Every Book I Read in 2018

For the last few years I’ve done a round up post of all the books I read in the last year. I’m a bit late this time, but I thought I’d share my book list from the last year. I managed 28 books this time. I did a mixture of actually reading books and listening to audible. Because of the problems I have with my optic nerves, I can’t spend too much time reading without getting tired eyes and I love to listen to books while I’m doing housework, walking or editing pictures.

I read a really big mix of books this year, I usually choose books based on how I’m feeling, so if I need cheering up I’ll go for a light chick lit novel. If I feel like something more involved I’ll go for a wordy historical novel and I feed my inner geek with biographies and non fiction. I’ve written a sentence or two about what I thought of each book, but it’s worth clicking on the links to read the full synopsis, as this would be a really long post if I went into too much detail about all 28 books!

I started the year with How to Find Love in a Bookshop, I’d had it in my TBR pile for ages. As far as I remember it was pretty good although it did have a few sad bits, so not the best if you’re feeling a bit glum. I also re-read First Lady the biography of Clementine Churchill, as it’s one of my absolute favourite books. If you like history and biographies you will LOVE this one.  I’m always delighted when a new Jenny Colgan books comes out and The Endless Beach did not disappoint. This one had some pretty intense story lines though. I always recommend Cathy Bramley books when you need cheering up and The Plumberry School of Comfort Food was a great pick me up, when I needed it.

As you may know I am a MASSIVE Fleetwood Mac fan. I really enjoyed Mick Fleetwood’s book, which is absolutely packed with interesting music stuff. Mick Fleetwood comes across as a bit of a twat, but that just makes for better reading. After that I read The Lemon Tree Cafe, another excellent Cathy Bramley book. I’ve wanted to read Life of Pi for absolutely years, so this year I gave it a go. I very much enjoyed reading it at the time, although I think about the ending way to often now and kinda wish I didn’t. I also revisited The Ruby in the Smoke a favourite Philip Pullman book that I read when I was much younger.

I went on to read the next book in the series The Shadow in the North and at some point will reread the other two in the Sally Lockhart series. Then I read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, which I kept hearing about. It was OK and I enjoyed most of it, but it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. Luckily The Muse by Jessie Burton was an absolutely amazing read and one I’d absolutely recommend. I went on to read The Miniaturist, which was every bit as brilliant as I’d heard. I absolutely loved it. I might even watch the adaptation at some point.

One of the absolute book highlights of the year would have to be Three Things About Elsie, it is so clever and well written and just completely consumed me. Luckily Fay was reading it around the same time, so we got to talk about it lots. I loved Big Little Lies on the TV and the book was every bit as good. I definitely want to read more Liane Moriarty this year. My music geek came out in full force for 1971 Never a Dull Moment, an absolutely fascinating book for anyone who loves 1970s bands and music. I went on to read David Hepworth’s other book Uncommon People immediately after and really enjoyed it.

Another book that I’d heard loads of people talking about was The Keeper of Lost Things. I really enjoyed this one and got through it really quickly. If you like interesting thought provoking novels, then this is a really good choice. I can’t resist a bit of 50 Shades of grey and Grey, which is the same story told from Christian’s point of view was a fun read. I was really excited about the release of Louise Pentland’s second novel Wilde About the Girl. The first book was so good and this one was even better. It does have some sad bit’s though so again, not one to read if you’re already feeling down. One of the best books I read last year would have to be Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, I’m sure you’ll have heard lots of people raving about this one and I can totally see why – it is so clever and brilliant.

Someone recommended The Ladies of the House to me and it was a pretty good read. I absolutely loved Lucy Worsley’s new book about Queen Victoria. I had a proud sister moment as there is a dedication to my brother in it as he works with Lucy. I’ve been enjoying her books for years and this one is every bit as good as her others. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk was a lovely clever little book that kept me very occupied. I loved the concept of the story. Towards the end of the year another Jenny Colgan book landed in my bookshelf, I really enjoyed An Island Christmas, but there really were a lot of sad bits and it made me feel quite down at times. I’d still recommend it though.

Ma’am Darling, takes a very controversial look at the life of Princess Margaret. I was completely engrossed and couldn’t put it down. Probably not a fun one for her family to read, but a truly fascinating and very different biography. I also re-read Fantastic Beasts and Quiddich Through The Ages. They brought me back to being much younger and getting my copies in Sainsburys when they first came out. I am currently reading The Luminaries, which is so so long, but absolutely amazing. I took a while to get into it,  but now I’m completely hooked and I’m totally gripped by the story line.

So thats all my reads from the last year. I’d like to get through at least 30 books this year, do you have any recomendations ?

Find more book related posts in the book section of the blog.

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