Favorite Books of 2018 // My best year of reading diverse books

Hi everyone! ✨

I hope you all had a merry Christmas (if you celebrate it) and are enjoying your holiday season! Sending you all my love and good vibes. 🌟

I’m so sorry for my unplanned blogging hiatus – it’s been stressful and overwhelming over the past month, due to school and finals and life in general. 🙃 But no worries! I’m finally on winter break (actually, I’ve been on break for over a week now), and I’m so grateful for this three-week vacation from school. 😌 i really need it

With only a few more days until the new year (how???), I’m going to share my favorite reads of 2018 with you all!! I’m SO excited about this post, because 2018 has been such an amazing year for me, bookish wise. 📚

This year, I discovered so many new favorite books & authors and read more diversely than I’ve had in previous years. I read books that made me feel understood and represented, as well as books that expanded my perspective of the world. Books not only helped me escape from my problems and stress (even for just a little while), but also allowed me to understand my identity and myself better. Books have given me so much, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their authors for quite literally giving meaning to my life. 💓

Something I wrote on Twitter about how much I’m thankful for books

This year, I also did something I never thought I would do: I created a blog and joined the bookish community, and I’m so happy that I did. I’ve made so many new friends here; this community is honestly so supportive and kind. I don’t want to get too sappy (lol too late), but I can’t thank you enough for all the support and love you’ve shown for my blog. I love you all SO much!! 😭💖

At the time of writing this post, I’ve read a total of 43 books this year, which means I’ve surpassed my Goodreads goal of 40 books. Yay!! My goal was originally 50 books, but I lowered it to 40 books a few months ago when I realized I wouldn’t be able to hit 50. I’m going to aim for 50 books in 2019, though! ☺️

Out of the 43 books I’ve read this year, I chose 6 favorite books, ones that I absolutely enjoyed myself reading, and love & recommend with my entire heart. 💞 i read SO many amazing books this year, and it was honestly SO hard to choose only 6 books for this post, i quite honestly almost died. (no, i’m not being dramatic at all, what are you talking about)

Chidi’s indecisiveness is a MOOD

(This list will be in order of date read.)

1. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Date finished: January 23, 2018

This book was one of the first books I read in 2018, and it definitely started off my year on a high note. I reread it a few days after finishing it, and I usually don’t reread books, so you can see how much I truly enjoyed reading this book. SVTHSA is definitely a rollercoaster of emotions, from hilarity (Simon and Blue’s emails are honestly SO funny) to anger (UGH don’t even get me started on Martin, or Martrash as coined by my friend Jordan 😏) to pure joy (omg I literally DIED of happiness and shock when I found out who Blue was!!). Oh, I love this book and its cast of characters so much. 💌🎭❤️

 

I also loved the movie adaptation, Love, Simon!! (I watched it a grand total of four times, and counting. 😊) Obviously, I still thought the book was better, but the movie captured the essence of the book very well and was equally hilarious. I laughed, grinned, and cried so much throughout the movie, and AHHH. I just have so many great memories from watching this incredible movie four times with my friends (different ones each time, haha). 💓

“People really are like houses with vast rooms and tiny windows. And maybe it’s a good thing, the way we never stop surprising each other.”

2. Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Date finished: April 12, 2018 (Reread)

It’s honestly so hard to articulate my love and adoration for Autoboyography. This book was the reason why I finally created a Goodreads account in October 2017, because I absolutely had to rate this book five stars and read what other people thought about it. This book is also one of the few I’ve reread – I’ve actually reread it more than once, but just my favorite parts, haha. Even though it’s insta-love, Tanner and Sebastian’s relationship just clicked with me and moved me SO much. I felt SO many emotions, mostly pain (but yes, joy was there too), from reading this book. And the bi rep!! 😭💖💜💙 My heart quite literally belongs to this book and Tanner & Sebastian. 📝⛪️💓

“But this is your life, and it will stretch out before you, and you are the only person who can make it whatever you want it to be.” 

