So I thought I'd found and posted an old 2013 reading list, but it was really 2012 (so behiiiind...). This is what I really read in 2013:
- A Dance With Dragons and A Feast for Crows, both by George R.R. Martin - "Welcome to Westeros: Horrible Death Awaits You!" I threw one of them at my husband, I was so mad. I love these books.
- A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene - from one of only 2 websites I regularly looked at while planning my wedding. Know what the point of your wedding is and stick to it.
- Insurgent and Allegiant by Veronica Roth - I'm pretty disappointed in the wider world she creates when they venture outside the fences. But points for a surprising end.
- Bootstrapper by Mardi Jo Link - A woman's attempt to keep her farm and family together in the wake of divorce. I like her.
- Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu - A well-done retelling of the Snow Queen that's surprisingly complex, thoughtful and downbeat for what seems to be middle grade fiction.
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - Most people are awful in her books but it's hard to put them down.
- Doctor Sleep by Stephen King - I THINK I liked it? I was really shocked by the lack of terrible things happening to the main characters.
- Drop Dead Healthy by A.J. Jacobs - From the man who brought us The Year of Living Biblically and The Know-It-All, comes more entertaining reading about a guy doing things you'd never want to do.
- Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans - Her personal faith journey. Dang, I'm impressed by this lady.
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - As I said, her people are awful, but so readably awful.
- How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran - God, I laughed so hard. Women!
- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris - I just imagine it all in his voice and it's wonderful.
- Light by Michael Grant - The mutant teen wars are over! A pretty good ending that even covers some of the "yes, but what happened AFTER!?" stuff I always long for.
- Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel - I was probably supposed to like it. I didn't
- Locke & Key Vol. 5 - Just keeps being damned good.
- Monsterous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama - A mermaid tale that gets pretty dark. Irritating teen ghost romance.
- NOS4A2 by Joe Hill - Horrible child murders! Fantastic Powers! Damn I loved this book. It also made me glad I'm the type of person who reads the font info at the end of the book (hint hint hint best decision EVER).
- Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Wonderful for always.
- Room by Emma Donoghue - One of the most amazingly uniquely written books I've ever read. Daaaang, girl!
- Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen - Appalachian Snow White. Pretty good.
- Spindles End by Robin McKinley - Sleeping Beauty retelling. Probably my 5th or 6th rereading.
- The Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 3 edited by Ellen Datlow - Short horror stories. 30 percent awesome, the rest ok, some made me very uncomfortable.
- The Different Girl by Gordon Dahlquist - Read it. READ IT NOW!!!! Slow yet intriguing. So. Well. Written.
- The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman - Heartbreaking story written in her usual glorious, I-want-to-roll-around-in-it-forever prose.
- The Far West by Patricia C. Wrede - Final book in the Frontier Magic Trilogy. Keeps up the good work.
- The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly - Cute chick-lit that imagines the Marches were real and these are their eerily similar descendents. The ending was a bit too much for me, but rather pleasant overall.
- The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller - He seems pretty smart. I don't necessarily agree with every word, but overall valuable.
- The Mists of Avalon by Marian Zimmer Bradley - Oh my God, it's the longest book in the world. Also, let's all go punch Guinevere in the freaking FACE.
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - Oh Lord a-mighty I wish I could go to this circus.
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - He continues to delight. The ladies, they are wonderful (except for the evil lady, she's evil).
- The Other by Thomas Tryon - Well written. Pretty awful stuff. I liked it.
- The Reason for God by Timothy Keller - Again, he seems like a pretty smart guy.
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - I liked it much better than when I read it back in college.
- The Shining by Stephen King - Alcoholism. Ghosts. Murder. This is one of my safety blanket books.
- The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes - Solid. Pretty fascinating use of time travel.
- The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McLure - I love the Little House books, but apparently not as much as this lady.
- Torn by Justin Lee - Good God, whatever you feel about homosexuality, can't we be more decent to people? Justin Lee: solid guy.
- Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell - So weird. So good. PRESIDENT HORSES!
- Wild Magic and Wolf Speaker by Tamora Pierce - I will love these forever. Thanks, 12 year old me, for discovering the Immortals series.
88% New, 12% reareads. My highest "new" percentage ever! Adult (in the grown up, not dirty sense!) fantasy/sci-fi/horror takes the biggest chunk of my reading. After that, a fairly even distribution of non-fiction, fiction, and YA fantasy/horror/sci-fi.
