My 2018 in Fiction

This blog post is ready far later than I’d hoped (a by-now familiar refrain!), again! Still, if, after reading about my 2018 in Non-Fiction, you’ve been waiting for the fiction round up, wait no longer… and welcome to the blog post about my 2018 in fiction reading! There are fewer than my 2017 fiction post, but out of a total of 54 fiction books, picking my top 10 for the year wasn’t an easy process. That means there are doubtless novels left off this list that absolutely wowed me last year (as I’ve rediscovered looking at my chosen top ten just now). Still, there has to be a line drawn in the sand somewhere, and these books are where I choose to draw it.

So, in no particular order, here are my top ten fiction books for 2018: enjoy!

A Little Life — Hanya Yanagihara

Yanagihara’s novel is an epic. Following a group of four young men throughout their lives, it chronicles their friendship and how life changes and challenges them, particularly through their respective relationships with their insular, damaged friend, Jude St Clair. How to explain this novel?  It’s a beautiful and sometimes horrific rollercoaster that grips you up and leaves you breathless needing to know what comes next. There’s quite a bit of trauma and triggering aspects to the narrative, however, so if you have any issues with abuse of any kind, I’d suggest giving this novel a wide berth. It does, however, provide some of the most incredible and well-realised characters I’ve ever read. And, despite destroying me emotionally, I’d read it all over again. (If you’ve read my short story in Dread Naught But Time, you might see evidence of some titling inspiration there too).

All the Light we Cannot See — Anthony Doerr

Ahhh, All the Light We Cannot See: there’s a reason this gorgeous historical fiction got all the hype it did when it was originally published in 2014. Following the lives of two children in Europe throughout the course of WWII, it asks questions about humanity, moral obligation and survival in the face of horror. 

This novel is precisely the kind of novel I love; the genre tag might read historical fiction, but I think you’re kidding yourself if you don’t find the strong undercurrent of literary fiction running through it. Doerr’s language is just so damn good. It’s lyrical and beautiful, and the images Doerr creates are hauntingly rendered with a deft hand and a keen eye for sweeping the reader away. 

The Shining Girls — Lauren Beukes

Ha! After ten minutes of searching to confirm my suspicions about who recommended this book to me, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was Nik. Kudos Nik, it was a really good recommendation! A twisting, complex time-travelling murder-thriller, this book was another one that had me engrossed from start to finish. Why? Because there’s a man who systematically hunts down and murders young women ‘shining’ with vast potential—across time. And a young woman who never should have survived his attack—and beings to hunt him down. 

And a house that is basically a very creepy, very malignant time portal. Now, tell me you don’t want to read that. Or don’t, because it’s really worth giving a shot before you give an answer.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies — John Boyne

Set in Ireland in the 1940s, John Boyne’s stunning historical novel examines the life of an outcast as he struggles to find where he belongs. If you’ve read John Boyne before (think The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas), you’ll have some idea of what awaits. If you haven’t, be prepared. His characters are deep and complex; his world is true to life. It is, by turns, both heartrendingly beautiful and cripplingly cruel. And Cyril Avery, who isn’t really an Avery, must suffer and struggle before he finally finds his place in the world. Luckily none of my brothers read this blog, because I’m probably going to give it to one of them next Christmas. (No one tell them). 

Americanah — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I have wanted to read Adichie’s work for what feels like a million years… And starting to tick that off in 2018 was a wonderful success story. This novel chronicles the journeys of two young Nigerian lovers who leave Nigeria for the hope and promise of the West. It digs deep into what western society promises, and what it truly delivers. Along the way, Adichie looks at how racism manifests and how we truly identify ourselves within our cultures and our personal histories.

As security restrictions are heightened following 9/11, Ifemelu and Obinze find themselves parted by oceans. Beyond Ifemelu’s struggles to survive in America without losing who she is, and Obinze’s challenges to stay connected to her, this novel asks how the world will change us and shape us and our choices. But at its heart, Adichie has created a novel that looks at whether we can grow and change and still remember who are, beneath it all. 

Un Lun Dun — China Mieville

In amongst a slew of heavier nonfiction books and some complex novels, I found myself hungry for something lighter and magical that would grip me up and run away with me. Enter Un Lun Dun. Mieville’s fascinating and funny rendering of an alternate ‘upside down’ London (or UN-London, as the case may be). Here, an empty milk carton is alive, a tailor’s head is an enormous pin-cushion, and two girls are, perhaps, here to fulfil the prophecy the world has been waiting for. Or maybe not. From the moment Zanna and Deeba find a path into this alternate world, things seem to start going wrong, and Mieville spins a wonderful tale of adventure, good, bad, and everything in between. 

Pachinko — Min Jin Lee

Aside from being Roxane Gay’s favourite book of 2017, and thus firmly on my radar, I came to read Pachinko because of James. This was a two part process. One, he bought the book: something I’m loathe to do despite how much I love books, because I’m stingy. Two, he raved about it. He was engrossed by it, and knew that I would be too. As an added bonus, my journey to read more non-white, non-Western authors made this an especially appealing read. With all those factors… who could say no to that? 

Pachinko is a beautiful, complex story that follows four generations of a Korean immigrant family Japan. As they battle prejudice and discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity and struggle to find their place in the world, Lee masterfully evokes the intergenerational nature of identity. James wasn’t wrong: it is an engrossing story. Lee has created complex, fascinating and likeable characters with whom you can’t help but empathise, and whose journeys leave you hungry to know more. 

