My 2018 Reading Challenge: The review

‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.’ – Dr Seuss.

At the beginning of 2018, I decided to undertake a challenge to get me back into books and to re-establish my love of reading. Now that the challenge is over, I’d like to review how it went. I’ll be sharing the good, the bad and the downright ugly of my twelve month reading challenge!

The Challenge in review

I undertook to read a minimum of twelve books in 2018, one each month. These twelve books were recommended by friends and family. I specifically asked people to suggest their favourite books, and as a result, I got a wide range of books to read over the course of the year. There was a mix of fiction and non-fiction, some extremely long reads, some shorter, lighter reads and everything in between. You can read the full list here. In addition to these twelve, I also read books of my choice throughout the year alongside.

It’s been an interesting year. There’s no doubt that the challenge has encouraged me to to read more, which was my main aim. Without further ado, I’m going to dive right into my review.

My Favourite Book of 2018

Normal People by Sally Rooney – the review.

I ordered this book on a whim, after strong reviews on The High Low. And in the dying days of 2018, this book slid right in to steal the crown. It gets the top prize and the recognition as being my favourite read of the year.

It’s an understated book. These are two people who are in love but never quite make it. As I said in my not so distant review in my December recap post, it is a ‘quiet expression of love, hurt, betrayal, trust, pain, joy, happiness, anger and sadness between two people’. In short, in my opinion, it is a triumph of a book.

Experiencing a myriad of emotions

I read it in a single day and went through a myriad of emotions as the story unfolded. It could have been a simple story about love, with a happy fairy tale ending. However, Rooney doesn’t live in a fantasy land. She knows that real life isn’t like that. Sometimes, no matter how much you love somebody, it is never going to be the right time to make it work. Man, I cried a bucket when I finished!

This is a stylized novel. There are no speech marks in this book – something I normally struggle with but in this case I found that I could make a willing exception. I’d recommend picking this book up if you like love stories, but not the fairy tale ones. The more complex, difficult and emotional ones. The real ones.

Buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 34

The total number of books read throughout 2018. Everything from non-fiction works that educated me on so many different subjects, to fictional pieces that ripped me apart and left a lasting impression on me.

The Most Difficult Read in 2018

A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa – the review.

This was a difficult read because it was all true and based on real events. Some of the things that are recounted in this book horrified me. On more than one occasion, I found myself wishing that this wasn’t real life and that this author hadn’t actually been subjected to everything that happened to him.

Ishikawa moved to North Korea with his family in the 1960s and from the moment he arrived from Japan, they became members of the lowest social caste. He was consequentially subjected to a tumultuous and often brutal upbringing, where food was scarce and violence commonplace. Despite this, he survived against all the odds. After the death of Kim Song-Il, as the country descended into further chaos, he managed to escape into China.

A harrowing read

It’s a book that is both harrowing but also a tribute to the indomitable nature of the human spirit and one mans determination to survive. For me, the saddest part of the book is the ending. Ishikawa has escaped to Japan, but still has no knowledge as to whether his family, left behind in North Korea, are still alive or if he will be able to help them to eventually escape as well.

This is a short read with a lot to take in. It will shock, horrify and sadden the reader. The tale is told without flourish – it is like you’re sitting with Ishikawa as he recounts his life. We should all know a little bit more about the world we inhabit and about human nature. Pick this up to experience both the very worst and also, surprisingly, the very best of humanity.

Buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 22

The number of books that I read outside of the 12 recommended by family members and friends. Books of my choosing, both fictional and non-fictional.

A book that left a lasting impression in 2018

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara – the review.

I was left with the taste of this book in my mouth for weeks, even months, after I’d finished it. Even today, ten months later, I still catch myself thinking about it from time to time.

This is a powerful story of male friendship, harrowing and soul-wounding life events and deep, unconditional love. It’s a quiet tale of the bond between men. University friends who later become lovers. A man without a child and a man without a father who form a deep, irrevocable relationship. An ugly and shocking relationship between an abuser and his child victim. It’s a devastating tale of human endurance, with life stacked against the main character, blow after blow continuously raining down upon him.

A beautiful book

Yanagihara isn’t afraid to confront issues like self-abuse and suicide head on. She never shies away or tries to shield the reader. You should be prepared for this book, and don’t be ashamed or afraid to take a step back from it if you need to catch your breath. I cried for a solid fifteen minutes when I finished the novel. I feel like it has left a permanent dent on me. It is hard reading and there is occasionally graphic content. My insides squirmed on more than one occasion. Be prepared for joy, beauty and love too. This is a beautiful book.

Buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 20

The total number of fictional books that I read in 2018. There were some beauties in this number, and some tough ones too.

Best non-fictional read in 2018

Marching Powder by Rusty Young – the review.

I downloaded Marching Powder on a whim to read on my flight back from Nepal. To my surprise, I was quickly engrossed and ploughed through to finish this book in less than a day. It stood out as the best non-fictional read of the year. I learnt so much about a country I’ve never really considered, and about the way certain people live their lives.

Personally, I can’t imagine what it must be like to traffic drugs. I get anxious going through airport security as it is, let alone if my suitcase contained several kilos of high-grade cocaine! Yet the main protagonist in this book, McFadden, did this for years. I do not condone drug trafficking, but I almost found myself admiring someone who can traffic drugs so casually. He did inevitably got caught and was sent to Bolivia’s most notorious prison, San Pedro.

An insight into San Pedro

McFadden entered a strange half life here, where prisoners pay an entrance fee, must buy their cells and high-grade cocaine is made and sold as a matter of course. Often, there is brutal violence to contend with. McFadden found his feet there, making a living showing tourists around the prison. He bribed guards to let him go outside sometimes. He even had a relationship with an Israeli woman who visited him and even lived with him for some time in the prison.

I found it a bizarre and fascinating insight into life inside San Pedro. It is also a personal tale of someone who turned his life around and came out the other side with the promise that he would never traffic drugs again. If you want to be thrown into a world that you’ll (hopefully) never have to experience for yourself, then this is the perfect book to read.

Buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 15

The total number of non-fictional books that I read in 2018. I read about everything from life inside a Bolivian prison to immigrant life in London; from travelling the length of the Yenisey River to the surreal lives being led in New Russia.

The Biggest Surprise of 2018

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke – the review.

My Dad recommended this book to me. It is one of his favourite reads. He’s read it twice, which is no mean feat, since it’s 850 pages long, give or take! Even before I began, I knew this would be a daunting novel. The basic premise is that it’s an alternative history of England in the early 19th century, around the time of the Napoleonic Wars. There are the same historical events, but the author writes in her own magical history, and paints the lives of two magicians of the age – Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It just didn’t sound like my cup of tea.

My suspicions appeared to be confirmed when I began. I found it a slow, clunky read with so many footnotes that I often got completely lost as to what I was trying to read. I struggled on, feeling frustrated with the entire premise of the book. There appeared to be these two main characters, Strange and Norrell, so why was so much time in the book devoted to so many other people? I just didn’t get it.

When I fell in, it all made sense

Then, I reached the 500-600 page mark and suddenly, things began to make sense. I fell in and realised that perhaps Strange and Norrell weren’t the most important characters in the book. Maybe I should be paying more attention to the other protagonists and what they were doing. Who is the mysterious gentleman with thistle-down that keeps turning up? Why does Clarke keep going off on tangents about Stephen Black? Should I care more that Mrs Pole has turned mad?

In my opinion the book, whilst led through the title characters, is actually more about the support acts. The people that you think aren’t important actually turn out to be the key players. Strange and Norrell do not fade into the background, rather, the other characters step up in terms of importance. As the novel ends, it seems like most of the characters are on a level playing field, having all played a significant role in the book. However, for most of it I felt oblivious that this was the case.

As I finished the book, I actually found that it had gone from clunky and irritating to exciting and interesting. My view changed, much to my surprise. I found that I had actually enjoyed the novel as my understanding of it grew. Now, I would go as far as to recommend this book to others, although to begin with I was all for putting it down and never picking it back up!

Buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 12

The number of books I read in 2018 that were recommended by my friends and family members – one for each month of the year.

The Good of 2018

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton – the review.

One of the most talked about books in 2018 and with good reason. I adored this book and felt that it really spoke to me. It is a humorous and brutally honest depiction of what life can be like during your twenties.

Alderton lays herself completely bare. She doesn’t hold back for one moment in this memoir. Alderton recounts her self-sabotage, her eating disorder, her dependency on alcohol and her journey to finding self-esteem, self-love and recognising that she alone is enough.

Crystallising my thoughts

What really resonated with me was Alderton’s assertion that you don’t need to have romantic love in your life to know how to love. As someone who has been largely single for my entire life, this really struck home. Of course I don’t need to have a romantic partner to know what love is and how it can and should be demonstrated. I can and have learnt this from my relationships with my family and my friends, some of whom have been in my life for over twenty years. As Dolly herself says, ‘friends might be the most important romance you have’.

