Literary Hub

Presenting Book Marks Best Reviewed Books of 2018

Our beloved fellow books site—Book Marks—spends most of December asking itself a lot of questions:

Of the thousands of books published this year, which one received more rave reviews than any other?
Who wrote the most interesting reviews of the last 12 months?
What about the most scathing pans?
What novels took home the Pulitzer and the National Book Award?
What should we get Lit Hub for Christmas?

You’ll find answers to these burning questions (and many more) below, as we recap Book Marks’ month-long look back at the best of 2018.

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The Best Reviewed Fiction of 2018

Featuring Denis Johnson, Ottessa Moshfegh, Rachel Kushner, and Tommy Orange.

nonfiction, Zadie Smith, Feel Free, Small Fry, Alexander Chee, Lisa Brennan Jobs, Leslie Jamison, Lorrie Moore

The Best Reviewed Nonfiction of 2018

Featuring Zadie Smith, Frederick Douglass, Alexander Chee, and Leslie Jamison.

Memoirs, Biographies, Frederick Douglass, Leslie Jamison, Small Fry, Big Fella, Princess Margaret

The Best Reviewed Memoirs and Biographies of 2018

Featuring Frederick Douglass, Babe Ruth, Leslie Jamison, and Kiese Laymon.

Science fiction, fantasy, Severance, Friday Black, Destroy All Monsters, Rosewater

The Best Reviewed Sci-Fi and Fantasy Novels of 2018

Featuring Friday BlackRed ClocksGnomon, and Spinning Silver.

essays, Zadie Smith, Feel Free, Michelle Tea, Against Memoir, Alexander Chee, Lorrie Moore, David Sedaris, Calypso

The Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2018

Featuring Zadie Smith, Alexander Chee, Lorrie Moore, and David Sedaris.

The Best Reviewed Short Story Collections of 2018

Featuring Denis Johnson, Lucia Berlin, Jamel Brinkley, and William Trevor.

graphic literature, graphic memoir, graphic novel, Sabrina, Nick Drnaso, Passing for Human, Berlin, Jason Lutes, Belonging, Nora Krug

The Best Reviewed Graphic Literature of 2018

Featuring Nick Drnaso, Yvan Alagbé, Tillie Walden, and Liana Finck.

translation, Flights, Convenience Store Woman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Dorthe Nors

The Best Reviewed Literature in Translation of 2018

Featuring Dorthe Nors, Edouard Louis, Ismail Kadare, and Karl Ove Knausgaard.

Tana French, The Witch Elm, Megan Abbott, Give Me Your Hand, My Sister the Serial Killer, Tangerine

The Best Reviewed Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Novels of 2018

featuring Tana French, Megan Abbot, Philip Kerr, and Michelle McNamara.

poetry, poems, Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, Not Here, Tracy K. Smith, Wade in the Water, Jennie Xie, Eye Level

The Best Reviewed Poetry of 2018

Featuring Tracy K. Smith, Terrance Hayes, Max Ritvo, and Ada Limón.

bad reviews, pans, Katerina, James Frey, Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff, Sean Penn, Bill Clinton, James Patterson, The President Is Missing

The Most Scathing Reviews of 2018

“It’s physically impossible to dunk on a novel that is already dunking on itself so hard.”

Pulitzer Prize, Kirkus, Man Booker, Man Booker International, Edgar, Hugo, Nebula, Center for Fiction, Women's Prize, IMPAC

The Award-Winning Novels of 2018

The books that took home the year’s biggest literary prizes.

book reviews, Adam Morgan, My Struggle, Evening in Paradise, Heavy

The 10 Best Book Reviews of 2018

Patricia Lockwood on Lucia Berlin’s stories, Hanif Abdurraqib on Kiese Laymon’s memoir, Charles Finch on the end of Knausgaard’s struggle, and more.

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