Saturday, January 4, 2014

Books Read in 2013



This is the list of the 102 books I read in 2013, in the order that I read them, with links to the reviews I wrote.

There is not much rhyme or reason to whether I review a book or not. Some of my favorite books go without a review.

I rate books 1 to 5.  I rate a book a 3 if I liked it but wouldn't think of recommending it and a 4 if I would recommend it to anyone. Most books get 3.5, which means that I liked it and would recommend it to people who like that genre or type of book.  For a full explanation of my rating system, see here.

If you have reviewed any of the books I reviewed, and you would like your review listed on mine, please leave a comment on my review post for that book with a link to your review and I will add it.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (3.5/5)

What a Piece of Work I Am by Eric Kraft (2.5/5; reviewed here)

The Prestige by Christopher Priest (4/5)

Personal History by Katharine Graham (5/5; reviewed here)

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (4/5; reviewed here)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (4/5; Pulitzer Prize winner; reviewed here)

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb (4/5; reviewed here)

Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope (4/5)

The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie (3.5/5)

Just Enough Liebling: Classic Work by the Legendary New Yorker Writer by A. J. Liebling (reviewed here) (3.5/5)

The Perfect Martini Book by Bob Herzbrun  (3/5)

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (4/5; Booker Prize winner)

 Dismanteling America by Thomas Sowell (3.5/5)

A Prefect's Uncle by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5; reviewed here)

Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)

From Doon with Death by Ruth Rendell (3/5)

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik (3/5; reviewed here)

Shopgirl by Steve Martin (3.5/5)

Childhood by Anthony Burgess (3/5)

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (3.5/5; reviewed here)

The Founding Fish by John McPhee (3.5/5)

Hot Money by Dick Friancis (3.5/5)

Death in the Truffle Wood by Pierre Madnan (3.5/5)

The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto by Bernard DeVoto (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Independent People by Halldor Laxness (3.5/5; Nobel winner; reviewed here)

Good to Great by Jim Collins (3.5/5)

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (3.5/5)

The Gathering by Anne Enright (4/5; Booker Prize winner; reviewed here)

Murder at the Washington Tribune by Margaret Truman (3/5)

Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin (3/5; reviewed here)

Quite Honestly by John Mortimer (3/5)

Word Up! How to Write Powerful Sentences and Paragraphs (And Everything You Build from Them) by Marcia Riefer Johnston (3.5/5)

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Blood From a Stone by Donna Leon (3.5/5)

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl (3/5)

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass (4/5; reviewed here)

Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard (3/5)

The Road Home by Rose Tremain (3.5/5)

The Infinities by John Banville (3.5/5)

Cat Nips by Ray Shaw (3/5)

Beast in View by Margaret Millar (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Son of Holmes by John Lescroart (3/5)

Double-Edged Sword by Steve Anderson (4/5)

The Art  of Fiction by David Lodge (4/5)

Prince of Fire by Daniel Silva (3.5/5)

Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis (3/5; Pulitzer Prize winner)

The Groves of Academe by Mary McCarthy (5/5; reviewed here)

The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. I by Mark Twain (3.5/5)

The Soldier's Wife by Joanne Trollope (3/5)

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman (3/5)

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (3.5/5)

Smiley's People by John Le Carre (3/5)

Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore (3.5/5; reviewed here)

Perfect Happiness by Penelope Lively (3.5/5)

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (3.5/5)

Antic Hay by Aldous Huxely (3/5)

Small World by David Lodge (4/5)

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (4.5/5; Booker Prize winner)

Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face by David Lansdown (3/5)

Broken Windows, Broken Business by Michael Levine (3/5)

Death at the Chateau Bremont by M. L. Longworth (3.5/5)

Flying Finish by Dick Francis (4/5)

On the Edge by Peter Lovesey (3/5)

Letting Go by Philip Roth (3/5)

The Wandering Goose by Heather Earnhardt (3.5/5)

Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (3.5/5)

What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies (4.5/5; reviewed here)

The Affair by Lee Child (3.5/5)

A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym (3/5)

Bootlegger's Daughter by Margaret Maron (3.5/5; Edgar winner)

The Rector's Wife by Joanna Trollope (3/5)

Forfeit by Dick Francis (3.5/5; Edgar winner)

Parachutes & Kisses by Erica Jong (3/5; reviewed here

The Child in Time by Ian McEwan (3.5/5)

Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh (3.5/5)

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement by David Brooks (3.5/5)

The Great Leader by Jim Harrison (3.5/5)

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald (3/5)

Because He Could by Dick Morrison (3/5)

Tales of St. Austin's by P. G. Wodehouse (3/5)

Cold by Stella Cameron (3.5/5)

Elegy for April by Benjamin Black (4/5)

The Sandcastle by Iris Murdoch (4/5)

Enduring Love by Ian McEwan (3.5/5)

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple (3.5/5)

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (3/5)

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason (3/5)

The Conscience of the Rich by C. P. Snow (3/5)

The Complaints by Ian Rankin (3.5/5)

Things We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed (4/5)

 Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh (3/5)

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (3/5)

A Taste for Death by P. D. James (3.5/5)

Leave it to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse (4/5)

The Christmas Pearl by  Dorthea Benton Frank (3/5)

The CEO of the Sofa by P. J. O'Roarke (3/5)

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke by Roald Dahl (3/5)

The Dean's December by Saul Bellow (3/5)

Worthy Brown's Daughter by Philip Margolin (3.5/5)


1 comment:

  1. Since you've read The Prestige, have you watched the movie too?

    ReplyDelete