Here is my 2018 reading list:

1. From Here to Eternity: James Jones–this is a long book about a soldier stationed in Hawaii on the precipice of World War II. It was a good read, but very pulpy–huge focus on boozing, insubordination, and carousing. I’m glad I read it, but I’m glad it’s over. 
2. Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March–Michael and Elizabeth Norman gripping story of The Bataan Death March; see my review here.
3. The Life We Bury–Allen Eskens: a local lawyer debuts as an author in this mystery/thriller about a college student unraveling a 30-year old murder. 
4. The Benedict Option–Rod Dreher: I keep putting off reviewing this book. Dreher’s proposed response to cultural conservatives’ repeated losses? Double-down on orthodoxy instead of abdicating responsibilities to “conservative” Republicans.
5. Beartown–Fredrik Backman: I was attracted to this book because it popped up in every online “best 2017 fiction” search I tried. The story of a Swedish hockey town wrestling with its true identity really resonated with me. My father-in-law grew up in one of Minnesota’s best hockey towns along the Canadian border. Since he moved, the town has struggled economically and shrunk. The mill on the Canadian side of the town recently closed down, and even the high school hockey team’s greatness has diminished in the last two decades. And this state is obsessed with hockey, so I thought a book about the fading small town with a hockey culture would be wonderful. In reading the book, I think the author tried to tackle way too much. Turns out the author used a hockey story to tell a tale of rape culture, the locker room “Bro” culture, and anti-immigrant rhetoric using hockey as the veneer. Indeed, my hometown paper—the ever-liberal Star Tribune—endorsed the book as “so relevant with its ugly locker room banter, bullying, disrespect of immigrants, dismissal of due process and the town’s blame-the-victim attitudes.” The book over-simplifies good and bad. The children are uncomprehendingly cruel to each other. The par For innstance, the regional authority will bring a Hockey Academy to Beartown-if they only win this one last game. However, I will admit that the book is a quick, engrossing read.
6. Lonesome Dove–Larry McMurtry: Classic western novel about cowboys on a cattle drive obsessed with alcohol and “pokes.” Recommended reading (if only for cultural relevancy), but crude.
7. Rich Dad, Poor Day–Robert Kiosaki: “Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
8. Semper Fi–W. E. B. Griffin: Like From Here to Eternity, this is the story of a pre-War service member. Unlike From Here to Eternity, this one featured a Marine and, where From Here to Eternity could be considered a novel,  Semper Fi is one of those cheap, produced-for-the-masses pulpy page-turners
9. The Fellowship of the Ring–J.R.R. Tolkien: “Not all those who wander are lost.”
10. The Alchemist–Paulo Coelho: “[W]hen you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
11. The Richest Man in Babylon–George S. Clason: “Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry the task you set for yourself to fulfillment.”
12. The Two Towers—J.R.R. Tolkien
13. The Power and The Glory—Graham Greene: This story actually started out pretty slow for me, and at one point I completely stopped reading it. I finally managed to dive back in, and I am very glad I did. It’s a good read about a “whisky priest” living in 1930-something Mexico where the state government persecuted and attempted to eradicate the Church. The priest’s very existence is antithetical to the government’s radical socialist policies; he’s one of the last two priests in the state and the only one who did not capitulate to the state’s demands. The priest’s pride ebbs and flows with his condition throughout the story, and one burning source of conflict (his illegitimate daughter) lives on: “He couldn’t say to himself that he wished his sin had never existed, because the sin seemed to him now so important – and he loved the fruit of it.” I recommend anyone read this book.
14. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer–Mark Twain: Childhood favorite I’d forgotten much of. At family Thanksgiving I mentioned that Huckleberry Finn tricked his friends into helping him whitewash the fence. When my family jumped all over me and I couldn’t defend my self at all, I knew it was time to re-read this one. Fun book. Will be great to share with my kids someday.
15. A Canticle for Leibowitz–Walter M. Miller: A post-nuclear holocaust, cross-generational account of a group of monks storing great treasures (knowledge) of the old era (1950s) generation after generation.

Top three: Tears in the Darkness, The Benedict Option, and The Power and the Glory. Benedict Option beats out The Power and the Glory for 2018*.

*I did not consider Lord of the Rings because I failed to finish all three in this calendar year. 

P.S. Here’s the past lists: 2017 and 2015/16. In reviewing past lists, I’m a bit sad at this year’s list. I really need to step up my reading. 2017’s list has four books that might have tied or beat out The Benedict Option had I read them in 2018. 

2019 goals: Fourteen books including wrapping up The Lord of the Rings series and moving into Russian literature (Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamazov). Also add back in a couple biographies.