To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure where 2013 went. Last time I checked, it was April. But then, I started a book group at work (which is still kind of struggling), organized my birthday party, sent a daughter to India, served on another Cybils panel, went to KidlitCon, and a saw a whole bunch of authors. It was a busy year! And, in between all that, I managed to read a bunch of books.

By the Numbers:

Middle Grade Fiction: 67
YA Fiction: 53
Graphic Novels: 9
Non-Fiction: 15
Adult Fiction: 25
(Number of those that were sci-fi/fantasy books: 80)
(Number of those that were audiobooks: 19)
(Number of those that were rereads: 15)

Grand Total: 169

Abandoned: 8

Not bad, for someone who doesn’t have time. Then again, I don’t watch too much TV or movies anymore.

And now this year’s awards:

Best Adult Fiction: The Golem and the Jinni
Best YA book: The Lucy Variations
Best Middle-grade book: The Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
Best MG Fantasy: You’ll see what we come up with on our shortlist tomorrow! 
Best YA Fantasy: Quintana of Charyn
Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: The 5th Wave
Best Graphic Novel: Boxers & Saints
Best Non-Fiction: The Telling Room
Best MG/YA Non-Fiction: Bomb
Best Romance: Just One Day/Just One Year
Best Mystery: There really wasn’t one this year.
Best Audiobook: Fragile Things

And in other categories…

Cover love: Anna Dressed in Blood
  
Don’t judge a book by its cover: The Screaming Staircase

*Swoon*: Perfect Scoundrels (HALE!)

I could have written it (but not as well): The Book of Mormon Girl

Long Title, Great Book:  Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Also: Google!)

Best in-person book group book: The Golem and the Jinni

Best YAckers book: The Blue Sword

Favorite reread: The Blue Sword (followed closely by Emma)

Rocking Retellings: Tiger Lily, The Madman’s Daughter, Dodger,

Third Best Cancer Book Ever: Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl

Yes, I am a Janeite: A Jane Austen Education, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Longbourn

Dickensian London, Represent!: How to Catch a Bogle, Rose, The Reluctant Assassin, Dodger, The Madman’s Daughter

Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic isn’t overdone (yet): Parched, The Rithmatist

Begs to be Read Aloud: True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp

Fine. I cried: One for the Murphys, The Running Dream


Hippies at Heart: Eva of the Farm

The polar bear is real, I swear: Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made

Oh the 80s!: Eleanor & Park,  Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Best Unreliable Narrator: The Unchangeable Spots of Lepoards

I *heart* Musicians: The Lucy Variations, The Year of Shadows

Books I should have read AGES ago: Blankets, The Castle of Otranto

Give it up for the Awesome Heroines:  Dark Triumph, The Boneshaker, Rose Under Fire, Quintana of Charyn, Untold, Scarlet, Out of the Easy, Magic Marks the Spot, All the Truth That’s In Me, Giants Beware, The Blue Sword

Guys rock: Guys Read: Other Worlds; Winger; An Abundance of Katherines; The Beginning of Everything

Mean Girls FTW: Confessions of a Hater

Evil Incarnate: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

Author Events I dragged the girls to: Rick Riordan, Melissa de la Cruz, Shannon Messenger, Marissa Meyer, Eoin Colfer, Claire M. Caterer, Lenore Applehans, Kahled Hosseini

Snorting milk outta my nose award: Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle

Series I devoured: Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls); Infernal Devices (Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess), The Grisha (Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm)

Odd isn’t a strong enough word: Teen Boat!

Honorary Dude Award: Dude and the Zen Master, OCD, the Dude, and Me

Ghosts!: Ghost Hawk, The Screaming Staircase, Ghost Prison, Beholding Bee, The Year of Shadows, How I Became a Ghost, Anna Dressed in Blood, The Dream Thieves, The Madness Underneath, Paper Valentine

Woo-hoo, they’re back!: Perfect Scoundrels, Amulet: Prince of the Elves, The Runaway King, House of Hades, Wednesdays at the Tower


Waaaah, it’s OVER: Quintana of Charyn

Loved it, but can’t seem to sell it: Counting By 7s, The Different Girl, Just One Day/Just One Year, 

Can we have the sequel NOW?: The Screaming Staircase; The Madness Underneath; The Dream Thieves

Indulging in my desire to carry around a photo of Nathan Fillion: Deadly Heat 

It kind of called for a picture of Nathan Fillion.

