I have to admit that I’ve never really been interested in doing “best of” lists before. I don’t know why; maybe it’s a memory thing, maybe I don’t like to pick a “best” book; I like so many. But, back in September, I looked at my lists and realized that this year I will have read 100 books. The last time I got to 100, it took me a lot longer. So, I figured in honor of that milestone, I’d do a best of post. So, first off, books that I actually finished, by the numbers….

Middle Grade Fiction: 31 (I realize I’m doing this mostly randomly, since I lump them together on my list)
Young Adult Fiction: 25
Non-Fiction: 14
Fiction: 38

That’s 108 this year, folks! (Not as many as others, but that’s a lot for me.)

And, since I actually felt like doing something fun, on to the “Awards”. First, the overall bests:

Best Adult Fiction: Pomegranate Soup (It was very hard to decide; there wasn’t one that just jumped out at me. But in the end, I think I enjoyed it the most, and it would be the one I would most highly recommend to others.)

Best YA book: Thirteen Reasons Why. Very close runner up: Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature

Best Middle-grade book: Tough. I’ll call it a three-way tie, and be grateful that I don’t really have to choose: Elijah from Buxton, The Wednesday Wars or The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Best Fantasy: Stardust and Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer

Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: Uglies

Best Non-Fiction: The Royal Road to Romance

Best Romance: Outlander

Best (um, only?) Mystery: An Instance of the Fingerpost

In other categories…

Author who could do no wrong: Shannon Hale; I read three of her books this year (River Secrets, Austenland, Book of a Thousand Days) and thoroughly enjoyed them all.

The reason I’m obsessed with vampires: Twilight

Book I’m most embarrassed to admit I read, but that Hubby’s glad I did (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more): tie… either Outlander or the Gardella Vampire books

Most creative book: Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf

Book for in-person book group I liked least (but everyone else liked): The Inheritance

Book for in-person book group I liked best: The Killer Angels

Book for on-line book group I liked best: The Brothers K

New books that I didn’t agree with “everyone” on: Evil Genius and Eggs

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 2 — As You Like It and Midsummer Night’s Dream (Number read in previous years: 0)

Book that Made me Laugh the most: Austenland, The Wednesday Wars, Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank

Books I abandoned: Last of the Mohicans, More Letters from Pemberly, Villette

Author everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Neil Gaiman

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Linda Urban (A Crooked Kind of Perfect), or Christopher Grey (Leonardo’s Shadow)

Book I read the fastest (also possibly Book during which I cried the most): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Books I finally read but should have read AGES ago: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, Jane Eyre, The Killer Angels, The Search for Delicious

Series/trilogies I read: two of the Percy Jackson series (The Sea of Monsters, Titan’s Curse), the Uglies series (Uglies, Pretties, Specials), the Gardella Vampire series (The Rest Falls Away, Rises the Night), Riddle-Master (The Riddle Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, Harpist in the Wind), and the Temeraire series (His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, Empire of Ivory)

Newbery Books I read: Caddie Woodlawn, Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, Higher Power of Lucky. I meant to read more.

Books that made me want to go out and do something: Climbing the Mango Trees (eat Indian food, which I still haven’t done), Liszt’s Kiss (practice the piano), An Embarrassment of Mangoes (travel), Eat Cake (um, eat cake), Around the World in 80 Days (watch Monty Python)