My Year in Books: 2018

~ Janel (Keeper of Pages)

Happy New Year! As is tradition (started last year), my first post of 2019 is a look back over last year, in books. Although I’m going to style it a bit differently this year, I hope you enjoy it!

146 books read this year, considerably lower than the 199 books I managed last year. However, this year was a much happier reading year, especially towards the end of the year, as I made the move to make my reading life fun again – freeing myself of blog tours (not to be confused with bookstagram tours, which I love!), and I stopped putting unnecessary pressure on myself to blog daily. Now, I’m really enjoying blogging again, I scrapped anything that was no longer enjoyable (wrap up posts), and even came up with fun new post (Ramblings from my pages…), and I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am with how well its been received.

So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at 2018 in books…

2018 in King

2018 was the year I became a Constant Reader, I started my journey through Stephen King’s books. I read 9 King books last year, and for the most part, I enjoyed them all.

My favourites were The Stand, Doctor Sleep, and Joyland, closely followed by Under the Dome and Needful Things.

2018 in Audiobooks

2018 was the year I discovered a love of audiobooks. I even have an Audible subscription now!

My favourite fiction audiobooks were The Good Daughter and Barbed Wire Heart. Nonfiction favourites were Born a Crime and Around the Way Girl. Sadie must get an honourable mention for the full cast narration, it was fantastic to hear every character have their own narrator.

2018 in Criminally Good Book Club

It was another fantastic year for my Instagram book club – Criminally Good Book Club.

My fav book club reads were Killman Creek, Into the Black Nowhere and Penance.

2018 in Nonfiction

Last year I wanted to read 12 nonfiction books, and I was only one away from my goal, so I’m really happy with that!

My favourite nonfiction books of the year were Trafficked Girl, Born a Crime and Around the Way Girl.

2018 in Buddy Reads with Beth @ Bibliobeth

2018 was the year I started buddy reading a book each month with Beth.

I enjoyed every buddy read because we have such fantastic conversations, but my favourite books were The Fireman, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Nightingale, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – we had a great run of five star books!

2018 in Buddy Reads with Eva @ Novel Deelights

2018 was also the year I started buddy reading with Eva.

I have so much fun reading with Eva, we even took it to the next level and ‘buddy watched’ The ABC Murders TV adaptation (which fell way short of the book). My favourite of the books we read together were The Craftsman and The Lingering.

2018 in Five Star Fiction

In 2018, I awarded 19 books five stars – this is the ‘best of the best’ in fiction, and I highly recommend each and everyone of these books!

Top 5

In a life or death situation, gun to my head, have to choose five books or die – these are my top five fiction books I read this year!

The Damned by Tarn Richardson | The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid | The Stand by Stephen King | Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe | Deep Dirty Truth by Steph Broadribb.

My 2019 Bookish Plans

  • To continue my Stephen King journey, aiming for 12 more of his books.
  • To continue enjoying audiobooks.
  • Another successful year for Criminally Good Book Club.
  • I’m participating in a nonfiction challenge on Instagram, hosted by Tasnim – @reads.and.reveries, to read a minimum of 19 nonfiction books.
  • More buddy reads!
  • I’d also like to tick off a few more countries in my Read the World challenge.

Published by Janel (Keeper of Pages)

Blogging about books and other bookish ramblings

58 thoughts on “My Year in Books: 2018”

  1. I’m loving this wrap up! Very original!

    Considering your failing reading mojo and your excellent procrastination skills, I think you did extremely well. 😂. I can’t believe we managed 9 buddy reads. I thought it was less than that. Clearly some were really memorable 🙄🤣

    Good luck with your 2019 bookish plans!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks, although I still suspect this compliment has something to do with you having your own section, haha! I was surprised myself at how much we read, and looking forward to all the future reads, especially The Wicked Boy, it’ll be my first ever nonfiction buddy read.

      Reply

  3. I’m glad you had such a great reading year and are finding more of what works for you in reading and blogging, so important! And of course I absolutely love your nonfiction goal!! Can’t wait to see where your nonfiction reading takes you! Good luck with it 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thank you, it was definitely the right move to take some time to think about my reading and blogging life, I’m much more excited about both, than I was 3/4 months ago! Gosh, I have so many nonfiction options now, I’m so excited, and now doubt will gain a load more recs from you this year! I’m going to start with Maid by Stephanie Land this month.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. Great post as always! I’m glad you’ve fallen back in love with blogging, I’m in a bit of a slump and I think you’re right about Wrap Up posts, I keep beating myself up about not getting round to them so I end up not blogging at all!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thank you! I hope your slump passes quickly, I was dipping in and out of blogging for quite a while before I made the decision to change up several things to make it fun again. I really found writing wrap up posts quite a drag, and if it makes you lose motivation, best to drop it! x

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thank, Tina! I’m so excited for all the books to come in 2019, I’m hoping it’s going to be an even better year. It’s also my graduation year so I don’t want to put to much pressure on myself, instead just enjoy reading and blogging. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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  18. I really love those end of year wrap ups- they put things in such beautiful perspective and even manage to positively surprise! 🙂

    Happy New Year and wishing you great reding experiences for the year ahead! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Thank you! It’s nice to reflect back on your reading year. This year I decided I want to track a few more stats too, see what my reading habits are, eg. how many translated books I read, books by POC, genre, author’s I’ve never read before.

