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Favorite Books 2013


ChocolateFrogs

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2013 was a good year for me in reading. I only read about 20 or so novels, when I really wanted to read more than that, but I'm sure that was more than my four years of college combined (due to classwork), and was greatly stemmed from my realization after graduation that I suddenly had more time to read (and boy did I take advantage of that once the summer hit).

 

Here are my favorite reads of 2013:

 

-American Gods by Neil Gaiman: The most brilliantly-written books I've read. It's fantastic.

 

-The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: This is a book I would recommend for any avid reader, anyone who enjoys a good story.

 

-The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: Beautifully written, with some well-written characters and great scenery. Great imagination put into this.

 

-Redshirts by John Scalzi: Hilarious sci-fi parody.

 

-Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: An exhilarating action movie in book form. For fans of video games and virtual reality.

 

-Batman: Arkham Asylum (A Serious House on a Serious Earth) by Grant Morrison and, more importantly, art by Dave McKean

 

-I finsihed reading The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman: Best graphic novel series ever.

 

-Saga vol 1 by Brian K Vaughn: Described as a cross between Star Wars and A Song of Ice and Fire, it's pretty much awesome.

 

-Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (and, to a lesser extent, but still enjoyable, Fangirl). Both well-written in their own right, but I think I like Eleanor and Park more. I even met the author and had her sign an X-Men comic (a central prop in E&P).

 

-A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (I got to meet the author at the National Book Festival!).

 

I also read a few duds (as well as just quit some partway through). IMO you'd be better off not reading The Cassandra Project, The Archived, or Best of All Possible World.

 

What does 2014 hold in store? I'll be posting about that next!

 

-CF :kakama:

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You know, maybe it's because I had to read it for a class (that I was not particularly enjoying), but I just could not get into American Gods. : / I don't really know why, it just seemed like a dull read. And the whole concept of the 'new Gods' never made any sense to me.

 

Ah well, to each their own. I can't say I've ever heard of any of those other books (aside from A Monster Calls, which I did enjoy, and Sandman), but it's always interesting to see what other people are reading. I might have to check out Sandman one of these days just to see what the fuss is about.

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I haven't read nearly as many new books this year as I probably should have, so the closest I could get to a top-10 list would be "a list of all the books I've read this year and liked". Let's see...

-Only a Theory by Kenneth R. Miller: A fascinating analysis of the debate over evolution in America and what it means for the future of education in the country.

 

-The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: Fabulous, but then again, I've come to expect that from Neil Gaiman

 

-My Little Pony chapter books by G.M. Berrow: Easy reading and decent stories. So really no worse than the show itself.

 

-Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire: I think I read that this past year? In any case, as the finale of the Wicked series, it brings all the work of the past books in the series to fruition. I do agree with my uncle that it didn't do enough with Ozma, considering the series' typical reluctance to shy away from themes of sexuality and Ozma's status as one of the first transsexuals in American literature.

 

-Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Search by Gene Luen Yang: The Avatar graphic novels continue to uphold the legacy of the TV series

 

-Brick by Brick by David C. Robertson: a really good look at the business behind Lego's turnaround this past decade

-My Little Pony comic series: Okay, these may not count, since I haven't been reading them as trades and only individual story arcs have reached any sort of finality. But these comics continue to tell unique stories, some of which only really work in the comics medium (such as a two-part story arc relating the mostly-silent side character Big Macintosh on a quest to just get to the store and buy some nails).

 

-Hero Factory: Secret Mission chapter books by Greg Farshtey: These continued to tell good stories on par with the Bionicle chapter books. Pity there aren't going to be any more.

 

-Ninjago graphic novels by Greg Farshtey: Also good. I can only hope Sensei Garmadon's attitude in the coming TV series mimics his no-nonsense attitude in the latest issue.

And... that's all I can think of, other than books I re-read after having read them a previous year. It didn't help that the first half of the year was wasted in a design program with hardly any decent reading material, but that's a pretty poor excuse. I'm also kind of surprised that two non-fiction books were among them, since I'm generally more partial to fiction, but I guess they were both about interesting topics.

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You know, maybe it's because I had to read it for a class (that I was not particularly enjoying), but I just could not get into American Gods. : / I don't really know why, it just seemed like a dull read. And the whole concept of the 'new Gods' never made any sense to me.

 

Ah well, to each their own. I can't say I've ever heard of any of those other books (aside from A Monster Calls, which I did enjoy, and Sandman), but it's always interesting to see what other people are reading. I might have to check out Sandman one of these days just to see what the fuss is about.

Sorry American Gods didn't grab you. Maybe pick it up on a whim after a few years since you read it and give it a shot? (I plan on doing that for a few school books I "didn't get" because rarely do I like school books.)

 

As for the rest of my list: I hope you can find something new on here that interests you. I suggest looking synopses and ratings/reviews on Goodreads.

 

-CF

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Niiice, some awesome books here. American Gods, Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Night Circus (and yeah, definitely so much great imagination in that book!)...all books I also read this year and loved. American Gods -may- have just barely missed the top 10 list for me (I'm still in the process of writing up a list/thinking about it), but even if it did, it was a fantastic read, I thought. Though I did love Ocean much more. As I told you before, I'm super jealous you got to meet Patrick Ness--I recently picked up More Than This, and though I haven't read it yet, it's the book I'm most excited to read this year. =P Also cannot wait for his short story in 11 Doctors, 11 Stories! Seriously, that book is going to be amazing. Ness, Colfer, Gaiman...and Doctor Who on top of that. XD

 

Books on this list that I reaaallllyyyyy need to read, and have been meaning to, but haven't: Sandman, Ready Player One, and something by Rainbow Rowell (been hearing a lot about Fangirl--may start with that just because of how much it's being talked about now). I've heard those are all amazing, so I'm glad to see you think so too. Will definitely have to look into those other books, too.

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