Books I finished but didn’t feel the love for: Far, Far Away; Confessions of a Hater; The Lost Art of Mixing; Rebel Spirits; Blue Plate Special, What Would Barbara Do, A Tangle of Knots, Flora & Ulysses

Disappointing book by an author I respect: A Grimm Conclusion, Panic

Author everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Maeve Binchy (Tara Road), Cassandra Clare, Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park)

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Claire M. Caterer (The Key & the Flame), Peggy Eddleman (Sky Jumpers), Kristopher Jansma (The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards), Helene Wecker (The Golem and the Jinni)

What are some of your bests this past year?

It’s my fifth year doing this! It’s also the post (well, the one several years ago), that prompted another local blogger to say “Book Nut: it’s not just a blog name, it’s a diagnosis.” Which I still agree with. I have discovered that doing this is a ton of fun, and starting about mid-December, I scroll through all my archives, dreaming up awards. Enjoy!

By the Numbers:

Middle Grade Fiction: 89
YA Fiction: 47
Graphic Novels: 8
Non-Fiction: 19
Adult Fiction: 25
(Number of those that were sci-fi/fantasy books: 88)
(Number of those that were audiobooks: 14)

Grand Total: 188

Abandoned: 6

Not bad; more than the past couple of years, but not as many as my peak. Also: I knew my middle grade and fantasy totals would be out there this year. But, as I’m going through these awards, I realize that it was a really fantasy-heavy year overall. That’s not a bad thing: there was a LOT of good stuff out there. However, on the downside, I probably won’t have read the book that will win the Newbery before it does.

And now this year’s awards:

Best Adult Fiction: Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Best YA book: Code Name Verity
Best Middle-grade book: Three Times Lucky
Best MG Fantasy: You’ll see what we come up with on our shortlist tomorrow!
Best YA Fantasy: Bitterblue
Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: Ready Player One
Best Graphic Novel: Fables, the Deluxe Edition, Volume 1
Best Non-Fiction: Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Best MG/YA Non-Fiction: Amelia Lost
Best Romance: Highland Fling

Best Mystery (I read more than one this year!): The Sherlockian
Best Audiobook: Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
Best Jacket Flap: Cold Cereal

And in other categories…

Okay, okay, so the hype isn’t always wrong: Water for Elephants, In the Garden of the Beasts 

Love stories aren’t always romances: Every Day

Cover love: Vessel, Splendors and Glooms
 
Worst cover, good book: Seven Tales of Trinket

Food love: Kitchen Counter Cooking School; Food Rules; Dearie; The Spice Necklace; Yes, Chef

Feeding my new-found interest in steampunk: Goliath, The Peculiar, Steampunk


*Swoon*: Grave Mercy


Long Title, Good Book:  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Best in-person book group book: Outcasts United

Best Nook book: Factory Girls

Best YAckers book: The Raven Boys (our discussion)

Favorite reread: Anne of Green Gables


Woot, dragons!: Seraphina, Wings of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy, The Last Dragonslayer, Dealing With Dragons, Searching for Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Dragon Castle

Fine. I cried: A Monster Calls, The One and Only Ivan, The Fault in Our Stars, Wonder

Books I should have read AGES ago: I, Robot; Brave New World; Good Omens

Give it up for the Awesome Heroines: Cold Fury, Grave Mercy, Blood Red Road, Unspoken, Hex Hall, Code Name Verity

Guys rock: Curveball, Stupid Fast, The Fault in Our Stars, Ghetto Cowboy, Liar & Spy

Boarding school rules: Ordinary Magic, Beswitched

Snorting milk outta my nose award: Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan, Mr. and Mrs. Bunny — Detectives Extraordinaire, Sports from Hell, Good Omens, Cold Cereal, The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom; Bossypants.

