I love book lists, but I get so anxious around the end of the year because all of the “best of” lists are so subjective! I prefer to hear about everyone’s favorite books in any given year, especially when they include backlist recommendations. (Because books don’t cease to exist after their release year, and to prove that it’s never too late to pick up a great book!)

Despite the deep internal agony that it inflicts upon my soul, I was bitten by the end-of-the-year book list bug! Here are my favorite reads of 2018! I could only narrow it down to 20, and already I feel bad about (most) of the 125 I excluded, and the 5 I left out that I hope to read by the end of the year. And all the books I didn’t read this year. There are just so many books, okay!

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The Library Book by Susan Orlean

I spend approximately 1/4 of my life in the library and I still got really nerdy excited about all of the behind-the-scenes library work, especially since LA’s library system is about 1,000 times larger than my library. Plus, this book melds true crime and beautiful odes to library work and books and history so well. I was enchanted. Listen to the audiobook! Susan Orlean narrates and it’s wonderful.

Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

Adrienne has mastered the precise flavor of self-deprecating, cutting sarcasm that I adore in a character, especially in underdogs like Brynn. Brynn has taken a few hits–her girlfriend broke up with her, her brother died, and she lost her position on the school paper. But she’s unable to let injustice slide by in her school, so she decides to do something about it (reluctantly), all the while writing her hero Rachel Maddow.

The Ruin by Dervla McTiernan

I’ve been looking for another author to add to my roster of “people to read in between Tana French’s releases” and Dervla McTiernan’s debut ticked all my boxes! It’s a great mystery that centers the victims and survivors of the crime to the story, while also bringing in a detective that I just really like. I’m already tapping my fingers impatiently for her next book!

The Last Best Story by Maggie Lehrman

This is the funny, smart rom-com of my dreams, and it has the best banter I’ve read all year! I love, love, love Rosie and Graham’s dynamic in this His Girl Friday retelling, and I’m in awe of Maggie for writing a novel about a very serious topic (guns in schools) that doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the issue while still being a very funny story.

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Jane Harper is my Australian Tana French. The Dry, her first novel, was one of my favorite books of 2017, and this one was just as good. I inhaled it in one afternoon, and I’m already antsy for her next release! Aaron Falk is a fascinating investigator, and I loves how she split half the book in his POV, and half in the POV of the group of women who go missing.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

Pride is definitely on my list of top five favorite Pride & Prejudice retellings. A lot of retellings tend to focus on the romance or crazy character dynamics, but I love that Ibi built her retelling on social commentary about changing neighborhoods and gentrification, which makes this book just so relevant and urgent. (And would make Jane happy, I think!) And the characters were brilliantly done, of course. Also–THAT COVER!