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The Best of my year of reading.
In 2013, I
read a lot of good books, some mediocre books, and too many books of marginal
value. I read 53 books from the stash that have accumulated this year. My husband calls UPS the Bookmobile. Additionally, I have a lot of books on my Kindle and in hardback that I
didn't get to read no matter how much I wanted to read them. Even though the
intent and desire was there, time and energy interfered.
This has been a hard
book year. Because I worked so much this year, I read a lot of terrible
student essays and a couple of books about education. All that work meant that my personal
reading and blogging suffered. The other problem was that I reviewed a lot of
books for publicists and publishers that I didn't particularly want to read. I am a bit nonplussed
about how to deal with the problem of too much of a good thing.
Best Novel: The
Round House by Louise Erdrich. I read this with my book club and have grown
in respect for Erdrich. She tells a good story.
This is quickly followed by The
Submission by Amy Waldman. Morally intense.
Most clever mystery:
Gone
Girl by Gillian Flynn. Loved how it kept me guessing. I didn't peek at the
ending--not once!
Most profound
exploration of grief: Enon by
Paul Harding. I was pleased to see it on some best of 2013 lists, because I
thought it was incredible. Also loved Let Him
Go by Larry Watson, another exploration of loss.
Best Gothic (and
only Gothic!) Moonrise
by Cassandra King. My introduction to her as an author.
Best International
Mystery: I loved Police
by Jo Nesbo. Also liked The
Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach.
Best book about aging:
Fierce
with Age by Carol Orsborn. Quickly followed by The
Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, which I absolutely
loved.
Best classic to read
again for the first time: The
Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald which I listened to on an audio book
before seeing both the Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio versions of the
movie.
Best Essays: My
Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places by Mary Roach. Laughing at the
crazy stuff of life.
Best Memoir: The
World's Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagame because of his extreme honesty,
humor and hopefulness .
Biggest Surprise:
Ship
it Holla Ballas by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback. Can you believe
I read a book about how online gambling works? Oh, and also Shot
All to Hell by Mark Lee Gardner about Jesse James robbing the Northfield
Minnesota bank.
A book I wanted to
like: Sisterland
by Curtis Sittenfeld. This was well reviewed but I just couldn't relate to it.
Other notable books:
Reconstructing
Amelia Kimberly McCreight
Saturday
Night Widows by Becky Aikman
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