For the last two years running (2012 and 2011), LT staff members have each compiled a list of their top five reads for the year.
For 2013, we wanted everyone to get in on the fun, so we compiled a list that all of LibraryThing can add to. We’d like to see not just the most read books of 2013, but the best of the best. What were your five favorite reads of 2013?
» List: Top Five Books of 2013 — Add your own.
Continuing this grand tradition, here’s the wordier breakdown of the staff’s favorites, including some honorable (and dishonorable) mentions:
Tim
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler Mike’s suggestion. Wonderful atmosphere.
Eifelheim by Michael Flynn Unexpected story of aliens landing in 14c. Germany, and of misunderstanding and understanding.
Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking by Philippe Coudray First book my son read cover-to-cover.
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis I don’t believe I had read it before. Told it was a dud, but I loved it.
The Circle by Dave Eggers Not the greatest novel qua novel, but it’ll stick with me. And it was enormously validating to have some of my fears put out there.
Tim’s dishonorable mentions for 2013:
Wool by Hugh Howey: I love good science fiction, but most of it is crap. Hot or not, it’s crap…
The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle: Bad “classic” science fiction. Didn’t finish.
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell: I adored The Sparrow. The sequel is a big disappointment. It’s a “negative sequel.” Like the Matrix sequels, it makes the original worse.
The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham: Bad “classic” science fiction.
Abby
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
Where’d You Go, Bernadette* by Maria Semple
*Abby would like it noted that she blames The Circle by Dave Eggers for making her put other books on hold, which might have actually been the best this year.
Kate
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
Everything Is Perfect When You’re a Liar by Kelly Oxford
Kate’s dishonorable mentions for 2013:
There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron
The Never List by Koethi Zan
Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason
You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt: A 1980s Cold War bildungsroman, complete with spies and mistaken identities?! I was supposed to love this book. I did not love this book.
Chris H.
Rough Passage to London: A Sea Captain’s Tale by Robin Lloyd
The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin
The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands by Nicholas Capp
Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman
The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded Age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures by Edward Ball
Mike
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan
The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett
Seth
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
The Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture by David Kushner
Chris C.
Building Machine Learning Systems with Python by Willi Richert
A Wizard, a True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio by Paul Myers
Machine Learning for Hackers by Drew Conway
Frank: The Voice by James Caplan
Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery by Charles Platt
KJ
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt
The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus by Margaret Atwood
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
KJ’s honorable mentions for 2013:
The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Open City by Teju Cole
Loranne
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
This one’s a re-read for me (for sci-fi book club), but it’s also one of my all-time favorites, so it’s going on the list.
Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
Definitely my most anticipated book of the year, and it did not disappoint. Allie Brosh is a hilarious, insightful genius.
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway
This one didn’t change my reading life the way his first novel, The Gone-Away World did, but it’s also excellent.
Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood
I binged on the whole trilogy in about a month, but this was my favorite by far.
The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
I absolutely loved The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game, but didn’t think this one quite measured up. Still very good, though.
Loranne’s dishonorable mentions for 2013:
The Circle by Dave Eggers: I really enjoyed doing One LibraryThing, One Book, but when I finally finished this one, I wanted to throw it against a wall. I just did not like it. At all.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany: Another selection for sci-fi book club. I just couldn’t get into this one. I didn’t even make it to the halfway point. Kept waiting for things to get interesting/start making sense, and they never did.
Matt
Tutte le poesie by Eugenio Montale
Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves
The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol by Nikolai Gogol
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
The Origin and Goal of History by Karl Jaspers
Matt’s honorable mentions for 2013:
Locomotrix: Selected Poetry and Prose of Amelia Rosselli by Amelia Rosselli
The Professional Chef’s Book of Charcuterie by Tina G. Mueller
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
More?
Tell us about your favorites for 2013 on Talk, or add your own Top Five to our list!
Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the US, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, France, Germany, and many more. Make sure to check the flags by each book to see if it can be sent to you, or select your country at the top of the list, to see all books available in your area.
