I previously shared a list of every book I read in 2018 and noted which were my favorites but didn’t elaborate on what the books were about–or even who wrote them (this year my list includes the authors too because live and learn). My favorites ended up including more nonfiction than I expected–after law school I swore off nonfiction for a while since I had been drowning in cases and textbooks for so long I just wanted an escape. I think this list is also an interesting mix of serious books and silly books because honestly that’s probably how my head is as well. As I mentioned before, I mostly use the app Libby to read books, in fact, Crazy Rich Asians is the only book listed here that I own in physical form. The rest were borrowed from the library as ebooks.
These aren’t in a ranked order, it’s just written in the order in which I read them during the year.
I loved this novel. It’s the story of a girl who gets bounced around the foster care system and eventually ages out with nowhere to go. She uses the Victorian meanings of flowers as a way to communicate when she can’t figure out how to say how she feels. What I liked so much about this book is that the story is extremely compelling and the author seamlessly weaves in the meanings of different flowers and I ended up learning so much.
The first nonfiction book on this list! Ruth was the restaurant critic for the New York Times where she went undercover to review restaurants in NYC–a truly wild ride that she shares in this memoir. You probably know by now how much I love food so I loved reading about the food she ate around the city, especially how she expanded the type of restaurants the NYT reviews. She pushed the paper to include cuisines that weren’t just French or Italian and $300 for a dinner for two. She also includes her favorite recipes in between chapters and I’m a sucker for a good recipe. Also the descriptions of the disguises she used were endlessly hilarious.
Okay. This book. Damn. One day women and girls around the world wake up and realize they have ~the power.~ The power scares everyone and the book follows the way it spreads and how the world reacts to women having this new ability. As you can imagine, it goes from wonder to fear to… lots of wild emotions and actions. I’m trying not to spoil anything but seriously go read this book.
Another nonfiction book. This is the story of the Manson Murders from start to finish (pre-murder to post-conviction) WRITTEN BY THE MAN WHO PROSECUTED THE CASE. So as a lawyer this book was fascinating because it lets you see how he built a case against the Manson “family” but you definitely don’t have to suffer through law school to enjoy this book. Warning that the Manson murders are indeed murders so they’re pretty horrifying but the book is great. It’s nonfiction but it’s written in a narrative most of the time so it’s easy to read.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Honestly if you don’t know what this book is about (or haven’t seen the movie) I don’t know what to tell you. This entire trilogy is enthralling and the fashion is described so perfectly you can see it. The footnotes are alternatively helpful and hilarious. Seriously, this story about an Asian American woman going to Singapore with her boyfriend and realizing that he is…crazy rich and finding herself in that world is just so good.
The Assistants by Camille Perri
This is one of the lighter books on this list. I like this book as a kind of wish-fulfillment to be honest. It starts with the main character (an assistant at a large company) accidentally embezzles money from the company–the exact amount that’s left to pay on her student loans. So she uses it to pay off her student loans. When another assistant figures it out things start to spiral out of control. Honestly, this feels a little bit like every millennial’s dream.
Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao
This book is pretty intense. It’s about two pretty poor best friends in India who get separated after a horrible event and spend the rest of the book trying to get back to each other. They each suffer terribly in their quest to be reunited but this book is really about female friendship and how powerful hope is. This feels like a terrible description of a great book but I don’t want to get into the nitty gritty details here.
I’ll Be Gone In The Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
Wow. This book. This book literally led to the capture of the Golden State Killer. Michelle worked for years writing this book and investigating the cases of murders and sexual assaults and connected them all to a man she named the Golden State Killer. Unfortunately, Michelle passed away before she could finish her book or see the killer caught, but her friends and family helped piece together her notes to finish the book. Like Helter Skelter, this is written in part in narrative form, which makes it easier to read. Plus it’s amazing how Michelle never gave up on her mission to identify the Golden State Killer to help give the victims’ families (and all of California to be honest) some closure.
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
Tara grew up in a survivalist, highly conservative Mormon family with no formal education. She was homeschooled (in truly the loosest definition of school) but wanted to learn. Her memoir is kind of terrifying in a way because she describes the abuse she and her siblings endured, her father’s aversion to getting his family medical care (even after terrible accidents), and how she fought to leave and get a formal education. This is a fascinating look into the world of survivalists and super rural America.
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
I love this whole genre of book–I kind of think of them as suspense/thrillers/mystery. This book really messes with your head because there’s a plot twist near the end where all the relationships are turned on their heads. It’s so well done. The story centers around a love triangle with an ex-wife, the ex-husband, and his new wife. I’m trying not to give away anything important but if you’re into the Gone Girl-type genre, you’ll enjoy this one as well.
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
First of all, Robert Galbraith is J.K. Rowling. So. She used a pen name so that people didn’t associate this series with Harry Potter which was probably a good call since this book is so different. It follows a private investigator–Cormoran Strike–as he tries to solve a murder that the police are convinced is a suicide. It’s pretty graphic and there’s lots of swearing, which is not bad but a huge departure from the HP books. This feels like a classic detective mystery which I was very into.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
This novel is on the list for two reasons: I couldn’t put it down and there is a MAJOR plot twist that let me tell you I did not see coming. The family is a stupid rich family who… own an island(?!?!) that they spend the summer on. Something traumatic happened during a previous summer that strained the relationship of the liars–the group of teenage cousins who gave themselves that name. I kept trying to figure out what had happened to mess everything up (I can usually figure out the plot twist before it shows up) but I was majorly blindsided by this one in the best way.
Hope you enjoy!
xoxo,
J
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