UPDATE: Oh my God! LIES! This is actually 2012 reading! Dude, I was REALLY behind...
I haven't been on this blog in literally years, and that's okay. I'm not really a blogger, I think I just really like summarizing what I read each year. Even if it doesn't get read, it's fun. Annual blog? It would seem so. Heck, maybe I should just take up Twitter (I'm old. I don't tweet.) since my "reviews" are mostly pretty short anyway :) I found this 2013 Things I Read 'N' Things I thought that I apparently never posted, so here goes. The 2014 summary isn't too far away.
The Reads
- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill - Pretty definitely creeptastic. I'm a fan. Also, never live in a marsh that floods and traps you daily.
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - It's always charming and always makes me glad I don't have to sit on my husband's knee and show him my account book so he can see how thrifty a little homemaker I am.
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - Odd children, odd home, odd photos, oddly enjoyable. To say more is to spoil the plot.
- The Magicians; and The Magician King by Lev Grossman - Cynical Narnia for grown ups. I highly recommend it. (The third book, The Magician's Land, just came out and I'm excited.)
- Brandwashed by Martin Lindstrom - Really don't remember anything except being depressed and horrified. Carl's Jr. is going to own our kids someday.
- 11/22/1963 by Stephen King - Really enjoyed it. His writing is so familiar now it's like settling down on a comfy couch. Even if I don't end up liking one of his books, I just like hanging out with Mr. King.
- Stay Awake by Dan Chaon - Like a companion to The Lottery. As I read from story to story, I thought, "Something seems familiar..." and would scramble back through and realize certain characters or similar situations were casually linked in different stories. Cool, and a little unsettling. I like it.
- Would it Kill You To Stop Doing That? by Henry Alford - Etiquette. It was amusing and I read it it a day and I don't remember much more than that.
- The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey - First: Awesome author name. Second: Great book, excellent characters, like a very quiet, non-magical fairy tale.
- Fear by Michael Grant. The mutant-human-good-evil-stuck-in-a-dome teen wars continue.
- Carrie by Stephen King - Plug it up! Plug it up!
- Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal - Jane Austen with magic. I liked it until it got eye-roll-y. Use of magic as an every day socialite skill? RAD. Annoyingly bland romance? BLAND. Confusing/pointless/blink-and-you-miss-it "villain" "climax"? FACEPUNCH.
- Green Rider by Kristen Britain - Still good.
- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo - I think I liked it? One of the least vomit/rage/facepalm inducing YA books I've read in a long time. Magicians in a sort of alt-universe fantasy Imperial Russia? I liked that twist. Usual "oh-I'm-so-small-and-bland-and-ugly-but-suddenly-I'M-MAGIC-and-special-and-the-boys-love-me-so-it-MUST-be-a-trilogy" framework was acceptable because she was actually a pretty likeable character and the world was interesting.
- Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart - OH MY GOD, SHE'S AMAZING. She's capable! She's practical! She's earthy! She's hilarious! Read of her homesteading adventures and envy her (in an abstract, she's-great-but-I-totally-love-modern-medicine-and-sanitation kind of way).
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams - Fiance was appalled I had never read it. We audiobooked it on a long road trip. HI-larioius perfection.
- Bossypants by Tina Fey - I want to go to there.
- The Rich and the Rest of Us by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West - Oh man, I live such a privileged life, I should really be helping to bring more justice to the world.
- A Game of Thrones; A Clash of Kings; and A Storm of Swords; and by George R. R. Martin - So much death. Everyone you love dies. NO ONE IS SAFE!
- The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin - Beautiful writing, sad story.
- Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts by Les Parrott - I totally want to save my un-started marriage! I'm pretty confident.
- Crazy Love by Francis Chan - Francis Chan face-slaps you for 10 chapters and you love him for it.
- A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans - I love this woman. I. Love. This. Woman. I want to be a woman of valor! Also, I love my parents.
The Stats
New books 88%
Rereads 12%
Fantasy/Sci-fi/Horror 38%
Non-fiction 30%
General Fiction 20%
YA Fantasy/Sci-fi/Horror 12%
Boy, I am proud of myself, mostly new books! Of course, if I'd read more total books that might have changed. I did a lot of start-but-not-finish books this year, which I hate doing but am trying to come to terms with. Woman, you DON'T HAVE TO FINISH IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. It's not like wasting food, the books are still perfectly legible and accessible if you don't finish them; other people can read them or you can even try again later if you feel like it.
