Best Books of the Year
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The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year 2018

The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year 2018 names 39 books across 2 categories. 21 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

Fiction

  1. America Is not the Heart by Elaine Castillosource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Armand V by Dag Solstadsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Circe by Madeline Millersource (opens in a new tab)
  4. CoDex: 1962: A Trilogy by Sjónsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Muratasource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Evening in Paradise by Lucia Berlinsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Everything Under by Daisy Johnsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Flights by Olga Tokarczuksource (opens in a new tab)
  9. History of Violence by Édouard Louissource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Last Stories by William Trevorsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. So Lucky by Nicola Griffithsource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkaisource (opens in a new tab)
  14. The Mars Room by Rachel Kushnersource (opens in a new tab)
  15. The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillardsource (opens in a new tab)
  16. The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimanisource (opens in a new tab)
  17. The Third Hotel by Laura van den Bergsource (opens in a new tab)
  18. There There by Tommy Orangesource (opens in a new tab)
  19. Washington Black by Esi Edugyansource (opens in a new tab)
  20. We All Loved Cowboys by Carol Bensimonsource (opens in a new tab)

Nonfiction

  1. All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chungsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauersource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrousource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Behold, America: The Entangled History of 'America First' and 'The American Dream by Sarah Churchwellsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Born To Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Mark Derysource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolinsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blightsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabrielsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Andersonsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. The Day That Went Missing: A Family's Story by Richard Beardsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewartsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blumsource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The Reckonings by Lacy M. Johnsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  14. The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamisonsource (opens in a new tab)
  15. The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America by Timothy Snydersource (opens in a new tab)
  16. The Seabird's Cry: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers by Adam Nicholsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  17. The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison 'Promiscuous' Women by Scott W. Sternsource (opens in a new tab)
  18. Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey Into the Syrian Jihad by Asne Seierstad, translated by Seán Kinsellasource (opens in a new tab)
  19. We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights by Adam Winklersource (opens in a new tab)

About the The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year

The Globe's year-end Fiction and Nonfiction critics' picks. Picks from the same year-end package for mystery, poetry, sports, graphic novels, science, New England, children's, middle grade, and young adult books are left out. 2006-2009 lists are the boxed title lists that ran with the year-end fiction and nonfiction essays on boston.com. In 2011 and 2014 each section was the combined picks of two or three critics; books picked by more than one critic appear once. Missing years: no 2010 adult list could be found in the Wayback Machine (only a children's list was archived). No list is ranked. bostonglobe.com robots.txt blocks AI crawlers, so no Globe page was fetched directly: Globe pages were read through Wayback Machine captures, and the 2022-2024 lists were read from the Flourish card embeds the Globe pages load. Secondary sources: yearendlists.com copies of the 2020-2025 lists were used to cross-check counts and to correct three page typos (Walter Mosley, Natasha Trethewey, and the title Loved and Missed). Other page typos were corrected against existing catalog entries (Tenth of December, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Jodi Kantor) and against the publisher listing for Helon Habila's Travelers. The 2016 list files Svetlana Alexievich's Secondhand Time under Fiction, as the Globe did.

Organization: The Boston Globe. Official site (opens in a new tab)

The most recommended books of 2018