The Best Books of 2018

ALL THE NAMES THEY USED FOR GOD: STORIES

by Anjali Sachdeva

FICTION

This is the first time I’ve considered a short story collection to be my favorite book of the year. It’s a captivating gem. Each story is its own imaginative microcosm, making for a dazzling collection of wildly different yet equally brilliant tales, full of the glaring obviousness of mortality in a dark and disorganized world. From a woman who decides she’d prefer to live underground in tunnels like a mole, to a man who becomes obsessed with a mermaid he spies from his ship, Sachdeva has written an unsettling compendium of life’s absurdities that will swim around in your brain like little inky fish long after you’ve finished the last page.

AMERICAN LIKE ME: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE BETWEEN CULTURES

by America Ferrera, E. Cayce Dumont

NON-FICTION

In 2018, a huge number of Americans revealed themselves as racists and bigots. It’s unfortunate most of them will never read American Like Me; it might serve as a reminder of what this nation actually stands for.

Beautiful words written by folks from across the arts: authors and comedians, actors and musicians, the children of immigrants or immigrants themselves, American Like Me unfurls the gorgeous tapestry of my America, where the descendant of Russian-Jewish immigrants, who grew up keeping kosher and missing Friday night dances, can be a writer and cos player and speak Spanish and Arabic.

And I won’t give up on it.

ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL

by Sarah Vaughan

MYSTERY/THRILLER

I knew as soon as I’d finished this book in January that it would be my favorite read of the year. This story of an MP accused of sexual assault by one of his employees is deftly told from the points of view of his wife and of the barrister prosecuting him. It’s easy to read in the best of way – the writing is so good that it’s effortless to follow along with, and the story is so intriguing and full of tension that you just want to keep reading. Not only that, but it’s also incredibly timely in two important ways: for its part in the #MeToo conversation, and what it has to say about the British Establishment and what they can get away with.