King County Library’s best books of 2018 | KCLS

From “The Immortalists” to “Dopesick” and even the graphic novel, “Speak,” here are the books you should check out before too long.

The following is a press release from the King County Library System:

King County Library System (KCLS), one of the busiest library systems in the country, released its selections for the Best Books of 2018. The annual list includes KCLS’ top 25 titles each under four categories: adult fiction, adult nonfiction, teens and children’s.

Best Book lists are selected by nominations and votes from King County Library System librarians and staff members who, collectively, read hundreds of books each year. Once nominations are made and votes are tabulated, KCLS Readers’ Services Program Coordinator Emily Calkins finalizes the lists.

“Our lists are unique because they reflect the interests of our staff and communities,” said Calkins. “Local writers appear on all four lists, and there’s a range of genres and topics represented.”

Following are King County Library System’s Best Books of 2018, in order of author’s last name:

Best Adult Fiction Books 2018:

• That Kind of Mother, Rumaan Alam

• The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin

• Washington Black, Esi Edugyan

• Lawn Boy, Jonathan Evison

• The Woman In the Window, A.J. Finn

• The Witch Elm, Tana French

• The Wedding Date, Jasmine Guillory

• The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah

• The Wife Between Us, Greer Hendricks

• The Kiss Quotient, Helen Hoang

• The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz

• An American Marriage, Tayari Jones

• An Ocean of Minutes, Thea Lim

• Monstress, vol. 3, Marjorie M. Liu

• Circe, Madeline Miller

• There There, Tommy Orange

• Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver

• Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik

• The Merry Spinster, Daniel Mallory Ortberg

• Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

• Girls Burn Brighter, Shobha Rao

• Head On, John Scalzi

• You Think It, I’ll Say It, Curtis Sittenfeld

• Heads of Colored People, Nafissa Thompson-Spires

• Red Clocks, Leni Zumas

Best Adult Nonfiction Books 2018:

• Fascism, Madeleine Albright

• Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, Michael Bennett

• The Line Becomes a River, Francisco Cantú

• Eloquent Rage, Brittney Cooper

• White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo

• The Monk of Mokha, Dave Eggers

• Natural Causes, Barbara Ehrenreich

• Buzz, Thor Hanson

• Barracoon, Zora Neale Hurston

• The Feather Thief, Kirk Johnson

• Dopesick, Beath Macy

• Heart Berries, Terese Marie Maihot

• I’ll Be Gone In the Dark, Michelle McNamara

• A False Report, T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong

• I Am, I Am, I Am, Maggie O’Farrell

• So You Want To Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo

• The Library Book, Susan Orlean

• How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan

• Calypso, David Sedaris

• How to Taste, Becky Selengut

• Call Them By Their True Names, Rebecca Solnit

• Factfulness, Hans Rosling

• Educated, Tara Westover

• She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, Carl Zimmer

• Not That Bad, ed. Roxane Gay

Best Teen Books 2018:

• The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo

• Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeymei

• The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert

• Leah on the Offbeat, Becky Albertalli

• Rebound, Kwame Alexander

• Speak: the Graphic Novel, Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Carroll

• Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World, Penelope Bagieu

• Cruel Prince, Holly Black

• A Heart in a Body in the World, Deb Caletti

• American Panda, Gloria Chao

• Illegal, Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano

• Votes for Women, Winifred Conkling

• The Truth as Told By Mason Buttle, Leslie Conner

• My Family Divided, Diane Guerrero

• Dread Nation, Justina Ireland

• Darius the Great is Not Okay, Adib Khorran

• Hey, Kiddo, Jarrett Krosoczka

• All Summer Long, Hope Larson

• The Astonishing Color of After, Emily X.R. Pan

• Ghost Boys, Jewell Parker Rhodes

• Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card, Sara Saedi

• Thunderhead, Neal Shusterman

• Sadie, Courtney Summers

• Check, Please!, Ngozi Ukazu

• The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang

Best Children’s Books 2018:

• Vincent Comes Home, Jessixa and Aaron Bagley

• Hedgehog Needs a Hug, Jen Betton

• Be Prepared, Vera Brosgol

• The Wild Robot Escapes, Peter Brown

• Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani Chokshi

• The Journey of Little Charlie, Christopher Paul Curtis

• Love, Matt de la Pena and Loren Long

• I Really Want To See You, Grandma, Taro Gomi

• I Walk With Vanessa, Kerascoet

• Drawn Together, Minh Le and Dan Santat

• Fur, Feather, Fin: All of Us Are Kin, Diane Lang and Steph Laberis

• A Big Mooncake for Little Star, Lin Grace

• Julian Is A Mermaid, Jessica Love

• I Just Ate My Friend, Heidi McKinnon

• Alma and How She Got Her Name, Juana Martinez-Neal

• Bob, Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead

• Dreamers, Yuyi Morales

• A Gift from Abuela, Cecilia Ruiz

• Amal Unbound, Aisha Saeed

• The Cardboard Kingdom, Chad Sell

• Baby Monkey, Private Eye, Brian Selznick and David Serlin

• The Girl Who Drew Butterflies, Joyce Sidman

• Harbor Me, Jacqueline Woodson

• Front Desk, Kelly Yang

• We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

All Best Books 2018 are available to check out and borrow in various formats, including print, audio, digital audio and eBook, at your local KCLS library or online to download at www.kcls.org.