December 20, 2018

Your Best Posts of 2018 | A Master List of the Posts Bloggers Loved Writing this Year



The end of the year is a time of self-reflection. This year, instead of just staring into a mirror and lamenting about all of the goals I never achieved and promises that I broke to myself, I thought I would celebrate the achievements of the blogging community.

 So, I went to Twitter and asked for your favorite posts that you wrote this year, whether it was a review that you are proud of or a thoughtful discussion that didn't get as much love as you wanted. There is a whole spectrum of posts in this list with all kinds of book bloggers lending their favorite posts of 2018. 

 I learned a lot from this list and found quite a few new bloggers. Sometimes, the posts that we are the most proud of aren't the ones with the most comments, the most views, or the most shares on social media. Pride doesn't have to equate to statistics. The heart writes what the heart writes, whether or not it goes viral. That being said, I hope this master list of posts can help spread some love to the posts we are most proud of this year.
*I also included some quotes from random posts to further entice you to check out these posts and their discussions.

Discussions

Like Herding Cats Blog fangirled about Harry Potter and how you can never be too old for the magic of the Wizarding World

Emily, Amber and Jessica @ The Book Bratz go to BEA/Book Con for the first time! I loved living vicariously through their post.
"This was the first year that all three of us were able to attend BookExpo, and it was honestly so incredible that I'm still struggling to find the right words for it."
Chloe @ It's YA Girl remembered her escapades at BookCon as her favorite experience of the year

Wendle @ Marvel at Words tells us why short stories are just as good as long stories (also known as novels)

Jo @ Book Lovers Blog argues that there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure and why everyone should read whatever they want
"When you love something, you should love it openly and joyfully and share that love with other people, you shouldn’t feel you can only admit it by saying, “it’s a guilty pleasure”."
Claire @ Clairefy shares her personal perspective on why Asian representation matters to her

Taasia @ Librae Paints Pages wrote about her issues with J.K. Rowling's POC representation

Fanna @ Fannatality laments the three stages of a yearly reading goal (one topic which I can really relate to!)

Ash @ Ink Trails started a new post series that dives deep into a series, and she started with one of her favorites, the Grishaverse

Anushka @ Living in Pages gave a warning about what to expect when borrowing books from book lovers

Jaz @ Travels in Fiction teamed up with some friends to talk about mental health during Mental Health Awareness Week
"Everyone is different. There is no uniform solution for how people deal with things. We all have our own situations and individual experiences with mental health and how we cope when we are having a bad mental health day...I wanted to reach out to as many people as possible and try to gather a broad range of advice to show how individual mental health is and the variety of ways people cope on a day to day basis."
Veronika @ The Regal Critiques asks a very important question: do we judge female characters too harshly?
"And listen, we can all love a great villain, and even look for excuses for them - it is in everyone's right which characters they support. My question is - why are there so many mainstream male villains and anti-heroes, who are getting appreciation? Obviously, female villains exist - but they are rarely (if ever) loved the same way, why is that?"
Lists

Somya @ Bookaholic Meets Finance Aficionado travels across the pond with liast of romance books with British charm

Kerys @ The Everlasting Library calls out readers for crimes that every bookworm commits
"This is actually a really major crime. Some of you might be claiming to be innocent but honestly, we’ve all done this at one point or other. You might have done it as a smol pineapple."
You have to read the post to see what crime Kerys is talking about!

 Esmee @ Ezzie's Bookshelf shares 11 tips to get free and cheap books without pirating

Noura @ The Perks of Being Noura gathered a list of Female Authors of Color with reviews from bloggers around the community (including yours truly!)

Kay @ It's a Book Life created a new feature on her blog to find new reads! She calls them a list of "read-a-likes", and this one lists books for those who loved The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Rachel @ Never Enough Novels lists her favorite books of 2018 (so far)

Allison @ Mind Joggle revisited a popular book with a list of things you didn't know about A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Hannah @ Books, Life, and other Oddities featured a list of her top female STEM characters (representing those ladies in the sciences!)
"This is a topic very close to my heart as I’m a female computer scientist and appear to be a bit of a minority in my field. I always get a little over-excited when I read a book and there’s a girl interested in machines, or computers or maths or anything because yay for girls in STEM!"
Aoife @ Pretty Purple Polka Dots wants you to learn from her wisdom with her list of things she wished she knew before starting a book blog

Saar @ Walking Through the Pages made a helpful list of gateway books into her favorite genres (if you are looking to try a new genre, definitely check it out!)

Stephanie @ The Secret Reader wrote a letter listing some of her favorite book bloggers

Luana @ Book Storm lists all of the wonderful ways you could die as a book worm (which is hilarious and all you will ever need to know about death by books)

Imi @ Imi Reviews Books lists some socially important millennial fiction
April @ The Vagaries of Us shares her list of top book boyfriends (including quite a few adult books too)

Emma @ A Cornish Geek lists books for feminists of all ages

"I’ve become more aware of the gender stereotypes enforced on children and how women are treated differently as they get older; regardless of whether you’re a working mum, stay-at-home mum, choose not to have children, put your career first, put your family first – everyone has an opinion and you can’t do right for doing wrong... It’s time that we empower women to make the right choices for them and also provide children with positive female role models."

