Things I Read 'N' Things I Thought 2013: For Reals

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.