̨ɫ Group Announces Its Best Books of 2018
East Rutherford, N.J., November 23, 2018 – ̨ɫ Group (NYSE: HUD), the leader in North American travel retail, today announced its list of the Best Books of 2018, naming Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover as its Book of the Year. As part of the release of its annual list, ̨ɫ Booksellers, Ink by ̨ɫ, ̨ɫ and ̨ɫ News stores across North America will be highlighting the titles throughout the holiday season, beginning November 27, allowing bookworms and travelers alike to purchase their copy for gifting or to read in-transit while visiting family and friends.
“We’ve hand-selected the Best Books of 2018 to represent titles that our booksellers are connected to most deeply,” said Sara Hinckley, vice president of book buying and promotions at ̨ɫ Group. “The powerful titles selected offer unique insights, ask deep questions, are vastly entertaining and evoke empathy in the reader through diverse and moving perspectives. As a Company that prides itself on being the Traveler’s Best Friend, it is so much fun to share our input with ̨ɫ Group’s larger community of travelers, in hopes more connections are made via great books.”
Voted as the Book of the Year, Educated: A Memoir captures the author’s coming-of-age story and her journey to pursue an education after an unconventional upbringing by a survivalist family leaves her wanting more from life and herself.
“Educated: A Memoir is a beautiful story told without unnecessary frills,” said Sydne Walker, an Atlanta based bookseller. “It will leave you wanting to learn more about a person you’ve never met, as well as inspire you to look at the world from a different perspective.”
The complete list of ̨ɫ Group’s Best Books of 2018 features:
- ̨ɫ Booksellers’ 2018 Book of the Year: Educated: A Memoir - Tara Westover
- Best Fiction: Friday Black - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah; The Only Story - Julian Barnes; The Largesse of the Sea Maiden - Denis Johnson; An American Marriage - Tayari Jones; The Mars Room - Rachel Kushner; The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai; Circe - Madeline Miller; Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata; There There - Tommy Orange; The Overstory - Richard Powers
- Best Nonfiction: The Impostor - Javier Cercas; 3 Kings - Zack Greenburg; 21 Lessons for the 21st Century - Yuval Noah Harari; Twilight of the Gods - Steven Hyden; The Recovering - Leslie Jamison; Heavy - Kiese Laymon; I'll Be Gone in the Dark - Michelle McNamara; The Library Book - Susan Orlean; When - Daniel H. Pink; Educated - Tara Westover
- Best Young Readers: Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi; Louisiana's Way Home - Kate DiCamillo; The Day You Begin - Jacqueline Woodson
Carefully selected by ̨ɫ Group booksellers across the U.S., the Best Books of 2018 includes titles spanning across a variety of categories highlighting the interests of all readers, including Best Fiction, Best Nonfiction, and Best Young Reader. This year’s list was also curated based on a variety of criteria ranging from literary style, innovation and entertainment value to readability, timeliness and treatment of subjects and themes.