100 Books in 2013!

In 2013, I finished one hundred books. I didn’t have a specific goal, really; it was just one of those years in which a lot of reading happened.

(Though I’ll be honest and confess that, upon finishing book number ninety-nine on December 26th, I deliberately chose one that looked to be a quick read to finish out the year. There’s something appealing about a nice, round number.)

One hundred seems like a lot to me. As it turns out, when you have an infant (and only an infant – I would guess, though I don’t know, that older siblings complicate things), it provides many opportunities for reading. Many of the titles on my list were finished while I rocked her to sleep, or gave her a bottle, or let her nap on my chest. A good book can also be an escape, as I discovered long ago, and there’s no doubt there were times when I needed that during this past year.

(Though there were days in which even a good novel wasn’t enough to distract me, which says quite a bit – books and I have always been the best of friends.)

So, without further ado, my book list for 2013, in the order in which I read them.

(If, for some reason, you happen to be curious about what I thought about any of the titles on this list, hover over the cover image for a rating and, in some cases, a review.)

My favorites this year:
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Walking on Water, Madeleine L’Engle
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on these:
A Hologram for the King, Dave Eggers
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
The Castle, Franz Kafka
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

(Apparently, the great authors of the twentieth century don’t appeal to me much. Maybe I have no taste.)

How about you? Read anything good lately?

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