I read 44 books this year, 3 more than last year and just one shy of my goal of 45. I read many good ones and it has taken some thought to narrow it down to the five that I thought were best.
Drumroll:
My 2013 top 5 books in alphabetical order:
-Arcadia; Lauren Groff -I loved the story, the hippies, the history and wish I could join in. I think this would make a great movie.
-Cutting for Stone; Abraham Verghese -The section where the twins are born shows the power of a great novel. It literally takes your breath away.
-The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society; Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -The winner of the worst title ever. A great unique book that I couldn’t put down.
-The Language of Flowers; Vanessa Diffenbaugh -another great story, great characters and a book that you don’t want to end once it is over.
-Olive Kitteridge; Elizabeth Strout -a strangely hypnotic novel. Olive Kitteridge is by far my favorite character of the year.
As I said I read a lot of good ones this year and the below are ones that fall on my highly recommend list:
Honorable Mentions:
-Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk; Ben Fountain
-The Cuckoo’s Calling; Robert Galbreith
-Flight Behavior; Barbara Kingsolver
-Let the Great World Spin; Colum McCann
As her mother is on her death bed and not able to communicate, a woman learns that her father is not her real father. She investigates and learns nothing in her family is what she believed it was as her mother was involved in the mob in Chicago a long time ago. Just ok… a bit long winded with an unsatisfying ending.
A woman looks back at her summer when she was 17 and working at an old amusement park with one of her old friends. I didn’t get into this short novel as much as the one I read earlier from Moore. I enjoy her style and quirky characters though.
I can’t believe Christmas is in only three days! We decorated sugar cookies today and decided to do all Christmas trees this year. We used our stand by 
Cormoran Strike is a down and out, ex-military private Investigator in London who is hired to investigate the death of a famous super model. With the help of his temp secretary they investigate the usual suspects to see if the death was a suicide or murder. Terrific writing and interesting characters make this a great read. I hope this turns into a series. This is the novel that was published under a pen name of J.K. Rowling – author of the Harry Potter books.
Story of Tassie, a twenty year old who just started her first year of college. She finds a job babysitting for a family who just adopted a baby who has been in foster care for the past several years. The novel is told in first person by Tassie and goes back and forth between her personal life, her babysitting and her family back home on the farm. The novel is very interesting and I was hooked right away. The characters are great and the writing is wonderful. The story is interesting – taking on racism, sexism, and patriotism. The section that gives the back story of the adopted couple is truly frightening. Horrific. The author has a unique style that might turn some people off as not much happens a lot of the time, a lot of rambling thoughts… but again this is my type of novel. I’m excited to read her other books.
A thirteen year old Chinese American boy falls in love with a Japanese girl in Seattle on the eve of World Ward II. The Japanese girl’s family is eventually sent off to an internment camp. It was interesting to read about the history of this time, of Seattle in the 1940’s and of the awful treatment of minorities. The book, although enjoyable, was a bit too sappy for me.
Eat On Edgecliff 