Best Books of 2018

Finally I am here with my Top 10 list of favorite books from 2018. I read many amazing books last year and it was difficult to come down with just 10 books for this list. But here is a list of 10 books that entered my favorites list, in no particular order –

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – 

This is the first book by an indigenous author that I have ever read and I promise you, it won’t be the last. This is a book about a brilliant boy who grows in a native American reservation and his struggles with studying in an all-white rich school. This book was funny and sad at the same time and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

2. Bird Box by Josh Malerman – 

This has to be one of the creepiest books I have ever read. There was a tension built up in the story that made me not want to put the book down. The movie adaptation wasn’t as good as the book. I don’t read many thrillers but this ended up as one of my favorites.

3. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover – 

I read two books about domestic violence this year and this book by Colleen Hoover was the best out of the two. They both were 5 stars but I decided to put this one on my favorites list. This book changed my perspective towards domestic violence in many ways. I was always under the impression that parents must live together if they did not get along, for the sake of their child. This is what is indoctrinated to every woman. But the book made me realize why this was a bad idea. I understood why it is a good idea for women to walk out of an abusive relationship, for the sake of their children. So it was eye-opening in some sorts, especially because of the author’s own experiences that she shared at the end of the book.

4. Erased Volume 1 by Kei Sanbe – 

This is the best manga I read this year and one of my most favorite mangas of all time. If you love Death Note, you have to pick this one up. This was recommended to me by Kinokuniya staff and I am ever so grateful to them. I am waiting for all the other volumes to get released so that I can binge read the entire series in one go.

5. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis – 

I had no idea I would end up loving this book so much when I started reading it. I love time travel stories and this is about a woman who ends up in medieval England when there was an outbreak of plague. I want to read more books by this author soon as she is now one of my favorite authors.

6. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn – 

Reading this book was exactly like watching a Hitchcock movie. It gave me the same feeling while reading. I loved this even more than The girl on the train and Gone Girl. I usually end up guessing the ending correctly in all the thrillers that I read. But I could not guess the ending in this book which made it a perfect thriller.

7. The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi – 

My favorite space opera as of today has to be this series by Scalzi. I loved the world building, the kickass female characters and just how entertaining and fun this book was. Must read for scifi fans. The icing on the cake was meeting and talking to Scalzi in Worldcon.

8. Signal to Noise by Silvia Garcia-Moreno – 

I discovered another great author this year, thanks to this wonderful book. I will pick and read anything written by this author in future. This was the first magical realism book that I loved and magic done using music was a great premise. I loved all the characters and the Mexico City setting in this book a lot.

9. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – 

I had no idea this book would end of my best reads of the year list when I started reading it. I was confident that I would not like this book. This book and Doomsday Book made me realize that I can love character-driven stories, if done well. I was under the impression that plot played a major role and nothing else mattered. But these books proved me wrong and I will pick more character-focused books in future.

10. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – 

This was the cutest sweetest book I have ever read probably. The gay romance in this book was so adorable. I had never read a book with gay romance being the central plot so this book was my first. Simon as a character was great. I loved the movie adaptation of this book a lot too. Definitely one of my all time favorites.

So what were your best reads from 2018?