1. Best book you read in 2013?
I gave the following books five stars on Goodreads:
- Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
- Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
- Big Mouth and Ugly Girl by Joyce Carol Oates (reread)
- Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
- Junie B. Jones Collection (#1-8) by Barbara Park
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more but didn’t?
Ash by Malinda Lo. I love a good Cinderella retelling but wound up being bored by it in the end.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013?
Permission Slips by Sherri Shepherd. I had zero expectations, and I had no idea Sherri is as funny as she is.
4. Book you recommended to people most in 2013?
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
5. Best series you discovered in 2013?
Apparently, A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty is the first of a trilogy, and I thought that book was just delightful, so that pleases me.
6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2013?
Rainbow Rowell. Read two of her books (E&P and The Attachments), enjoyed them both.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
Probably The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot best qualifies here. Super interesting and totally not my normal fare.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2012?
The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty. Once I got past the first few chapters (too many characters! few of them that important!), I was wholly absorbed in the book and wanted to see how everything would shake out.
9. Book you read in 2013 that you are most likely to re-read next year?
I’m not a big re-reader, and I probably wouldn’t re-read any of these books next year. But the books I’m most likely to reread sometime in the future are Eleanor & Park and Book of a Thousand Days.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?
11. Most memorable character in 2013?
Tik Tok from Tiger Lily. Yes.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
Eleanor & Park
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
Make Just One Change by Dan Rothstein (reviewed on my teaching blog) completely changed how I taught my course this fall.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read?
Everything I read was either new to me or completely off my radar, so.
15. Favorite passage/quote from a book you read in 2013?
None really stood out to me this year.
16. Shortest & longest book you read in 2013?
Longest was The House of Hades by Rick Riordan; shortest was Junie B. Jones Is (Almost) a Flower Girl by Barbara Park.
17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
- the ending & epilogue/final chapter to The Husband’s Secret
- Eleanor & Park–just…everything
18. Favorite relationship from a book you read in 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc)?
Eleanor & Park as well as Park’s relationships with his parents in E&P, Tik Tok and Tiger Lily in Tiger Lily, and James and Raleigh in Silver Sparrow.
19. Favorite book you read in 2013 from an author you read previously?
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
20. Best book you read that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else?
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple — I read it because Jasmine told me to.
The Englishist 
I too loved The Book of a Thousand Days. I just finished Hale’s The Goose Girl, which i also liked, though I preferred a different retelling I read this year – Thorn, by Intisar Khanani. It’s quite cheap on ebook, if you want to give it a shot! I think you might enjoy it.
I have had the Aya books (there is one before this one right?) on my wish list for a while but have not been able to find them anywhere. They just seem like they would be an interesting way to learn about life in the Ivory Coast.
LikeLike
No, that’s the first one. It’s a collection of the first three in the series.
I saw that you liked Thorn! I put it on my TBR based on your review. Looking forward to reading it.
LikeLike
I got Eleanor & Park (after falling hard for Fangirl) for Christmas and I wanted to start reading it immediately….but I promised my husband I’d read The Art of Fielding first so I can talk about it with him.
LikeLike
That’s love. On the plus side, at least you know E&P will be good.
LikeLike