A Critical Look At Critics' Top Books of 2018

I know that a few of you are anxiously awaiting my reveal of my top 10 books of 2018.  But if you have been getting my top 10 lists for years, then you'll know that I don't make and distribute my list til January.  After all, what if I read an awesome book (or books) in December?  So, in the meantime, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at various different critics' lists of their favorite books of 2018.

GCBC - Fall Reading Roundup

As I've mentioned a few times previously, I am in a book club of sorts that consists of just me and my friend Sarah, which we call, GCBC, which stands for Grand Central Book Club (since we usually meet for lunch at Grand Central).  We used to just pick a book to read occasionally when we had plans to get together, but earlier this year we decided that since we like to read so many of the same books anyway, we might as well coordinate reading them together.  Plus we both seem to derive perhaps as much enjoyment from planning out what we are going to read as we do the actual reading itself!  And since life has been busy and thus conspiring against us getting together, most of the book discussion these days is done over e-mail, which makes it pretty easy to turn it into a blog post to share our views!  So, following is a discussion between us of 12 books we both read this fall.

From the Top 10 Archives - Jen's 10 Favorite Books of 2009

Since shortly after I started this blog about a year ago, I've been periodically looking back on my top 10 favorite books of years past, which were lists I made at the end of each year (since 1999!) and shared with a growing group of friends.  Each list consists of my favorite books I read in a particular year, not necessarily books published that year.  Today, I'll look at my list from 2009.

Here's my list from 2009, in alphabetical order by author's last name:

The Opposite of Love - Julie Buxbaum
Belong to Me - Marisa De Los Santos
Love the One You're With - Emily Giffin
Barefoot - Elin Hildebrand
The House at Riverton - Kate Morton
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell
The Year of Fog - Michelle Richmond
Driving Sideways - Jess Riley
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak

Contemporary Fiction By Male Authors

A few months ago, I wrote a post on some of my favorite authors of contemporary women's fiction.  One of the things I realized while writing it is that I read WAY more books by women authors than I do by male authors.  But another thing I realized is that there isn't a genre called "contemporary men's fiction."  If a woman writes a book set in the present day about every day life and relationships, unless it is written in an extremely highly literary style, it's most likely to be called "contemporary women's fiction."  But if a man writes a book set in the present day about every day life and relationships, it's just going to be called "fiction."  What's up with that?

Man reading or man-spreading?

Anyway, just as I did for my post on contemporary women's fiction, I'm going to exclude any books that fall into other genres - science fiction, mystery and thrillers, young adult, etc. - and focus on books set in the present (or relatively present times) by men, books that aren't super literary but just about realistic characters.  These books may or may not have male protagonists - some male authors also like to write from the point of view of women, just like some female authors like to write from the point of view of men.  And while I would generally recommend these books for guys to read, I would equally recommend them to women - I am a woman myself after all, and they're books I like!  But I can also tell you that my husband Dan has read almost all the books below and enjoyed them all.

Best and Worst Books You Read in School

As I mentioned in my post a few months ago about school reading, I find it interesting that in my kids' school district, at least through middle school, there seem to be less specifically required texts that kids read and discuss as an entire class than there was in my day.  There are definite pros to being able to pick your own books, but my opinion is that there are also definite pros to being assigned to read certain texts - not just because you can get more out of a book when discussing it with teachers and fellow students, but also to expose you to books you might not otherwise pick up for yourself.

Some commonly assigned HS books

Anyway, it got me thinking about some of the most memorable books I read in my own school days, both those I loved and those I hated.

World War II Fiction

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but for some reason I haven't written about it much on here.  Today is Veteran's Day, and both my grandfather and Dan's grandfather served in World War II.  So today I thought I'd write about World War II fiction.  I know some people can't stand to read World War II fiction, but I generally find it really interesting and moving.  Holocaust fiction can certainly get very depressing so I don't tend to read a ton of it, but I also find myself fascinated by books set in London during the Blitz, occupied France, even the U.S. homefront.  So here are some of my favorite novels which are set primarily during World War II.

From the Top 10 Archives - Jen's 10 Favorite Books of 2008

I've been slowly working my way through re-visiting all my past annual top 10 book lists, so today we'll take a look back at my 10 favorite books of 2008.  As a reminder, that means books I read in 2008, not necessarily books published that year.

2008 was a momentous year for me personally because my second child, my son Jonah, was born in 2008!  Nonetheless I managed to hold steady by reading the exact same amount of books I had read the previous year.  (68 books, if you are curious!)

Here's my list from 2008, in alphabetical order by author's last name:

Away - Amy Bloom
March - Geraldine Brooks
London Is the Best City in America - Laura Dave
I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle
The Monsters of Templeton - Lauren Groff
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
Finishing Touches - Deanna Kizis
My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson
The Department of Lost and Found - Allison Winn Scotch
How to Talk to a Widower - Jonathan Tropper