Tis the season for "best of" lists. If you are a book lover, read on.
I am guessing Amazon pings you regularly with suggestions. But they use some algorithm based on your buying and browsing habits. Instead of relying on Amazon to tell you what you should read, try the Literature Map app: https://www.literature-map.com/ This nifty little tool will identify authors with an affinity to those you like, the closer the proximity, the more similar.
I here offer you here some book recommendations based on actually having read them. This list is culled from what I read in 2018 although few if any of these books were written in 2018. Of course, everyone has a different idea of what constitutes a good book. Just check a few critics. So, this list may ring hollow to you but perhaps you'll discover a new author that tickles your fancy.
Forewarning: I tend to read mostly fiction because .... according to Harvard Business Review & Scientific American.
"... we have known for a while that people who are most successful ... read fiction. And people who read fiction have more empathy, no matter where they land on the gender or personality trait spectrum ... and exposure to nonfiction correlates with loneliness and lack of social support."
All well and good but when it gets down to it, I read fiction because it can transport you to places and times you would never be able to visit or imagine.
So here's my best of 2018 list - unranked, rather alphabetic by author name ..
The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
An terrific novel about a clever architect who secretly devises ingenious hiding places for Jews in World War II Paris
Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
The English language and how it got that way from the inimitable Bill Bryson.
Moonglow by Michael Chabon
A dying “my grandfather” tells his story to the narrator. Jewish slums of prewar South Philadelphia, the invasion of Germany, a Florida retirement village, a New York prison, the heyday of the space program ... collapsed into a single week.
Work Song by Ivan Doig
A wonderful story set in Butte, Montana, the copper mining capital of the world in its Anaconda dominated 1919.
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The first of the Claire Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne crime series. An Episcopal priest and an upstate New York sheriff. Ripping good yarns.
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowlings using her alter-ego pen name Robert Galbraith and a curmudgeonly character, amputee private eye, Cormoran Strike. This is book #4 in the Cormoran Strike series. You might want to start with #1 The Cuckoo's Calling.
Alan Turing: The Enigma by Anthony Hodges
The biography of Alan Turing, British mathematician, founder of modern computer science, Bletchley Park cracker of the Nazi enigma code and tragic death by suicide at age 41.
A black writer writing of the black experience in the south in 1930's America. "Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature." The Florida hurricane segment is gripping.
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Copyright © 2018 Dave Hoplin
A Legacy of Spies by John LeCarre
The sequel to A Spy Who Came in From the Cold (read or re-read that first) This is that same story from the MI5 administrator side of the house.
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
An examination of the history of the breakdown of democracies throughout the world and the relevance to today.
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
Cornering the coffee market in Amsterdam in 1659. Modeled after the actual tulip mania and the Dutch financial crash in the 17th century.
A Man With One of Those Faces by Coimh McDonnell
Book 1 of the Dublin Trilogy. "The Troubles" crime story. Entertaining, witty writing.
Kristin Lavransdatter: The Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset
Book 1 of the trilogy by the Nobel Prize winning Norwegian author. 14th century Norway.
The Free by Willy Vlautin
Three memorable characters: a brain damaged veteran of Iraq, a caring nurse and a care worker impoverished by medical bills working 2 full-time jobs. " .. issues facing modern America, characters who are looking for a way out of their financial, familial, and existential crises". Inspires both compassion and admiration.
Consider the Lobster and other essays by David Foster Wallace
A collection of essays covering a variety of topics from John McCain's presidential run to a lobster fest in Maine.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
A poverty stricken Louisiana family trying to survive Hurricane Katrina.
Dirt Music by Tim Winton
Set in Western Australia. A broken man whose entire family were killed in a rollover accident and now makes his living as an illegal fisherman. Before the tragedy, he counted stars and loved playing his guitar. Now, his life has become a “project of forgetting.”"
Copyright © 2018 Dave Hoplin
Are you a bibliophile? Use this test. If you loan a beloved book to someone, do you then buy a 2nd copy because you know the definition of "rare book" is one that gets returned?
ReplyDeleteFor certain - David Hoplin always returns a loaned book. Even if you don’t want it back.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed Minn of the Mississippi by Holling Clancy Holling. A 1951 book about a river and a turtle in it.
ReplyDeleteThis is may not be an invitation to list best reads of 2018. I couldn't stop thinking about it so here's a few more from my list.
ReplyDeleteNumber two. " Japanese inn" 1961, Oliver Statler. The presentation of this book is beautiful as is the writing. This is Japanese history told through a 500 year old Inn called Yoshimizu.
Number three. "The race of the Birkebeiners" 2007 Lisa Lunge Larsen. A kids book worth reading.
Number four. " The art of craftsmanship " 1969. Lawrence M.Weitzel & Philip Tropp.
Smartly illustrated. Before the 3-D printer craftsmanship defined The basic optimism of American life. This small volume traces American history from the 17th century to the 20th.
I do love obscure interesting books. These might be candidates for my 2019 list.
DeleteGreat list! I've added these to my reading list and I'd like to know what you read in 2017. . . if you missed "Boys in The Boat" mostly set in Washington state, 1930s-1940s Olympic rowing and WWII setting - that is a hard one to put down.
ReplyDelete10 good ones from 2017
Delete1. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
A gripping story of 2 18th century Ghanan half-sisters, one who marries an Englishman & lives a life of comfort in Africa and the second , sold into slavery to the USA. It follows their descendants. Quite a read.
2. Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
This is sci-fi. The moon is hit by a meteor and breaks in two. The fragments start bombarding the earth. The world must cooperate to build an orbiting safe habitat. It’s a bit daunting at 800 pages, but fascinating and a bit scary.
3. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
Private detective Jackson Brodie
4. Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner
My favorite Faulkner. The Sutpen family.
5. The Jersey Brothers by Sally Mott Freeman
The sad but somehow uplifting story of a Japanese WWII POW and his brothers' attempt to find him.
6. In the Woods by Tana French
Dublin Murder Squad #1. I’m a sucker for Irish mystery writers and Tana French is a good one. (There are at least 6 books in this series :-)
7. Wintering by Peter Geye
Minnesota writer. Family saga in (cold) Boundary Waters country.
8. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
16 year old girl with anxiety and OCD
9. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
A curmudgeonly old Swede (a man after my own heart) and a heartwarming story. Also a fine move.
10. Still Life by Louise Penny
Chief Inspector Gamache of the Quebec Surete. My absolute favorite mystery writer. Canadian. Careful picking this one up - there are 14 books in the series.