Books of 2013 - Reading Year in Review

I'm pleased with this reading year: I finished 147 books (3 shy of my Goodreads goal), which is fairly close to my average since I've started keeping track. I felt like the quality of the books this year stayed reasonably high.

Summary: Fiction 73, Nonfiction 74. How very balanced of me.

Most Books Finished: tie between March and January, each with 17.
Fewest Books Finished: tie between December and July.
Most Fiction finished in a month: January, with 10.
Most Nonfiction finished in a month: March, with 11.
Average number of books finished each month: 12.25
Average number of books finished each week: 2.83

If I had to give 2013 a title, I'd call it "The Year of the Mystery". I finished mysteries by the following authors:
C.S. Harris - 8 (all the Sebastian St. Cyr series to this point)
Ngaio Marsh - 3
Josephine Tey - 3
Anne Perry - 3
Rennie Airth - 3 (The John Madden series, no, not football related)
Sarah Caudwell - 3
Jill McGown - 3
James Anderson - 3 (Inspector Wilkins series)
Sally Wright - 1 (first in the Ben Reese series)
Edmund Crispin - 1
Agatha Christie - 1
Charles Todd - 1 (the latest in the Inspector Rutledge series)
M. C. Beaton - 1 (the latest Agatha Raisin)
Deanna Raybourn - 1 (Lady Julia Grey series)
James Runcie - 1 (first in the Sidney Chambers series)
Victoria Abbott - 1 (first in the Book Collector series)
Ashley Gardner - 1 (Capt. Lacey series,  too like romance novel so I won't be reading more)
Christopher Fowler - 1 (first in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series)
Susan Hill -1 (first in the Simon Serrailler series)
Margery Allingham - 1 (first in the Albert Campion series)

My favorite series was probably the Inspector Wilkins series by James Anderson. Such a shame there are only three.

Number of books sent to me for review purposes: 4
Best book I reviewed:Humble Orthodoxy: Holding the Truth High Without Putting People Downby Joshua Harris.

Number of books about writing: 4


Best Show / Book combo: the only one I can think of is Call the Midwife.

Funniest: Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.
Funniest, runner-up: The Honest Toddler: A Child's Guide to Parenting

Top 3 "Just for Women" Books:
1. Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Lifeby Emily Freeman
2. Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wildby Mary Kassian.
3.What Women Want: The Life You Crave and How God Satisfiesby Lisa T. Bergren & Rebecca Price.

Best book on Prayer:A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World with Bonus Contentby Paul E. Miller.
Most powerful & Moving: A Severe Mercyby Sheldon Vanauken. (Also wins: best C.S. Lewis tie-in for the letters from Lewis published in this book)
Book I most need to re-read:The Mind of the Makerby Dorothy Sayers.

Best Parenting Book:Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Childby Anthony Esolen.
Best Parenting runner-up:Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesusby Elyse Fitzpatrick.
Book that made me feel better about our larger than average family:What to Expect When No One's Expecting: America's Coming Demographic Disasterby Jonathan Last

Best US President Related Book:Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
President Related Book runner-up:Coolidgeby Amity Shlaes.

Best Royalty related book:King George Vby Kenneth Rose.
Best Churchill related book:A Daughter's Tale: The Memoir of Winston Churchill's Youngest Childby Mary Soames.
Favorite book read as research:London War Notes, 1939-1945by Mollie Panter-Downes.

Top 3 in Austen-related works:
1.Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandomby Deborah Yaffe.
2.The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever Afterby Elizabeth Kantor.
3.Jane Austen's Englandby Roy & Lesley Adkins.

Best new Kids' or YA series (though not necessarily as a read aloud):The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Placeby Maryrose Wood.

Favorite Covers:


If you'd like to know more about these or the rest of the books I finished in 2013, just use the label "Books of 2013".

Previous years: 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007.

What did you read in 2013? Please share, whether in the comments or by leaving a link to a blog post.
This post is linked to Modern Mrs. Darcy's Favorite Books of 2013, Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books and Booking Through Thursday.

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