The Best Books I’ve Read in 2018...

Today, I’m delving into a list of books I enjoyed this year. The nonfiction and fiction included on my list aren’t determined by the year they came out but by when I read them. And because of the sheer volume of them—plus the fact that there are existing reviews for the majority of them or there will be in the near future—I won’t be talking about each one individually but will instead link to the corresponding posts....

2018 wasn’t without its occasionally reading slumps, but I still had a relatively good year. From fiction to nonfiction, to magazines and comics and poetry, I read a lot of different books. And while there were some reads that weren’t my cup of tea, most of the books I picked up were ones I ended up enjoying. To start out, I’m going to list the best fiction I read this year....

Fiction...

• Mem by Bethany C. Morrow

• The Masked City and The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman

• The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory 

• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

• The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (My review for this one will be posted closer to the release date. And if you're a fan of the Winternight Trilogy, then get excited, because The Winter of the Witch is a fantastic conclusion to the series...)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

• Envy of Angels Matt Wallace

• The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

• The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

• Bruja Born by Zoraida Córdova

• Heroine Complex, Heroine Worship, and Heroine's Journey by Sarah Kuhn

• Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

• Seafire by Natalie C. Parker

• Star-Touched Stories by Roshani Chokshi

• The Lost Carousel of Provence by Juliet Blackwell

• Hitting the Books by Jenn Mckinlay

• Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

• Ancillary Sword & Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

• The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross (There's no review for this one right now. My thoughts about it will be up on the blog closer to the release date. All I'll say right now is: The Beast's Heart was a solid beauty and the beast retelling....)

Nonfiction...

Of course, on top of the fiction favorites from this year, I also read some nonfiction worth noting here as well...

• Putting the Science in Fiction edited by Dan Koboldt

• Farming and the Food Supply;Undercover Operations; & American Art Deco

• Art Deco  by Victoria Charles and Carl H. Klaus

• How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price 

• Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker

And, those were the books I read and enjoyed in 2018. Up next, I’m going to be talking about movies and TV shows I watched this year for part three of the “best of” posts. What were some of the best books you read in 2018?

Hiatus Notice...

December is almost over, so that means it’s time for our extended break from blogging. There are posts already scheduled and ready to go live on the blog. We’ll still be around to answer comments and on social media like twitter and Instagram. That being said, we’ll mostly be offline and won’t be participating in any weekly memes. We’ll see everyone in the New Year!

Merry Christmas: Happy Holidays from Our Thoughts Precisely....

Merry Christmas! Happy holidays from Our Thoughts Precisely.  We hope everyone has a lovely day!

Music Monday (68): Pentatonix, Mariah Carey, Charlotte Church, and Whitney Houston

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Christmas is tomorrow. The year is almost over. And with this last Music Monday, I'm done with weekly memes until 2019. So, my first pick is Pentatonix’s cover of Sweater Weather. I still like the original version of the song by The Neighborhood, but I have to admit Pentatonix's cover of it is very catchy and I like what they did to adjust it their style...

And because today is Christmas Eve, my second pick is Joy to the World by Mariah Carey. Even though Carey has a second holiday music album, the first one, Merry Christmas, will always be my favorite. And this version of Joy to the World is awesome….

Adri: My pick for this Music Monday is Dream a Dream by Charlotte Church featuring Billy Gilman. I first enjoyed this song from the iTunes Holiday Sampler. Eventually, I forgot about it, only finding it again after looking through my music library.

Andrea: I've been so busy lately, but I've still made time to listen to great Christmas music. One of the songs on my current playlist is One Wish (For Christmas) by Whitney Houston....

What are you listening to this week?

The Best Music I’ve Listened To in 2018...

It’s that time of year again. 2018 flew by and before I knew it, it was time to sit down and write some posts about the best books, movies, TV shows, and music that I liked. To make this manageable, I’m breaking it down into a section for books, a section for movies/TV shows, and a section for music respectively. Honestly, it gives me an excuse to use the year-specific post graphic a few more times before changing it to the new one. 

As the title of this post suggests, I’m going start with a list some of the music I enjoyed listening to in 2018. 2018 was a good year for music. A lot of long awaited albums finally came out such as Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe, Invasion of Privacy by Cardi B, and Twenty One Pilots follow-up to Blurryface, Trench. But I also found myself seeking out albums that came out in 2017 as well as others that were released as far back as 2015. So, here is a list of my  favorite albums, songs, and EPs… 

Note: I’m not limiting the albums/songs/EP s by the year they were released, and instead their inclusion is determined by if I happened to come across them in 2018….

• Primal Heart by Kimbra: Primal Heart is probably the album that most surprised me. Over the years, I’ve listened to Kimbra off and on and had a list of favorite songs by her. So, I was ecstatic to learn that she had new music coming out in 2018. And after listening to the songs released prior to the rest of the album, the hype was real. Honestly, Primal Heart is such a gem. It’s one of the few albums where I can say that I love every song from it. 

• Christmas is Here! By Pentatonix: Its holiday music by Pentatonix right on time for December. From classic holiday songs, to tracks featuring Kelly Clarkson and Maren Morris, and covers of music from The Nightmare Before Christmas, there’s a lot to love about this album….

• Caution by Mariah Carey: SHE’S BACK. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for Mariah Carey to release another album. I didn’t hear much about Caution until a few days after it was released. I like it. 

• Trench by Twenty One Pilots: While Blurryface will always have a special place in my heart—after all, it’s the album that got me into Twenty One Pilot’s music—there’s no denying how excellent Trench is. The release of the singles of Jumpsuit and Nico and the Niners already had me feeling immensely excited for what else Trench had to offer. And the wait was worth it, because from the lyrics to the sound, I love everything about the album. 

• Back to the Woods by Angel Haze: While Back to the Woods was released in September of 2015, it turned out to be one of the best albums I listened to in 2018. I wrote a post explaining some of the reasons behind why I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it HERE. 

• The Kids are Alright by Chloe x Halle: The Kids are Alright is one album I forgot was coming out this year until I saw it mentioned somewhere. It showcased Chloe and Halle’s vocal capabilities with gems like Hi Lo, Warrior, Babybird, and the titular The Kids Are Alright. As such, it’s one of my favorite studio debuts to come out of 2018. 

• Bittersweet Volume 1 by OSHUN: OSHUN always has such a distinctive sound to their music and Bittersweet Volume 1 is no exception. 

• Every Open Eye and Love is Dead by CHVRCHES: Prior to 2018, I didn’t listen to much music by CHVRCHES. But, then their recent album, Love is Dead, got my attention. And through recommendation, I listened to Every Open Eye. And, I have to admit that I’ve come to really enjoy their style of music. 

So, those are just some of the albums/EPs that I personally enjoyed. Next, I want to quickly list some of the other music I’ve been listening to this year such as work by content creators—like youtubers—as well as other noteworthy singles… 

• Chapter 28 (EP) by Daina 

• Turbo by Nathan Sharp (NateWantsToBattle) 

• God is a Woman by Ariana Grande 

• Django Jane by Janelle Monáe 

• Close by Rae Sremmurd, Swae Lee, Slim Jxmmi featuring Travis Scott 

• All The Stars by Kendrick Lamar and SZA 

• Pills; Masseduction; Sugarboy; and Los Ageless by St. Vincent 

And that’s it for today. Up next, I'm going to talk about the books I read and enjoyed in 2018. What’s some of the music you’ve been listening to this year?