There are such a plethora of “best books of the year”  lists anymore that I can’t keep up so I’m going to simply offer various lists that I think are the most interesting. Of course, I have my own list that some of you may have received in my holiday cards, but even if you did there may be some other compilations that spark your interest.

My Favorite Books 

I’m unsure how to post this list so I’m offering three options, or feel free to go wild and check out all three!

For the “visual” readers, here are collages of the book covers:

 

The collage above is of my favorite fiction. I don’t have a clear favorite as all were worth reading.

The vertical strips are of the nonfiction titles. Some of these have appeared on many other lists, with Educated coming out on top, and it well deserves its high ratings.

For those who want a visual listing with accessible annotations, check out the list I created on Bibliocommons (via Pima County Library) here. Clicking on the book will take you to the publishers’ book descriptions.

And for those of you who don’t require a colorful book cover but instead want my personal thoughts of each book, here is a copy of the holiday letter I sent in my cards. Readers who check out this Google doc will be rewarded with a sneak-peak at a few 2019 titles I loved.

 

Librarian Favorites

In December 2011, my librarian friend Stephanie Chase and I came up with the idea to poll library staff via Twitter for their ten favorite books of the year. We were surprised at how quickly #libfavs11 caught on around the U.S. and over the years the number of voters and books has at least tripled. We are very proud of our brainchild and of how varied the list has become. Jenna Friebel, a youth librarian from the Chicago area, created a collage (below) of the top ten titles. If you would like to see the entire list of 876 titles mentioned over 10 days, you can see the spreadsheet here. It’s worth checking out the first 30 titles just to see the breadth of the selections.

My GoodReads Compilation

I can’t remember when they started doing this, but GoodReads takes all of the books I’ve read over the year and creates a compilation. It’s always interesting to go back and see what I’ve read (all 120 titles for 2018) along with the silly stats they provide. If you are interested in delving into I’ve read in 2018 (with no judgment! 😉 ). you can find it here.

LibraryReads and NPR Concierge

The list of January publications as selected by library staff was recently released and can be found here. I read and enjoyed The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (from Oregon) and have heard great reports for Marie Benedict’s The Only Woman in the Room and Katherine Arden’s Winter of the Witch. Right now I’m reading An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen and it’s keeping me engrossed. Also, check out the list’s new feature of “readalikes” for each title should the book you want not be available.

And whether you are a visual or “reader” learner. NPR’s annual interactive Book Concierge with its varied list is a fantastic way to check out the best books of the year. I could spend hours playing with this site. Check it out here.

Next post will be a quick rundown of my recent reads along with library stack photos.

Happy Holidays everyone!