Top Ten Books To Read In 2018

Hello and welcome back to The Young Reader’s Review! Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you have had a fantastic holiday and that starting school or work again wasn’t too difficult. Anyway, for bookworms, the new year means discovering and devouring new books which is why, to help you get a head start, I am today going to be sharing with you the best books that I read in 2017. Before starting off, I just want to say that these novels are not in any specific order and that the rating system is, of course, very personal.

  

① For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway: ★ ★ ★ ★:  The New York Times calls it “The best book Hemingway has written”, Anthony Burgess names it “The best fictional report on the Spanish war that we possess” and I say that it is one of the most profound and heartbreaking novels that I have ever read. This book is different than the other Hemingway novels: it is not an alcoholic lament on life. This book is about war, its injustice, its impartiality and the suffering it creates. Through the bias of extensive swearing and a journalistic, refined, writing style Hemingway succeeds at making us feel the unromanticized and raw nature of war.

  

 ② Remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro: ★ ★ ★ ★: The name Kazuo Ishiguro might ring a bell: well, it is in fact the name of the 2017 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This novel, written in an interestingly intricate and researched writing style, described as the Nobel Prize Academy as possessing "great emotional force" which "uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world", is about Stevens, a butler who dedicates his life to his work and who recalls his life in the form of a diary. Stevens doesn’t seem to notice the turbulent world of war (Second World War) that surrounds him and seems to be more preoccupied by the hierarchy that reigns between the domestics (even a sort of microcosm). The repressed, complex characters and the intriguing writing style make the novel a masterpiece. Also, if I may add, this book has an enjoyable Downton Abbey vibe.

③ If this is a man (Se questo è un uomo) by Primo Levi: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★: Books about World War Two’s Nazi death camps are abundant in literature, so plentiful that it is even at times difficult to find one that particularly stands out from the others. I began reading this autobiography expecting to hear the same, repetitive melody that all of the other novels about this theme sang- and I was surprised to hear a tune unknown to my ears. This book is different. It describes human cruelty in this simple, cold, unpretentious prose- but that is ever so beautiful and even poetic. It’s probably one of the most powerful novels that I have ever read- but I didn’t cry. You don’t pity Primo Levi, you don’t pity the millions of innocent people who have died suffering: you watch them agonize but filtered through an objective writing style where the author is stating unbiased facts where only you can judge. A must-read.

④ The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★: Are you up for a challenge? Do you think that it is impossible to understand 17,000 lines written in an English dating from nearly seven hundred years ago? Well, last summer, I decided to learn the bases of Middle English in order to be able to fully comprehend the intricacies of the momentous Canterbury Tales: and it was definitely worth it. Not only is it extremely exciting to read one of the first major English literary works, but this book is comparable to a medieval tapestry. Chaucer here decided to write, in the form of an anthology of portraits, about the pilgrimage of diverse characters to Canterbury, England, following the 1170 martyrdom of Thomas Becket. Once having surpassed the linguistic barrier, it is surprisingly written in a simple style and, despite the imposing time gap, can still amazingly make us laugh today (By the way, in the future, if you want me to make an “Approachable Guide to Chaucer” in terms of a guided approach to Middle English and to the The Canterbury Tale’s historical and sociological context, tell me!). 

⑤ Sentimental Education (L’Education sentimentale) by Gustave Flaubert: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★: Gustave Flaubert truly has a special place in my heart: last year, his masterpiece, Madame Bovary figured in my post Top 10 Books To Read In 2017 and now this magnificent oeuvre is here, that is in fact one of the most influential French novels (and next year another one of his novels will most probably feature again on this blog). In this book, you still get to savor Flaubert’s singular, precise and researched writing style, but that, of course, still verges on poetry, and follow Frédéric, a young man who discovers the world of the nineteenth century, a world of coup de foudres and of political turbulence during the French revolution of 1848 (caution: may cause dependency). 

⑥ On beauty by Zadie Smith: ★ ★ ★ ★: Zadie Smith being one of my favorite authors, I was expecting quite a lot from this novel. But it didn’t disappoint. In this novel, we follow the university professor Howard Belsey whose oldest son falls in love with Howard's ennemy's daughter. This book is about the collision of academia, race, death, art, humor, growing up and falling out of love. The characters are witty, complicated and flawed. Also, the novel is written in an approachable writing style. Moreover, considering that On Beauty is an imitation of E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End, it is very interesting to read the latter alongside. 

⑦ In Cold Blood by Truman Capote: ★ ★ ★ ★: So, to start off, a little anecdote: I came home from school and, like usual, in the bus, I decided to read. Yet, a disaster had arrived: this book, In Cold Blood was not abiding in my backpack. I frantically emptied the bag, searching its very depths- to be confronted with an emptiness that was paralleled in my heart. I arrived home and, completely ripped apart, started violently crying. When my friend texted me in the middle of the night to inform me that she had in fact found the book, I cavorted about frantically for a good half an hour. That’s how good the novel is. This “non-fiction novel” written in an ever so mellifluous writing style recalls in great detail the famous quadruple Clutter family murder in the 1950s in Kansas yet, at the same time, symbolizes the “American dream” being shattered. Literature at its very best.

⑧ Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks: ★ ★ ★ ★: This book is one of the most beautiful books that I have ever read. A-D-D-I-C-T-I-V-E. Its sensuality perfectly contrasts with the brutality of the war (First World War) and just tears you apart. The novel focuses on the influence of bullets and shells compared to the influence of love on the human body, all of this executed in a beautifully written manner. Notwithstanding this, I was disappointed by the third section of the novel and I have a difficult time understanding its purpose. Still passionate and absolutely devastating.

⑨ A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★:  This novel isn’t good, isn’t beautiful, isn’t “well written”: it’s shattering. It makes you think. Already, just… the title. A Clockwork Orange. Isn’t it captivating? I am planning on working on this novel for this blog since it is one of the most breathtaking books I have ever read. I had a hard time getting hooked to it at first since it is written in Nadsat, a mixture of Russian and English (but persevere: you’ll be oddy knocky at first but if you filly around you’ll get the klootch). I can confidently declare that it is a linguistic and literary masterpiece. The book isn’t spoken about enough, shadowed by Kubrick’s (still genial) cinematographic interpretation. If you do not know that it is about, in short, in a dystopic future where chaos reigns, Alex, a delinquent, drinks drugged milk with his droogies in order to commit horrible crimes- until the tables turn (yeah, I know, it’s a little weird). But, if you’re looking for a “light reading”, this isn’t the right book for you even though I highly recommend you to read this at least once in your lifetime.

⑩ Angela’s ashes by Frank McCourt: ★ ★ ★ ★: A poignant novel about the Irish migration to America in the beginning of the 20^th century. This autobiography deals with the pits of poverty seen through the innocent and naïve eyes of a child but also with the hypocrisy of the world that surrounds us. I must note that this is also an opportunity to learn more about the Irish culture. A must-read, yet keep a tissue box at your disposition while reading.

So that is it for today’s post! I hope that you enjoyed it and that you will read some of these books in 2018. Please go check out my poetry blog in the sidebar! I wish you have a great new year full of great new reads! Until next time! (´ヘ｀;)

Margaux Emmanuel © 2017