Year-End Lists

Charles Bramesco: Top 15 Films of 2018, as published by The A.V. Club

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2017]

1. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
2. Mandy
   Panos Cosmatos
3. Cam
   Daniel Goldhaber
4. Madeline’s Madeline
   Josephine Decker
5. Let the Corpses Tan
   Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani
6. Support the Girls
   Andrew Bujalski
7. Vox Lux
   Brady Corbet
8. BlacKkKlansman
   Spike Lee
9. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
10. Isle of Dogs
    Wes Anderson
11. If Beale Street Could Talk
    Barry Jenkins
12. Cold War
    Pawel Pawlikowski
13. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
    Joel & Ethan Coen
14. Suspiria
    Luca Guadagnino
15. Shoplifters
    Hirokazu Kore-eda

This list contributes to:

• A.V. Club: Best 25 Films of 2018

The San Francisco Chronicle: 100 Recommended Books of 2018

[see also Favorite Books of 2022 • Top 10 Books of 2018 • 100 Recommended Books of 2016 • Top 10 Books of 2016 • Top 10 Books of 2015]

Nonfiction

• Anne Frank's Diary

  The Graphic Adaptation
  Ari Folman (adapter)
• Arthur Ashe

  A Life
  Raymond Arsenault
• Bad Blood

  Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
  John Carreyrou
• Becoming
  Michelle Obama
• Belonging

  A German Reckons with History and Home
  Nora Krug
• The Billionaire Raj

  A Journey Through India's New Gilded Age
  James Crabtree
• Boom Town

  The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, Its Chaotic Founding, Its Apocalyptic Weather, Its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-Class Metropolis
  Sam Anderson
• Born to Be Posthumous

  The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey
  Mark Dery
• Broad Band

  The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet
  Claire L. Evans
• The Browns of California

  The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation
  Miriam Pawel
• Bruce Lee

  A Life
  Matthew Polly
• Call Them by Their True Names

  American Crises (and Essays)
  Rebecca Solnit
• Calypso
  David Sedaris
• No Immediate Danger

  Volume One of Carbon Ideologies
  William T. Vollmann
• No Good Alternative

  Volume Two of Carbon Ideologies
  William T. Vollmann
• Carleton Watkins

  Making the West American
  Tyler Green
• The Death of Truth

  Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump
  Michiko Kakutani
• Educated
  Tara Westover
• Empire of Guns

  The Violent Making of the Industrial Revolution
  Priya Satia
• The End of the End of the Earth
  Jonathan Franzen
• Essential Essays

  Culture, Politics, and the Art of Poetry
  Adrienne Rich
• Evolution of Desire

  A Life of René Girard
  Cynthia L Haven
• Fear

  Trump in the White House
  Bob Woodward
• Feel Free
  Zadie Smith
• The Fifth Risk
  Michael Lewis
• The Good Neighbor

  The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
  Maxwell King
• Harvey Milk

  His Lives and Death
  Lillian Faderman
• Heartland

  A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth
  Sarah Smarsh
• Hippie Food

  How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat
  Jonathan Kauffman
• How to Change Your Mind

  What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
  Michael Pollan
• Hunting the Truth

  Memoirs of Beate and Serge Klarsfeld
  Beate Klarsfeld and Serge Klarsfeld
• I Will Be Complete
  Glen David Gold
• Inseparable

  The Original Siamese Twins and Their Rendezvous with American History
  Yunte Huang
• The Last Cowboys

  A Pioneer Family in the New West
  John Branch
• The Last Englishmen

  Love, War, and the End of Empire
  Deborah Baker
• Lessons from a Dark Time and Other Essays
  Adam Hochschild
• The Library Book
  Susan Orlean
• The Line Becomes a River

  Dispatches from the Border
  Francisco Cantú
• Loaded

  A Disarming History of the Second Amendment
  Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
• The Monarchy of Fear

  A Philosopher Looks at Our Political Crisis
  Martha C. Nussbaum
• The Monk of Mokha
  Dave Eggers
• Old In Art School

  A Memoir of Starting Over
  Nell Painter
• Our Story

  A Memoir of Love and Life in China
  Rao Pingru
• Patriot Number One

  American Dreams in Chinatown
  Lauren Hilgers
• Pogrom

  Kishinev and the Tilt of History
  Steven J. Zipperstein
• The Poisoned City

  Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy
  Anna Clark
• Reader, Come Home

  The Reading Brain in a Digital World
  Maryanne Wolf
• The Real Lolita

  The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
  Sarah Weinman
• Retablos

  Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border
  Octavio Solis
• Robin
  Dave Itzkoff
• Sharp
  Michelle Dean
• Trumpocracy

  The Corruption of the American Republic
  David Frum
• Valley of Genius

  The Uncensored History of Silicon Valley
  Adam Fisher
• We the Corporations

  How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights
  Adam Winkler
• What Are We Doing Here?
  Marilynne Robinson
• The White Darkness
  David Grann

