Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Eight best books of 2013

My favorite books of 2013 highlight the diversity of my reading this past year. Not all of them are THE BEST BOOKS I EVER READ OMG! types, but all of them were wonderful, thought-provoking reads that I'd happily recommend. Actually, I already have. My students got a sneak peek at this list before they left for winter break.

In the order I read them, here's the best books of 2013:

1. The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (my review here)
2. The Broken Lands by Kate Milford (my review here)
3. The Penderwicks on Gardam Street and The Penderwicks at Pointe Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall (my very brief review here)
4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (my review here)
5. The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow (Unfortunately, my only review comes from Twitter!):
6. Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going (my review here)
7. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler (my review here)
8. Orleans by Sherri L. Smith (my review here)

And because I love stats, that's...

1 Dystopian / Futuristic
3 Contemporary Realistic
1 Non-Fiction / Historical
2 Fantasy
2 Historical Fiction
2 Adult
3 Authors or main characters of color
2 Middle Grade
4 Young Adult

Click here to read the statistics on all of my 2013 reading.

And while there's a lot of diversity in this list, there's one thing most of these books have in common: incredible settings, from London (The Rook), to Brooklyn (The Broken Lands), to Berlin (The Berlin Boxing Club), to a futuristic New Orleans (Orleans).

I feel I should offer a quick note about The Penderwicks... I discovered these books two years ago, after a friend who didn't get on with them handed me the first one, and ever since I've been savoring them one by one. I kept avoiding reviewing them, or talking much about them, because on the surface they seem so simple. They remind me a lot of books I read as a child. But finally, upon reading Point Mouette, I couldn't keep quiet any longer. These books are AMAZING, so sweet, happy, and comforting, perfect for either a sick day or a summer day, or anytime really.

What are your best reads of 2013?

Oh, and I don't know when I'll be back on the blog, so Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and a very happy 2014!

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing your "best of" list, Anne. I haven't read any of these yet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to share some good titles, Ruth! Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I want to add a belated endorsement for the Penderwicks, and a belated Happy New Year, Anne.

    ReplyDelete

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