Whew. What a year. As 2018 slips into the rear-view mirror, on behalf of Lone Star Literary Life, I would like to say thank you to all of the authors who have written books about our state or set in our state, but I’d like to pay special recognition to my favorite Texas books of 2018.

I read and review dozens of books set in Texas or written about Texas each year. This year’s selections reflect the diversity, tastes, and range of the state and its readers, with settings from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods, from the Gulf Coast to the Chihuahua Desert. The twenty authors include twelve men and eight women, ranging in age from thirty-six to seventy-one; their subjects are many and varied, including history, politics, memoir, medicine, weather, art, immigration, families, criminals, victims, grief, bliss, growing up, and growing old.

Here’s my favorite fiction and nonfiction of 2018, with publishers’ descriptions and links to Lone Star Literary Life’s reviews and interviews, in no particular order, though if my arm were twisted, I’d tell you my favorite novel this year is Oliver Loving (Flatiron Books) by Stefan Merrill Block and my favorite nonfiction is Beautiful Country Burn Again: Democracy, Rebellion, and Revolution (Ecco Books) by Ben Fountain.

Let the argument — ahem, I mean spirited discussion — begin!