I just had a year-end chat with a friend that went something like: it was a decent year – daughter happy, work fine, reading good. And it was, although I have been somewhat frustrated with my reading recently; more about this next year. I have written about most of these books in my monthly wrap-ups, so I will not do reviews or long descriptions here, I’ll just note why I’ve included them in my best of. As always, the list is subjective AF and based on the 100-ish books I read in 2018, no matter when they were published (most of them are new, though).

1. Best reading experience: Circe by Madeline Miller. I’ve written a long review about this one and I stand by it. I have recommended the book to several people who have all enjoyed it: it’s dramatic, moving and unputdownable.

2. Best serious literature: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. I surprised myself by liking this experimental historical novel full of ghosts and grief and strange humor. It is divisive, as it’s a rather peculiar book, but it convinced me completely.

3. Best poetry: Miracle Fair by Wisława Szymborska. Reading poetry in translation is a tricky thing, but Szymborska’s language and integrity touched me despite all the hurdles. What metaphors, what wisdom. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen was great as well.

4. Best newcomer: Sally Rooney. I was somewhat conflicted about including Rooney, but also felt it would be unfair to leave her out. I read both Conversations with Friends and Normal People this year and liked both a lot. Do I think they are absolute literary masterpieces? Maybe not, but there is a freshness in her voice and a sharpness in her observations that I haven’t quite encountered anywhere else.

5. Best memoir: Educated by Tara Westover. I’m not a huge reader of memoirs, but I would recommend this to absolutely everyone. It is an astonishing story brilliantly told, about overcoming a horrific childhood, getting an education and becoming your own person. What I found even more impressive than Westover’s PhD, however, was her fairness and generosity of spirit in telling the story, while avoiding any cheesiness or sentimentality.

6. Best essays: Africa’s Tarnished Name by Chinua Achebe. It may be a slight book, but it projects the intellectual and stylistic ability of the author far and wide. It’s very impressive and I always feel grateful to have someone explain me things I know nothing about (Africa/Nigeria in this case) in a succinct manner. I also enjoyed Zadie Smith’s Feel Free this year, but found it a bit uneven, and Joan Didion’s The White Album is as good as everyone says.

7. Best reporting: The Duke in His Domain by Truman Capote. A brilliant piece of long-form journalism, about Marlon Brando. Terrific reading even if you don’t really care about Brando.

8. Best science: A Short History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford. I read a fair bit of good science books (from Hawking to Rosling) this year and Rutherford’s stood out for being fun and accessible without being dumbed down. If you have any interest in genetics – or anything, really – I very much recommend it.

9. Best self-help: The State of Affairs by Esther Perel. It’s not really self-help, I just couldn’t come up with a better category. And I think it’s a very useful book! Perel’s look at cheating is extremely interesting and I also happen to agree with her views to a very large extent.

10. Best SFF: The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. While only the last one of the three books (The Stone Sky) was published in 2018, I read the entire series this year and it’s one of the best things I’ve read, ever. I’ve put it under SFF to be helpful, not to indicate it’s in any way inferior to literary or non-fiction. It’s an amazing achievement.

11. Best entertainment: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Both this and the second book in the series, The Girl in the Tower, are great escapist reads. They aren’t without faults, but the proof is in the pudding: I cannot wait to read the last book, The Winter of the Witch – to be released any minute now. It’s a perfect series for winter.

12. Biggest hype: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. Similarly to Rooney, Moshfegh is a very zeitgeisty writer (and the win in this category could equally well have been Rooney’s). MYORAR has been talked about endlessly this year. I understand those who either don’t like it or remain lukewarm, but its coolness is mixed with enough oddness to make it noteworthy in my book.

My biggest regret has been that I read very little in Estonian, I will try to address that next year. When it comes to my other goals, I did read a fair bit of poetry and quite a few comics, but of the latter, nothing surpassed Saga and Monstress. I also read a decent amount of longer books, but I could do better.

What were your favourite reads in 2018?

PS I took this photo around Midnight, before leaving for Tallinn early next morning. Hence the unspeakably bad quality.