 |
| The 2018 Discussion Challenge is hosted by Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts At Midnight |
The Accidental Making Of A List
My favorite time to be a blogger is during July and December. Those are the months when most of the “best books” lists come out. I’ve spent an embarrassing number of hours searching the Internet for posts and videos about people’s favorite books. I’m hopelessly curious about what strangers are reading. This year, I decided to do something different. Instead of just watching/reading the lists, I took notes (like the nerd I am). If I saw the same book title multiple times, I wrote it down. That’s how I accidentally ended up making a list of the blogosphere’s favorite books of 2018 (so far).
Several Notes Before We Get To The Point
1. I read/looked at approximately
300-400 lists, including all of the ones linked up on The Artsy Reader Girl. The
lists were a mix of blog posts, videos, and Instagram posts.
2. The making of this thing you’re
currently skimming was extremely unscientific. If I noticed the same title
popping up a bunch of times, I put it on my list. It’s very likely that I
missed a much-loved book (or several).
3. If you think I missed one of
the blogosphere’s current favorites, let me know. I’ll add it.
4. I haven’t read most of these
books. If I put them in the wrong category, let me know. I’ll move them.
5. Most of this list is young
adult books. Sorry about that. I don’t know exactly why this happened, but I
have theories:
- Theory One: There are a lot of blogs/vlogs that focus exclusively on YA. There are fewer blogs/vlogs that focus exclusively on adult books. Because of this imbalance, I saw a lot of YA on people’s “best books” lists.
- Theory Two: YA book lovers are heavily influenced by hype and tend to all read the same books.
- Theory Three: The reading tastes of adult book lovers vary widely. I saw a lot of adult books on the lists, but it was rare to see the same book on 10+ different lists.
- Theory Four: It’s all my fault. Maybe I have a subconscious bias that pulls my attention to YA books for some reason. I don’t know. I'm not a scientist. Or particularly introspective.
The Blogosphere’s Favorite Books Of 2018 (So Far)
The
Overall Favorites
Favorite
Adult Book: The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Favorite
Young Adult Book: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Favorite
Sequel: Obsidio (The Illuminae Files #3) by Amie Kaufman & Jay
Kristoff
Young
Adult Fantasy & Magical Realism
Ace of Shades by Amanda FoodyA Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
Aru Shah and The End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Children of Blood and Bone by
Tomi Adeyemi
Daughter of Smoke and Bone and
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Every Heart A Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, and Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGurie
Fawkes by Nadine Brandes
Reign of the Earth by A.C. GaughenShadow & Bone, Six of Crows, and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Sky in the Deep by Adrienne
Young
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. PanThe Belles by Dhonielle ClaytonThis Savage Song and Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra
Christo
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
The Wrath & The Dawn and
The Rose & The Dagger by Renee Ahdieh
Undead Girl Gang by Lily
Anderson
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Young
Adult Science Fiction
Nevernight and Lifel1k3 by Jay
Kristoff
Red Rising, Golden Son, and Iron Gold by
Pierce Brown
Scythe and Thunderhead by Neal
Shusterman
Shatter Me, Unravel Me, and
Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi
Young
Adult Contemporary
American Panda by Gloria Chao
A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews
Autoboyography by Christina
Lauren
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Geekerella by Ashley Poston
Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire
Kann
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans WelchRadio Silence and I was Born for This by Alice OsemanSave the Date and Since You've Been Gone by Morgan MatsonStarfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Upside of Unrequited and
Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
They Both Die at the End by
Adam Silvera
When Dimple Met Rishi and From Twinkle, with Love by Sandhya Menon
You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Book-To-Movie Hype
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness & Jim Kay
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine
L’Engle
Ready Player One by Ernest
Cline
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Murder on the Orient Express by
Agatha Christie
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Nonfiction
Educated: A Memoir by Tera Westover
I’ll be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by
Michelle McNamara
Adult
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magical Realism
A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, A Conjuring of Light, and Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Circe by Madeline Miller
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan &
Fiona Staples
Spinning Silver and Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Spinning Silver and Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
The Power by Naomi Alderman
The Rules of Magic by Alice
Hoffman
Adult
Literary/Realistic Fiction
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Beartown and Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Beartown and Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Little Fires Everywhere by
Celeste Ng
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Still Me by Jojo Moyes
Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren
Still Me by Jojo Moyes
The Kiss Quotient by Helen
Hoang
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Adult
Mystery & Thriller
The Broken Girls by Simone St.
