NEED TO READ: BEST OF 2018

Written By: Tim Ehrenberg | Photography By: Tim Ehrenberg

Tim’s Top 12 Books of 2018.

THE IMMORTALISTS by Chloe Benjamin
If you knew the date of your death, how would you live the rest of your life? Four siblings examine issues of mortality, destiny, and self-determination in this absorbing novel that is not necessarily a book about dying, but about living.

 

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones
A beautifully written, suspenseful love story where nobody is wrong and everybody is trying to do the right thing. I could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. The characters and their story have stuck with me all year long.

 

EDUCATED by Tara Westover
Tara Westover was seventeen when she first entered a classroom. Born to survivalists, she writes a gripping, coming-of-age memoir about self-invention and the importance of education. Her quest for knowledge is thrilling, transformative, and, in a word, educational.

 

THE FEMALE PERSUASION by Meg Wolitzer
One could argue that 2018 was the year of the woman. Meg Wolitzer’s book persuades readers to look at feminism and all it entails. The characters were so real that by page ten you feel like you know them. The story resonates for each reader in different ways long after the final page.

 

THE GREAT BELIEVERS by Rebecca Makkai
Shortlisted for the National Book Award, Makkai’s novel is a sprawling testament of friendship in the face of tragedy from the AIDS crisis set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris. Here are voices of loss that I believe deserve to be heard.

 

US AGAINST YOU by Fredrik Backman
The sequel to Beartown is a book about a little bit of everything! It’s about politics, marriage, parenthood, growing up, growing old, identity, sports, friendship, crime, illness, intolerance, abuse, love, hate, and community. It’s a metaphor for our divided America today.

 

THERE THERE by Tommy Orange
There There is one of the first books to capture the joys and losses of urban Native Americans. It’s a groundbreaking portrait of an America few of us have ever seen.

 

 

A SPARK OF LIGHT by Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult tackles women’s reproductive rights and abortion in her latest ethical dilemma fiction. The book structure is unique, but it’s the same sensitive look at a controversial subject that we expect from Jodi’s books. We hope it sparks healthy book club discussions.

 

THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean
A true crime investigation into the 1986 Los Angeles Public Library fire and an examination of the crucial role libraries play in our society. If you love books, make sure to check this one out. Susan Orlean will be joining us for the 2019 Nantucket Book Festival.

 

THE WITCH ELM by Tana French
Tana French may be my favorite crime writer. She turns this crime story inside out to immerse us in the plot. They say a good mystery would still be enjoyed even if you didn’t get to know the ending, but Tana pulls readers right through to the finish.

 

WINTER IN PARADISE by Elin Hilderbrand
Pack your suitcases because we’re going island hopping from Nantucket to St John USVI this winter with local author Elin Hilderbrand in the book Elin’s sister says is her best one yet! Autographed copies available at Mitchell’s & Bookworks.

 

IN THE HURRICANE’S EYE by Nathaniel Philbrick
Our beloved local historian and author Nat Philbrick gives us another epic and suspenseful voyage back to the days of George Washington. This wide-ranging account reveals that the fate of the American Revolution, in the end, depended on Washington and the sea. Autographed copies available at Mitchell’s & Bookworks.

 

All books available at Mitchell’s Book Corner or Nantucket Bookworks.

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