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.







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!

12 comments:

  1. My students adored Shark Lady, and it is a great reminder to get it out again for my current first graders! I just received The War I Finally Won as a Christmas gift, so it is going on my 2019 list. Happy Reading!

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    1. The War I Finally Won is even better than the first one!

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  2. Loved reading this update Cheriee! I am placing Thousand Star Hotel on my #2019 list. Thanks for being a part of the community!

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  3. Great job! I concur on A Monster Calls. That was such an impactful book for me.

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  4. I'm still frantically reading trying to finish four more (or five or six depending on how much reading time I can sneak in over the next couple of days) before the end of the year. I really appreciate your commitment to reading indigenous literature as I get such great recommendations from you! I love the idea of committing to reading a certain number of books from a curated list. I'm going to try that next year and see if adding that wrinkle of freedom helps me finish a few more titles.

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    1. I'm glad to highlight it and am even happier at how good it is! The 'wrinkle of freedom' has made all the difference for me this year!

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  5. Oh, I love the idea of the curated, broad lists. This is very smart.

    I still haven't read any Patrick Ness. I need to get on that.

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    1. Yes you do Akilah! Although I adore his writing, sometimes it is too intense and graphic for me. I could only read the first Chaos Walking title, but I loved The Rest of Us Just Live Here and hope to read And the Ocean Was Our Sky sometime this year.

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  6. I also like your idea of the lists. I may have to try that next year. I had already started my 2019 list.

    I adore Braiding Sweetgrass so much. I just ordered both of Smith's Tilly books earlier today so will be reading them soon. I have read A Monster Calls multiple times. It's so moving. What a great year of reading.

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  7. I also adore Braiding Sweetgrass. I will be on the lookout for a copy to own since the one I read was a library copy. I hope to read the original Tilly book this year as well as her book on residential schools.

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