Cade’s Rebellion, most provocative small press novel of 2018.
6
Not about the '10 Best Books' but about your panel. The Poetry Editor was a surprise because I can't remember poetry being reviewed on the podcast. The New Yorker has a monthly podcast, The London Review of Books has an occasional podcast; both excellent. One to add to your output.
7
How about next year, next to the Time's Top 10, there is a opportunity for readers to list titles they wish were on the list. That way we could all see them, without digging through all these colorful comments!
90
The thing about book lists is that it gives me an opportunity to look up the books listed to see if I want to read them. I have read three of the books listed here and am not sure I would have included them as 'best', although good reads. So many books published in any given year, it is hard to come up with 10 best and I don't think it's worth the effort. I just go by reviews, decide if I want to read something, then determine for myself if it is one of the best I've read. That soon changes when I read another really good one that then becomes the best , until the next, and the next. I think there are some missing from this list but who am I to say, just a reader of any and all, even cereal boxes :>)
45
How can "These Truths" not be on this list? The book we as Americans need right now.
31
I read a lot of good books published this year, only one of which (Educated) is on this list. My favorite was The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner, in which a stripper goes to prison for killing her stalker and loses custody of her son. So real and insightful. I laughed a lot at Calypso (David Sedaris’s best in years). I haven’t read An American Marriage yet but I’m looking forward to it.
13
I agree, the Mars Room was certainly one of my own top 10 this year!
9
I saw Pollan in a conversation with a moderator about this book. As always he has researched and experienced the topic for How to Change Your Mind extensively and it is a interesting window into the world he talks about in the new science of psychedelics and consciousness.
11
There is nothing better than a "best of..." list. Oh the discussions....from "What!!!??? Are you kidding me!" to "Yes!!!" and all the justifications. What a great way to build my own "to be read," etc. lists.
My own "What!!!???" is Madeline Miller's Circe. The writing, the characters, the story! Put that up against The Perfect Nanny. Need I say more?
22
As with all top-10 lists, there are two ways to approach it. The mature approach would be an opportunity for a new experience. The less mature approach would be to look to the list as a opportunity to confirm your own brilliance. So yes, your favorite book is not on the list. Maybe your not as smart as you think. So read one of these and learn something.
31
There are so many books written. Many of them not published. Many published by small presses. Many self published.
The 10 Best Books of 2018. I haven't read any one of the ones chosen. I have read others.
This is like the World Series called that when it only included teams from the United States. Of course then it expanded to include one or two teams from Canada (I haven't been following for the last number of years so I don't know how many are still there). Or even worse when it was called the major leagues when only white players were allowed.
Or when the only great writers were male writers. Whoever did the naming didn't include women. And unless some scholar or family member stumbled onto their work they are invisible still. And probably in terms of visibility in most cases that wouldn't make much difference either.
There certainly were great white players when baseball was only limited to white players. And I am sure there are great books on this list. So why not say the 10 best books chosen from a very narrow limited pool, by a very narrow limited circle of people. And leave at that. I am sure that there are many people who would still be interested.
16
Interesting picks. "American Prison" and "Small Fry" are particularly compelling to me though I normally like fiction. I think we need to see more books like these where both the racism still inherent in our justice system and the false-worship of the very rich CEOs is brought to light. And they're both about what happens when too much money is concentrated in the hands of too few individuals.
23
How is Jon Meacham’s “The Soul of America” not on this list???
18
Dear NYT, I think you can do better than this. Your “best” list is as boringly predictable as the Oscars. But frankly, with so many books published all over the world, why don’t you drop the Ten Best list category. It’s not possible for anyone — let alone a committee — to declare the 10 Best.
Here’s a thought.. try creating a 10 most overlooked books list. That would be really hard, but something for those who are book lovers to look forward to reading.
138
Don’t you mean the nine best North American works and one from the rest of the world? Rather parochial don’t you think? The NYT has an international readership. Pandering to chauvinistic bias is not a good look.
