My Best Books of 2013

Happy New Year!

I hope you've all had a lovely time over the Christmas period and are ready to tackle this new year! I have just started reading The Luminaries and after a few pages of getting into the Victorian writing style, I can't stop reading it! It is extremely fast-paced and gripping.

I have posted this on Twitter but I thought I'd do a formal blog post as well as an update with a book I had forgotten and the last book I've read in 2013 (Graceling). Here is the list of my favourite books of 2013:



Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Comforters by Muriel Spark
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng


The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

   

A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
The Son by Philipp Meyer


Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Blue is the Warmest Colour by Julie Maroh

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Interestingly, 8 out of 11 books were written by women and more than half of them are backlist titles. The titles range from YA and fantasy to historical and literary fiction as well as a graphic novel. Only one is a translated/foreign language book which isn't too surprising as I've mostly read English-language novels this year but it's an area I definitely like to explore further. There is only one YA novel and that's mostly because I haven't read many YA books this year. 

One of the books which I loved but didn't make the list was May We Be Forgiven. I loved it when I read it (5 stars and all) but I realised that I had very little of it left with me 6 months later.

My absolute favourite this year has been The Son by Philipp Meyer. I heard a lot about this book before reading it and I saw the author at the Edinburgh Book Festival talking about it and his writing process. The book literally blew me away by the sheer scope of it. If there is such a thing as perfection in a book, this is it.

For 2014, I'm planning to continue reading in a variety of genres/age groups and I'm also aiming to read more Classics and more foreign language books/translation. I will also continue my Muriel Spark reading challenge!

That's it for me. What was your favourite book last year and do you have any bookish resolutions for 2014?

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