We take a look back at our reading life in 2018: our challenges, our wins, and our favorite books of the year. We’d love to hear your favorite books of the year!

• Fiction
• Sarah: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
• Abby: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
• Non-fiction
• Sarah: Louise Penny’s Gamache series, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Outdoor Design by Charles Montgomery and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
• Abby: Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy
• Most enjoyable
• Sarah: Crazy Rich Asians trilogy and From Twinkle With Love by Sandhya Menon
• The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang and Hamilton’s Battalion: A Trio of Romances by Rose Lerner, Courtney Milan, and Alyssa Cole
• Memoir
• Sarah: Educated by Tara Westover, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown, and When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrice Khan-Cullors
• Abby: We’re Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True by Gabrielle Union and Everything Happens For a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler
• Ones that missed the mark for us
• Sarah: Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and the Darker Shade of Magic series by V. E. Schwab
• Abby: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
• Looking forward to in 2019
• Sarah: Re-reading Harry Potter
• Abby: Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny, Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Too by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish, and Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne

Life lately

Sarah reports back on her cold weather camping adventure.

Abby got to see Hamilton!

Reading lately

Sarah read There, There by Tommy Orange and Abby read the follow-up to the All Souls Triology: Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness.

Eating lately

Abby made a shepherd’s pie with her Thanksgiving leftovers.

Sarah made these brownies after a cookie dough disaster.

If you’d like to join in the conversation, please leave us a comment on our show notes, email us at [email protected], or find us on Instagram @friendlierpodcast. Thanks for listening!

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