2013 Year in Review Through Books
It's time for another year end book round-up! :) I stole this one from ladyadeone again.
Overall - best books read in 2013?
Umm...that's a hard one. These are mostly scattered throughout, so have fun finding them! ;) (Short list is probably The Four Loves and The Drowned Vault for the wonderful bits and not for me loving it overall).
Best series you discovered in 2013?
I didn’t read more than one book in any new series this year, but I guess Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson was interesting and that could be a good series. (Ditto for his Mistborn, though I read the first one in April and haven’t been curious enough to read the rest of the series, so…)
Most surprising (in a good way) book of this year?
The Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice. I have a few bones with it, but it was mostly a fascinating account of two middle-aged Victorian Scottish ladies who traveled to the Middle East and uncovered some old copies of the Gospels.
Most disappointing book/Book you wish you enjoyed more than you did?
When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears by Kersten Hamilton was a disappointing end to an interesting series. Dodger by Terry Pratchett was just infuriating for me, although it could've been a neat book; similarly, The Danger Box by Blue Balliet---insulting Intelligent Design was unnecessary. Also, my reading of The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander suffered from the inclusions of the Women's Mysteries and the stupidity of most men in general, although I suppose he did it first.
Book you recommended most to others in 2013?
Probably The Drowned Vault (& series) by N.D. Wilson or the various WWI/WWII books I read this year…
Book you most anticipated this year?
I think The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.
Favorite author you discovered this year:
I can’t think of anyone who really stood out, but I did read two books each by Brandon Sanderson and Mitchell Zuckoff and am planning to read at least one more by each.
Author you read the most in 2013?
Apparently Agatha Christie with a grand total of three books. ;)) There were a couple of runners-up with two books, but I guess I mostly read unconnected books this year.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013?
Heh. There were a number of these: The Drowned Vault, Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, Impossible Odds by Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm, and though it took me a bit to work through it I Remember Nothing More by Adina Blady Szwajger was gripping.
Book that was most outside your comfort zone/new genre exploration?
Pretty much all of my non-fiction reads this year fall into this category from WWI history (American Women in World War I: They Also Served by Lettie Gavin and The First, the Few, the Forgotten by Jean Ebbert and Marie-Beth Hall) to WWII (Mother was a Gunner’s Mate by Josette Dermody Wingo, One Women’s War by Anne Bosanko Green, Navy WAVE: Memories of World War II by Lt. Helen Clifford Gunter, Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, Honoring Sergeant Carter by Allene G. Carter and Robert L. Allen, Code Talker Stories by Laura Tohe, Making Home From War by Brian Komei Dempster, and The Spies Who Never Were by Hervie Haufler) and Holocaust history (Clara’s War by Clara Kramer, Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust by Rebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey, The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer, Until We Meet Again by Michal Korenblit and Kathleen Janger, and I Remember Nothing More by Adina Blady Szwajger) to general history (Little-Known Sisters of Well-Known Men by Sarah G. Pomeroy, Adventurous Women by Penny Colman, The Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice, and Pepper by Marjorie Shaffer) to the heartbreakingly personal tales (Brave Girl Eating by Harriet Brown, Choosing Naia by Mitchell Zuckoff, The Society of Timid Souls by Polly Morland, and Impossible Odds by Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm). I didn’t always agree with the choices people made or the points being set out, but they were all books about people, both good and bad, and were stories that I was glad to have heard. Honourable mention also goes to two more scientific books: Refrigeration in America by Oscar Edward Anderson (historical perspective on the subject) and Unravelling Genes by Mark Walker and David Mckay.
Favorite cover of the year award goes to:
Kinuko Y. Craft usually wins for her Patricia McKillip covers, and The Tower at Stoney Wood definitely is beautiful.
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines had a pretty cool cover; the book was okay.
Most beautifully-written book you read in 2013?
I think Patricia McKillip always wins this one, and her The Tower at Stoney Wood is no exception. Honourable mentions also go to The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis and The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson.
Most memorable character:
Avoiding characters that were introduced in books not read in 2013 (which takes out most of the characters in series), I suppose maybe Thorne from Scarlet, or Vin or Kelsier from Mistborn, or David from Steelheart or...ooh, no, let's go with almost the entire cast from The Tower at Stoney Wood, particularly the knight and the set of brothers with the dragon (...they all have slightly weird names that don't catch in my head :">). :D
Most annoying character:
Mel will probably disagree with me, but I found the Boone family in The Drowned Vault to be rather cliched and irritating. I also had trouble connecting to the main characters in Rapunzel Let Down and they were sometimes annoying then. Otherwise, the characters coming to mind are mostly villains so they're supposed to be annoying. ;)
Favorite couple:
Umm. There were remarkably few this year; the few couples that I remember were in series that I'd started before the year. But I guess Teagen and Finn from When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears still squeak in...I can't think of anyone else. XD
Worst character death:
Most of the deaths in When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears; I'd gotten rather attached to some of the people (such as the Italian cousins) that bit the dust. :( (Of course, I'm not counting non-fiction deaths...)