Proof Stalin was evil: Between Shades of Gray, Breaking Stalin’s Nose

Best book with the worst characters: Before I Fall


It’s not Megan Whalen Turner, but it’s close: The False Prince

Series I devoured: Rae Carson: The Girl of Fire and Thorns/The Crown of Embers. Rachel Hawkins: Hex Hall/Demonglass/Spell Bound. Jacqueline West: The Shadows/Spellbound/The Second Spy; Patrica Wrede: The Enchanted Forest Series. Ally Condie: Matched/Crossed

Favorite reviews: Something Like Fate, Mark of Athena, Fake Mustache, Keeper of the Lost Cities


The Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge book: Shadow of Night

Better than Glee: Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy

The Guinea Pig award: Drop Dead Healthy

Odd isn’t a strong enough word: Railsea, Fake Mustache

Woo-hoo, they’re back!: Goliath (also, Waah: It’s Over!), Caddy’s World, The Mighty Miss Malone, The Unseen Guest, Midnight in Austenland, Clementine and the Family Meeting

Loved it, but can’t seem to sell it: Gilt, Splendors and Glooms, Grave Mercy,  Palace of Stone, Breadcrumbs, Ready Player One, Nerd Camp

Can we have the sequel NOW?: Unspoken, Days of Blood & Starlight, Froi of the Exiles, The Raven Boys, The Crown of Embers, Amulet: the Last Council, Legends of Zita the Spacegirl

Fancy names does not a fantasy make: Throne of Glass, What Came from the Stars

Indulging in my desire to carry around a photo of Nathan Fillion: Frozen Heat

Books I finished but didn’t feel the love for: Jepp, Who Defied the Stars; Wildwood; Ilium

Disappointing book by an author I respect: Mark of Athena,What Came from the Stars, Why We Broke Up, Purity

Author everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Meg Cabot (Size 14 is Not Fat Either), J. R. Moehringer (Sutton), Pauls Toutonghi (Evel Knievel Days)

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: T. M. Goeglin (Cold Fury), Mike Jung (Girls, Geeks, and Secret Identities), Eowyn Ivey (The Snow Child), Anne Nesbit (The Cabinet of Earths)

What are some of your bests this past year?

By the Numbers:

Middle Grade Fiction: 57
YA Fiction: 45
Graphic Novels: 7
Non-Fiction:18
Adult Fiction: 30
(Number of those that were sci-fi/fantasy books: 49)

Grand Total:157

Abandoned: 9

Challenges Completed: I only did three this year: Once Upon a Time, The Great Blogger Book Swap, and the People Of Color Challenge. I hit my goal in the POC challenge, finished the Once Upon a Time, and did less than I hoped on the Great Blogger Book Swap. I’m wondering if I should just be done with challenges for a while.

And now this year’s awards:

Best Adult Fiction: The Night Circus 
Best YA book: I’ll Be There 
Best Middle-grade book: Okay For Now 
Best Fantasy: Daughter of Smoke and Bone 
Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: Divergent 
Best Graphic Novel: Zita the Spacegirl 
Best Non-Fiction: The Disappearing Spoon 
Best Romance: The Grand Sophy 
Best Mystery(I read more than one this year!):  The Devil Went Down to Austin 
Best Audiobook: The True Meaning of Smekday 
Best Jacket Flap: How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack

And in other categories…

Okay, okay, so the hype isn’t always wrong: The Night Circus, The Help

Books I should have read AGES ago: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Cold Sassy Tree, Beowulf, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hattie Big Sky 

Author I overdosed on this year: Rick Riordan (a grand total of 6, plus I read the Percy Jackson series aloud to A.) 

Favorite Reviews: Scones and Sensibility, Heat Wave 

The Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge book: good heavens. I shelved a lot of romance fiction, but didn’t read a single one. Favorite worst title: The Oldest Living Married Virgin. 