42
@Stephen Hocking
As an international reader, I agree
13
@Stephen Hocking As an Australian expat in the USA I agree- this is very USA focused- even the list of cookbooks barely includes a non-American title (unless you include the two superstars) and there were many other excellent books published internationally that never got a nod or even a review this year but were widely praised internationally. that being said it is the "New York" times and they definitely cater to the American palate first .
11
Why didn’t it include “Sense and Sensibility”, “Great Expectations”, “The Illiad”, and “Freud for Dummies”?
8
@Nomind7 Well, none of those titles were published in 2018.
11
@newsmaned I think you missed the joke.
12
"The Library Book" didn't make the cut?
14
More like the 10 Best Books You've Never Heard Of.
8
Just because a writer had an affair with a great writer doesn't make her a great writer.
Re: Philip Roth
15
@David Henry It's funny. I'm reading "Less" by Andrew Sean Greer right now, and it is about exactly that. A mediocre writer who travels around the world on the merits of love his love affair with a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. Greer was awarded the Pulitzer for this book. In all fairness, this is a lovely book.
15
you missed one great must read book...The Library Book by Susan Orlean.
17
@Laurie david they have that in the 100 recommended list
4
I will start 2019 as I do every year, meeting my old friends in “Happy All the Time” by Laurie Colwin. Thus fortified, I will tackle tomes.
15
@Mrs.B Yes, Laurie Colwin, wonderful all the time.
2
Yes, I loved her books!
4
Is this comment section meant to be some kind of book war? I love lists of books! Lists help me leapfrog among suggestions of what to read, not denigrate others opinions. Because in the end, it's all opinions.
Thanks to those offering more suggestions in addition to the books listed here.
160
@Mindy White
I've only read one book on the list and hope to read two others. In the spirit of sharpening pencils instead of knives, here are some titles I've enjoyed this year:
The Overstory by Richard Powers
The Witch Elm by Tana French
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz
Peculiar Ground by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
26
@Mindy White
Thanks. I've written these down.
1
@Mindy White
I agree 100%. I always peruse the recommended book lists. I lean toward nonfiction but enjoy a good novel every now and then.
I became a fan after reading "White Trash" several years ago. I probably would never have even heard about it otherwise. I gave it to my older brother after I was finished, and he liked it too.
Keep it up, NYT.
13
What is the point of this list? Who benefits from it? And where is Women, Minorities, and Other Extraordinary People: The New Path for Workforce Diversity (Greenleaf Book Group Press, Sept 2018)?
3
Perhaps a list of 10 important, though overlooked books of 2018 is lurking out there somewhere.
4
I recommend American Audacity, In Defense of Literary Daring by William Giraldi. Essentially, literary criticism about literary criticism. Sounds dry? It’s not. Patron in coffee shop asked me what I was laughing at. Funny, but also smart.
8
Lest I mislead you, this is a serious book. The author is witty, which makes the reading so pleasurable.
1
In a year of amazing books very surprised to see a mediocre book like The Perfect Nanny on the list.
22
@Rami Randhawa Totally, totally agree. I was shocked to see that one on here.
9
@Rami Randhawa
Agreed, how is this on the list? It was forgettable.
11
I didn't know Pollan came out with a new book. I got to meet him at a food sustainability convention at Arizona State University. He's a pretty cool guy. I bought it immediately.
2
@Adam Hi there, I'm not comments reader, and I came to see how people responded to the Pollan recommendation as a broader survey of attitudes on this topic. Thanks for posting.
1
@Adam
Pollan certainly comes off as down to earth
and quite passionate about his research and book topics. Would have enjoyed that convention at my alma mater.
Everyone has favorites and that is the problem with a list like this. Someone will be disappointed. It is, after all, opinion, not fact.
16
Interesting comments! I bet I can cobble together a new list of ten best books of 2018 from these recommendations alone.
