This year I've only read two books published in 2018, both being hardback picture books by Shaun Tan:
Cicada was okay but not one of his best;
Tales from the Inner City has absolutely gorgeous imagery and strange but fascinating very short stories. As good as that was, my real favourite of his I got earlier in the year (but originally published in 2006), called
Arrival; a story told entirely in pictures, I absolutely love it ... but I probably shouldn't be dwelling on these hardcovers in front of all these e-reader-readers.
My favourite (not published in 2018) books for the year were:
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R.Tolkien. A re-read, of course.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows. A funny, charming, sometimes tragic but always delightful story.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and also
Turtles All The Way Down. Emotionally intense treatment of difficult subjects, I found them both very convincing and involving.
Song of Time by Ian R. McLeod. A very human look into the coming century, told in retrospect by a dying musician. Beautifully constructed; powerful and evocative.
Honourable mentions should also go to:
Jasper Fforde who I only discovered this year, starting with
The Last Dragonslayer.
M.R. Carey and his
The Girl with All the Gifts.
Jane Harper and
The Dry, starting a new (Australian) detective series I expect to keep following.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, a truly memorable read. Of course, it is extra-memorable for having discussed it in the New Leaf Book Club.
I read a lot more shorter fiction than I usually do, and that kept the count up despite an otherwise busy year. Other authors whose work I enjoyed very much this year include (in no particular order): Elizabeth Ferrars, Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz), L.M. Montgomery, Christopher Moore, Jack McDevitt, Richard Dawkins, Eoin Colfer, Nancy Fulda, Ted Chiang, Natasha Pulley, Stephen Donaldson (his new novellas), Kat Ross, Ellen Klages.