many of those on my wishlist because of you
Thanks for another solid video. Some very interesting picks. I think that the nature of myth necessitates retelling. A myth lives only as long as it is retold! Thanks for giving Juliet Marillier some love. She is fantastic! I want to read more of her.
I just started Circe yesterday due to your recommendation and I'm very interested so far, have a feeling I'll love it!
I've just started with the Discworld the other day, so that's one's a great tip!
I think my favourite read this year was 'The watchmaker of Filigree Street' by Natasha Pulley. I saw it in a bookstore, picked it up because it fulfilled a prompt of my yearly reading challenge, knew only what it said on the back and I just slowly fell in love with the characters. I usually don't care much about relationships in books, if their done well, fine, but if not then I'm fine too, but these two... I just from the bottom of my heart wish these two all the happiness in the world, because they are just wonderful together ^^ It was hands down the best reading experience of 2018. I didn't expect it to do anything, and it is this soft, simple yet beautiful story. Plus, for whatever reason I'm always drawn to stories that include clockwork, so spending most of the story in a watchmakers workshop was perfect.
I’ve been saving this as a treat and what a treat it was. I loved Circe so much too. I’d forgotten how much she’s involved in some of my favourite myths. I must read Pat Barker this spring. I loved Sing, Unburied, Sing so must read more Jesmyn Ward this year. Salvage The Bones might have to be the next one. Would you say Daughter of the Forest is a good place to start if you’re wanting to give fantasy a whirl? Assata’s book sounds amazing. Yippee for Eleanor. Great selection of books.
What a great list, some I enjoyed too and some I've just bought like Circe and Silence of the Girls that I can't wait to get to.
I read Daughter of the Forest on your recommendation and absolutely loved it! I couldn’t put it down! One of my favorite books of all time for sure!💕💕💕
I also loved Silence of the Girls and I really really need to read Daughter of the Forest! :)
Juliet Marillier is so amazing. I LOVE the first three books in the series starting with Daughter of the Forest. After that I didn't love them as much, but they were still must reads for me. 🤓
Eleanor Oliphant was one of my favourites too! Her story was very touching and beautiful to me. I loved the combination of the very serious and humourous sides to it. I'm so eager to read Daughter of the Forest in 2019! I'm hoping to find a good copy soon, as they seem to be a little difficult to get.
My favourite book last year was Jen Campbell's anthology 'The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night'. Jen just has a way with words and imagery like no one else. It was beautiful. Unfortunately was also my only 5star read of 2018. Love Jen. Can't wait to read 'The Girl Aquarium' now.
Best book lists are the best. The only book I’ve read on your list is Daughter of the Forest, which really drives home that it’s time for a reread, as I read them over ten years ago 😱😱
My favourite this year gone by was Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I also loved Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan. Such a great book.
I already want to reread daughter of the forest aha! I also really enjoyed Girls of Paper and Fire ☺️
i should've made a list of predictions of what would be your favorite books after watching all your wrap ups back to back
you sold me on the silence of the girls the minute you talked about it in one of your wrap ups
city psalms has an incredible cover!!
ahhh binti!!
Great list. I loved Monstrous Regiment and that is now in my top ten of Practchett. I also was surprised how much I enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant..The twist at the end really made me gasp.
Great list. I started listening to The Library Book. It’s a really interesting and informative book on the Los Angeles Public Library fire.
I’ve just finished The Song of Achilles, where Briseis was portrayed as safe and relatively happy with the friendship with Patroclus, and she didn’t have to be Achilles’ sex slave. The silence of the Girls sounds like a very different story, I don’t think I want to read that soon because I’m still in the bubble of enjoying The Song of Achilles, but I am curious to why this is so different!
Yeah I think the focus of song of Achilles is very different but the silence of the girls more accurate to the reality of captive women during war, at the end of the new it is a forced relationship with no equality :(
Started to read "Convenience Store Woman" yesterday and I'm about halfway through and I'm absolutely loving it, it's a very interesting story and I love her comments about humanity and the conformity most go through to fit in and it's very humorous too.
I read Binti because of your reviewb and loved it so much!! Ok actually about halfway through the sequel now. Since you like poetry I'd recommend Megan Valley's book Drive Here and Devastate Me. I finished it on December 31st and it was phenomenal.
is it weird that I love the way you say "Earth" with your accent during that Binti recap? LOL
also thanks for the recommendation about Convenience Store Woman! I need to read it!
I read Kindred at the end of 2018 too! it's such a great book and a new favorite of mine!
It was the first book by Octavia E. Butler I read and I really want to read more of her books.
Oooh Circe and The Silence of The Girls are both favourites of my boyfriend this year, as well! He’s desperate for me to read them😂
I visited first time in your you tube channel I'm very glad to learn from. How do you read a lot of books in one year.
CIRCE is so so good!
Yas!