Kindred — Octavia E. Butler

I ‘discovered’ Octavia E. Butler while doing a Literary Criticism subject in 2017 that almost broke my spirit (luckily, I survived). Though I wasn’t enamoured of the first short story of hers that I read, analysing it brought to the fore the ways in which Butler challenges the dominant social lens. And the fact that she was clearly a genius… And also that Butler was the first black woman to write science fiction, and that is seriously badass. 

Kindred is Butler’s exploration of the slave trade in America in a combination of slave memoir, fantasy and historical fiction. Dana falls back in time from 1976 California, where she is brutally confronted with the ramifications of her blackness in antebellum Maryland. Repeatedly torn from her own time to the horrors of America, she begins to realise the twisted purpose of her terrible journeys: to protect a plantation owner’s son until he fathers her great-grandmother. This book is amazing, and a cornerstone of American schooling literature… but probably not as popular or well-known in Aus! It should be though, because it’s layered and complex, and Butler’s work, as always, is truly incredible.

The Library at Mount Char — Scott Hawkins

I really can’t go past a good piece of speculative fiction—fantasy, sci-fi, dystopia… I love them all. And Hawkins’ novel is mind-blowingly good. It’s one of those novels that you read and can’t help but think ‘where the hell did he come up with that idea?!’ There’s a house in the middle of America that holds a library full of the secrets to the universe. Inside, twelve orphaned children have been raised by a mysterious ‘librarian’ they call Father, studying the books in the library and learning its secrets. But then Father dies, and the library is unguarded. The main character, Carolyn, is weird and feisty and brilliant, and she now has to do battle with forces of monumental power. 

This book is incredible. If you’re searching for your next fantasy/science-fiction read and want one that’ll have you devouring every page, The Library at Mount Char is it.  

Lonesome Dove — Larry McMurtry

Lonesome Dove is another US schooling staple.. but I’d never heard of it before moving to America. Luckily, I have some of the most wonderful cousins in the world, and one of them bought this for me to read on the plane on the way back to Aus in December. I can now see why it’s so fundamental to US literature. McMurtry gives us an epic, quintessential western novel, with a cast of characters you can’t help but fall in love with… And hate, sometimes. From the opening where two blue pigs eat a rattlesnake, Lonesome Dove depicts a harsh, unforgiving late-19th century world where everyone is fighting for survival… and for some greater purpose to their lives. 

If you can read this book and not adore Newt, laugh at Gus’s antics, yearn for a horse called ‘Hell Bitch’ and wonder where the justice is in the world, then I have some serious questions for you. 

So, those are my top 10 fiction books for 2018! Meanwhile, if you’ve been hanging out to see my full 2018 reading list, please peruse below. And if there’s any book on there you’d like to know more about, let me know! If there’s one thing I can say with total honesty, it’s that I’m always happy to talk about books. 

Until next time,

— A.

2018 Books

1. Reach for the Sky – Paul Brickhill
2. All the light we cannot see – Anthony Doerr
3. What she left behind – Ellen Marie Wiseman
4. Homegoing – Yaa Gyasi
5. Harpo Speaks – Harpo Marx with Rowland Barber
6. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
7. Oryx & Crake – Margaret Atwood
8. Dart – Alice Oswald
9. The shining girls – Lauren Beukes
10. Un Lun Dun – China Mieville
11. Among animals – An anthology
12. The Mothers – Brit Bennet
13. Broken monsters – Lauren Beukes
14. Findings – Kathleen Jamie
15. How to tell your father to drop dead – Jeremy Fisher
16. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
17. Kraken – China Miéville
18. The city and the city – China Miéville
19. Eleanor and Park – Rainbow Rowell
20. All the Birds in the Sky – Charlie Jane Anders
21. Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy
22. Perdido Street Station – China Mieville
23. The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne 
24. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
25. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
26. Titus Groan – Mervyn Peak
27. Pachinko – Min Jin Lee
28. Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi
29. We Were Eight Years in Power – Ta-Nehisi Coates
30. The neuroscientist Who Lost her Mind – Barbara K Lipska
31. Backlash – Susan Faludi
32. Love Warrior – Glennon Doyle
33. Dread Nation – Justina Ireland
34. A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara
35. Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
36. Kindred – Octavia E. Butler
37. A Darker Shade of Magic – VE Schwab
38. We Should All be Feminists – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
39. The sellout – Paul Beatty
40. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison 
41. A wrinkle in time – Madeleine L’Engle
42. The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
43. The hazel wood – Melissa Albert
44. So You Want to Talk about Race – Ijeoma Olou
45. A gathering of shadows – VE Schwab
46. A conjuring of light – VE Schwab
47. A God In Ruins – Kate Atkinson
48. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
49. The Cruel Prince – Holly Black
50. Varina – Charles Frazier
51. The Star-Touched Queen – Roshani Chokshi
52. White Rage: the Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide – Carol Anderson
53. The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion
54. Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
55. Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward
56. An Unkindness of Ghosts – Rivers Solomon
57. Native son – Richard Wright
58. Last Things – Jenny Offill
59. The stars are fire – Anita Shreve
60. The Library at Mount Char – Scott Hawkins
61. Loaded – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
62. The Narrow Road to the Deep North – Richard Flanagan
63. Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry 
64. Forest of a Thousand Lanterns – Julie C. Dao
65. Scythe – Neal Shusterman