My favourite books of 2018

It’s been quite a year for me, both good and bad. Not in order, a list of my favourite books of 2018 (also including some personal moments I had reading them):

The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance & Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson:

Not all books of the same series! Just the best fantasy writer ever, in my opinion. The way Sanderson manages to write worlds with magic, politics and religion (including other mindset), asks questions that haunt your mind forever and write awesome characters is unbelievable.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah: my review

The best memoir I’ve read, talking about upbringing in South Africa and showing what incredible story teller he is – along with some crazy stories he has.

A moment: I listened to the audiobook coincidentally while studying for this sociology test (well, more like sleeping instead of studying bc I was very ill) and long story short this book – and the facts about the eleven official languages and their ethnic groups – helped me nail the final sociology test.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson: my review

The most perfect young adult murder mystery I’ve ever read, as someone used to read a lot of them.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman: my review

A great and gay young adult book. Alice Oseman is a new fav author this year, for good reason.

A moment: read this book under a blanket with tea, which is the optimal (reading) state of being.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: my spoiler-free and spoiler review

Hank Green’s debut sci-fi novel blew me away.

The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman:

I had to read this quickly and thoroughly, to see if it changed my view of the golden compass (it did) and therefore the essay I was writing for class. Still enjoyed it immensely, which really says something as I was stressed the fuck out.

A moment: was stressing the fuck out while reading it, still loved the book

Honorable mention #1: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid was so well-done, realistic and amazing. 

Honorable mention #2: I’m currently reading & loving The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking, Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman and listening to Mary Oliver reading her poetry out loud – all of these three would be on this list if I’d finished them.

Here’s all the 60 books I’ve read in 2018- click on them for a better look

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The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo | Review

Pages: 370

Genre: Poetry, young adult, lgbt characters

Synopsis

A young girl in Harlem discovers slam poetry as a way to understand her mother’s religion and her own relationship to the world. 

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.

But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.

So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.

Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. 

The audiobook

The narrator was fantastic, some of the best I’ve ever heard. And of course she was, I thought as I realized towards the end it was the author and slam poet Elizabeth Acevedo narrating the audiobook as well. I fully recommend listening to it! As the book is written in verse/poems (hard to say having only listened to it), it’s “only” three and a half hours as well, completely worth it.

My thoughts

Rating out of five: four

It’s a strong and beautiful story of a quiet girl finding her voice, letting out all the thoughts she’s not been allowed to tell and finding good friends, through slam poetry. She’s growing and finding her way to deal with romance, family, religion and need for a bit of freedom. 

It’s obvious reading/listening to the book that the author knows what she’s writing. She’s a slam poet, she’s seen people find their voice through it most likely. The way she tells the story is stunning, from the first page I was sold. This is the way to tell that story. 

There’s not much else for me to say about this book, which is rare. It’s more young adult novel than I realized going into it, and I would absolutely recommend giving it to young girls. I became a bit frustrated in the middle part of the book, when Xiomara wasn’t doing poetry out of fear, and nothing moved along. Had to realize the story isn’t something unexpected – the plot is only going one way – but it’s still important and told great. What really brought me in again was Xiomara and the mom coming to the height of their conflict, and how impactful the writing was in that moment. The ending was very wholesome, setting the tone of the whole book’s message. It’s so tough being a kid with little control over your own life, trying to find it as you’re becoming older, with opinions of your own. This book conveyed that.   

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland | Review

I haven’t written a review in a month and a half, so I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten how to.

Pages: 418

Genre: young adult, historical fiction, zombies

Synopsis

Jane McKeene goes to Miss Preston’s School for Combat in Baltimore because zombies have taken over the cities and girls like Jane are needed to stop them. The civil war of America never really ended, the two sides needed to decide the undead had become their biggest enemy. Being the coloured daughter of a white Southern woman has always made Jane’s life difficult, but now people with her skin is treated like they’re disposable, fighting the undead to protect wealthy white people. With her curiousity, spontaneity and fighting skills Jane is caught up in a big conspiracy as families in the town are going missing and certain political groups are promising the return to safety.

My thoughts

Rating out of five: three

I’d heard a lot of good words before the release of this book and was pretty excited to read about zombies and girls who are awesome at fighting with weapons. My opinions on this book is kind of mixed, both because of not personally matching with the surrounding plot and other things that confused me. It’s still a book I would recommend!

My big problem with historical books and westerns – which this book was going towards the last half – is that it’s so boring to read over and over that the girl is constantly put down. Like there’s no feminism, we get it, stop mixing it into every other sentence. And this book created this balance so well, it made points out of how different this society was from ours, without making it completely unenjoyable reading experience, because Jane and her friends were awesome girls who knew their courage and value. The way it dealt with racism was the same, in that racism was everywhere, as it was one of the main parts of the story. But you still got to see these pockets of coexistence carved out, like the estate Jane left, and how horrifically it could go when someone bigoted and racist was introduced to them. There’s so many horrifyingly racist scenes in here, showing how it tears at the characters, and I think that’s very well done and important.

I love politics in books, usually. But I don’t think this book went deep enough that it mattered much. I’m still confused about how I feel about thins. Maybe I feel like the book alluded to things all the time, but I didn’t really get any message from it except maybe how quick racism can develop in crises when someone need to be blamed and how dangerous division is. It’s certainly a book with a awesome, black heroine. It’s not just a book about zombies, though, but it didn’t quite switch over to politics within the story and like the bigger conspiracies either. I think the mix is what I didn’t like personally – it goes from mystery and boarding school to sudden danger and a more western-like survival story with religious fundamentalists everywhere to full-on war with zombies. With funny, snarky Jane moments sprinkled in there. It sounds interesting, but it’s a lot. While I liked some parts, it felt like others weren’t completely cohesive, which contributed to the feeling of it being a lot put into one book.

I’ll most likely read the next book because I’m curious about where it’s going to go, with Jane and Katherine. I liked Jane sometimes, but the mix of grave danger and humor makes me compare her to like Percy Jackson-type lead characters. I can’t really think of any flaws Jane has that messes up or otherwise interact with the story. Like she talks back to teachers, that’s it. She always takes charge, to great sucess, and while it was a relief to see things go down well, the knowledge that it would because of her drew me out of the story.

Exciting Book Releases 2019 (part 1)

The Wicked King by Holly Black

Release date: 8. January 2019

Why I want to read it: It’s the sequel to The Cruel Prince, where no character were good and I fell in love with Jude. She revealed a lot on the end of the first book, which sets this one up for success, I hope.

 

Heartstopper Vol. 1 by Alice Oseman

Release date: fall of 2018, but I knew of it just to late and book depository aren’t selling it before

Why I want to read it: everything Alice does seems to turn into magic and by what I’ve seen, this seems like no exception

 

The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2) by Maureen Johnson

Release date: 22. January 2019

Why I want to read it: I’ve read Deathless by the author and liked it, as the sequel isn’t due any time soon, I’ll definitely pick up this book. And the name!

 

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas

Release date: 5. February 2019

Why I want to read it: The Hate U Give, the author’s first book, blew me away.

 

The Truth About Keeping Secrets by Savannah Brown

Release date: 7. February 2019

Why I want to read it: I’ve been following Savannah Brown for a couple years and I’m so excited for her debut novel!

 

 

 

Storm Cursed (Mercy Thompson #11) by Patricia Briggs

Release date: 5. March 2019

Why I want to read it: Do I actually want to? I love Mercy Thompson, but every storyline is already used it seems like. This might be the last book I’m reading about her. and promised lots of queer-ness