Top 10 Books of 2013

Happy New Year, readers!  It's a fresh year, so I'm making a resolution to get back on the blogging bandwagon.  So, what can I tell you about 2013? Well, I read 225 books in total. Yes,

that's a record. Yes, that's ridiculous.  I will be sharing the full list in my next post, for those who are curious.  I can tell you that roughly 158 of them were published in 2013, 42 of them were debut novels, 20 were re-reads, 18 were YA titles, 14 were non-fiction, 14 were trashy underwater fiction, and 9 were short story collections. But who's counting.

Again roughly, my star rankings were as follows: (1) one star, (8) two stars, (36) three stars, (92) four stars, and (87) five stars. (I'm aware that's one short. One book was not rated.)  It was a superlative reading year, obviously. Here, for the purposes of this discussion are my top ten books of the year.  The first two are tied for first place, the rest are in completely random order.  In the cases that I've written a review, I've linked it here.  Other's will hopefully appear on the blog in the weeks to come.



1. The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells - Andrew Sean Greer

1. The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker

Tenth of December - George Saunders

The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer

Maddaddam - Margaret Atwood

The Serpent of Venice - Christopher Moore

& Sons - David Gilbert

The People in the Trees - Hanya Yanagihara

The Circle - Dave Eggers

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena - Anthony Marra


A few additional notes... I generally try to pick books published in the year ended for my top 10

list. I made an exception for Christopher Moore's The Serpent of Venice, which will be released on April 22, 2014. It's as good as anything he's ever written. And I thought I was bad last year, with three Bay Area authors making my top 10 list. This year there are five Bay Area writers! I'm sorry, we just have some wicked talented people in this part of the world.  It's also worth noting that three of the above are debut novels.  Wow.

Winnowing a list of 225 books down to just 10 is pretty awful. I flat out loved all the books above. I loved the 10 honorable mentions below almost as much, and they might have just as easily made the top 10 list were the competition not so brutal.


The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

The Son - Philipp Meyer

Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage - Ann Patchett

A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki

We Need New Names - NoViolet Bulawayo

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

Night Film - Marisha Pessl

The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards - Kristopher Jansma


Tell me, readers, what were your favorite books this year?  Truly, I'd love to know!

Top 10 Books of 2012

 

Let me take this opportunity to offer a belated "Happy New Year!" to my tens of followers. I hope that 2013 is off to a good start for all.

Yes, I have been a bad blogger again. Life has been challenging. Blogging is time-consuming. And that's all I'm going to say about that. I thank you all for sticking with me, and I'll try to do better moving forward. That's what new year's resolutions are for, right?

One of my favorite things about the end of the old year and the beginning of the new one are all the top 10 lists. I have participated by posting a top 10 lists of my favorite books each year. This year was among the very hardest to narrow down due to the sheer number of books I read in 2012. In the end, these were my choices. It is my habit and tradition to only rank my #1 book. All others are listed in the order in which they were read.

1. Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

Gods Without Men by Hari Kunzru

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

In One Person by John Irving

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rivka Brunt

*****

I have to tell you, I have spent the past several days crafting a fantastic blog post. I wrote a paragraph or more on why each book was selected. It had live links to the books, the authors, video I shot, and lots of cover art. I saved it dozens of times along the way, and I was almost finished. It would have been posted tonight. And then it just... disappeared. And only the tinest bit of it was recoverable. I don't know why. I'm fairly sick about it. And I don't have the energy to recreate the effort. So, I'm afraid all you get this year is a list. :-(

Suffice it to say, I cannot recommend these 10 books highly enough.

In brighter news, my next post will list all 202 books I read in 2012.