8
@Janet that's what I'm in the comments for!
4
None of these books seems appealing to me. Why there isn't a book talk about our economy, global trade and its related problems? That seems more pertinent and interesting.
2
@Usok
how about some more books written by men?
4
I bought Educated because it is the December choice for my book club. I had wanted the club to read a different book so I was a bit skeptical when I started Educated. I quickly changed my mind. I would like to say I enjoyed it but I'm not sure that is the correct word. I was enlightened by it. My thoughts about my own family changed and not necessarily in a positive way. Westover's depiction of how we experience events as they are happening was almost a revelation. Lastly, I would recommend Educated to every student who is about to enter college. Our young people need to realize that education is a gift that demands their active participation.
81
I thought “The Overstory “ by Richard Powers was wonderful. It is one of my favorite books. It changed my whole perspective on trees and their importance to our survival on earth.
24
"Best" is always a problematic adjective for me. It raises my hackles. Best according to whom? By what standards? To what purposes/ends?
Can those who chose these tomes as the "best" honestly say that they considered every new book on offer during 2018, a year that has not yet even ended? I know that they have not, since a full 8.3% (+) of the year remains, including the increasingly commercialized and acquisitive holiday season. This, in itself, makes the factual veracity of this article rather suspect.
Every one of these books sounds deliciously good, but as a voracious reader of an average of just over twenty-three books per month, I advocate the withholding of superlatives like "best" until the year is actually over. Then a consideration of well-written books with wonderful plots, interesting themes, and the like, can be undertaken free from the pressures of pre-holiday publicity and hype by large publishing houses.
5
So very pleased to see Esi Edugyan's Washington Black on this list. I am almost finished it, and am awed by the author's ability to create this convincing nineteenth-century world (quite a feat given that the main character moves from Barbados to Virginia to
. . . well--I won't give it away--many other places). I don't want this poignant journey to end.
10
I wish that Westover had spent more time on her experiences in England. That portion of the book was minimal, and I suspect her experiences there were more impactful than the space devoted to them suggests.
12
Here’s another reader who questions the presence of Asymmetry when Tayari Jones’ An American Marriage has been omitted. Jones’ novel explores numerous contemporary and timeless questions with depth and nuance. It deserves to be on this list.
12
@WSGJ I completely agree and was going to write a comment suggesting An American Marriage until I read yours. One of the most compelling, beautifully written and emotionally-wrenching stories I have read this year.
5
@WSGJ
"An American Marriage" was by far my favorite book of the few dozen or so I read this year. I can't wait to read more of her writing. Brilliant.
6
7 Penguin Random House
2 Simon & Schuster
1 Grove
thousands of book publishers . . .
I'm sure these are good books, but there's a lot wrong here. Surely The New York Times has the ability to sift beyond global conglomerate publishing for such a list.
229
Small presses are having a bit of a moment, their omission here is a shame.
13
@Tim agreed! it's a shame!
3
Thanks for recognizing The Great Believers. It was the best fiction book I’ve read during the past year, and it deserves every accolade it gets.
20
@GMC Duluth. I agree wholeheartedly.
1
In a perfect world, there would be a place on this list for Rebecca Traister's "Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger." There have been a lot of good books in 2018, obviously, but it's hard to find one more passionately relevant.
58
Mr. Pollan may well have written a great book. I don't know, because despite it appearing on several "Best" lists, I can't overcome my aversion to books in which characters (fictional or not) drop acid.
There are a few good ones (The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test comes to mind) but also a lot of lousy ones, and in the end the drivel won.
I'm off the bus, man.
36
He did write a great book, which I just finished. I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Pollan, but he is more than competent in all his reporting. Here he takes a career risk , and creates a breakthrough. The deep seated fear and misunderstanding of this class of drugs meant decades of ignoring the vast potential they may have in a wide range of therapies.
