Top 10 Fiction Books of 2018

[@teribakerreads]

It is just always a joy to watch and listen to you talking about books you liked.

[@KristinMomentsOfSanctuary]

You look so pretty in this video! Thanks for your reviews. Putting Villette on my tbr as you are the second book tube to have in top of year. Have Seven Husbands on my list already. I read 50 this year so thinking I would do my top 5 but thinking my picks are pretty random since I don’t usually read books that came out this year. Probably will do it just for me and my documentation:) I so appreciate your recommendations. I did enjoy The Thirteenth Tale very much.

[@n4nette]

I really loved both your videos about your favourite books of 2018 (non-fiction and fiction)! Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to another year of reading and sharing thoughts :)

[@CookieR1272]

Great list as usual. I don’t read a lot of romance but you may have convinced me. Also picked up The Unseen World based on your recommendation this year and loved it. Thanks!

[@MaryAmongStories]

the namesake has been on my radar! glad you enjoyed it ^^ and also all those classics! 💙

[@karenkoutsoumbaris6308]

Happy new year, Olive! Great video and reviews . I’m reading Villette and also the thirteenth tale and enjoying them so much!

[@fghijoy6148]

Two of my favorite books, North and South and The Thirteenth Tale. Every time I hear someone talk about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo I instantly think of The Thirteenth Tale so I was very pleased to hear you mention the similarity in the set up.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Great list and particularly happy to hear you praising The Incarnations so highly. I loved Barker's novel. I must get to reading Meg Wolitzer's book and I'd love to reread Middlemarch soon. 2019 is George Eliot's 200th birthday so it'll be great to rediscover her writing in the new year.

[@lyndsayreads]

I still need to read something by Meg Wolitzer and Jhumpa Lahiri. I love that Evelyn Hugo is popping up on so many favorites of year lists! It was on mine as well. I read and loved The Unseen World in 2017! The Thirteenth Tale is on my immediate TBR because so many people have compared it to Evelyn Hugo. Great video, Olive! :)

[@retiredbooknerd]

This is the 2nd video I have seen that included Villette in a Top Ten.. I think I know what I need to do about that! I would also like to read some George Eliot this year. The Thirteenth Tale is a favorite of mine as well! I’m glad you liked it too. Great video! Happy New Year, friend! 🥳

[@RheaHighland]

Wonderful reviews. Thanks for your insight

[@valenciataylor4966]

I really enjoyed this video and how you discussed and kind of analyzed each book. I want to start thinking about what the author is trying to convey to the reader when I read my next book. Thank you and keep up the great work!

[@abookolive]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Analyzing books can add a whole new level to the reading experience 😊

[@veronikabecickova5538]

Happy new year Olive, many good books and beautiful experiences :-) I love Middlemarch so much 💗...( is so fragile and different from other books)

[@OonaghFae]

I read The Thirteenth Tale a few years ago and loved it as well. Happy 2019 and I look forward to more videos from you!

[@karenkoutsoumbaris6308]

Love, love ❤️ your videos, so amazing the reviews, thankyou

[@helenmccourt2907]

I read The Thirteenth Tale when it first came out and LOVED it! Such a great gothic story.

[@bookslikewhoa]

This made me so happy... though I confess that I am the lone voice of dissent on The Thirteenth Tale 😬. But North & South is high on my TBR for 2019! Very excited based on how much I enjoyed Cranford

[@saranevano4485]

I loved The namesake, very much. The story of the name's reason is beautiful. Happy new year and happy reading

[@abookolive]

It really was. Happy New Year to you, too!

[@buddhabillybob]

Once again, a fantastic and varied list! Thanks for another good video.

[@abookolive]

Thanks so much!

[@GameofTomes]

You make me want to read all the things! Happy New Year! Jessica

[@abookolive]

That's the intention, haha 😊 Happy New Year!

[@justjuanreader]

So glad to hear you loved The Unseen World. That book broke me! The Thirteenth Tale is so damn good, are you excited about her new novel “Once Upon a River”?

[@natashalast9688]

I think I’m the only person in the world who was disappointed with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. My expectations were way too high going into it. Great video. Happy New Year!

[@lindab.5518]

I've had The Thirteenth Tale on my tbr for a while now. Thanks for inspiring me to read it this year!

[@abookolive]

My pleasure! Try to read it on a dark & gloomy day - you won't be sorry you did!

[@JimiCanRead]

The way you've set up the unseen world makes me really want to find out more about the father and everything!!

[@abookolive]

It's a fantastic mystery!

[@timetoread1795]

Happy New Year Olive!!

[@margiecrawford4429]

I loooved The Unseen World and Middlemarch. The Thirteenth Tale and Villette are on my TBR for 2019. I'm not a big romance reader but your review of The Kiss Quotient makes me want to pick it up.

[@abookolive]

The Kiss Quotient is certainly worth a try! You'll likely know early on if it's not for you, but I think it was a ton of fun.

[@seriela]

Saved!! (Oh, and Happy New Year)

[@rebeccajohnston4645]

Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors of all time. If you haven't had the opportunity to check out her short story collections and you are looking for a book next year, I'd recommend either "Interpreter of Maladies" or "Unaccustomed Earth". They're both really, really incredible.

[@abookolive]

I'm certainly going to try to read more from her this year!

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

Happy New Year Olive 🍀🎉☘️👋

[@abookolive]

Happy New Year!

[@katieamarsh]

I don’t read romance, but I am going to read Kiss Quotient later this month on vacation.

