2013 in Books
Every year I vow to read 50 books. Every year I read about 40 books. Why I can’t seem to make that final push of 10 books remains a mystery, but there you have it. I’ve all but given up on feeling guilty over it. Sometimes I do feel slightly sad about all the potentially good books that I’m not reading, but as I am decidedly stubborn I know that forcing myself to read more would result in me throwing in the towel and reading nothing but Twitter/Reddit/the Metro.
I’ve read some really good books in 2013, but overall I don’t think it’s been a great year for reading. Read on to find out what was good, what was bad, what was disappointing and what turned out to be a lot better than expected. All links are to Goodreads or Judging Covers.
The Good
These are just good, no ifs, ands, or buts.
- Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani
- Tampa by Alissa Nutting
- How They Were Found by Matt Bell
The Bad
I used to struggle with saying that a book was bad. I would qualify it by saying ‘I would recommend it if you like xyz’ or ‘not really my style’. I’m not going to be shy about saying, though, that these books were bad. Bad, and not good.
- Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
- With or Without You by Domenica Ruta
- Bright Young Things by Scarlett Thomas
The Disappointing
Expecting a book to be great is just one of the worst things to do sometimes.
The Better-than-expected
Sometimes I end up buying a book despite not being particularly convinced by it. True to form I read them anyway, and sometimes they are really bloody good after all.
- Deathless by Catherynne M Valente
- The Rest is Silence by Carla Guelfenbein
- A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees by Clare Dudman
So that’s the long and the short of my year in books. I read far fewer amazing books than I would like to but hey, at least there’s room for improvement. Having recently gone on a frankly terrifying* book-buying rampage in the Kindle store, I have about a million things lined up to read in January, including almost everything ever written by A.M Homes. (Is she any good, or have I been swayed by flashy Amazon blurbs?)
How was your year in books? Did you read any of the same books? Do you want to disagree with me? Go on, I love arguing about books.
* I wasn’t scared at all. My boyfriend, who witnessed this, was.