As Pollan points out in detailing the history of research in this area, the very potency of the chemicals makes them difficult to study. Blind testing is out of the question, and objectivity may be all but impossible in evaluating the experiences. Yet the end results are impressive.
Not that society will give up the dubious mythology anytime soon.
7
@Niles Like you I am well-read on the subject; maybe that's why I wasn't a big fan of the book (although there were some sections I liked). Hard too imagine, but not everyone has read Tom Wolfe.
@Niles What about The Goldfinch? That was brilliant, albeit drug addled...
5
My students are currently reading Westover's Educated, and are intrigued by how she got out of the enclosed world she was raised in.
One student in particular, from a very different abusive background, continues to see herself in Westover's escape--how difficult it is to get an education when you're told you aren't good enough, or that it isn't worth it.
58
So pleased to see ‘Asymmetry’ make this list. Not only is it the best book I have read in a long time but it provoked endless discussions as to its unique structure.
6
Good list if you want to intimidate your friends with your wokeness but no actually enjoyable books? Not one Lee Child, John Sanford or Robert Gailbraith (all of whom released well-crafted thrillers this year)?
27
They don’t need the exposure.
20
@John The Great Believer, There There, and Educated are all books I enjoyed--assuming that enjoyment can include being moved, saddened, gripped, and so forth. You seem to be drawing a false dichotomy between what is enjoyable and what may be challenging. And I like genre books just fine, so it's not snobbishness on my part.
13
Perhaps a list of best thrillers of the year is what you are after? I believe the Times should put together just such a list. But as enjoyable as many thrillers are, they rarely break new ground and are all too frequently devoid of thematic heft.
12
I’m a literature professor and I can’t figure out how Asymmetry is “metafiction” or the coda “shocking.” It’s juxtaposition with no meaning. The emperor is not wearing clothes.
33
@S
Think "metafiction" is just a late-to-the-party expression...
"Film-within-a-film" is an older variant -- different medium, same underwhelming thing
The problem with this list is that you can see in a glance it is entirely agenda-motivated. This is the problem with the NYT in general the last few years. The entirety of the publication is now an editorial page. For the most part, I agree with the editorial positions of the Times' writers. But sometimes you want to know what the best BOOK is, not what the best book is when chosen from the anti-Trump, identity politics, climate change class divide shelf only.
161
@Dan Cooper ...Although, Trump is utterly dangerous and destructive, identity politics is real, and climate change along with class divide may very well be era defining problems:::
39
A sucker shot. You could say this about any list that would appeal to times readers. You try their job for a day!
23
@Dan Cooper
"agenda-motivated."
Since you don't explain the meaning of this term, a 7th grade error, then why believe you fantasy?
19
5 books about race.
1 Book about AIDS
1 book about evil Mormons
1 book about psychedelics
1 book by a person related to a famous person
1 book about a guy stuck in an airport
Thanks but no thanks
153
I really hope you don't count the biography of Frederick Douglass as a "book about race". He is a significant figure in US history and his work was about much more than race. He is a great American who fought hard for his country.
51
Great books are typically about unpleasant subjects and odd instances. Great books are never breezy and forgettable. Great books challenge and enlighten the reader. Great books require readers to think, to read (and re-read) specific passages. Great books often require the reader to use the dictionary or to look up obscure allusions. Great books ask a lot of the reader, but the reward for is worth it. It’s too bad some people don’t get that.
34
@YeahYeah
Do the "5 books about race" include the Frederick Douglass book? A book on George Washington or any other historical figure would equally be about race, even though you may choose not to notice it.
60
I just finished Milkman, by Anna Burns, and it's one of the most intriguing, fascinating and challenging books I've read, period.
It wasn't in this list of the 10 best books, nor was it in the list of the 100 notable books of 2018. That surprises me.
43
@David Griffiths I had seen it on a different list and added it to my ever growing list. Sounds like I'll have to get my hands on it soon!
