2018 on Goodreads

Thanks for chatting with me about books this year and for introducing me to so much great stuff, Goodreads friends & friends-of-friends! I had such a great reading year! I posted a Twitter thread of some of my most enjoyable or interesting reads here.A few I did not mention on Twitter: [b:His Quiet Agent 35238838 His Quiet Agent (The Agency, #1) Ada Maria Soto https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1495953087s/35238838.jpg 56588931]: This book looks like a standard contemporary romance, but I found it really strange and lovely. [b:Rattlesnake 26009668 Rattlesnake Kim Fielding https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438268572s/26009668.jpg 45928823]: I read a lot of Kim Fielding's books this year and enjoyed most of them very much, but this one was my favorite.[b:Butterfly Hunter 41572493 Butterfly Hunter Julie Bozza https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1535666106s/41572493.jpg 21476075]: This gentle romance is another new favorite for me. [b:The Sparrow 334176 The Sparrow (The Sparrow, #1) Mary Doria Russell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1525457306s/334176.jpg 3349153]: I don't really recommend this book, but I also can't stop thinking about it. I think I'd like to read more books that deal heavily with religion.[b:Exit Strategy 36687477 Exit Strategy Charlton Pettus https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1518022902s/36687477.jpg 58481841] (and books two and three): I'm sad that the Murderbot novellas are wrapped up for the moment, but I look forward to the upcoming novel.[b:Objects in the Rearview Mirror 40194947 Objects in the Rearview Mirror (Memoirs of the Human Wraiths #2) F.E. Feeley Jr. https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1527025108s/40194947.jpg 38851668]: Another horror-adjacent novel that I enjoyed a lot but would never have been interested in if I hadn't tested the waters with [b:Dark Matter 8350864 Dark Matter Michelle Paver https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1504563569s/8350864.jpg 13203928].[b:The Last Witness 25901575 The Last Witness K.J. Parker https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1439819057s/25901575.jpg 45363361]: I didn't read as many Tor novellas this year as I did last year, but I loved this one and am glad to have discovered this author.I read [b:The Caves of Steel 41811 The Caves of Steel (Robot #1) Isaac Asimov https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1335782224s/41811.jpg 140376] and [b:The Naked Sun 30016 The Naked Sun (Robot #2) Isaac Asimov https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1335782263s/30016.jpg 1583154] for the first time, and I was really interested to see this early fictional view of AI.More m/m books I liked a lot: [b:Vanilla Clouds 40699859 Vanilla Clouds Roe Horvat https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1530608017s/40699859.jpg 63301694], [b:Smoke Signals 36655571 Smoke Signals Meredith Katz https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1511562292s/36655571.jpg 58430080], and [b:No Rulebook for Flirting 38141902 No Rulebook for Flirting Laura Bailo https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516699773s/38141902.jpg 59827412].Edit: I hope I didn't spam anyone's feed. There were some mistakes with the wrong ISBNs showing up on book pages and I was accidentally linking to books I hadn't read.

2018 was draining and I kind of stepped away from novels that were more than 250 pages. I focused heavily on graphic novels and comic books. Top 5 reads for 2018

1. What If? Captain America #1 by Tony Bedard
2. Batwoman #0 by J.H. Williams III
3. Rage by Richard Bachman
4. MCMLXXV #1 by Joe Casey
5. Thea II: A Vampire Story by Steven Jenkins

I also read Hogg. I have nothing to say about it other than wow.

In 2019 I want to focus on finishing a comic series (not gonna happen but at least I am trying), reading more stories with LGBTQ+ themes, and re reading Buffy S8.

Top 3 Fiction:
3. The Austen Escape, by Katherine Reay
2. The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald
1. On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, by Andrew Peterson

Top 3 Nonfiction:
3. Introverts in the Church, by Adam S. McHugh
2. Peace Child, by Don Richardson
1. 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, by Tony Reinke

This has been a challenging year reading wise. I went back to university so between that and full-time work there wasn't much time left in the day. Sure, I still could have squeezed more reading in this time-frame but I'm a binge reader so scheduling it in short chucks of time didn't work out well for me. Overall, I enjoyed the few books I read, there were only a couple I really disliked. Nonetheless, despite a surface enjoyment I mostly felt unmoved by whatever I was reading even when I was aware I was reading something really good. I basically felt stuck in a never-ending reading slump (with only a short break when I read 4 books in the span of 3 weeks and it felt great). Hopefully next year I will get my reading mojo back.