MUST READ IN 2018 FINAL UPDATE AND REVIEW

For the last few years I have joined Carrie Gelson at There's A Book for That and other readers in committing to reading books from our Want to Read lists on Goodreads. The time has come to take final stock of our progress.

I (just barely) accomplished all of my reading goals for this year, finishing up the last two on Christmas and Boxing day.

PROGRESS ON MY 2018 READING GOALS

#MustReadIn2018 25/25
#MustReadNFIn2018 13/12
25 Books by Canadian Indigenous Authors 25/25
Goodreads Reading Challenge 433/333


break for applause here


I did something different this year and it worked for me. I curated collections of books to read from, and committed to reading a certain number of them. I wish I could have gotten to all of them and suspect that many of these unread ones will end up on my 2019 lists. Here's what I discovered with this method: I didn't feel anxious or pressured to read a book I wasn't in the space for, so it was easier to find something from the list and just read for the pure pleasure of reading. 

As a testimony to the power of curated lists, just about all of the books on my lists were exceptional. 

You can read my original post here. Clicking on the subheadings in the rest of this post should take you to my Goodreads collections in case you want to add any of the titles to your own lists. 

MUST READ FICTION

Since our last update in September, I finished these books.

I would highly recommend all of them, but A Monster Calls is the book I am most thankful was on my list. Patrick Ness can really write!

These are the best books I've read from this list this year.

MUST READ NONFICTION

I finished up these information titles since my last update:

I gave five out of five stars to Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating; Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga; Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann; and The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk. It was a rich reading list!

From my original NF list, these are the best of them.  

MUST READ INDIGENOUS

There was some overlap with these books and the ones from my Indigenous list. 

I've completed these since the last update in September:

I especially enjoyed Tilly and the Crazy Eights by Monique Gray Smith. Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga is just flat out one of the best and most important books I've read this year. 

From the books by Indigenous authors I've read this year, I've given half of them 5 out of 5 stars. 

Now I'm looking forward to reading how the rest of you made out with your lists!