The book I read but have already forgotten:
There were actually several bad YA books I read that I mostly blocked out, but otherwise probably one of the women in general history books that I read early last year and mostly forgot about since.
Book with a scene that left you reeling:
I Remember Nothing More, Clara's War, and Until We Meet Again all had those.
Book you can’t believe you waited till 2013 to read:
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Book you read in 2013 and are most likely to reread in 2014?
There's never really an accurate way to predict this but, umm, maybe The Drowned Vault or Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.
Book you still aren’t sure of your feelings on:
There are two that kind of stood out to me: Rapunzel Let Down by Regina Doman was very dark, and I’m not overly pleased with some of the conclusions/ways things were handled. There were good parts, but I think the underlying things that mostly bothered me flowed from the Catholic understanding of sin. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan just felt kind of sloppy and I wasn’t pleased with everything in it either.
Series you gave up on in 2013:
I didn’t really read more than one book in any series this year, and I haven’t given up on any. The Heroes of Olympus just went down a little in my esteem and anticipation, though.
Favorite passage/quote of 2013:
Ignoring all the great quotes from my LotR reread and beautiful passages from The Tower at Stoney Wood, it’d either be something from The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis or The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson. My favourite part from the latter is at hand, so here:
“Am I dead?" Daniel asked.
“You are dying,” said his father.
“But why?” Daniel asked. “Why do I have to?”
“Because you are flesh, and flesh is grass. It burns and is consumed. But your fire will not go out.”
“What will I die of?”
And then his father laughed, a laugh Daniel had not heard in years, a laugh he had never really heard, because this laugh was bigger and richer and deeper than any that had ever echoed in the chest of that body in the freezer.
“Son,” his father said. “Run faithfully to the end, and like all good men, you will die of having lived.”
Book which had the overall greatest impact on you this year:
Umm, probably one of the number of WWII/Holocaust books I read this year or either The Four Loves or The Drowned Vault.
A book you didn’t read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2014?
Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub. I’m only on the first chapter, but it’s pretty interesting so far. :)
New book you are most anticipating for 2014?
Umm, probably Cress by Marissa Meyer since I haven’t read the most recent N.D. Wilson book yet and so can’t properly anticipate the next.
Also, I forgot how much lj formatting drives me crazy. XD Sorry about that...
Overall - best books read in 2013?
Umm...that's a hard one. These are mostly scattered throughout, so have fun finding them! ;) (Short list is probably The Four Loves and The Drowned Vault for the wonderful bits and not for me loving it overall).
Best series you discovered in 2013?
I didn’t read more than one book in any new series this year, but I guess Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson was interesting and that could be a good series. (Ditto for his Mistborn, though I read the first one in April and haven’t been curious enough to read the rest of the series, so…)
Most surprising (in a good way) book of this year?
The Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice. I have a few bones with it, but it was mostly a fascinating account of two middle-aged Victorian Scottish ladies who traveled to the Middle East and uncovered some old copies of the Gospels.
Most disappointing book/Book you wish you enjoyed more than you did?
When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears by Kersten Hamilton was a disappointing end to an interesting series. Dodger by Terry Pratchett was just infuriating for me, although it could've been a neat book; similarly, The Danger Box by Blue Balliet---insulting Intelligent Design was unnecessary. Also, my reading of The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander suffered from the inclusions of the Women's Mysteries and the stupidity of most men in general, although I suppose he did it first.
Book you recommended most to others in 2013?
Probably The Drowned Vault (& series) by N.D. Wilson or the various WWI/WWII books I read this year…
Book you most anticipated this year?
I think The House of Hades by Rick Riordan.
Favorite author you discovered this year:
I can’t think of anyone who really stood out, but I did read two books each by Brandon Sanderson and Mitchell Zuckoff and am planning to read at least one more by each.
Author you read the most in 2013?
Apparently Agatha Christie with a grand total of three books. ;)) There were a couple of runners-up with two books, but I guess I mostly read unconnected books this year.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013?
Heh. There were a number of these: The Drowned Vault, Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, Impossible Odds by Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm, and though it took me a bit to work through it I Remember Nothing More by Adina Blady Szwajger was gripping.
Book that was most outside your comfort zone/new genre exploration?
