Best Reads of 2013

My mother always requests a special post highlighting every book I read for the previous year. I'm not sure she eventually reads many of the ones I recommend, but she likes to write down the ones that appeal to her. I read more this year than I usually do. I'm a bit loathe to list them all, because I don't want it to appear as if I am trying to boast about how much I read. In fact, it really shows how much I need to get a life outside of reading, I suppose. One of the problems with reading so much is that it becomes more difficult to narrow down memories of which ones were favorites.


Here is the list of books read for 2013:
 

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt

The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom

Think Confident, Be Confident for Teens by Marci Fox and Leslie Sokol

The Emotional Life of Your Brain by Richard J. Davidson and Sharon Begley

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

The Returned by Jason Mott

Pie by Sarah Weeks

Taylor's Gift by Todd and Tara Storch

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss

Handling the Truth by Beth Kephart

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Under a Flaming Sky by Daniel James Brown

Hope Will Find You by Naomi Levy

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

When God Makes Lemonade by Don Jacobson

Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

The Chance by Karen Kingsbury

I Can't Complain by Elinor Lipman

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell

Tell My Sons by Lt. Col. Mark M. Weber

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Gregor and the Code of Claw by Suzanne Collins

The Heavy by Dara-Lynn Weiss

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson

Clean Gut by Dr. Alejandro Junger

The Librarian by Eric Hobbs

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Another Year or Two by Robin Stephen

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

Don't Go by Lisa Scottoline

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Best Kept Secret by Jeffrey Archer

The Thank You Room by Serenity Bohon

Gregor and the Marks of Secret by Suzanne Collins

You Are a Writer by Jeff Goins

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo

Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Trapped by Michael Northrup

Hooked by Les Edgerton

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods by Suzanne Collins

Mended by Angie Smith

Yielded Captive by Dalaina May

The 39 Deaths of Adam Strand by Gregory Galloway

Engagement from Scratch! by Danny Iny

The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen

The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison

It's My Life by Melody Carlson

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

With Every Letter by Sarah Sundin

Saturday Night Widows by Becky Aikman

On Becoming a Writer by Denise J. Hughes

Having Our Say by the Delany Sisters with Amy Hill Hearth

Real Love by Anne Peterson

Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Snobs by Julian Fellowes

The Missing Ink by Philip Hensher

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver

The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. by Nichole Bernier

Diary of a Teenage Girl by Melody Carlson

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Sufficient Grace by Darnell Arnoult

Help, Thanks, Wow by Anne Lamott

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn

Katherine Paterson by Alice Cary

Barbara Park by Dennis Abrams

I Couldn't Love You More by Jillian Medoff

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Scumble by Ingrid Law

A Wreath of Snow by Liz Curtis Higgs

The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

Jumping the Scratch by Sarah Weeks

The Last Summer of You and Me by Ann Brashares

Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce by John Piper

Now to declare my favorites from this lengthy list (a hard task, no doubt) along with links to my reviews:

Favorite fiction:

The Light Between Oceans, Yielded Captive, Best Kept Secret, What Alice Forgot (if only because the premise has stuck with me forever) and Wedding Night

Favorite non-fiction:

Brain on Fire, Hope Will Find You, Under a Flaming Sky, Unbroken and Salt Sugar Fat

Favorite YA/kid-lit:

If You Find Me, Because of Mr. Terupt, Navigating Early, The Wednesday Wars, and The Book Thief

What were your favorite reads for the year 2013? I'd love to add them to my list of books to read in 2014.