      Liked by 1 person

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      1. Yeah, that’s a good idea… I’ve just been catching up on my own stats too… note to self: fill out spreadsheets as youread instead of in bulk at the end of year XD man of man, did I have some time spend on that spreadsheet… and now I am not sure if Ill even share the stats 😀 hahaha

        Liked by 1 person

  19. I loved this post! It’s great to see so many of my personal favorites mentioned here… A little spoiler: Evelyn Hugo and Barbed Wire Heart made my list of 2018 Top Reads as well. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

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      1. I know right? I’m sad not more people are talking about Barbed Wire Heart… It was such a powerful and unique story. Oh well, at least we give it a little love in our posts. 😉 I was so surprised to love Evelyn Hugo that much as it’s not my favorite genre, but I did. I can’t wait to read Daisy Jones either!

        Like

  20. Great post Janel! 🤗 We’ve had a terrific first buddy reading year and here’s to many, many more. I’m loving your King journey as well and also considering whether I should join in with your criminally good book club this year? 🤔

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Amazing first buddy reading year, especially that five star run in the beginning! I’m having so much fun on my King journey, its easy to see why he has such a huge following! Erm, you should absolutely join in with criminally good book club!!!

      Liked by 1 person

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  21. Great post, Janel! I enjoyed reading it. I can tell you are a very busy reader but just wanted to let you know if you are ever interested in joining any of our group reads please let us know. We would love to have you join in

    Liked by 1 person

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      1. We have three groups going on! We have a group on Instagram which I really like because the chats are ongoing. I post the upcoming reads on both of our accounts. The travelingfriendsreads account just has the group reads and is the easiest to see what we have coming up.

        The Traveling Sisters group is on Goodreads and I can send you an invite to join. I usually have the reads scheduled a month in advance and will be adding February reads soon. The January ones are up now.

        We also have The Traveling Friends on Goodreads as well and only discuss release book there

        I am going to try and post upcoming reads on our blog too, and where we are reading since I am a little all over the place with the group reads.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Wow, that’s a lot to keep up with! I’ve followed the Instagram accounts, that’s my favourite social media platform and I love how fluid the chats are!

        I’m a mess with goodreads group, and commenting, and how they work with different threads etc, but I’m happy to give it a try 🙂 x

        Like

      3. First I need to find you on Goodreads. I can’t seem to. Do you have a link to it on your blog? Or can you send me or Norma a friend request?

        Liked by 1 person

  22. What a great reading year!! 146 books, wow.
    Love all those Stephen King books. I’m feeling very nostalgic, looking at those titles.

    I really enjoyed Lullaby. Look forward to her new book. I think it’s coming in Feb?

    The Wife has been on my list for a long time, and finally i bought a copy 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Haha, I’m thoroughly enjoying my King journey, if you want a reread any time, let me know 😉

      I’m keen for her Slimani’s new book too, Adele, it’s one of my highly anticipated releases!

      The Wife exceeded all my expectations, I really hope you enjoy it!

      Liked by 1 person

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  23. I was approved for Blackberry and Wild Rose last week. What did you think of it? 📚

    I have wanted to read Doctor Sleep, and last year a couple of bloggers told me I would have no problem reading it with having only watched The Shining movie. However, when I talked about my intention on the blog, many more people said no. What do you think? 😇

    I need to read some Kristin Hannah, and make time to listen to my Trevor Noah audiobook. 👍✨

    Happy New Year! 🎉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Ooo I hope you enjoy Blackberry & Wild Rose, I enjoyed it, it’s an atmospheric and immersive read, my most recent blog post is my review for it 😊

      I haven’t watched The Shining film yet so I’m not sure. But, Doctor Sleep is the sequel so I would read The Shining first, to ensure you don’t miss anything. I reread The Shining before reading Doctor Sleep for the first time and I’m so glad I did!

      I’m looking forward to reading The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah soon, and yes, move Born a Crime to the top of the tbr 😃

      Happy New Year to you too! 🥳

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      Reply

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