Reviews

Tiffany @ Bookish Tiffany reviews The Wicked King by Holly Black 

Roberta @ Offbeat YA reviews her first ever physical ARC of The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan, a underrated read that I rather liked too.
"In a world where we're constantly told we need to be seen in order to be real, where talent shows have distorted our perception of inner calling, we all need stories like this, where being seen is just a necessary consequence, not the aim all along. Also, stories in which your passion for something is the first step to go out there and own a place in the real world."
Lauren @ Reading, Writing, and Me reviewed Imagine Us Happy by Jennifer Yu

Elizabeth @ Before We Go Blog reviewed a classic graphic novel, Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman (The Sandman #1)

Cody @ A Thin Slice of Anxiety wrote a review of non-fiction book Night Comes to the Cumberlands: A Biography of a Depressed Area by Harry M. Caudill

Amara Lynn @ FictionCove wrote her first #ownvoices review for Help Wanted by J. Emery

Manzar @ It's Manzar reviewed Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, one of my personal favorite books of the year

Light of the Bookworm posted a review (and beautiful pictures) of The Family Tree by Mal Peet

Rachel @ Rachel Read It puts a scary twist on the winter season with her dual review of The Breathing Method by Stephen King and Ghost Story by Peter Straub

Jake @ Dystopian Shuffle posted his review of The Reader of Acheron by Walter Rhein, (it's also the first book that an author directly asked him to review!)

Millie @ Millie Rose Reads reviewed Normal People by Sally Rooney, featuring discussions about mental health and the struggles of social pressures
"This story cleverly addresses mental health and social divides, and painfully represents how mean kids can be in school in pursuit of normality. Being different is undesirable, even frightening to some. But it's normal not to be normal, and this novel demonstrates that it is the pressure of obtaining and sustaining the perceived social standard of normality that is what is really dangerous."
Caitlin @ Turning Pages reviewed My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

Jenn @ Coffeehouse Read reviewed The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien (plus she is new to the book blogging community and could use some friends!)

Odette @ I Won't Say I'm in Love with Reading reviewed Splintered by A. G. Howard

A @ Avid Reader Diary reviewed a book that made her cry her eyes out (in a good way), The Last Wish of Sasha Cade by Cheyanne Young
"The Last Wish of Sasha Cade is a book that will make you treasure more your friendship with other people, your relationship with your family, and quite surprisingly, yourself."
Jenn @ Bound to Writing wrote a review of The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas for her banned book club

How Tos

Amanda @ Devouring Books explained the intimidating process of getting ARCs
https://devouringbooks2017.wordpress.com/2018/10/03/how-to-get-arcs-a-guide/

Briana @ Pages Unbound divulges her secrets of how to rock Bookstagram on a budget
"Personally, I don’t begrudge people who have thousands of followers on Bookstagram because they seem to have a lot of stuff; it seems perfectly reasonable that their accounts would be popular by virtue of the fact that what they photograph is rare.  We love to look because we don’t own 5000 color-coordinated books or 200 Funkos, but it’s really fun to see someone who does. That said, I don’t think you need to spend a lot of money to take great pictures for your own account."
Kristin @ Seven Days a Week shares how to fix some common writing mistakes

Lena @ Lena's Notebook shares how to make the most of your publishing internship and work experience
"Your placement can be daunting, especially for introverts and naturally quiet people. So if you can’t do all of the above in your first placement – just at least try to wiggle yourself out of your comfort zone and try something new each day."
Other


Kaleena @ Reader Voracious started a series on her blog to highlight book bloggers outside of the United States and bring some perspective to the lives of international bloggers

Rev Rebecca @ Rev Rebecca Writes reviewed Pride, Prejudice, and Personal Statements, including an interview with the author, Mary Pagones

Jordan @ The Heart of a Book Blogger went on a tour of Manhattan, Paris, and Barcelona with Isla and the Happily Ever After
(in short, she visited places from the book and this is the coolest thing ever!)

Derbyshire Duckie shared her new bookish Christmas tradition
"I enjoy giving new and old books alike. Charity Shops, second hand bookshops, independents and online stores all benefit from my book buying addiction. When I find a book for someone that I know is perfect, it doesn't matter whether it has been read previously. In fact I believe a used book holds more stories than the one written inside."
Sohini @ Pen and Paper scientifically diagrams the anatomy of her bookshelf

Marina @ Bardic Impulses recounts some of her favorite stories from authors at BookCon 2018

Sumedha @ The Wordy Habitat reviewed the BTS Burn the Stage Experience (I am not personally into KPOP, but I love the work and passion in this post!)

Here is the link to the Twitter thread if you want to find some bloggers to follow! 
What was your favorite post that you wrote in 2018? What was the best post that you read? What were your favorite kinds of posts to read this year? Did you discover some new bloggers from my list? (If not, please look again!)

at

No comments:

Post a Comment