Best *Swoon* Factor: Uncommon Criminals, Anna and the French Kiss 

Satire isn’t just for English Majors: Beauty Queen 

Best Interviewee: Clare Vanderpool (whom I have seen in person now, but have yet to talk to…) 

Best book with the longest title:  The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making 

Best book with the worst cover:  The Trouble With May Amelia 

Best book for those sick of vampires: Drink, Slay, Love 

Favorite reread: The Great Gatsby, On Fortune’s Wheel, The Wee Free Men 

Woo-hoo, they’re back!: Son of Neptune, The Demon’s Surrender 

Can we have the sequel NOW?: Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword, Divergent, The Hidden Gallery, Liar’s Moon 

They’re commercial brain candy, but I liked them anyway: Heat Wave, Naked Heat, Heat Rises 

Book for in-person book group I liked best: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency 

Book for on-line book group I liked best: Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer 

Books I finished but didn’t feel the love for: The Cross Gardener, Same Kind of Different as Me 

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 1 – Twelfth Night. And we saw Taming of the Shrew, and about a third of Troilous and Cressida. The latter one was rained out. 

Disappointing book by an author I respect: Pay the Piper 

Books that made me laugh the most:  Seriously… I’m Kidding, Knucklehead 

Can I move in next door?: The Penderwicks at Point Mouette 

Best quirky book: The Chronicles of Harris Burdick 

Author everyone else loves that I discovered I liked:  Mercedes Lackey (The Fairy Godmother) 

Best book from an author I previously didn’t care for: Daughter of the Forest, Keeper 

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Sarah Stevenson (The Latte Rebellion),  Erin McCahan (I Now Pronounce You Someone Else), Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich (8th Grade Superzero) 

Theme(s) that inadvertently manifested themselves: Greek gods (Son of Neptune, Gods Behaving Badly, Athena and Zeus); The South (Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Help, all the Texas mystery books, Friday Night Lights, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, Lions of Little Rock); Death/Loss (The Cross Gardner, Same Kind of Different as Me, Chime, Cures for Heartbreak, Angel in My Pocket)

What are some of your bests this past year?

By the Numbers:
Middle Grade Fiction: 68
YA Fiction: 60
Graphic Novels: 12
Non-Fiction: 15
Adult Fiction: 27
(Number of those that were fantasy books: 45)
Grand Total: 182

Abandoned: 7
Challenges Completed: 6

And yes, I have to do my awards (you’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you?):

Best Adult Fiction: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Best YA book: Marcelo in the Real World

Best Middle-grade book: Out of My Mind

Best Fantasy: Finnikin of the Rock

Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: Academy 7

Best Graphic Novel Amulet, Book 1: The Stonekeeper and Book 2: The Stonekeeper’s Curse

Best Non-Fiction: Open: An Autobiography

Best Romance: A Song for Summer

Best Mystery: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice

Best Jacket Flap: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk


And in other categories…

Books I should have read AGES ago: Eat, Pray, Love; The Picture of Dorian Grey; The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Favorite Reviews: It’s not terribly clever, but I really enjoyed being part of the NerdsHeartYA tournament this year.

Theme(s) that inadvertently manifested themselves: books about the immigrant experience, fantasies that have a historical fiction feel, crazy parents

The Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge book: Sugar

Best *swoon* factor: Heist Society, The Demon’s Lexicon/The Demon’s Covenant

Best Interviewee: Varian Johnson (though Wendy Mass has the squee factor)

Favorite Challenge (that wasn’t hosted by Carl): Flashback Challenge: It was fun rereading books this year!

Favorite reread: The Grey King

Woo-hoo, they’re back!: Ring of Solomon, The Lost Hero

Books that I wanted the sequel for as soon as I read them: Incarceron, Starcrossed

Best main characters: Augie, TC and Ale (My Most Excellent Year)

Book for in-person book group I liked best: Girl in Hyacinth Blue

Book for on-line book group I liked best: The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Books I finished but didn’t feel the love for: Hachiko Waits, I am Morgan le Fey, Countdown, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 1 – Much Ado About Nothing (and watched two movie versions of it), and I only saw one (MacBeth, even though the interpretation — the witches were actually space aliens — didn’t really work for me).