3. I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman

Date finished: August 5, 2018

 

IWBFT is such a genuine, emotional, and relatable book, and I honestly can’t express how much I enjoyed reading it. 💕 I loved how casually diverse it was, with a questioning Muslim MC and a gay, trans, & biracial MC with anxiety. IWBFT is a book about fandom, boybands, and online friendships, and it takes an important look at the good (and bad) sides of all three. This is truly a millennial/Gen Z book, and I adore it so much. I can’t thank Alice Oseman enough for writing such a diverse and beautiful novel that made me feel so represented and understood. 🎶🎤🧡

“But despite everything in the world being terrible, we choose to stand by The Ark. We choose hope, light, joy, friendships, faith, even when our lives aren’t perfect, or exciting, or fun, or special…In an otherwise mediocre existence, we choose to feel passion.”

4. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Date finished: September 18, 2018

Ok so I absolutely LOVE this book for two main reasons: one, because it destroyed me emotionally and made me an absolute wreck, and two, because it marked the beginning of my friendship with Brianna, who is now one of my closest friends in the book blogging community. 💞 I first messaged her because I had just finished TSOA and I NEEDED to scream about it and my pain (I’m sure that anyone who has read this book can relate). I know I’ve yelled about this book so often on my blog, and it’s because I still haven’t gotten over it, ok? :’)

Ugh, I love Patroclus and Achilles with all of my heart; they deserve so much better (especially Patroclus). 😭Madeline Miller broke me with her beautiful writing in TSOA, but I love her so much for it. ☀️✨💛

“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”

5. Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

Date finished: September 30, 2018

If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you should already know how much I adore this contemporary, hehe. Claudia, Gideon, Iris, Noah, and every single character in Foolish Hearts deserve all the love in the world (and more); I honestly love them SO much, especially Gideon. 😍 Gideon is the definition of pure and hilarious; I laughed to my heart’s content whenever he appeared in the book. Foolish Hearts gave me so much joy and made my heart warm with love and contentment. (If you want to read more of my thoughts about this wonderful book, check out my review here!) 🎭🎮💞

“It’s like a snort,” I say. “Like a snort chortle. It’s a snortle.”
He moves a little closer. “Is that a Pokemon?”

6. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Date finished: December 2, 2018

I FINALLY read The Hate U Give at the beginning of this month, and I’m so disappointed in myself for not reading it sooner. It definitely deserves all the hype it has gotten (and more), and I can see why it’s been on the New York Times Bestselling List for 95 weeks and counting. THUG is such an important and empowering read, and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone (even if you don’t read contemporaries) to read it. It broke my heart to read about what Starr, Khalil, and black people in our society have to go through because of racism. Things have to change, and reading this book is the first step to educating yourself to advocate for change. Black lives matter.

This book is not only powerful and inspiring, but it’s also funny. Like, absolutely HA-HA-hilarious. I love Starr and her family so much; their family dynamics were the BEST and I could really feel how much love they had for one another. I’m so happy I finally read this book, and I’ll remember Angie Thomas’ words for years to come. ❤️

“Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right.”

“What’s the point of having a voice if you’re gonna be silent in those moments you shouldn’t be?”

Side note: I reached 200 followers during my hiatus, and I honestly can’t believe it!! Thank you all SO much; your love and kindness means the world to me. Y’all are the best. 😭💞

This is probably going to be my last post of 2018, unless I suddenly get inspired to write another post (aka I stop being lazy, lol). Thank you again for all the support you’ve shown me in 2018! 💓 I’m so excited to see what 2019 brings. (Like all the incredible 2019 releases. 👀)

What were some of your favorite books of 2018? Do we share any in common? (Please tell me, so we can scream about them in the comments!) And can you tell I really like contemporaries?

How many books did you read this year? Did you reach your Goodreads goal? (Did you change your goal like I did? Hehe.)

Happy New Year! 🎉

 

Let’s be friends!

Background image for blog graphic from Unsplash