What I Read On My Winter Vacation

I came back yesterday from a wonderful week in the Bahamas with my family and our close family friends.  And, as has become a tradition on the blog, I'm going to share with you what I read while we were on vacation!

Me reading poolside

2018, The Best of the Rest, Part 2

I've already shared my Top 10 books of 2018, and, if you missed it, part 1 of my "best of the rest" covering realistic contemporary and historical fiction. Since I still have yet more books to recommend, today's post covers other genres, including mysteries and thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, and memoirs.  These are not necessarily books published in 2018, but books I read in 2018.

Jen's Top 10 Books of 2018

I'm very excited to share with you my 10 favorite books that I read in 2018!  I read a record amount of books in 2018, so this really is the cream of the crop - and it was SO hard to narrow this list down!  The top 5 were pretty easy, but narrowing down to the remaining 5 was a real challenge.  So I'm also happy to tell you that in the coming weeks you can look for "best of the rest" post(s) highlighting some of the other books I loved in 2018!

Anyway, for many many years - dating back to a time when I barely used the internet (1999!) - I have been compiling a list of my ten favorite books read in the year just ended and sharing with my friends, first by e-mail, then by facebook, and starting last year, on this blog.  It's not necessarily books published in the year I make the list, just books I read that year.  Here's my list for 2018, in alphabetical order by author's last name:

The Royal We - Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
This Is How It Always Is - Laurie Frankel
Force of Nature - Jane Harper
Queen of Shadows - Sarah J. Maas
The Clockmaker's Daughter - Kate Morton
Eligible - Curtis Sittenfeld
What You Don't Know About Charlie Outlaw - Leah Stewart
Other People's Houses - Abbi Waxman
Code Name Verity - Elizabeth Wein
The Female Persuasion - Meg Wolitzer


Traditionally, I used to just send around a list with no further comment on the books.  But now that I have more space, I want to tell you more about the books - first a little bit about each book itself, and then some general comments on the list as a whole.  Though if you've been reading this blog regularly, I think you have actually heard about most of these books in one post or another.  And I would love to hear what everyone else thought of these books, and what your favorite books of 2018 were!

Read on for more:

Supernatural Fiction

With Halloween tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to do a post with a theme that relates to the holiday.  I don't read horror novels (or watch horror movies for that matter) because they're too scary for me!  But I do enjoy not-too-scary supernatural fiction.  So today, I'll share with you some recommendations for books about witches, vampires, and ghosts!

What I Read on My Summer Vacation

We came back yesterday from a lovely week in Cape Cod.  So in what is becoming a tradition for this blog, I'm going to tell you all about what I read on vacation (and what the rest of my family read too).  I love to read all the time, obviously, but vacation reading is especially enjoyable - isn't there just something nice about reading by the beach or pool, especially when you have nothing else pressing to do?

Jonah reading

Young Adult Fantasy Series

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you've probably figured out by now that I love young adult books.  I've previously discussed young adult dystopian fiction and young adult realistic fiction.  Today, I'll talk about another one of my favorites - young adult fantasy.

I'm not sure what it is about young adult fantasy - often these are giant thick tomes with lots and lots of characters to keep track of over the course of multiple books in a series - yet they are also just so much fun to read.  My 13 year old daughter (almost 14) Allison is also a big fan of the genre, so she's read many of these as well and I'll fill you in on her opinions too where applicable.

So, if you share my love for the genre here are some of my favorite young adult fantasy series:

Middle Grade Fiction Adults Can Enjoy Too

So far, I've discussed adult books and young adult books, but for the most part I haven't really discussed children's books, other than a mention or two.  So you may not realize that I'm just as passionate about children's literature, and about encouraging a love of reading in my kids.  I also volunteer at the school library at my kids' elementary school, so I love seeing what the kids are reading there and recommending some of these books to them too!

Today's post focuses on kids books that are so great, I recommend them even if you don't have a kid in your life to share them with.  These are also books that I recommend for kids who are strong independent readers, or for read-alouds with your kid.  Many of the books on this list I either read aloud to one of my kid, or I read them at the same time as one of my kids and then we discussed, though some I read purely for my own enjoyment.

Two series adults can enjoy too!

What I Read on Vacation

I returned home last night from a great week in Mexico with my husband and kids.  I've written before about recommended vacation reading, so I thought this time I'd tell you all about what I read on my vacation!

Yup, that's me reading on the beach!