Best Sequel (by an Author Who Didn’t Write the Original): Wishing for Tomorrow

Disappointing book by an author I love: The Candymakers (no review, as I chose not to put one up), by Wendy Mass

Books that made me laugh the most: Belly Up; Going Bovine; Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging

Best books with the worst parents: How I Nicky Flynn Get a Life (and a Dog); One Crazy Summer

Best quirky book: The Kneebone Boy

Authors everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Diana Wynne Jones, Sarah Rees Brennan, Ally Carter

Best book from an author I previously didn’t care for: Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder; Going Bovine, by Libba Bray; Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Rob Buyea (Because of Mr. Terupt),

Yay, a local author: Clare Vanderpool (Moon Over Manifest)

Book I read the fastest: Mockingjay

Favorite book from a series: I Shall Wear Midnight, A Conspiracy of Kings

Newbery Books I read: I didn’t read a single one this year. Shame on me.

Books that made me want to go out and do something: Confections of a Closet Master Baker (bake, of course); French Milk, Under a Tuscan Sun, Eat, Pray Love (travel); The Cardturner (play bridge); Bamboo People (help the people in Burma)

What are some of your bests this past year?

You do it three times, and it’s a tradition.

(I’m doing this early, though, because — if all goes well — we should be driving back from Texas today. So the numbers aren’t quite exact. But that doesn’t really matter, does it?)

Presenting my best of list for this year.

By the Numbers:
Middle Grade Fiction: 78
YA Fiction: 69
Graphic Novels: 11
Non-Fiction: 20
Fiction: 41
Grand Total: 219 (I made it past 200 this year! Woot!)

Challenges Completed: 9

Gotta do my awards…

Best Adult Fiction: People of the Book or Sweetness in the Belly. I couldn’t decide.

Best YA book: Speak

Best Middle-grade book: Anything But Typical

Best Fantasy: Lips Touch Three Times and When You Reach Me

Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: The Stand (Hunger Games is a really, really close second.)

Best Graphic Novel: Tales from Outer Suburbia (with Babymouse: Dragonslayer coming in a close second.)

Best Non-Fiction: My Life in France

Best Romance: Poison Study (Valik still makes me swoon.)

Best Mysteries: Perhaps I should say best mystery writer? The Woman in White and The Moonstone.

Best Jacket Flap: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

And in other categories…

Books I should have read AGES ago: Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Screwtape Letters, The Stand, The Wee Free Men, Fire and Hemlock, Speak, and My Life in France.

Favorite Reviews: Bee Season, The Darcys and the Bingleys, Devilish

Theme(s) that inadvertently manifested themselves: Women’s bodies (Intuitive Eating; Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters; Artichoke’s Heart; Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies); Baseball (The Brooklyn Nine, All the Broken Pieces, The Girl Who Threw Butterflies); Jane Austin (The Darcys and the Binglys; Pemberley by the Sea, Jane Austen Ruined My Life, Becoming Jane Austen); Darwin (The Adventures of Charley Darwin; The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate; Why Darwin Matters; I didn’t get to Charles and Emma, but I wanted to…).

Writing Style/Genre I Discovered I liked: steampunk (Leviathan), zombie books (The Forest of Hands and Teeth)

Genre I’m getting tired of, finally: Vampires.

The Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge book: Pemberley by the Sea

Best Interviewee: Aaron Reynolds and Neil Numberman, followed closely by Shannon Hale.

Favorite Challenge (that wasn’t hosted by Carl): End of the World II

Best main character: Katsa

Book for in-person book group I liked best: Garden Spells

Book for on-line book group I liked best: Fifth Business

Books I didn’t feel the love for: Atonement, Chocolat, Bee Season, Fragile Eternity

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 1 – The Tempest (and that was as a Manga Shakespeare; I totally cheated this year!), and I only saw 1 (Romeo and Juliet; the guy playing Romeo did him kind of Emo, and it totally worked.)

Number of Fantasy books I read: 57. Choosing the “best” was REALLY hard this year!