7
@David Griffiths
I agree 100%, but here again is my problem with "best" lists: according to whom? To what end/purpose?
With another month to go in 2018, there may well be other "best" books to come, and there are plenty of other publishers besides the one featured prominently here (and the two others who make up the other few books on this "best" list).
These books are good, no doubt. So are LOTS of others.
It hasn't been published in the US, and hence hasn't been reviewed in The Times. My guess is that the big houses here didn't see much of an audience for yet another Northern Irish novel by a no-name author about "the Troubles" -- all before the Booker publicity, of course. (A paperback edition is due out from Graywolf, an indy press, in a couple of weeks.)
5
The day after I finished 'The Great Believers' I started it again because I missed the characters so much and was hoping against hope that the fates of many of the characters would somehow turn out differently...
32
Of the 17 books cited here, I recently bought David Blight's book, "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom", after seeing him give a presentation about it in a local bookstore. I plan to read it over the post-Christmas/New Year period, when I'll have sufficient free time from work to indulge in reading a number of books that have been on my TBR list for some time.
There are 3 books I've read this year that I would rank as among my favorites.
1) THE FUTURES by Anna Pitoniak. For a debut novel, it was one of the best novels I've read in 2018.
2) MISS YOU by Kate Eberlen. For anyone who read the best-seller "One Day" a few years ago, this novel embodies a similar theme and leaves you feeling that it's possible for anyone to make a meaningful connection with another person, despite obstacles that Time and Circumstance can place before us.
3) INVISIBLE: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen L. Carter.
I loved this new biography, which I finished reading earlier this month. I highly recommend it to everybody.
32
@Wes
thank you for the recommendations, "Invisible" sounds fascinating, going to request it now. We need more these types of stories.
1
Huh? "The Perfect Nanny" on your short list? Released as "Lullaby" over here, I read it in one three-hour stretch and promptly did a brain dump, it's that forgettable. To me, it was simply a more gothic take on "The Nanny Diaries." (Too bad your long list overlooked "The Nix" by Nathan Hill, a sprawling Great American Novel.)
As for Michael Pollan's book on psychedelics, my husband and I found it so convincing that we have changed our minds and are attending a four-day magic mushroom (psilocybin) retreat in the Netherlands next month!
82
@Demetroula
Agree about "The Nix". It was completely enjoyable as I read it, and many months later, various parts of it continue to come back to me on an almost daily basis. One of the best works of fiction I have read in a long time.
6
@Demetroula Like you, I thought The Perfect Nanny was perfectly dreadful. It was the worst of voyeuristic crime fiction - the kind of fiction that is loosely based on a true story(-ies) that people remember just enough about to have a prurient interest (or not) in what happened. I grew quickly bored and disgusted in more or less equal measures. (And I am a mom who had a Latina child-carer whose family became very close personal friends of our family. One would think this would be a story I could relate to, but it just was not.)
As a person who has struggled with major depression for over 3 decades, Pollan's book offers me hope. It's a starting point for me, and I am looking at the research, etc. that's out there. I wish you and your husband the very best in your magical mushrooming!
2
I feel like The Nix has been out longer than that.
4
I really enjoyed Anand Giridharadas’ WINNER TAKES ALL, which I think is required reading for these Facebook addicted times. I would have placed it on the top ten of my favorite for the year! He’s as eloquent on the page as he is articulate and biting on TV! Really important read as the Silicon Valley tycoons keep bamboozling is with their world-saving ideas!
14
Having just read “Small Fry” and been impressed by the author’s attention to detail and ability to describe so many incidences in her past, I have to disagree that this is mainly a depiction of a cruel famous man. I think the problem Lisa had with her father was his inconsistency. How confusing it must have been for her to navigate between the fun times roller skating with him and the painful times when he rejected her.
12
Really? I thought The Perfect Nanny was boring and uninspired.
15
Reading "Educated" right now and it is excellent.
