Thursday, August 9, 2018

Discussion: The Blogosphere’s Favorite Books Of 2018 (So Far)

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 Foody
Aru Shah and The End of Time by Roshani Chokshi
Caraval and Legendary by Stephanie Garber
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Fawkes by Nadine Brandes
Furyborn by Claire Legrand
My Lady Jane and My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand
Reign of the Earth by A.C. Gaughen
Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton
This Savage Song and Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab
To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo
The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw
Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones












Young Adult Science Fiction


Cinder, Winter, and Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Illuminae and Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
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
Autoboyography by Christina Lauren
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Dumplin’ and Puddin’ by Julie Murphy
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 Welch
Radio Silence and I was Born for This by Alice Oseman
Save the Date and Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman
Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
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
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Wonder by R.J. Palacio












Nonfiction




Educated: A Memoir by Tera Westover












Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magical Realism




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
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
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
Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee
I was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
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









Did I miss any of the blogosphere’s favorites?









47 comments:

  1. 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!!

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    1. I 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. 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!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag..net

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    1. THANK YOU for the recommendation. I need to follow more people who read adult books, so I’ll check them out.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. 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!

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  4. *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.

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    1. I’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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. Dude that is so comprehensive!! Definitely agree with so many of these categories. And totally understand why it's more YA focused.

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    1. I 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  6. This must have been so much work - truly a labour of love!
    I think I see lots more YA books on blogs too. I wondered if maybe there's more young bloggers than older ones?

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. 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. :-)
    sherry @ fundinmental

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  8. 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!

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  9. I 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!

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    1. Haha. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. 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.

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    1. I need to read that one. I didn’t know anything about it until I started seeing it on the lists and looked it up.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  11. 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!

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    1. I added them! I actually have an ARC of The Bear and the Nightingale, but I haven’t read it yet.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  12. 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.

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    1. I 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  13. 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!

    Naomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  14. 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.

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    1. The Martian and Ready Player One were pretty good. I need to read the other 3 you mentioned, too.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  15. 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!!
    PS: I was super hyped for The Martian too!!

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  16. 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!

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    1. I 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  17. This is a great list. I applaud you for your thoroughness and ability to make some great suggestion to my never ending TBR.
    Tori @ In Tori Lex

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  18. “I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. Or particularly introspective.” LOL Love this.

    You 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.

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  19. This is awesome! I respect your ability to compile this list–I wouldn't have the patience!

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    1. Thanks! It took several months, and I’m still adding books that I missed.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  20. I love that you came up with your own list based on the blogosphere. What a fun idea!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

      Delete
  21. Wow, what a list. You've really put a lot of time and effort into this. Well done, you!

    I'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!

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  22. wow awesome job putting this list together. and yes YA is heavenly impacted by the hype!

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  23. My overall favorite was definitely The Cruel Prince - great list! :)

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  24. Wow 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!

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  25. I've actually read quite a few of those. Mostly from the contemporary YA list. Starry Eyes is one of my favorites this year.

    Lots of good books to add to my list though.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

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  26. What a list!! Thanks for putting this together!! <3

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  27. This is a great list, it must have taken you ages! I've added several of these to Goodreads. Thanks for doing this!

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  28. This 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.

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