[@erinvaianisi9729]

Please tell me you've seen the BBC miniseries of North and South with Richard Armitage! It's so good and definitely one of my favourite book to movie adaptations

[@abookolive]

I've seen portions of it!

[@kclantz]

The Kiss Quotient was the daily deal from Audible a week or two ago (if you're unfamiliar, each day they select a title that is on sale for 24 hours for anywhere between $1.95-$6.95, so it's a good deal!) and since it had kind of been on my list, I went for it. I'm glad to see that someone who does not usually read romance put it in their top ten, since I'm also not a big romance reader. I don't know how well this will turn out in an audiobook format, but I guess I'll find out!

[@abookolive]

Oh, I'm sorry I missed that! I listened to it on audio but it was through my library. I would have loved to own a copy. How do you find those daily deals? I've known they exist, but I can never seem to find them when I go looking on Audible's page...

[@kclantz]

@@abookolive That's weird that you have trouble finding it! They usually show up right on my front page. And at one point months and months ago, I found a way to get an email notification every day for the daily deal. 9 times out of 10, it's a title I've never heard of and I just delete the email and go about my business, but if it's something on my list, I usually snap it up. Recently The Name of the Wind was the daily deal and my brain went !!!!!!! I NEED IT!!!!! because high fantasy tends to be difficult for me in the physical format because it looks so intimidating.

[@kclantz]

@@abookolive UPDATE I went and played around in my settings for a few minutes, and if you go to "Account Details" and then "Notifications" on the left of your screen, you can check the box for Audible to send you the daily deals emails if you want :)

[@abookolive]

THANK YOU! ❤

[@thefrancophilereader8943]

The Unseen World was also on my favorites list. I read the book in two days, which is amazing for me. I'm not a super fast reader.

[@abookolive]

It's quite the page turner for such a quiet, cozy book.

[@marcusmusings]

The Kiss Quotient seems like the female version of The Rosie Project. YES!! The Namesake! So much! Enjoyed Evelyn Hugo a lot. Her follow up looks good as well. Thirteenth Tale I read last year and felt exactly like you did. If some one is in the mood for a modern Gothic novel, would not hesitate to recommend that book

[@AlwaysDoing]

Huzzah romance! I can't believe I haven't gotten to the Kiss Quotient yet. And yea Evelyn Hugo, too - I picked it up for a long flight and it was perfect.

[@amusicalbookworm]

Yessss North and South! I so need to reread this book.

[@abookolive]

I agree!!

[@nylorac1984]

I did enjoy the kiss Quotient. I loved that it was a story about intimacy with agency.

[@abookolive]

I'm glad it got so popular! It's a really great book.

[@myreadinglife8816]

I absolutely love The Unseen World!

[@carolynmonahan2488]

love your makeup and hair

[@jmaggio909]

The Interestings is also one of favorite novels. The Female Persuasion was lovely too. Wamly, J. Maggio

[@dylancandancex8555]

I read the kiss quotient and honestly don’t understand the hype, I don’t hate romance books and I appreciate diversity/rep in books but I just didn’t fall in the love with it the way that everyone else seems to be :/ on the other hand, the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo absolutely destroyed me 😭😍

[@cuppa.books.]

Hope you have lovely new year 🎉

[@abookolive]

Thank you! You too 😊

[@RyansChannel0203]

Hope you have a great new year.

[@abookolive]

You as well!

[@karakask5488]

Have you watched the BBC adaptation of North and South? Richard Armitage's Mr. Thornton is second only to Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy for swoon worthiness!

[@oliviadodd518]

Try Raiders of the Dawn series by M. Benjamin Woodall

[@literaryprints]

Well, you've clearly sold Middlemarch. That might still happen yet for me in 2019. The length is really intimidating but...

[@abookolive]

Try it on audio! I've found that classics are so much more palatable that way, especially long ones.

[@redforrori]

Oh. North and South. *sigh* :)

[@CA-HooMinhQuan]

No Origins?

[@abookolive]

What do you mean by origins?

[@CA-HooMinhQuan]

Origin by Dan brown? I really like it @@

[@SunriseFireberry]

Middlemarch. 19thC literary version of reality TV except more intrusive & invasive vis a vis the characters. Mercifully they are fictional. Eliot is a type of Orwellian Big Brother in the way she looks at her main characters here. Unnerving & unsettling. Then there's the author editorializing rather often, stultifying the pacing of what is a slow novel to begin with. Thank you GE play by play analyzer of her own characters, that will be all. A reader can't figure out what's going on in a given scene 'cause polymath George'll do it all for you, replete with $64 words like propitiates, salubrious & jejune. One cannot develop literary critical/analytical skills a whole heap with GE around. T'is a pity.

[@abookolive]

Not sure what you want me to say here. I think her style of telling the story leaves plenty of room for critical analysis, but obviously we're not going to (nor need to) agree.

[@SunriseFireberry]

@@abookolive intrusiveness re her main characters & embedded tell-don't-show authorial essays, both M'march hallmarks, ain't 4 me. Others can love 'em as they choose. And it's also true that I found out that I don't take to polymath authors very well either: masters of all trades. It's an individual thing.

[@someonerandom8552]

TimeAndChance How can one not develop critical/analytic skills when reading George Elliot? That sounds like quitter talk to me.

[@SunriseFireberry]

@@someonerandom8552 U can. But all her embedded essays squelch what the reader might have thought about re many a given situation vis a vis the characters.

[@someonerandom8552]

TimeAndChance Challenge accepted, I say.