Top Ten of 2013

It's the moment you all have been waiting for. I know that you have been waiting on pins and needles and gnawing your fingernails to nubs with the anxiety of waiting.

 Well,here it is, friends! The official count of my books read for 2013 was 163 (52, 590 pages!!!), the majority of which was fiction. It's been a great year of reading and it was no small chore for me to whittle the list of fiction down to ten.

 This list is not numbered, because it would be impossible to rank them- they all stand on equal footing in my top ten. Some of them are not highbrow literature by any stretch, but are on my list because of how they struck, and changed, my heart. Isn't that the most wonderful thing about reading? That one book can actually change you as a person, so that when the last page has been turned, you are not the person that turned the very first page? I am not a book snob and will read just about anything that is recommended to me or strikes my whimsical fancy. Enough blabbering from me, on to the list!

Drum roll please........

The insomniac bibliophile's top ten fiction of 2013:

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin
Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer
Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd(note: this book has not yet been published, I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reader's copy from the publisher)

Notable Non-fiction:

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala
In the Body of the World by Eve Ensler


There it is, my bibliophile buddies! As always, be sure to share with me any great books that you have read/are reading so I can continue to read amazing books.

If you are on Goodreads and are curious about the other 150 books I read that are not on this list, see here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6077337-mandi?read_at=2013&view=covers

Happy reading, friends, and may 2014 bring you peace, joy and fabulous books! Cheers!

Best of 2012

I thought we would start the year of 2013 with a bit of reflection of the year of 2012. I may be getting older, but I can remember 2012 as if it were yesterday....oh, yes- it WAS yesterday. I had better write down my top books of 2012 before it gets lost in this motherly mind of mine filled with dance,boy scouting, sports and school schedules.

This past year I read so many wonderful books, most of which were recommended to me by my fellow bibliophile buddies. It was very challenging to choose a top ten. I must preface this list by telling you, my book loving friends, my rating criteria. I do not rate books based solely on the quality of writing(although, of course, this is taken into consideration). I rate primarily on the enjoyment of the read and the emotions evoked within me. The best books, in my humble opinion, are those in which you are a different person after reading them.

With that said, here is my top ten of 2012. I did NOT rank them. It was a challenge to simply come up with a top ten list- ranking them would have been impossible!

Drum roll, please.......

 Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell
The Girls by Lori Lansens
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Red Tent by Anita Diamont
Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud by Ben Sherwood
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

If you have a book recommendation for me, I would be delighted to hear it! May the upcoming year be full of love, joy and bountiful reading for us all!