It’s the mo-o-o-st wonderful time of the year…time to compile my list of favorite books read in 2018! I’m linking up with Top Ten Tuesday as I do so.

This year’s list is a little unusual for me, in that for the first time since I started doing these posts, a full half of the titles are nonfiction. I think this is owing to a combination of circumstances—from my little pie-chart on Goodreads it looks like I read a little more nonfiction than last year; and besides that, my fiction reading seems to have been just a trifle…well, I won’t say lackluster, as there were plenty of books I enjoyed; but just not as rich as in other years. Not as many brilliant standouts. Hopefully that won’t be the case in 2019!  But anyway, on to the list.

As always, books are listed in the order read, not in order of favorites.

Revival by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

An excellent look at what revival means, and why and how we should pray for it. Heartily recommended for every Christian, and especially those who already feel a burden on their heart for the state of the church and of the world around them. I want to re-read this again sometime soon. (Brief review here.)

The Story Book Girls by Christina Gowans Whyte

I feel like this is an unlikely entry for a top-ten list, but the fact remains: it’s among the ten books I enjoyed most during this year. It may be here more because of my response to it at a time when I particularly needed a friendly, comforting sort of book to curl up with on a dreary day, than for any other reason. It’s just a comfortable, rather rambling old-fashioned book about the haps and mishaps of an ordinary, affectionate family—nothing particularly earth-shaking or brilliant, but with enough wit and genuineness to elevate it above the commonplace.

The Anatomy of Story by John Truby

This book is different than any other how-to book on writing I’ve ever read before. It’s the first book where, as I was reading, examples from good books and films I knew kept popping into my head to illustrate the points about story being made. The amount of pencil underlining and little flag bookmarks sprinkled through my copy testify to how useful I found most of the advice within. Not everything is equally helpful; some of the detailed plot breakdowns toward the end felt overwhelmingly complicated, and various bits of the sections on symbolism and world-building seemed like they could be matters of opinion. But in the areas where it’s good—specifically character, theme, and conflict—it’s very good.

The City Beyond the Glass by Suzannah Rowntree

A historical-fantasy retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” set in medieval Venice, this is probably the most page-turning, must-see-what-happens-next of Rowntree’s retellings so far; and rich with period detail as usual. I read it in a single afternoon!

The Lost Art of Dress by Linda Przybyszewski

This is my favorite book on fashion I’ve ever read. There was a time in the earlier 20th century when American women were considered some of the best-dressed women in the world, and this book reveals why. It takes a fascinating look at a generation of designers and fashion experts who taught American women how to apply the principles of art, as found in the natural world—harmony, proportion, balance, rhythm, and emphasis—to create and choose beautiful and tasteful clothing that suited them and their lifestyles. And how to do it on a thrifty budget. What’s so neat about this book is that it’s both a fun history lesson yet also practically inspiring, as you come to realize that the principles of art can be applied to choosing tasteful and flattering clothing in any era. I want to review this book in full one of these days, but for now I can tell you that it inspired me to dig out my sewing machine and alter some pieces already in my closet that just weren’t quite right, but have since become favorite outfits!

Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

I probably would have liked this book if I’d read it as a kid, but I may have enjoyed it even more as an adult for the way it reminded me of my own childhood. The descriptions of what it’s like to be a kid, enjoying the simple pleasures of playing and exploring outdoors on a summer day, are spot-on. And I would have loved to have had the kind of adventures that the two kids in this book have—discovering the remnants of an abandoned old town, and listening to tales of its glory days from the two friendly and old-fashioned elderly residents who still live there. Full review here.

Meet Me in St. Louis by Sally Benson

Ah, this was charming. Anybody who knows the movie will find most of the familiar plot elements within these vignette-style short stories, but I thought the book had a much more authentic, homey feel to it—not everything seemed as expensive and glossy as in the movie. The Edwardian era is a favorite period of mine, and perhaps what I enjoyed most about this book is the way that Benson sketches for us, in relatively few words, the sights, sounds and smells of a pleasant suburban neighborhood and the little details of furnishings, clothes, food, and other aspects of everyday life at that time. (Brief review here.)

