Tuesday, December 31, 2013

BEST OF 2013

           
 

 
BEST BOOKS-ABOUT-BOOKS

My Ideal Bookshelf
One for the Books
The Incident Report
More Baths, Less Talking
Practical Classics
The Novel Cure


 



 
BETTER SCHOOLS BOOKS
 
Improbable Scholars
Raising the Curve
Real Talk for Real Teachers
Smartest Kids in the World


 

 

 
BEST NONFICTION

 Quiet
Antifragile
Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage
Stitches
Five Days at Memorial
 
 
 
           
 

 
BEST POST-APOCALYPTIC BOOKS

 A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Earth Abides
Tomorrow When the War Began
 
 
 
           
 

 
BEST FICTION

The Night of the Comet
Eleanor & Park
The Other Typist
The Mouse-Proof Kitchen
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Someday, Someday, Maybe

 

 
           
       

 
BEST BOOKS ABOUT WRITING

 Steal Like an Artist
Why We Write
The True Secret of Writing
 
 





BEST FRENCH-ISH BOOKS

The Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas
Lessons in French
Blossoming in Provence
French Twist
Provence 1970
The Road to Burgundy 

 
 

 

 
FOODIE BESTS

Relish
The Perfect Meal
Food Rules
The Whole Frommage 
 

 
           
 

 
BEST BOOKS ABOUT PEOPLE (AND RABBITS)
WHO RAN AWAY FROM HOME
(OR OTHERWISE DISAPPEARED)

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
There's No One I Love Like You
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
 
 
           
 

 
BEST KID BOOKS
(EXCLUDING EASY READERS/EARLY CHAPTER BOOK
CYBILS NOMINEES)

The Peppermint Pig
The Fire-Eaters
Wonder
The Vile Village
Hitler's Daughter
The Magic Pudding
Hold Fast
Sure Signs of Crazy
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World
Mr. Majeika
Between Shades of Gray
Pi in the Sky
The Boy Who Loved Math


   
                  

 
BOOKS ABOUT READING

 Reading Magic
Reading in the Wild
Show Me a Story! Why Picture Books Matter

 

 



AND FINALLY...
TA DA!...
THE 12 BEST READS OF THE YEAR!

Five Days at Memorial
Eleanor & Park
The Night of the Comet
The Peppermint Pig
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
The Smartest Kids in the World
Reading in the Wild
Antifragile
My Ideal Bookshelf
Wonder
Earth Abides
Relish

A New Poster
 

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

Monday, December 30, 2013

It's the Last Monday of the Year! What Are You Reading?!


                 
 
 
What I Finished Last Week

It's that time of year when I Almost-Read. What's Almost-Reading? you may ask. It's a game I play at the end of the year. I read and read and read a book, but I stop just before the last page. Silly, I know. But this way, on the first day of the year, I'll start out strong and finish three or four books.
 
Does anybody else do any Almost-Reading? I know, I know, it's wacky.

So here's what I've Almost-Read last week:

Paris Letters: One Woman's Journey from the Fast Lane to a Slow Stroll in Paris
by Janice MacLeod



How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid


Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture
by Erez Aiden & Jean-Baptiste Michel

 
The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard
 
 



What are you reading today?! Any recommendations for me for 2014?




It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. Book Journey offers a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling BJ how many you visited.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

2013 End-of-Year Book Survey

best books 2013 end of year survey
It's time for Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner's 2013 End-of-Year Book Survey.
Fill this out whenever you feel like it…whether that’s today or in January.
Feel free to link up and share your End of Year Books Survey and visit others on the list!

Note: The survey is for books you read throughout the year, no matter when they were published,

and is not limited to just books that came out in 2013!!
Anyone who links up by January 10th will be in the running to win
a book of their choice that they saw on Jamie's list! :) 
 Winner will be chosen off the linky.

Best YA book 2013


1. Best book you read in 2013?

TA DA!...
MY 12 BEST READS OF THE YEAR!

Five Days at Memorial
Eleanor & Park
The Night of the Comet
The Peppermint Pig
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
The Smartest Kids in the World
Reading in the Wild
Antifragile
My Ideal Bookshelf
Wonder
Earth Abides
Relish

A New Poster

 


2. Book you were excited about &

thought you were going to love more but didn’t?

I had three disappointments this year:
Americanah.
 Transatlantic.
Fangirl.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013? 

Someday, Someday, Maybe.

 4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended

to people most in 2013?

Eleanor & Park.

 5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

Series of Unfortunate Events (Yes, I'm late to the game!)

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?

 Rainbow Rowell.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone?

I stayed in my comfort zone this year.
Maybe next year I'll venture out.

 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?

The Night of the Comet.

 9. Book you read in 2013 that

you are most likely to reread next year?

My Ideal Bookshelf.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?


11. Most memorable character in 2013? 

Eleanor.
And Park.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?

Wonder.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013? 

Antifragile. Still thinking about this one.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read? 

The Peppermint Pig.

 15. Favorite passage/quote

from a book you read in 2013?

From Brene Brown's Daring Greatly:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,
who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;
because there is not effort without error and shortcomings;
but who does actually strive to do the deed;
who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion,
who spends himself in a worthy cause,
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.
So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls
who know neither victory nor defeat.” 
 Theodore Roosevelt

16. Shortest & longest book you read in 2013?

Shortest:  Journey by Aaron Becker (wordless picture book).
Longest:  East of Eden by John Steinbeck (640 pages).

 17. Book that had a scene in it that had you

reeling and dying to talk to someone about it?

The Other Typist.

18. Favorite relationship

from a book you read in 2013?

Ahhh, Eleanor & Park, of course.

19. Favorite book you read in 2013

from an author you’ve read previously?

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.

20. Best book you read in 2013 that you read

based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else?

Eleanor & Park.

21. Genre you read the most from in 2013?

Nonfiction.
Subgenre: French-ish Books

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?

Mr. Majeika. Would love to have a magical teacher.

23. Best 2013 debut you read?

The Mouse-Proof Kitchen.

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?

Night of the Comet.

25. Book that was the most fun to read in 2013?

The Peppermint Pig.

26. Book that made you cry in 2013?

Eleanor & Park.

27. Book you read in 2013 that you overlooked

when it first came out?

The Vile Village
in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

reading-life-2013 

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2013? 

I have many, many favorites.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2013? 

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?

4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?

5. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

6. Best moment of book blogging/your book life in 2013?

7. Most popular post this year on your blog

(whether it be by comments or views)?

Crazy, but it's
Virtual Advent: Uff da! Norwegian Fattigmands!
I pinned it on Pinterest and the hits keep coming.
Crazy!

8. Post you wished got a little more love?

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

The book, The Novel Cure.
It's bibliotherapy. Fun.

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Set no goals.
Met no goals.

2014-books


1. One book you didn't get to in 2013 but will be

 your number one priority in 2014?

Burial Rites. And Me Before You.

2. Book you are most anticipating for 2014 (non-debut)?

A reread of Grapes of Wrath.

3. 2014 debut you are most anticipating?

The new Rainbow Rowell.

 4. Series ending you are most anticipating in 2014?

Since I rarely read series....

5. One thing you hope to accomplish in your reading/blogging In 2014?

Be serendipitous.

Tell me if you loved any of the books I loved this year! Give me a recommendation for something I NEED to get to!