Books: 2013

In the Woods by Tana French
A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The Fault in our Stars by John Green
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
The Twelve by Justin Cronin
What to Expect Before You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff
Divergent by Veronica Roth
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Naked in Death by J.D. Robb
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman
The Likeness by Tana French
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Wool by Hugh Howey
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Across the Universe by Beth Revis
A Million Suns by Beth Revis
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis
Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts
The Magician King by Lev Grossman
The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen
Black Rose by Nora Roberts
Red Lily by Nora Roberts
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
White Cat by Holly Black
Birthright by Caragh O’Brien
The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Delirium by Lauren Oliver
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Faithful Place by Tana French
Virals by Kathy Reichs
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Looking back on the books I’ve read this year is something I really enjoy, even though it’s hard to believe we’re here already. My reading goal for 2013 was to read 39 books (my average number of books read since I started keeping track back in 2005). I’m happy to say that I squeaked past that goal with 43, largely aided by a week of intense reading on our honeymoon in June, and a hefty audiobook consumption once I went back to a very lengthy commute in September. I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have come close if it hadn’t been for the audiobooks this fall. My side goals were to read one classic that’s new to me (I didn’t do this or even remember it was on my list, honestly) and five novels meant for adults that weren’t mass market fiction. I’m surprised and kinda jazzed to report that I read nine adult fiction books AND two nonfiction books. Reading YA is definitely my favorite (with a healthy dose of romance novels for good measure), and I’m okay with that. But the adult novels I’ve read this year were some of my favorite books of the year. I listened to eight audiobooks (Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane was spectacular – read by Gaiman himself. Kathy Reichs’ Virals wasn’t really a super awesome story, but Cristin Milioti’s narration was some of the best I’ve ever heard). I also re-read three books (The Passage, Across the Universe, and Delirium) as refreshers before reading sequels, which I generally like to do.

The books that I read in 2013 that I would recommend most highly are some pretty amazing books: all three of Tana French’s books were so refreshing and dark and un-put-downable; The Age of Miracles was a YA novel that tells the story of what happens during an epic natural disaster; The Passage and The Twelve are truly epic doorstops of books but so very, very gripping; Eleanor & Park was a super charming, sad love story; The Fault in Our Stars was just unforgettable.

I’m not sure it’s very smart for me to set a reading goal for 2014, what with the whole baby showing up in late May business. I think it’d be short-sighted of me to expect that my reading habits will remain unchanged once a newborn is in the picture. But I also can’t see myself NOT reading. (Feel free to remind me of this as you laugh at me this summer.) So! My goal for 2014 will be to read 30 books. We’ll reconvene a year from now to see how crazy that notion is.

In Previous Years…
Books Read in 2012
Books Read in 2011
Books Read in 2010
Books Read in 2009
Books Read in 2008
Books Read in 2007
Books Read in 2006
Books Read in 2005