What follows is a list of what I read in 2013, in reverse chronological order. Not all of the books were great, but there were definitely some gems among the bunch. Overall, I consider it a great year for reading. I’ve marked a few in bold I think would be worth reading, in case you’re planning your reading list for 2014.

  1. The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
  2. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
  3. Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir
  4. Beethoven’s Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved by Russell
  5. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
  6. The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follett
  7. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
  8. The Guy Not Taken: Stories by Jennifer Weiner
  9. Sorority Sisters by Claudia Welch
  10. American Dervish by Avad Akhtar
  11. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
  12. The Doula by Bridget Boland
  13. The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
  14. Rescue by Anita Shreve
  15. The Paradise Guest House by Ellen Sussman
  16. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
  17. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
  18. Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman
  19. Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue by Kathryn J. Atwood
  20. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
  21. The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
  22. Margot by Jillian Cantor
  23. The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
  24. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
  25. This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
  26. Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden
  27. The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
  28. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
  29. Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
  30. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
  31. A Mercy by Toni Morrison
  32. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
  33. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
  34. The Fields by Kevin Maher
  35. Purity by Jackson Pearce
  36. Arcadia by Lauren Groff
  37. Driving Sideways by Jess Riley
  38. The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell
  39. This Side of Jealousy (The Innocents, #2) by Lili Peloquin
  40. Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler
  41. Conversations with Mom: An Aging Baby Boomer, in Need of an Elder, Writes to Her Dead Mother by Betsy Robinson
  42. Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted: And all the Brilliant Minds Who Made The Mary Tyler Moore Show a Classic by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
  43. Chronology of an Egg by Peter Tieryas
  44. A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White
  45. The Girl Who Would Be King by Kelly Thompson
  46. Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner-City Funeral Home by Sheri Booker
  47. A Different Blue by Amy Harmon
  48. The House Girl by Tara Conklin
  49. The First Rule of Swimming by Courtney Angela Brkic
  50. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
  51. The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy by Donna Freitas
  52. Homeward Bound: Why Women are Embracing the New Domesticity by Emily Matchar
  53. All the Roads That Lead from Home by Anne Leigh Parrish
  54. The Dinner by Herman Koch
  55. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  56. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
  57. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
  58. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
  59. Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
  60. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  61. The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny
  62. The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman
  63. Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
  64. Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs
  65. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
  66. Defending Jacob by William Landay
  67. 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs
  68. Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
  69. Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
  70. Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
  71. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
  72. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
  73. Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
  74. Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
  75. Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs
  76. Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
  77. Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs
  78. Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
  79. Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
  80. Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
  81. Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us by Rochelle Bergstein
I had set my goal for the year at 55 books, which I thought was solid. My lesson learned is that should not set reading goals for myself. I get too competitive about the thing and end up reading 81 books in a year. Goodness.

 

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.