I read a lot of great books in 2013, and these are the best of the best. Please note: these were the best books I read in 2013, not the best books published.
Organization is not my strong suit, so I’ve jumbled fiction and nonfiction together. I used Goodreads to track my 2013 reads, but it’s quite possible I forgot something. (I’m still kicking myself for leaving Rules of Civility off my favorite books of 2012 list.)
That being said, my favorites from 2013, in order, are:
Crossing to Safety
Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes
Daring Greatly
The Secret Keeper
The Talent Code
Eleanor & Park
The Getaway Car
When We Were on Fire: A Memoir of Consuming Faith, Tangled Love, and Starting Over
Addie’s gift is to make you feel the emotional weight of the seemingly no-big-deal yet simultaneously life-altering events common to Christian adolescence and young adulthood. A brilliant debut. (I wrote more about When We Were on Fire here.)
More info →Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Let’s share our favorite books of 2013
On Friday, January 3, we’re going to have a Best Books of 2013 link-up here on MMD. If you have a blog, get your post ready! If you’re not a blogger, get ready to share your favorite books of the year in comments.
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Two favorite books from 2013 : The Neverending Story by Michael Ende and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë!
I think it’s time for me to re-read Jane Eyre. 🙂
I’m not a blogger so here’s my short list for 2013! Best Just-For-Fun: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, Most Thought Provoking Non-Fiction: The New Mind of the South by Tracy Thompson, Best New-to-Me Classic: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, Best Memoir: Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber, Best YA Fiction: Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein.
I would also be interested to hear what you’re most looking forward to reading in 2014 🙂
Thanks for this list! I keep hearing wonderful things about The Rosie Project and I Capture the Castle (yes, even though it’s not new, exactly). And you’re the second person here to mention Pastrix–I just requested my copy. 🙂
Crossing to Safety and Eleanor & Park are 2 of my favourite books of 2013 as well! Both of which I read because of your recommendation. Thank you! Some of my other favourites included Hyperbole and a Half, The Cause Within You, Evolving in Monkeytown, and The Sea of Tranquility.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Now I’m going to need to look up The Cause Within You and The Sea of Tranquility since clearly we share similar taste.
Pastrix was incredible.
I’d never heard of it, but when I looked it up the author’s name sounded familiar. I’m trying to figure out why. (Any ideas?) I just ordered a copy, so thanks for the recommendation!
Ahh! I’m going to have to hold onto those Amazon gift cards until January 6? Great mentions, as always, Anne. When We Were On Fire sounds riveting–it’s next on my list. Excited to link up for the first time on this Twitterature!
Welcome and thanks for linking up!
I just finished Daring Greatly, and it’s definitely changing my perspective on a lot of things. I want 2014 to be the year where I get vulnerable.
And I want to read that book again in 2014! I’m sure I didn’t absorb half of what I should have on my first pass. (Sounds like you’re setting a great tone–although a sometimes-painful one–for 2014.)
I got to see Sheryl Sandberg speak at BlogHer13 🙂
And, I always love your best of lists!
JEALOUS. 😉
I just discovered Wallace Stegner this year, Crossing to Safety was great; working through The Big Rock Candy Mountain now. I enjoy his books because they seem so real and life and people 100 years ago weren’t that different from today.
I’ve never read The Big Rock Candy Mountain! I’m curious to hear if you think it’s “worth” reading (since you know I obviously loved Crossing to Safety). And I couldn’t agree more with your description–his characters seem so real, and not that different from today, even the ones from a hundred years ago. (I’m specifically thinking of Angle of Repose here.)
We read (and enjoyed) many of the same books this past year! I definitely plan to add “Crossing to Safety” to my reading list since “Jayber Crow” was one of my favorite books of 2013. 🙂
Let me know how you like it!
The best book I read this year was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Amazing. I do a “top 5” post every year in mid-January with mine and my friends’ top 5 books from the previous year, so I’ll make sure to shoot you a link when that’s done. 🙂
I just finished that one. I thought hard about putting it on here; I would have liked to have sat with it for a bit longer before I made my 2013 list.
My TBR list almost always grows when you tell about your favourite books, Anne.
I’ll be in hospital on Friday 3rd, so I’ll miss the link-up. But I did already write and post my own list of 2013 favourites, so maybe I’ll be able to join the link-up party later. Anyhow, have a wonderful New Year!
I hope all goes well with your hospital stay, Tuija.
I am now just starting Eleanor & Park, so I am glad to see your props for it!
Anne – thanks for your recommendation of Crossing To Safety. I’m listening to the book on CD in the car and am loving it!! Definitely gonna grab the paper copy and re-read it, savor the language and dog-ear the best parts!! Keep up the good work!!!