Farewell to 2013

Lucy Maud Montgomery: "Blessed be the inventor of the alphabet, pen and printing press! Life would be to me in all events a terrible thing without books."


It's been a good year for readers. I started out the year with Wendy Welch's "Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap" and am winding it up with "Mud Season" by Ellen Stimson. In the middle, I've learned what really goes on in hotels, about a New York lawyer on her way to the Supreme Court, and how fiercely a parent can love a child.

What were your favorite books of 2013?

My top picks this year:

Fiction

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society - Heath, Amy.
Snow Child - Ivey, Eowyn
The Dressmaker - Alcott, Kate
Aviator's Wife - Benjamin, Melanie.
Obituary Writer - Hood, Ann.
Joyland - King, Stephen.
The Husband's Secret - Moriarty, Liane.
Silent Wife - Harrison, A.S.A.
Rebecca - Du Maurier, Daphne
Sisterland - Sittenfeld, Curtis.

Nonfiction

Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap - Welch, Wendy. (More about the book in an upcoming post)
My Beloved World - Sotomayor, Sonia.
Heads in Beds - Tomsky, Jacob
Meet Me in Emotional Baggage - Scottoline, Lisa.
Good Dog. Stay. - Quindlen, Anna.
Fourth State of Matter (essay) - Beard, JoAnn.
Dad is Fat - Gaffigan, Jim.
World's Strongest Librarian - Hanagarne, Josh.
Weird Things People Say in Bookstores - Campbell, Jen.
Astronaut Wives Club - Koppel, Lily.



In 2014, I'm looking forward to reading Tom Nissley's "A Reader's Book of Days" which will keep me discovering something new about books and writers every day the entire year.Two books of essays are first (and second) on my list: "This is the Story of a Marriage" by Ann Patchett and "Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie - Midwestern Writers on Food" edited by Peggy Wolff. I recently had the opportunity to meet Peggy Wolff and two of writers featured in the book, Mary Kay Shanley and Timothy Bascom. Now I want to read more about peach cobbler and Thanksgiving dinners!

Happy Reading!