As 2018 comes to a close, I wanted to recap some of my favorite books I read this year. Many are new releases, some are oldies but goodies, and some are books I should have read a LOT sooner (I see you, Neapolitan novels)
Each year, I sign up for Goodreads Reading challenge. It’s a way for me to read ambitiously and I love tracking all of my books and books I want to read. Just this month I started a Book Club with some girlfriends, so those books will feature heavily in next year’s book round ups. Read along for my favorite books of 2018, and let me know what books you loved! (I’m leaving out the few books I read this year and truly disliked)
The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
Guys, I don’t know why it took me so damn long to finally pick up this series of books. Even though the cover art definitely threw me off, once I read page one of the first novel I was instantly hooked. Thus began my love affair with the four-book series. The writing is beautiful, the plots are relatable and by the end of book four I wanted more. Luckily, we now have the HBO series based on it, but it doesn’t compare. Do yourself a favor and start reading this series as it is even better than the hype. You can buy it here.
I was enthralled by the series of investigative stories from The Wall Street Journal into this blood-testing Silicon Valley unicorn, so when this book by the reporter of those very stories came out, I devoured it. The book, while non-fiction, reads as good as fiction. It delves inside the founder of Theranos’s motivations and scamming of innocent patients. It’s a great read for pretty much everyone, and will make you equal parts enraged and fascinated. You can buy it here.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
In addition to reading the entire Neapolitan Novels series, I also read all of Kevin Kwan’s “Crazy Rich Asians” series of three books. The first one is by and far the best. It is an elevated beach read of sorts with wacky characters and plotlines but also a nice lens into the emerging wealth and rising middle class in Asia. The later two novels jump the shark a bit, but the characters are compelling and it’s a fun series to read. Also, the movie is a blast. You can buy it here.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
We picked this book as our first book club book, and while it takes a while to get into it, the story is a profound look into the effects of loneliness and abandonment. Taking place in rural North Carolina, the story delves into nature vs nurture, a murder mystery and a love story and is completely gripping. We highly recommend it (and are looking forward to Reese Witherspoon’s movie about it! You can buy it here.
Billion Dollar Whale by Bradley Hope
This book is from reporters at The Wall Street Journal who dominated coverage of the 1MDB scandal. Liek Bad Blood, Billion Dollar Whale reads as fictions and does a great job creating an engrossing and easy-to-understand narrative out of a very complex financial scam. The book gets into the cross section of investment banking, sovereign wealth and Hollywood, and is a salacious read. You can buy it here.
Midnight In The Garden of Good & Evil by John Berendt
This is an oldie but goodie that gets into a murder trial in Savannah, Georgia. The writing is just brilliant and I loved learning about social politics and race tensions in the South as well as how Savannah became the destination it is today. It’s a great mix of historical fiction and a wild narrative that becomes a real page turner. You can buy it here.
Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza
I don’t allow myself to read much chic lit, but this one was so worth it. Fitness Junkie is a chic lit satire of the fitness craze among Coastal elites. It pokes fun at the $40 gym class, acai bowl, juice cleanse cohort that have become mainstream in New York, Los Angeles and other cities, but is told in a really fun way. We recommend this one for your next trip when you want to relax and unwind. It’s laugh out loud funny and hits close to home at times. You can buy it here.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
I make an effort to read the Pulitzer Prize winner in fiction each year and it has never steered by wrong (Seriously, go read “All the Light We Cannot See” and “The Goldfinch” if you have a chance). The Underground Railroad won the Pulitzer in 2017 and it was such an amazing read. I devoured this book on a trip to Israel and couldn’t believe how compelling a book about well-tread territory — slavery — could be. The amount of research that Colson did on slavery for this book is so apparent and it has the most gripping narrative and plotline, following the journey of Cora, an escaped slave. This should be required reading in classrooms across America. You can buy it here.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
This book was all the rage in 2018 and after reading it, I get the hype. The story takes place in Russia and while the entire book pretty much takes place in one hotel, the writing is beautiful and the characters are so well developed. I also loved that it gives a great primer on Russian history following the fall of Lenin. You can buy it here.
I am a huge Michael Lewis fan (I ate up Liars Poker) and so I was happy to finally pull Flash Boys off of my bookshelf and give it a read. The story gets into the dark pools around trading and can be very technical at times. I loved the protagonists of the story and came away reading it with a much clearer view of the stock market and trading. You can buy it here.
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