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.
- The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
- Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
- Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir
- Beethoven’s Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved by Russell
- Allegiant by Veronica Roth
- The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follett
- The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
- The Guy Not Taken: Stories by Jennifer Weiner
- Sorority Sisters by Claudia Welch
- American Dervish by Avad Akhtar
- Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
- The Doula by Bridget Boland
- The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
- Rescue by Anita Shreve
- The Paradise Guest House by Ellen Sussman
- We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
- The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
- Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman
- Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue by Kathryn J. Atwood
- Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
- The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg
- Margot by Jillian Cantor
- The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani
- Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo
- This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz
- Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden
- The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
- The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
- Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda
- Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
- A Mercy by Toni Morrison
- And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
- Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
- The Fields by Kevin Maher
- Purity by Jackson Pearce
- Arcadia by Lauren Groff
- Driving Sideways by Jess Riley
- The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell
- This Side of Jealousy (The Innocents, #2) by Lili Peloquin
- Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler
- Conversations with Mom: An Aging Baby Boomer, in Need of an Elder, Writes to Her Dead Mother by Betsy Robinson
- 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
- Chronology of an Egg by Peter Tieryas
- A Place at the Table by Susan Rebecca White
- The Girl Who Would Be King by Kelly Thompson
- Nine Years Under: Coming of Age in an Inner-City Funeral Home by Sheri Booker
- A Different Blue by Amy Harmon
- The House Girl by Tara Conklin
- The First Rule of Swimming by Courtney Angela Brkic
- Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
- The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy by Donna Freitas
- Homeward Bound: Why Women are Embracing the New Domesticity by Emily Matchar
- All the Roads That Lead from Home by Anne Leigh Parrish
- The Dinner by Herman Koch
- Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
- A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
- Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
- Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
- Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny
- The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman
- Flash and Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Wonder by R.J. Palacio
- Defending Jacob by William Landay
- 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
- Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
- The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
- Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs
- Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs
- Grave Secrets by Kathy Reichs
- Fatal Voyage by Kathy Reichs
- Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
- Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs
- Déjà Dead by Kathy Reichs
- 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.
Comments are closed.