Books I Read in 2013

Inspired (okay, idea downright copied) by my friend Saleema’s Post with the exact same name. Screw originality. Who needs it anyway?

Like Saleema, I belong to Goodreads. I used to track my books with Librarything, but more of my friends are on Goodreads and I enjoy all of the added bonuses on the site, one of which is that they sent me a nice email in december telling me exactly how many books I have read. They also have chats with authors and plenty of lists which I love on a professional and personal level. (Actually, I just logged in to Librarything to post the link above and realised that they have completely changed their interface- will have to explore further).

But I digress as always.

Here are the Stats:

• Novels (of the adult variety): 19
• Novels (of the Young Adult variety):26
• Non-fiction: 3
• Poetry and Plays: 2 ( I don’t believe this- I am pretty sure I forgot to mention a few of the poetry books I read this year)
• Audiobooks: 4 (2 Neal Stephenson and 2 George R. Martin)
• Short story collections: 2
• Graphic Novel: 1

Now, I’ve checked and re-checked this and I am missing a book. However, I am not willing to try and figure out where I made the error so we have a floating book somewhere…

Highlights in the novel section my friend Saleema’s book Bone and Bread (not just an awesome blogger!) which  wrote about a while ago. I also really enjoyed Where’d You go Bernadette– a smart, funny quick read. A book that kicked my ass emotionally was a small little book called Alice Bliss.  A thought-provoking and intense novel, which takes speculative fiction to lyrical heights was Never let Me go by Kazuo Ishiguro. One day I will gather the courage to actually watch the movie. I have spent the last part of 2013 re-reading JD Salinger, but this is a topic that will require a whole new post.

In terms of young adult fiction, I really enjoyed Maureen Johnson’s Shades of London series– very fun. More serious YA picks would be The Book Thief (which I re-read again and loved it just as much), and The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston. The Delirium series was also great (and not just because the main character was named Lena). Meeting the author was also a highlight.

That’s all I got. I was surprised to note that in 2012 I only read 31 books but in 2013 I jacked the number up to 58. I am hoping to punch that number up to 60 this year, but not really. I mean, it would be cool if I made it to 60, but life is such that I am not willing to commit myself to it. I am also aware of the fact that I am a tad of a greedy reader and that perhaps I should slow it down and pay more attention.

But I probably won’t. I am okay with that.