I feel grateful to Dolly for saying these things in her book. They are things I kind of already knew, but she crystallised my thoughts for me and put them down in black and white. My friends and my family are my world. Like Dolly, they are the people who’ve taught me everything I know about love. For putting those background thoughts that I had into words and for making me see what was right in front of me – that is why this was one of the best books of 2018.

Buy this book here.

A Day in December by Josie Silver – the review.

I stumbled across this book on Amazon and on a whim, I purchased it. It had the sort of easy sounding title that I like and appeared to be a slightly cheesy romance novel. I was wrong on that second count. Not the romance part, but the cheesy part.

This is not your classic chick-lit. This book spans a decade or so in the lives of Jack and Laurie, from the moment their eyes met through a bus window to the ending, when the cliches do kind of kick in and they end up together. Come on, that’s hardly a spoiler… But it’s the middle of the book that got me. This story has real soul and real emotion. There is also fantastic character development, as Jack and Laurie navigate their friendship, their lovers and their unrequited feelings from one another.

A male perspective in a ‘chick-lit’ read

One of my favourite things about the book is that it is told from both Jack and Laurie’s perspectives, and not just one person’s viewpoint. It makes the story stronger and helps to display the characters flaws, strengths and weaknesses. I got to experience how both sides dealt with the cards they were given. It tends to be the case that ‘chick-lit’ books are told from the female perspective. I’m glad Silver chose not to do this. It would not have been as special a book if it had been told entirely from Laurie’s perspective.

I barely put this book down, and stayed up late two nights in a row to finish it. It captured me immediately and held me gripped until the very end. If you like a romance, but one with grit and some bite, then you should buy this book here.

This is London by Ben Judah – the review.

I’m not a native Londoner, so picking up this book gave me an opportunity to learn about another side of the city I now call home. The secret side, hiding in broad daylight. The premise of the book is fairly simple. Judah meets and talks with various people from all over the city, mainly immigrants. Through their stories, he tells of the changing face of London and how the city is evolving and adapting.

It taught me a lot. It also made me realise that I only see the side of London that I want to see. There are plenty of darker facets to this city that I’m not aware of or turn a blind eye to. It’s the same the world over, but reading this felt more personal because this is where I live, a city I understand better than most. Or thought I did, anyway.

Actually, what this book showed me is that I’m foolish to think that I understand London. Sure, I may be able to navigate the underground or suss out which streets I should and shouldn’t venture down. But there are currents and eddies underneath the surface that I can never fathom, if only because I’m a privileged white woman who hasn’t ever really had to endure much hardship. I’ve certainly never had to contend with some of the things I read that happened to people in this book.

The other side of London

Like the Romanian beggars, who arrive by coach into Victoria and who invariably end up living in the tunnels underneath Marble Arch. They are ironically juxtaposed alongside the glittering lights and eternally lit windows of Mayfair and Park Lane. Or take the Afghan, now living in Neasdon, who shares the tale of his escape from his home country, a long and arduous journey, unimaginable to me. Judah spends time living with Polish builders and chats to a Shepherd’s Bush drug-dealer. He meets a bored Egyptian who introduces him to a world of expensive nightclubs, where patrons drink bottles of champagne worth thousands.

I learnt a lot about this city, all while sitting at home on my bed and reading. And for that reason, this book makes my ‘good’ list for 2018. I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants to see the other face of London, and learn a little more about the capital city of England. You can buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 6

The most books that I read in a single month. This was April, when I spent two weeks travelling around Nepal. I had time away from social media and general real life to just kick back with more books than usual!

The Bad of 2018

Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor – the review.

This is a sweeping book, encompassing an entire village of characters. I got the sensation during this book that I had a birds eye view of the landscape that McGregor was painting. As such, I never got close to the novel. Perhaps he wants us to stay an arms length from the wide spectrum of people that litter this book. It’s definitely a novel written with a wide-angle, rather than under a macro lens.

As a result, I was left wanting when I completed the book. I wanted to know about some characters in more depth and learn their backgrounds and stories properly. Some situations did not seem satisfactorily resolved.

This novel is written is exactly as McGregor intended, but it wasn’t to my liking. Reading it meant that I discovered that I like more detail in my books, a closer look at the story. Typically, I prefer to walk beside the characters as they go through their lives, rather than fly above and only catch glimpses at what is going on.

I would read this book again, because I’d be seeking for more information that I might feel I missed the first time. I imagine that I might be left unsatisfied the second time around, since the book won’t have changed. But that’s what it’s like – I think I’ve missed something, being at a distance, when actually I probably haven’t. If you want to read it yourself and find out how you feel, buy this book here.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – the review.

