Best of 2018…what do you think?
2019. Seems such a weird number. Now that cheque-writing is not so much of a thing any more, I’ve hardly become used to 2018, yet.
Slow to adapt, I guess.
One of the things I’m trying to do better this year is to talk about the books I’ve read and listened to. I’ve always felt that reading was my biggest weakness. These days, now that I am no longer regularly feeding my son at home, it’s my biggest expense, for sure. [Of course, I do have a library card, and I could do it so much more cheaply if I didn’t feel the need to keep the little buggers once I’ve read them…]. And of course, now I am old enough to realize that reading is my biggest strength. Every story I read serves to make me a better writer.
Anyway, knowing you can never have too high a bedside book pile, I’d like to hear what you have been reading, too. Let’s shine a light on some of the great books out there! Breaking it down a little further, I’m planning an upcoming post on audio-books, as well as a regular feature on favourite older titles, so let’s keep today’s discussion to books that came out in 2018.
I’ll start with a new mystery-writing favourite I discovered when I was on a wee research jaunt in Iceland. Iceland is a country of readers, and last fall I was there just in time for Jólabókaflód. This is the annual flood of books published in time for the holiday season. By sheer accident [and perhaps a reflection of my choice of evening locales] I stumbled on THREE separate book launches in the week I was in Reykjavik.
Yrsa Siggurdardóttir writes both children’s fiction and crime novels. While I was mooching around bookstores in the [a bit snowy, extremely windy] environs of Iceland in November, I stumbled upon her ‘Children’s House’ series. The latest, Brudan, was pubbed in 2018, but I’d strongly recommend you begin with the first book in the series: The Legacy, which was published back in 2014. [Original Icelandic publication title was DNA.]
These stories are full-out Nordic Noir, with child psychologist Freyja unwillingly teaming up with police officer Huldar to solve a baffling murder case. With little romanticism of setting or character, and I found that in addition to a compelling mystery, the books give a real feeling for modern, everyday life in this amazing country. Wonderfully character-driven, as soon as I surged through the first book, I ended up bringing the second one to read on the airplane ride home.
Okay, now it’s your turn. What was your favourite novel of 2018? Let’s make a list!
More soon,
~kc
Icelandic cliffs near Vik, November, 2018.