Pretty much all of my non-fiction reads this year fall into this category from WWI history (American Women in World War I: They Also Served by Lettie Gavin and The First, the Few, the Forgotten by Jean Ebbert and Marie-Beth Hall) to WWII (Mother was a Gunner’s Mate by Josette Dermody Wingo, One Women’s War by Anne Bosanko Green, Navy WAVE: Memories of World War II by Lt. Helen Clifford Gunter, Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, Honoring Sergeant Carter by Allene G. Carter and Robert L. Allen, Code Talker Stories by Laura Tohe, Making Home From War by Brian Komei Dempster, and The Spies Who Never Were by Hervie Haufler) and Holocaust history (Clara’s War by Clara Kramer, Life and Loss in the Shadow of the Holocaust by Rebecca Boehling and Uta Larkey, The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer, Until We Meet Again by Michal Korenblit and Kathleen Janger, and I Remember Nothing More by Adina Blady Szwajger) to general history (Little-Known Sisters of Well-Known Men by Sarah G. Pomeroy, Adventurous Women by Penny Colman, The Sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice, and Pepper by Marjorie Shaffer) to the heartbreakingly personal tales (Brave Girl Eating by Harriet Brown, Choosing Naia by Mitchell Zuckoff, The Society of Timid Souls by Polly Morland, and Impossible Odds by Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm). I didn’t always agree with the choices people made or the points being set out, but they were all books about people, both good and bad, and were stories that I was glad to have heard. Honourable mention also goes to two more scientific books: Refrigeration in America by Oscar Edward Anderson (historical perspective on the subject) and Unravelling Genes by Mark Walker and David Mckay.
Favorite cover of the year award goes to:
Kinuko Y. Craft usually wins for her Patricia McKillip covers, and The Tower at Stoney Wood definitely is beautiful.
The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines had a pretty cool cover; the book was okay.
Most beautifully-written book you read in 2013?
I think Patricia McKillip always wins this one, and her The Tower at Stoney Wood is no exception. Honourable mentions also go to The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis and The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson.
Most memorable character:
Avoiding characters that were introduced in books not read in 2013 (which takes out most of the characters in series), I suppose maybe Thorne from Scarlet, or Vin or Kelsier from Mistborn, or David from Steelheart or...ooh, no, let's go with almost the entire cast from The Tower at Stoney Wood, particularly the knight and the set of brothers with the dragon (...they all have slightly weird names that don't catch in my head :">). :D
Most annoying character:
Mel will probably disagree with me, but I found the Boone family in The Drowned Vault to be rather cliched and irritating. I also had trouble connecting to the main characters in Rapunzel Let Down and they were sometimes annoying then. Otherwise, the characters coming to mind are mostly villains so they're supposed to be annoying. ;)
Favorite couple:
Umm. There were remarkably few this year; the few couples that I remember were in series that I'd started before the year. But I guess Teagen and Finn from When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears still squeak in...I can't think of anyone else. XD
Worst character death:
Most of the deaths in When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears; I'd gotten rather attached to some of the people (such as the Italian cousins) that bit the dust. :( (Of course, I'm not counting non-fiction deaths...)
The book I read but have already forgotten:
There were actually several bad YA books I read that I mostly blocked out, but otherwise probably one of the women in general history books that I read early last year and mostly forgot about since.
Book with a scene that left you reeling:
I Remember Nothing More, Clara's War, and Until We Meet Again all had those.
Book you can’t believe you waited till 2013 to read:
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Book you read in 2013 and are most likely to reread in 2014?
There's never really an accurate way to predict this but, umm, maybe The Drowned Vault or Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.
Book you still aren’t sure of your feelings on:
There are two that kind of stood out to me: Rapunzel Let Down by Regina Doman was very dark, and I’m not overly pleased with some of the conclusions/ways things were handled. There were good parts, but I think the underlying things that mostly bothered me flowed from the Catholic understanding of sin. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan just felt kind of sloppy and I wasn’t pleased with everything in it either.
Series you gave up on in 2013:
I didn’t really read more than one book in any series this year, and I haven’t given up on any. The Heroes of Olympus just went down a little in my esteem and anticipation, though.
Favorite passage/quote of 2013:
Ignoring all the great quotes from my LotR reread and beautiful passages from The Tower at Stoney Wood, it’d either be something from The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis or The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson. My favourite part from the latter is at hand, so here:
“Am I dead?" Daniel asked.
“You are dying,” said his father.
“But why?” Daniel asked. “Why do I have to?”
“Because you are flesh, and flesh is grass. It burns and is consumed. But your fire will not go out.”
“What will I die of?”
And then his father laughed, a laugh Daniel had not heard in years, a laugh he had never really heard, because this laugh was bigger and richer and deeper than any that had ever echoed in the chest of that body in the freezer.
“Son,” his father said. “Run faithfully to the end, and like all good men, you will die of having lived.”
Book which had the overall greatest impact on you this year:
Umm, probably one of the number of WWII/Holocaust books I read this year or either The Four Loves or The Drowned Vault.
A book you didn’t read this year that will be your #1 priority in 2014?
Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub. I’m only on the first chapter, but it’s pretty interesting so far. :)
New book you are most anticipating for 2014?
Umm, probably Cress by Marissa Meyer since I haven’t read the most recent N.D. Wilson book yet and so can’t properly anticipate the next.
Also, I forgot how much lj formatting drives me crazy. XD Sorry about that...