Books that Made me Laugh the most: The Tiffany Aching series, Order of the Odd-Fish, Whales on Stilts!, Leaving the Bellweathers

Authors everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Terry Pratchett (fave: A Hat Full of Sky), Sarah Dessen (fave: Lock and Key), Elizabeth Scott (fave: Something, Maybe), Georgette Heyer (fave: The Talisman Ring).

Best Book from an author I previously didn’t care for: The Trouble Begins at 8 (Sid Fleischman and I haven’t gotten along in the past…)

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Rosanne Parry (Heart of a Shepherd); Kathryn Fitzmore (The Year the Swallows Came Early); Ann Haywood Leal (Also Known as Harper)

Books I read the fastest: Hunger Games and Catching Fire

Favorite book from a series: The Last Olympian (Alas, what will I do without Percy Jackson? At least the movie is out in February!)

Newbery Books I read: The Graveyard Book. Pathetic. I need to get back to reading those again.

Books that made me want to go out and do something: Operation Yes (cheer!); My Life in France (cook! Visit the Smithsonian!); Sweetness in the Belly (read more about Africa!); Mission Control, This is Apollo (visit NASA in Houston!);

Books I abandoned: I finally became bold in my book abandoning: there too many this year to list! (25, half of which were Cybils reads.)

Here’s to another great year! What were your favorites this year?

I had so much fun doing this last year, that I had to repeat myself. 🙂

By the Numbers:
Middle Grade Fiction: 72 (being on the MG panel really shot the numbers through the roof!)
Young Adult Fiction: 53
Graphic Novels: 16
Non-Fiction: 14
Fiction: 42
Grand Total: 197

Challenges Completed: 9

And it wouldn’t be the same without the awards…

Best Adult Fiction: Dracula

Best YA book: The Patron Saint of Butterflies

Best Middle-grade book: Every Soul a Star

Best Fantasy: A Curse Dark as Gold

Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: 1984 (even if it is depressing)

Best Graphic Novel (new this year!!) : Plain Janes/Janes in Love

Best Non-Fiction: John Adams

Best Romance: Crown Duel

Best (um, only?) Mystery (I still ought to read more…): The Winter Queen

Best Jacket Flap: The Fall of the Kings

Best Worst Jacket Flap: Matilda

And in other categories…

Books I should have read AGES ago: 84 Charing Cross Road, Call of the Wild, Right Ho, Jeeves, The Christmas Carol (well, I did read it before, but it’s been AGES)

Writing Style I Discovered I liked: Novels in verse, especially Diamond Willow and Song of the Sparrow

Favorite Challenge: Jane Austen

Best main character: Marvin from Masterpiece

Book for in-person book group I liked best: Suite Francaise

Book for on-line book group I liked best: The Glass Castle

Books I didn’t feel the love for: The Book Thief, Audrey, Wait!

Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 1 – Othello, but I saw two (Much Ado About Nothing and Pericles)

Number of books read that had something to do with Shakespeare: 4

Favorite use of Shakespeare’s plays: The Juliet Club

Books that Made me Laugh the most: The Year of Living Biblically, Leave it to Psmith, Island of Mad Scientists

Authors everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: John Green (but I think I like his vlog better than his books. Don’t shoot me.) and Maureen Johnson

Best Book from an author I previously didn’t care for: Airman

First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Susan Selfors (Saving Juliet), Daphne Grab (Alive and Well in Prague, New York), J. Scott Savage (Farworld: Water Keep)

Book I read the fastest: anything for the MG Cybils panel…

Favorite book from a series: Forever Rose (with The Battle of the Labyrinth a close runner-up)

Best Arthurian book: Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy

Newbery Books I read: Good Masters, Sweet Ladies, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

Books that made me want to go out and do something:The Omnivore’s Dilemma (change food buying habits), Every Soul a Star (look at stars and see a solar eclipse), Forever Rose (read the rest of the series), Dairy Queen (cheer!), Ten Cents a Dance (watch Swing Kids).

Books I abandoned: The Painted Drum, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Acts of King Arthur, Blue Bloods, Audrey Wait!, and a whole host of MG Cybils books.

Here’s to another great year!