Fiction and Poetry

• America Is Not the Heart
  Elaine Castillo
• An American Marriage
  Tayari Jones
• Awayland
  Ramona Ausubel
• Be With
  Forrest Gander
• Belly Up
  Rita Bullwinkel
• Brass
  Xhenet Aliu
• Come with Me
  Helen Schulman
• The Ensemble
  Aja Gabel
• Evening in Paradise
  Lucia Berlin
• Extra Hidden Life, among the Days
  Brenda Hillman
• The Female Persuasion
  Meg Wolitzer
• Fire Sermon
  Jamie Quatro
• Florida
  Lauren Groff
• French Exit
  Patrick deWitt
• Friday Black
  Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Fruit of the Drunken Tree
  Ingrid Rojas Contreras
• Godsend
  John Wray
• The Golden State
  Lydia Kiesling
• The Great Believers
  Rebecca Makkai
• Gun Love
  Jennifer Clement
• History of Violence
  Édouard Louis
• The House of Broken Angels
  Luis Alberto Urrea
• The Incendiaries
  R.O. Kwon
• Killing Commendatore
  Haruki Murakami
• Kudos
  Rachel Cusk
• Last Stories
  William Trevor
• Motherhood
  Sheila Heti
• My Ex-Life
  Stephen McCauley
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Oceanic
  Aimee Nezhukumatathil
• The Only Story
  Julian Barnes
• The Overstory
  Richard Powers
• The Sadness of Beautiful Things
  Simon Van Booy
• semiautomatic
  Evie Shockley
• The Shape of the Ruins
  Juan Gabriel Vásquez
• A Shout in the Ruins
  Kevin Powers
• Some Trick

  Thirteen Stories
  Helen DeWitt
• The Sparsholt Affair
  Alan Hollinghurst
• Transcription
  Kate Atkinson
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles
  Hiro Arikawa
• Unsheltered
  Barbara Kingsolver
• Wade in the Water
  Tracy K. Smith
• Washington Black
  Esi Edugyan
• White Houses
  Amy Bloom
• You Think It, I'll Say It
  Curtis Sittenfeld

The San Francisco Chronicle: Top 10 Books of 2018

[see also Favorite Books of 2022 • 100 Recommended Books of 2018 • 100 Recommended Books of 2016 • Top 10 Books of 2016 • Top 10 Books of 2015]

Fiction

• Lake Success
  Gary Shteyngart
• The Mars Room
  Rachel Kushner
• There There
  Tommy Orange
• The Winter Soldier
  Daniel Mason
• Your Duck Is My Duck
  Deborah Eisenberg

Nonfiction

• American Prison

  A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment
  Shane Bauer
• Dopesick

  Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America
  Beth Macy
• Frederick Douglass

  Prophet of Freedom
  David W. Blight
• Heavy

  An American Memoir
  Kiese Laymon
• Small Fry
  Lisa Brennan-Jobs

The A.V. Club: Best 25 Films of 2018

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Burning
   Lee Chang-dong
2. Support the Girls
   Andrew Bujalski
3. Cold War
   Pawel Pawlikowski
4. First Reformed
   Paul Schrader
5. Eighth Grade
   Bo Burnham
6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
   Joel & Ethan Coen
7. Roma
   Alfonso Cuaron
8. First Man
   Damien Chazelle
9. You Were Never Really Here
   Lynne Ramsay
10. The Other Side of the Wind
    Orson Welles
11. If Beale Street Could Talk
    Barry Jenkins
12. Thoroughbreds
    Cory Finley
13. BlacKkKlansman
    Spike Lee
14. Leave No Trace
    Debra Granik
15. The Favourite
    Yorgos Lanthimos
16. Hereditary
    Ari Aster
17. Isle of Dogs
    Wes Anderson
18. Lean On Pete
    Andrew Haigh
19. Shoplifters
    Hirokazu Kore-eda
20. Private Life
    Tamara Jenkins
21. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
    Marielle Heller
22. Madeline’s Madeline
    Josephine Decker
23. Shirkers
    Sandi Tan
24. A Bread Factory
    Patrick Wang
25. Minding the Gap
    Bing Liu

This list summarizes other lists, including these:

• A.V. Club: A.A. Dowd: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Allison Shoemaker: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Charles Bramesco: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Jesse Hassenger: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Katie Rife: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Lawrence Garcia: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Mike D’Angelo: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Noel Murray: Top 15 Films of 2018
• A.V. Club: Vikram Murthi: Top 15 Films of 2018

Little White Lies: 25 Best TV Shows of 2018

[see also 2022 • 2021 • 2019]

1. The Americans
2. Killing Eve
3. Atlanta
4. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
5. Homecoming
6. Barry
7. Sharp Objects
8. Succession
9. The Good Fight
10. Glow
11. The Deuce
12. Big Mouth
13. Jane the Virgin
14. Casual
15. Queer Eye
16. American Vandal
17. The Good Place
18. Maniac
19. Derry Girls
20. The Handmaid’s Tale
21. The Haunting of Hill House
22. The Bridge
23. Bodyguard
24. Doctor Who
25. Daredevil