James
The Woman in the Window by A.J.
Finn
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Did I miss any of the
blogosphere’s favorites?
Wow, this is a great list that must have taken you countless hours to put together. I've seen a lot of those books around. Most booktubers are YA focused and they are very influential so I'm not surprised that many of the books on lists are YA. And unlike when I was growing up, today YA is read by all ages. Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteI did find a ton of YA-only BookTubers while I was searching for ‘best of’ lists. Whenever I came across a list that was all adult books, I subscribed to the channel. It was like finding a unicorn.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Woah, you did a great job on this list. I have definitely seen most of these books getting a ton of love around the blogosphere. I've read more than I thought, but still a lot I NEED to read. haha Also, if you want to see what a lot of adult books are being read, check out the monthly link up Show Us Your Books hosted by Jana Says and Life According to Steph; it's every second Tuesday of the month and those bloggers get ideas from each other so you'll often see some of the same books mentioned a lot!
ReplyDelete-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag..net
THANK YOU for the recommendation. I need to follow more people who read adult books, so I’ll check them out.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Seriously...you spent tons of time on this great list...did I miss seeing Naomi Novik’s name? Spinning Silver? Her books are amazing! I am going back to reread your lists to make sure I didn’t skip it!
ReplyDeleteI’ll add them right now.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
*applause, applause* Wow! What an undertaking. You never cease to amaze me. I have read quite a few of the YA realistic fiction book, and some were better than others. Maybe 5 or so were 5-star reads for me.
ReplyDeleteI’ve read 4 of the YA contemporary ones, and only 1 was 5 stars for me (Fangirl). I’m hard to please. It was interesting to see what other people like, though.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Dude that is so comprehensive!! Definitely agree with so many of these categories. And totally understand why it's more YA focused.
ReplyDeleteI expected that the list would be YA-heavy, but I didn’t know it would be so hard to find adult books that everybody loves. There wasn’t much consensus about which adult books were “best.” The adult book lists were very different from each other.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
This must have been so much work - truly a labour of love!
ReplyDeleteI think I see lots more YA books on blogs too. I wondered if maybe there's more young bloggers than older ones?
I wondered that, too. There are a lot of twenty-something book bloggers. I started reading YA in my 20s because I only read Stephen King and school books when I was in my teens.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Wow. I agree with everyone. This is a great list and it must have taken a lot of time. Thanks so much for sharing all the goodness. :-)
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
It did take several months. I was originally going to keep it to myself and research which books to put on my TBR, but I thought other bloggers might be interested.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Great list and yay I've read some of them! And I am book marking this post in case you know! I don't have enough reading!
ReplyDeleteI definitely think there are more YA bloggers. (Possibly because we have more time than people who read adult books? Who knows??) I've read a ton of the books on the YA list! XD I absolutely know for a fact that I read most of them because of the hype in the blogosphere. It's one reason I won't leave the community - how would I know what to read? I've also read a few of the adult fantasy books, again because of hype. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHaha. The reason I started making this list was so I could research the books and figure out which ones to add to my TBR. I have no idea what I’d read if I left the bookish community.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Wow, that is quite a list, and so much work went into it! I agree, there seems to be a big focus on YA! I haven't read most of these books, but I think My Lady Jane showed up on my best of 2018 (so far) list.
ReplyDeleteI need to read that one. I didn’t know anything about it until I started seeing it on the lists and looked it up.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I think you definitely covered most of the greatest hits so far! The only titles that stood out as missing to me were The Bear and the Nightingale/The Girl in the Tower, which are both super popular with YA bloggers but sold as adult fantasy. I may also be biased since 1) I love them, and 2) Most of the bloggers I follow love them as well. I'm just so impressed you read hundreds of "best of" lists!
ReplyDeleteI added them! I actually have an ARC of The Bear and the Nightingale, but I haven’t read it yet.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Awesome lists. I agree with your theory that YA blogs are a big focus. I find when I participate in Top Ten Tuesday my book choices are very different than a lot of the others. I don't mind, because I still read some YA, and reading is reading to some degree. Hope you have a fun week.