Cattle Kingdom by Christopher Knowlton

A deeply interesting book that looks at the economic circumstances leading to the cattle boom of the late 19th century, and the mistakes that led to its bust—but more particularly focuses on an element of American West history that probably few people are aware of: the large-scale investments made in the biggest cattle ranches by wealthy Eastern and foreign investors. It’ll give you a wholly new perspective on the familiar “big rancher vs. little homesteader” land conflict so often used in Westerns. While I don’t necessarily agree with every one of the author’s conclusions, particularly his repetition of certain cliches about the “mythical” nature of the cowboy at the end of the book, I found Cattle Kingdom far more intriguing and thought-provoking than I had initially expected. You can read my full review here.

Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters

I came to this whodunit in a roundabout way: I’d once watched an episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour by the same name, and when I learned it was based on a book, yet the book had some intriguing differences—notably a British setting instead of American—I was interested. (The Hitchcock episode really borrowed scarcely more than the character names and can only loosely be called an “adaptation”!) It’s a good mystery sure enough, but what raised it to a level above that for me was the sensitive development of the relationships between the characters, particularly the family dynamic of police inspector George Felse, his wife, and their teenage son, who pursues an independent investigation of the case himself and is really the novel’s protagonist. If subsequent books are equally good, I can rejoice at having finally found another good, literate mystery series to work through!

A Short History of Germany by Ernest F. Henderson

Owing to a desultory but growing interest in German history and culture and my own German heritage over the last couple years, I wanted to find a book that was a very basic introduction to German history, and this one fit the bill admirably. What I didn’t expect was to be so entertained by something that I initially thought was going to be rather dry. The often amazingly petty conflicts between kings, popes, emperors, electors and the like (which, unfortunately for their subjects, usually took a good deal of fire and sword to settle), and the continual appropriation of disputed territories by whoever had the biggest army at the moment, reminded me of nothing so much as a life-size game of Risk. Henderson has his shortcomings, naturally—e.g., as a secular historian, putting a political interpretation on most aspects of the Protestant Reformation; and a tendency to conflate the “heretics” persecuted by the Catholic church with thinkers who eschewed religion as a whole—but, his more detached view does give some perspective on what a remarkable and providential event the Reformation was given the state of things beforehand.

The Story Book Girls was a public-domain download from Project Gutenberg; A Short History of Germany is also in the public domain and so I got an inexpensive Kindle version for 99 cents. Revival and The Anatomy of Story were already-owned paperbacks (the latter was a Christmas gift last year!); The City Beyond the Glass and Death and the Joyful Woman were Kindle purchases; and the rest were library borrows.

Come back soon for my roundup post of my whole year’s reading, which ought to be up sometime in the next couple of weeks!

Previous years’ lists: 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic might have been made especially for me, because I feel that a good half of my reading and book-reviewing involves books considered overlooked or obscure. Yet I had a harder time with this list than you might imagine, simply because as I looked back over my book diary and my yearly favorites lists, it was hard to pick just ten! I feel like I could do a “hidden gems list” for most of the genres I read—but for this one, I stuck mostly to general fiction.

Rest and Be Thankful by Helen MacInnes

A totally unique, unexpectedly pleasant novel (especially unique coming from MacInnes, a British author better known for writing Cold War-era thrillers). Sarah and Margaret, a pair of well-to-do friends with literary tastes who have spent a number of years as American expats in Europe, impulsively decide to host a retreat for struggling writers at a Wyoming ranch…and a couple of snobby literary critics invite themselves along. The interactions of the outsiders with the more down-to-earth locals and ranch hands, plus the personal and creative struggles of the writers at the retreat, form the bulk of the story, during which Sarah and Margaret each take unexpected steps forward on their own personal journeys as well. It may not be brilliant literature, but this book just made me come away with a smile and a happy, satisfied feeling.

Greensleeves by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

This young-adult novel from the 1960s took me utterly and completely by surprise with how much I loved it. A teenage girl struggling to figure out her own identity embarks on a summer of self-discovery when she undertakes a most unusual job: investigating the legatees of an eccentric will for a family friend, a lawyer who’s like a surrogate uncle to her. I know it’s a cliche thing to say in a book review, but Shannon’s struggles and adventures made me both laugh and cry. Here’s my full review.