Read the new Michael Pollan book a few months back and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as his prior work. It read like a science textbook for long stretches and was a pretty tough slog; surprised it is on so many lists.
Don't know why Andre Dubus III isn't getting any love. His "Gone So Long" novel is one of my favorite books of the year.
15
My favorite book of the year has been, "The Overstory," by Richard Powers. I highly recommend it! I do not get the level of accolades for "Asymmetry". I think it was good - just not top 5 for NYT Fiction.
48
@Lynn The Overstory was one of my favorite books of the year as well. I never thought I would find a book ostensibly about trees so compelling.
5
Agree re The Overstory! Brilliantly conceived and the writing continuously took my breath away.
4
@Lynn re. The Overstory, agreed. I haven’t finished it yet. I don’t know how anyone can write like that!
4
Asymmetry was a huge disappointment for me. The two main characters of the first part are both self-absorbed and rather callous. Their conversations and activities are not terribly interesting. High caliber writing kept me reading almost against my will. The second part is gripping but goes nowhere. Asymmetry is one of those books that Academics and Critics sometimes get excited about but turns out to be something of a fad. Could not recommend it, sorry to say.
29
@LGW
What's wrong with unlikable characters?
16
@LGW
Sadly I agree. I will give it a third try, hoping that I won't have the same reaction I did the first two times when I couldn't get beyond a few pages because of the precious tone and primary-colors psychology at work in the first part. One of the reasons I enjoy Spielberg the first time, rushing along with the emotions, and then can barely tolerate watching again as I see how he manipulates emotions and throws them in our face. And, echoing another comment, why only prose and not poetry?
5
@Abby It always surprises and frustrates me when people denigrate a book because “the characters were all unlikeable.” Some of my favorite novels featured unlikeable protagonists, or entire casts of disagreeable people. I don’t have to like the characters to find them interesting.
18
I always look forward to this list. By far my favorite
fiction of 2018 was Tayari Jones's "An American Marriage";
beautifully written with a captivating narrative that kept me wanting to read more and more about the characters.
32
@Left Coast
Yes! I fully agree about An American Marriage! Definitely one of the best books of the year.
6
@Left Coast Glad for the conversation. I found “an American Marriage” tedious and uninteresting.
1
I'm so glad to see "The Great Believers" on this list. I finished it months ago and still think about it.
18
I agree, Great Believers is an excellent choice for this list.
7
“Douglass wrote three autobiographies himself, describing his rise from slavery to a role as one of the greatest figures of the 19th century, but Blight’s work is fuller than any of those.”
Really NYTimes? This sentence is the definition of a microaggression. How disappointing.
17
@Jon Huh?
51
@Jon - Granted, a clumsy sentence, but read the actual review: "The novelist William Burroughs once complained about autobiographers who conceal their lives in print, quipping that the Paul Bowles memoir “Without Stopping” would have been better titled “Without Telling.” Blight makes a similar case against Douglass, who shrouded his domestic life in secrecy even as he wrote and rewrote his personal story in three widely read autobiographies that totaled more than 1,200 pages. "
35
Like most autobiographies, Douglass’s leave a lot of important things out. For example, he doesn’t mention that his future wife helped him escape slavery—a crucial omission. Any responsible biography would have to be fuller than Douglass’s own writings. Fuller doesn’t mean better.
23
Kudos to the winners. I'm sure this will be amazing for your careers and help boost sales. I'm saddened that there are all big publishing houses. With the confluence of amazing stories and writing coming from small and mid-sized presses, I'm surprised only Grove is represented.
69
The Great Believers was not a contender for the Booker Prize, not even on the long list. Perhaps the Times editors liked it so much they under the great belief that it was.
15
Brilliant, can't wait to read!
These picks are fantastic but...poets write books, too.
37
@Adam
And even people in other countries write books nowadys.
65
@Peter Silverman The perfect nanny is French
13
@Kevin Proves my point.
9