ReplyDeleteI try to read half children’s/YA and half adult books. I do see a lot of the same hyped YA books over and over on TTT posts.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I enjoy checking out these lists too... although they remind you that you are behind on your reading. Lots there I still need to read!
ReplyDeleteNaomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace
I know! I learned about so many books from reading people’s ‘best of’ lists, and now I want to read everything. My TBR list is insane.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Not many here I'll be reading as I'm picky about my YA but do plan to read My Lady Jane, Undead Girl Gang, Red Rising, The Martian. I did just finish and enjoy Ready player One.
ReplyDeleteThe Martian and Ready Player One were pretty good. I need to read the other 3 you mentioned, too.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I shouldn't have read this post because now I am making a TBR list based on your research and I do not even read that much YA!!
ReplyDeletePS: I was super hyped for The Martian too!!
Haha, this list started as a TBR for myself. When it started getting long, I thought I’d share it and potentially explode everybody else’s TBR.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
300 lists? How even. And you're right about YA being super hyped! My favorite movie adaptation is Love. Simon and I can't wait for The Hate U Give and To All the Boys I've Loved Before to come out!
ReplyDeleteI haven’t seen Love, Simon yet. I really need to. I’m excited for the THUG movie. All the stuff I’ve seen about it has given me high expectations.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
This is a great list. I applaud you for your thoroughness and ability to make some great suggestion to my never ending TBR.
ReplyDeleteTori @ In Tori Lex
Thanks! If you read any of these, I hope you like them.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
“I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. Or particularly introspective.” LOL Love this.
ReplyDeleteYou seriously combed through A LOT of posts. Hopefully that wasn’t all at one sitting. Ha.
I really want to find the time to branch out with some new (to me) blogs. So many that I follow are heavy (or even exclusively) YA and there’s nothing wrong with that but I’d love to find more blogs that read/review adult fiction. Note to self: Find time to do this in the midst of working full time, selling house, and getting ready for move. Bahahaha.
Can’t believe I still haven’t read The Great Alone. Kristin Hannah is one of my favorites. The Cruel Prince was everywhere early this year. A fantasy I actually enjoyed. Go me. Simon vs was such a great book-to-movie adaptation. Loved it. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo deserves all the hype. Seriously loved that one.
Nope. Not in one sitting. I don’t have that kind of attention span. I started making the list in June and I’m still adding books to it. I need to find more adult-book-only blogs. I follow a zillion YA-only blogs.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
This is awesome! I respect your ability to compile this list–I wouldn't have the patience!
ReplyDeleteThanks! It took several months, and I’m still adding books that I missed.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I love that you came up with your own list based on the blogosphere. What a fun idea!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Thanks! Goodreads took my idea, but we had a lot of the same books on our lists, so I must have done okay with my unscientific method.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Wow, what a list. You've really put a lot of time and effort into this. Well done, you!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a lover of YA or fantasy so I always find it kind of difficult to find book bloggers who're into the same kind of things I am. But it looks like you've got the hookup, girl!
wow awesome job putting this list together. and yes YA is heavenly impacted by the hype!
ReplyDeleteMy overall favorite was definitely The Cruel Prince - great list! :)
ReplyDeleteWow this list is amazing! It's so interesting to see blogger faves. I've read SO many of the books on this list. But now I want to check out the ones I haven't. I want to read more Adult Sci Fi and Fantasy so I added a couple of those titles to my Goodreads. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've actually read quite a few of those. Mostly from the contemporary YA list. Starry Eyes is one of my favorites this year.
ReplyDeleteLots of good books to add to my list though.
Karen @ For What It's Worth
What a list!! Thanks for putting this together!! <3
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list, it must have taken you ages! I've added several of these to Goodreads. Thanks for doing this!
ReplyDeleteThis post must have really taken a lot of dedication and thank you for sharing it like this because it makes it so easy for me to find some of the most brilliant reads. I've read quite a few of these best list blog posts (not nearly as many as you did!!!) but I can definitely agree with having seen a lot of these featured. Especially on the YA front.
ReplyDelete