Circe, already on TBR
Silence of the Girls
already on TBR
City Psalms (Not sure it's for me)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit added to TBR due to this video
Salvage the Bones ( On the fence)
Convenience Store Woman (Not sure it's for me)
Binti added to TBR due to this video
Kindred added to TBR due to a previous video
Daughter of the Forest (On the fence with this one as I have grown up with The Children of Lear so I don't know if I want to read this sort of retelling.)
Monstrous Regiment (Not sure it's for me)
Heart of the Fae added to TBR due to a previous video
Assata An Autobiography (On the fence)
Misogynation added to TBR due to this video
Turtles All the Way Down added to TBR due to a previous video
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine added to TBR due to a previous video
I loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I thought Eleanor was a wonderful lead protagonist. So much depth to her character. A charming if somewhat disturbing read. I like how the author sets the book up as quite sweet and charming but underneath there are some quite dark tones and passages. It reminded me of The Trouble With Goats And Sheep by Joanna Cannon. I adored that book but again it had some very dark passages and undertones. Another fav of 2018 was The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton. Such a complex tale with so many twists and turns. A murder mystery with an exciting twist. Really puts a spin on Agatha Christie. The other fiction book I loved was Normal People by Sally Rooney. I found it a compulsive read. I couldn't put it down it was so good. Not to everyone's taste because of Sally's very modern style of writing. I found the writing style raw, powerful and very emotive. A memorable book. As for non-fiction I powered through Tara Westover's Educated book. A tale of one girls determination to get an education and how her upbringing influenced her choices and modelled her life. A very interesting and at times unsettling read but worth reading that is for sure. You picked some good books for your books of the year. I like Benjamin Zephaniah a wonderful advocate for the spoken word and poetry in general. His poetry is profound and so passionate. Not enough is said about this talented man!
I'm currently reading Kindred via audio.
have you read The House of Names by Colm Toibin? It is a retelling of the Electra myth. I really loooved it!!!
No I haven’t actually but I really want to ☺️
Dear Jean,
This year one of the highlights is finding you and your channel (although we crossed paths four years ago when I discovered Booktube).But this is the year we, through the distance, bounded. Sorry if it is sounds cheesy, but I actually feel it like that. Your analysis on books is so accurate and intimate that I feel I already know you.
Thanks for your love for Greek mythology and classics. I am interested in the topic myself and I am want to use it for a project so your recommendations and your podcast (which is incredible!) means the world to me! And of course, I will add Madeline Miller to my wishlist.
Having said that, I had quite a good year of reading. I discovered Dark Academia with "If we were villains' by M. L. Rio. Have you read it? It is about a group of Shakespearean students that get along very well but, at some point, one of them appears dead...and the killer is, of course, among the rest of the actors. I adore Shakespeare so this was amazingly spooky and enchanting at the same time. In fact, I loved Dark Academia so much that I got two books of that genre for Christmas and one of them was thanks to one of your reviews: The Secret History' by Donna Tart.
In addition, I discovered 'The hate u give' by Angie Thomas and it blow my mind because of the commitment to social representation of a very unfair and dangerous situation that, unfortunately, keeps happening (I know it is being there for a while but it was very new to me). Lastly, I read 'The Power' by Naomi Alderman and the analysis of our society hit me so hard that, even though I don't share all the opinions stated in the book, I still think about it.
I hope my long message doesn't bother you...but I have been meaning to write you for ages (I am listening to the Circe episode of your podcast while writing this so I am very into this. Great interview, by the way!)
see if you can get hold of the 1980s BBC adaptation of Oranges are not the only Fruit - it's incredible, though i'm sure simpler than the books - the child actors are incredible
I have read four books from your list, and really liked them all! I was wondering, as I am looking for more non fiction to read in 2019, would you recommend me to pick up Misogynation or Everyday Sexism?
Great wrap up of 2018! I just posted my 2018 fav's video too ;)
Link please?
@@kevgundiz5530 ruclips.net/video/R0RWCQ-7SQ0/видео.html and there's also ruclips.net/video/ZYX4m2xXyfo/видео.html
Did you discover the *really big* secret about Eleanor Oliphant? The newspaper headline which Raymond shows her says "Kiddie Killer", which can be read two ways. That's a hint. 😉
assata shakur! she's still alive in Cuba isn't she or is that one of the others?
you can follow her on facebook. So many black panthers were framed or murdered by the cia
OMG Kindred is so good, it made my soul hurt.
I didn’t like Circe! Am I the only one?🤔
I wasn't wowed by it, either.
The three chapters in the middle of the book with Odysseus are absolutely wonderful, bursting with personality, but otherwise, yeah, I had a tough time getting through it. It's difficult to write divinities well (generally, *weirdness* is the only way to make them truly work) but throughout I felt like I was reading 'the Kardashians on Olympus.' They were all one shallow, carbon-copied personality after the other.
We just picked Convenience Store Woman for our book club so I can’t wait now!
Yas! I hope you enjoy it :D