I had seen the Baz Luhrman adaptation of this book a few years back, so when J recommended it as her book for me to read, I was curious to see how closely the film followed the book. Admittedly, I was also cautious about reading it, since I hadn’t enjoyed the film very much at all.

While I can understand and see that this is an extremely nuanced book with some interesting plot points, I didn’t end up enjoying the book much.

This is a book where it’s difficult to identify with any of the main characters. As such, no emotion is really engaged when the plot unfolds and the ending is revealed. I read The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch shortly afterwards, another book where I also found it difficult to identify or sympathise with any of the main characters. However, it still succeeded in drawing me in and had me longing to know how the book ended.

The Great Gatsby fails to do this. I started out feeling somewhat averse the the novel and its characters and finished feeling much the same way. Make up your own mind – you can buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 4

The total number of books I read in 2018 that were about trains and train travel! I’m a well-documented, proud train geek, and truly indulged this in 2018 with some of my more nerdy book choices!

And The Ugly of 2018

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez – the review.

This book was recommended to me by P. When he read it, he was travelling through China on a train on his own. He felt that the happenings in the book could easily have occurred in some of the places he passed through. Apparently, some of the towns and villages had a similar time-warped feel to the village in the book.

Supposedly, this is also one of those books that you’re supposed to read, much like Dickens or Jane Austen. I picked this up at the beginning of November in the knowledge that this was a highly-acclaimed classic. It might be good to have it under my belt.

As I admitted in my December recap, I actually never managed to finish this book. It was the hardest and most tedious book that I picked up in 2018. Unfortunately, it just didn’t wash with me. I found the repetitive nature of the story tiring. Additionally, all of the characters seemed to have the same names, which I found extremely confusing.

A book like Marmite

It’s one of those books where if you don’t pay close attention or if you read it in small chunks, you lose the plot entirely. I ended up reading pages or even entire chapters and then putting it down and struggling to even understand what had happened or to whom or in what decade.

Thankfully, it’s not just me that has struggled with this book. I read many reviews and it would appear that this novel is like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. Apparently, I fell into the latter category. I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I finally admitted to myself that I didn’t want to finish it just for the sake of saying that I had. As soon as I let myself off the hook, I picked up another book and finished that in a week or so.

This was one of those occasions where sometimes it’s better to let something go than keep struggling on. I got halfway through, so I gave it a good chance. By the end, it was actually blocking me from reading, which was entirely against the aim of the reading challenge.

I didn’t enjoy this book in the slightest. However, if you would like to pick it up and decide for yourself whether you fall into the love it or hate it camp, then you can buy this book here.

The Review in Numbers: 1

The fewest number of books that I read in a month. This was in June, while I was struggling through Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell… Man, that was a tough book to get through!

Everything Else from 2018…

Of course, there are books that I read that haven’t made the highlight (or low-light, depending on the read!) reel. I can’t review them all! This isn’t to say that these books weren’t worthy to be on my 2018 reading list, or that I didn’t enjoy them.

Most of this books were mentioned in my Monthly Recap posts and I often review them there. If you wish to read more, check out the Recap archives.

The remaining books of 2018 that aren’t written about and that complete my 2018 reading list are:

• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
• Desert Snow: One Girl’s Take On Africa By Bike by Helen Lloyd.
• Snow Falling On Cedars by David Guterson.
• Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Cate Woods.
• Nothing is True and Everything is Possible by Peter Pomerantsev.
• Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin.
• The Night Watch by Sarah Waters.
• Night Train by Andrew Martin.
• An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe.
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.
• How to Keep a Secret by Sarah Morgan.
• May I Have Your Attention Please? by James Corden.
• Move Along Please – Lands End to John O’Groats by Local Bus by Mark Mason.
• The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch.
• Trans-Siberian Adventures by Matthew Woodward.
• A Bridge Even Further by Matthew Woodward.
• Me and Mr Darcy by Alexandra Potter.
• Mail Obsession by Mark Mason.
• My Thoughts Exactly by Lily Allen.
• Blitzed by Norman Ohler.

Use Amazon Smile

Please note – none of the links to buy the books in this post are affiliate. I will not make any money if you click to buy one of these recommended reads. However, may I recommend that if you do purchase a book through Amazon, you use Amazon Smile to do so? This means that a percentage of the money you spend on the book/s you buy will be sent to a charity of your choice. Here’s more on how it works… My chosen charity on Amazon Smile is Hope for Justice, an anti-slavery and anti-trafficking charity based in the UK. If you’d like to know more about what they do, check out their website.