Your Favorite Books, 2018 edition

[gmw]

Originally Posted by kcladyz

I read a Spell for Cameleon a re-read from a book from my youth I just noticed the book cover just now changed. It was the same for the past 40 years now its totally different

Kobo shows two editions, the original and a new "simplified" version. I'm trying to work out what a Xanth book must look like when simplified. (Although, to be fair, it's been so long since I read that first one that I can't remember whether it was more serious than what came later.)

[SteveEisenberg]

There are some quite impressive lists here.

My 2018 list may not look as good because of so many being influenced by what I'm reading in the news and thus having a political slant. Plus, one of our children took on Israeli citizenship this year, leading to additonal titles that maybe some would have mixed feelings about.

With excuses made, here are 15 making the cut from the 75 I read:

America:
James Forman Jr., Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
C. J. Chivers, The Fighters: Americans in Combat in Afghanistan and Iraq

Israel:
Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography
Matti Friedman, Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier's Story of a Forgotten War
Yossi Klein Halevi, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
David Landau, Arik: The Life of Ariel Sharon
Sarah Tuttle-Singer, Jerusalem, Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem

Perhaps the topic at hand, or perhaps a sign of my paranoia:
Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die
Oliver Hilmes, Berlin 1936: Sixteen Days in August

The best of the non, or less, political:
Susan Orlean, The Library Book
Stephen Westaby, Open Heart: A Cardiac Surgeon’s Stories of Life and Death on the Operating Table
Jennifer Latson, The Boy Who Loved Too Much: A True Story of Pathological Friendliness
Sujatha Gidla, Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India

One outstanding novel:
Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister, the Serial Killer

And for a metaphorical summing up:
George Bibel, Train Wreck: The Forensics of Rail Disasters

[HLS]

Originally Posted by gmw

Kobo shows two editions, the original and a new "simplified" version. I'm trying to work out what a Xanth book must look like when simplified. (Although, to be fair, it's been so long since I read that first one that I can't remember whether it was more serious than what came later.)

The cover on my kindle book is actually more complex. It shows the main character raising his sword and some sort of flying monster coming his direction

[applesauce]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

My best first-time reads for 2018: (ones marked * were published in English in 2018)

SF:
- Harry Harrison, Return to Eden
[/i]

I got all excited, I had thought a new book in the Eden serious had been released in 2018 when I saw your post teach me to pay closer attention.

The Eden series is one of my all-time favourite sci-fi series. I remember 4 of us: all passing the books around between each other. So thanks for the good memory

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by applesauce

The Eden series is one of my all-time favourite sci-fi series. I remember 4 of us: all passing the books around between each other. So thanks for the good memory

I read the first book West of Eden about 25 years ago, don't know why I waited until 2018.to read the next two. The storytelling is so good I bet I will still enjoy them in another 25 years though.

[Dazrin]

I realized I never came back and posted my favorite fiction that I read in 2018 (but wasn't published in 2018, I did get those.)

I started off the year with some old favorites and a classic science fiction tale that I hadn't tried before: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. I read the short story version (and don't really want to taint it with the fleshed out version.) I really loved this story. The unknown really gets to us.

Later in the summer I finally got around to readins some Elizabeth Moon, starting with the Vatta's War series which was excellent but eclipsed by the Deed of Paksenarrion. Wow! I read all 1,500+ pages in less than 6 days. Excellent story.

After that I really enjoyed listening to the full cast / made for podcast Wolverine story written by Benjamin Percy. Wolverine: The Long Night. I don't read a lot of audio books unless I am travelling but this one was excellent.

Beyond this, the books I highlighted that were published in 2018 - Murderbot and The Lady Astronaut - were as good or better than these but I already mentioned them.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I started off the year with some old favorites and a classic science fiction tale that I hadn't tried before: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. I read the short story version (and don't really want to taint it with the fleshed out version.) I really loved this story. The unknown really gets to us.

Thanks for this. I'm planning to read both, starting with the shorter original. Asimov's short stories were his real strength, imo.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Thanks for this. I'm planning to read both, starting with the shorter original. Asimov's short stories were his real strength, imo.

While I don't completely agree about Asimov and short stories (I think some of his novels are excellent), in this particular case I agree. The novel (cowritten with Robert Silverberg) was very good for the first two thirds (the part that expanded on the short story) but the final third I found disappointing.

Originally Posted by gmw

(I think some of his novels are excellent),

As do I - I read the original Foundation series three times, and the Elijsh Baley series twice. Daneel Olivaw remains one of my favourite characters of fiction, and much of what Asimov wrote about the Settler worlds seems prescient of current trends toward eschewing human interaction over virtual. So it's not that I dislike his novels, I just feel his short stories are even better, as rule.

[Larla]

I'm sure you meant R. Daneel Olivaw --

Originally Posted by Larla

I'm sure you meant R. Daneel Olivaw --

Of course - as my mangling of "Elijah" shows, typing's not really my forté. It's times like this I pull out the gimp card and blame the increasingly poor communication between brain and fingers courtesy of my CP

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I realized I never came back and posted my favorite fiction that I read in 2018 (but wasn't published in 2018, I did get those.)

I started off the year with some old favorites and a classic science fiction tale that I hadn't tried before: Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. I read the short story version (and don't really want to taint it with the fleshed out version.) I really loved this story. The unknown really gets to us.

Later in the summer I finally got around to readins some Elizabeth Moon, starting with the Vatta's War series which was excellent but eclipsed by the Deed of Paksenarrion. Wow! I read all 1,500+ pages in less than 6 days. Excellent story.

After that I really enjoyed listening to the full cast / made for podcast Wolverine story written by Benjamin Percy. Wolverine: The Long Night. I don't read a lot of audio books unless I am travelling but this one was excellent.

Beyond this, the books I highlighted that were published in 2018 - Murderbot and The Lady Astronaut - were as good or better than these but I already mentioned them.

I highly enjoyed each and every thing on this list. I agree 100% about Paksenarrion and Wolverine in particular.