Saturday’s Child by Kathleen Thompson Norris

This beautifully-written novel follows the fortunes of an utterly real and relatable heroine coming of age in turn-of-the-century San Francisco: her struggles to reconcile poverty and family obligations with dreams of wealth and luxury; her navigation of relationships and friendships that don’t turn out as expected; and her attempts to find a purpose for her life when it appears that romance and marriage are not in her future. I’ve enjoyed several of Norris’ books (as well as given up on one that was a real dud), but this is my favorite; it seemed the deepest and most lifelike.

Long Live the King! by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Rinehart is best known as a mystery author, of course, but I think what I admire most about her is her ability to jump confidently into just about any genre she wanted—screwball comedy, romantic drama, even a bizarre attempt at alternate history. In Long Live The King! she goes Ruritanian with aplomb, pulling together almost all of those elements in one novel, as a large and colorful cast of characters scheme and maneuver to either protect or overthrow the small crown prince of an imaginary country in volatile pre-WWI Europe. If The Prisoner of Zenda left you wanting more, then here it is, with perhaps a touch more sophistication.

Thorofare by Christopher Morley

A rambling, nostalgic novel told from the perspective of a young English boy who travels to late-19th-century America to live with a college-professor uncle and a spinster aunt who keeps house for him. It’s less about happenings than it is about evocation of times, places, and moods, all described in rich detail; and hovering over the whole is the theme of the complex and often funny relationship between English and Americans. Here’s my full review.

Pastoral by Nevil Shute

Probably my favorite Shute novel I’ve read, Pastoral is both a quiet and touching love story, and a page-turning evocation of the strain and tension involved in the lives of an R.A.F. bomber group flying missions from a post in the English countryside during WWII. My review here.

The Turmoil by Booth Tarkington

I’ve made a case for The Magnificent Ambersons as an overlooked American classic, but The Turmoil is even more overlooked and maybe just as good. Amid the roar of the early-20th-century industrial explosion, the novel focuses on the conflict between the brash, overbearing patriarch of a nouveau-riche industrial family and his sensitive youngest son; and the consequences of a friendship that develops between that son and the daughter of a respected old family desperately trying to hide their genteel poverty.  Here’s my full review.

Quality Street by J.M. Barrie

Yes, this is actually a play; but it reads delightfully, as Barrie (rather like A.A. Milne) fills the stage directions with witty asides and commentary on the characters. A woman masquerades as her own (imaginary) niece to teach a bit of a lesson to an inattentive former suitor, but finds herself getting deeper and deeper into a comical predicament the longer she continues in the role! It’s rather like a mix of Cranford and Georgette Heyer, with its street full of gossipy maiden ladies and genteel nearly-screwball comedy of mistaken identities.

Fräulein Schmidt and Mr. Anstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim

This quirky, bittersweet epistolary novel is told entirely through one-half of a correspondence: the letters of a German girl to a young Englishman who was a student of her father’s and with whom she has fallen in love. Their relationship does not at all develop in the way one might expect from the first page, but the letters go on, chronicling the ups and downs of Rose-Marie’s daily life, her decided opinions and her resilient and humorous outlook on life. There’s a few little things about it that annoy me, but by and large I was charmed by this book. I’ve got to read it again sometime soon.

Friendship and Folly by Meredith Allady

I’ve gone with mostly older books up till now, but here’s a recent release that is a true hidden gem and deserves more attention. Just about every Regency book out there is touted as being “like Jane Austen,” but the Merriweather Chronicles are the only books I’ve read that truly feel like the next best thing to Austen. There is a London Season, there is a romance that gradually manifests itself; but there’s also a large and close-knit family of all ages, awkward and even painful interactions with less pleasant relatives, sincere but misguided attempts by a sharp-witted young woman to arrange her friends’ affairs, and a wonderfully authentic setting woven through with references to historical events and personages. It took me two readings to fully come to appreciate this book, but it’s firmly on my list of favorites now. (And there’s a splendid sequel.)

Any of your favorite hidden gems on this list?