Reading Envy 139: Stocking Stuffer (Best Reads of 2018)

I put out the call for the best books you read this year, so this episode is a combination of my favorite reads in 2018 and the books you liked best. Not all books are published in 2018 since that's not how most of us read. And thanks to Casey for the episode title idea.

Download or listen via this link: Reading Envy 139: Stocking Stuffer (Best of 2018).

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Books Discussed:



Elizabeth (Episodes 33, 61, 136)
The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

Dominic (@Literary.Libations in Instagram)
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoesvksy

Jenny’s top reads in Literary fiction
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro (discussed Episode 110)
White Tears by Hari Kunzru (discussed Episode 110)
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (discussed Episodes 86, 111, 116)
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (discussed Episode 127)
The Overstory by Richard Powers (discussed Episode 130)
Normal People by Sally Rooney (discussed Episode 132)
This is Paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Casey Stepaniuk (Episodes 107 & 110)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Jeff Makala
The Shakespeare Requirement by Julie Schumacher (mentioned Episode 129)

Jenny’s top reads in Canada/Alaska fiction
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper (discussed Episode 132)
Annie Muktuk and Other Stories by Norma Dunning (discussed Episode 134)

Ellie Shatterlings (Shatterlings on Instagram)
Brother in Ice by Alicia Kopf

Joshua
The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Magareta Magnussen
10% Happier by Dan Harris.

Jenny’s top reads in Canadian/Alaskan non-fiction
I Am Hutterite by Mary-Ann Kirkby (discussed Episode 130)
Being Caribou by Karsten Hauer (discussed Episode 136)

Laurie  (@DrYapYapi in Instagram)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert

Scott
The October Country: Stories by Ray Bradbury

Jenny’s top reads in Non-fiction: Memoir
The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy
Becoming by Michelle Obama

Sara (Episode 122)
Into The Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
The Man Who Spoke Snakish by Andrus Kivirahk

Jeff Koeppen (Episodes 93 and 116)
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (discussed Episode 116)
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (discussed Episodes 86, 111, 116)
Educated by Tara Westover
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Jenny’s top reads in Non-fiction: nature
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams (discussed Episode 112)
Rising by Elizabeth Rush (discussed Episode 131)

Lauren (Episodes 97, 123, 133, 138)
Dune by Frank Herbert
Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar

Marion (@kammbiamh in Instagram)
Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah

Jenny’s top reads in general Non-fiction
Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks (discussed Episode 127)
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay
Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee (discussed Episode 119)

Ruth (Episodes 33, 67, 134)
Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant

Steve Richardson
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Jenny’s top reads in Poetry
Virgin by Analicia Sotelo (discussed Episode 115)
When My Brother was an Aztec by Natalie Diaz (discussed Episode 116)

Karen (Episodes 4, 15, 51, 66, 101, 114)
Lethal White by Robert Galbraith
You Think It, I’ll Say it by Curtis Sittenfeld

Casey Hampton (Episode 121)
You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
Letters to a Young Poet by Ranier Maria Rilke

Jenny’s top reads in Young Adult lit:
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (discussed Episode 131)
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway (discussed Episode 136)

Reggie
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Circe by Madeleine Miller
Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
The Wife by Meg Wolitzer

Nadine (Episode 129)
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Luke and Juliane (Episodes (Episodes 17, 32, 37, 44, 69, 125)
The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson
Rosewater by Tade Thompson

This list in PDF form

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