The Wild Honey Pie: Top 30 Albums of 2018

[see also 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2017 • 2016]

1. Be the Cowboy
   Mitski
2. Ruins
   First Aid Kit
3. boygenius
   boygenius
4. Dirty Computer
   Janelle Monáe
5. On Hold
   Fenne Lily
6. Historian
   Lucy Dacus
7. Thank You for Today
   Death Cab for Cutie
8. Clean
   Soccer Mommy
9. Sweetener
   Ariana Grande
10. I Need to Start a Garden
    Haley Heynderickx
11. The Rabbit Hole
    Ashe
12. Fine But Dying
    Liza Anne
13. Skylight
    Pinegrove
14. abysskiss
    Adrianne Lenker
15. I Wasn't Only Thinking About You...
    Oh Pep!
16. Negro Swan
    Blood Orange
17. Premonitions
    Miya Folick
18. Yolk in the Fur
    Wild Pink
19. Lush
    Snail Mail
20. Future Me Hates Me
    The Beths
21. so sad so sexy
    Lykke Li
22. Bark Your Head Off, Dog
    Hop Along
23. Still Run
    Wet
24. God’s Favorite Customer
    Father John Misty
25. High As Hope
    Florence + The Machine
26. A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
    The 1975
27. Blood Type
    Cautious Clay
28. On the Corner Where You Live
    The Paper Kites
29. Foxwarren
    Foxwarren
30. C’est La Vie
    Phosphorescent

Sarah Larson: Best Podcasts of 2018, as published by The New Yorker

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019]

1. In the Dark
2. Slow Burn
3. Cocaine & Rhinestones
4. Articles of Interest
5. Trump, Inc.
6. Serial
7. Caliphate
8. The Promise
9. Caught
10. Bear Brook

Earbuddy: 50 Best Albums of 2018

[see also 2017]

1. Wide Awake!
   Parquet Courts
2. Daytona
   Pusha T
3. Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
   Sophie
4. Be the Cowboy
   Mitski
5. I’m All Ears
   Let’s Eat Grandma
6. Kids See Ghosts
   Kids See Ghosts
7. Safe in the Hands of Love
   Yves Tumor
8. Post-
   Jeff Rosenstock
9. Beyondless
   Iceage
10. Last Building Burning
    Cloud Nothings
11. Capture the Flag
    War on Women
12. Now Only
    Mount Eerie
13. Historian
    Lucy Dacus
14. In a Poem Unlimited
    U.S. Girls
15. Collapse
    Aphex Twin
16. Year of the Snitch
    Death Grips
17. Singularity
    Jon Hopkins
18. Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
    Deafheaven
19. How to Socialise & Make Friends
    Camp Cope
20. Isolation
    Kali Uchis
21. Springtime and Blind
    Fiddlehead
22. Through a Wall
    Single Mothers
23. IRISIRI
    Eartheater
24. Dose Your Dreams
    Fucked Up
25. Compro
    Skee Mask
26. Room 25
    Noname
27. 7
    Beach House
28. Chime
    Dessa
29. Hive Mind
    The Internet
30. Us
    Empress Of
31. Aviary
    Julia Holter
32. Bark Your Head Off, Dog
    Hop Along
33. Honey
    Robyn
34. Hell-On
    Neko Case
35. At Weddings
    Tomberlin
36. soil
    serpentwithfeet
37. God’s Favorite Customer
    Father John Misty
38. Brighter Wounds
    Son Lux
39. I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer.
    The Body
40. Freedom’s Goblin
    Ty Segall
41. Moon 2
    Ava Luna
42. Go to School
    The Lemon Twigs
43. Room Inside the World
    Ought
44. What a Time to Be Alive
    Superchunk
45. Invasion of Privacy
    Cardi B
46. Family Portrait
    Ross from Friends
47. Mulberry Violence
    Trevor Powers
48. Bloom
    Troye Sivan
49. Endless Scroll
    Bodega
50. There is a Presence Here
    Many Rooms

NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour: Best TV Shows of 2018

[see also 2019]

• The Americans
• Barry
• Big Mouth
• The Chi
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
• The Good Place
• Homecoming
• Killing Eve
• The Kominsky Method
• Legion
• One Day at a Time
• Pose
• Queer Eye
• Shut Up and Dribble
• A Very English Scandal
• Vida

Mark Richardson: Best Music of 2018, as published by The Wall Street Journal

• Universal Beings
  Makaya McCraven
• Double Negative
  Low
• WARM
  Jeff Tweedy
• Twin Fantasy
  Car Seat Headrest
• Lush
  Snail Mail
• Whack World
  Tierra Whack
• Room 25
  Noname
• Daytona
  Pusha T
• Golden Hour
  Kacey Musgraves
• Knock Knock
  DJ Koze
• Collapse
  Aphex Twin
• Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides
  Sophie