About this episode
You've been asking for it, and now it's here: our best books of 2018 list! We are the type of people who cannot pick our books until ALL the books have been finished for the year, so this is the soonest we could record! You'll hear a "bookish moment of the week" from each host: a Christmas gift that is perfect for an avid reader and the reason you all feel like your TBR lists explode whenever we release a new episode. Next, we discuss what we are currently reading, and this week has an incredible variety of titles that we discuss. This week's deep dive is a recap of our top ten books of the year for each of us. We picked the cream of the crop to share with you, readers. As always, we finish up with A Book (yep, capitalized) that we'd like to press into every reader's hands: a gripping mystery and a two-book series that are so unexpectedly wonderful. As always, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you'd like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don't scroll down! . . . . . 5:08 - Little Free Library! 9:33 – The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown 9:45 – The Best Land Under Heaven by Michael Wallis 12:25 – The Hunger by Alma Katsu 13:00 – Becoming by Michelle Obama 16:19 - The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien 16:34 - The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 16:36 - Room by Emma Donoghue 18:56 - Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris 19:33 - Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel 19:41 - Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel 21:51 - Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel 22:59 - Sadie by Courtney Summers 25:13 - The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser 29:10 - The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell 30:39 - The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne 32:32 - The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey 33:15 - Essentialism by Greg McKeown 34:28 – The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah MacKenzie 35:03 – The Read-Aloud Revival Podcast 35:29 - American Marriage by Tayari Jones 36:39 - Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown 37:41 - Educated by Tara Westover 40:42 - Circe by Madeline Miller 42:32 - Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle 43:37 - Calypso by David Sedaris 45:03 - The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley 45:41 - Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman 46:44 - The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz 47:58 - Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens 49:48 - Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend 49:56 - Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend 52:41 - The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine 54:52 - Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris 54:58 - The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn 55:51 - Us Against You by Frederik Backman 55:55 - Beartown by Frederik Backman 56:01 - A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman 58:44 - Britt-Marie Was Here by Frederik Backman 58:45 - My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Frederik Backman *Please note that all book titles linked above are Amazon affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. Thanks for your support!*