My Top Reads of 2013

[Michael]

I've posted my top 5 reads for 2013:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

What were yours?

[Kath]

Nice to see some I've read too! I'll have to make a list properly!

[Michael]

You made the list! :-)

[Kath]

I did notice, thank you! False modesty doesn't become me, does it? ;)

[Patti (baconater)]

What a great thread, Michael! I'll have to put some thought into this.

[Rosen]

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've only read about ten books this year, unless you include the delightful tales school children send me.

In no particular order:
Six Years Left
You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! (only 50% though but know I'm going to love it)
Wild Swimming: 150 Hidden Dips In The Rivers, Lakes And Waterfalls Of Britain
Auto
The Dragon Box

If you can include children's school work, my vote goes to the little boy who wrote about a troll who kidnapped the President of the USA and imitated him, passing a law that everybody had to lick their feet every day.

[Michael]

That Troll story sounds like a winner:-)#

Auto was a great read as well - maybe I should have made it a top ten...

[Rosen]

Nah, I like feeling elitist.

[Elle]

I didnt pick up many 'OMG" life changing amaizng books this year. only 3, maybe 4 were that good.

[Patti (baconater)]

What were they Peanut?

[Patti (baconater)]

Oh and these are books we read this year not books published this year, yes?

[Rosen]

Elle, at least three or four life changing books a year? Your life must be zipping all over the place! ;-)

[David]

All I'm going to say is Woohoo! Thanks a million Michael.

[Rosemary (grooving with the Picts)]

My favs this year have been

The Long Midnight Of Barney Thomson
The Boy Who Kissed The Sky
Black by Rose
Fuel to the Fire
Neverwhere
and no1 - The Red Knight

Oh dear that seems to be six!

[Elle]

Rosen wrote: "Elle, at least three or four life changing books a year? Your life must be zipping all over the place! ;-)"

LOL!

well technically every book is life changing...

My list would be:

The Colorado Kid
Howl
Memory Palace

my favourites of the year definitely. i did like others but those really stuck in my mind

[Kath]

I don't want to miss any out!











All wonderful, thought-provoking, amazing - and then there were all the rest. They are on my blog!

[Philip (sarah)]

I have shared many of the favourite reads of Michael, Rosemary and Ignite so I won't mention them again. Others I loved were The Village of Lost Souls
Ballet of the Bones
The See-Through Leopard
Tear in Time
Saying Goodbye to Warsaw
The Cartographer's Apprentice: Leave Them Wanting More
and Off the KUF, Volume 1: Short fiction from
the Kindle Users Forum
Every book I read this year was a joy and I just feel so privileged to have been able to read them, thanks to all our wonderful authors.

[Patti (baconater)]

Oh! I thoroughly agree with Saying Goodbye to Warsaw and The Cartographers Apprentice!

Darren's UNDEAD books are on my list too.

I really should keep track of the books I've read.

[David]

Wow, thanks Ignite and Rosemary; I'm flattered. :D

Many of the above are on my to read list, and have made me realise I need to make more of an effort to read indie books from authors in this group. My excuse: I work in a library and don't seem able to leave work without a book in my hand!

So, that excuse given, here's my list:
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
Few Are Chosen
The Cartographer's Apprentice: Leave Them Wanting More

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

The two that stand out without looking at my shelf are Only The Innocent and Buster's law. I think Ash deserves a mention, not one of his best, but the last book. The Other Daughter got 4 stars. Can't really think of a 5th one, although Bet you can't... Find Me also got 4 stars.

[Rosen]

Thank you.

[Tim]

There are a bunch more that I gave 5 stars to, but:



Wool - Hugh Howey
Great North Road - Peter F Hamilton
Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
Ice Diaries - Lexi Revellian
The Heist - Shaun Jeffrey

[Jim]

No one book as such, but the rediscovery of PG Wodehouse. Perhaps now I'm reading him when I'm old enough to cope?

[Joo]

Obviously I love you all and all the books you write (mostly ;p)
A few stand outs for me this year from going through my 5*s are/were
The Philanthropist's Danse
Easy Money
Clovenhoof
The Third Rule - The Complete Story
War & Piste


Patti - have you heard of Goodreads? They do this great book cataloging thingie ;p

[David]

Jim wrote: "No one book as such, but the rediscovery of PG Wodehouse. Perhaps now I'm reading him when I'm old enough to cope?"

Lovely stuff indeed. I've just started rereading with the intention of going through all the Jeeves books in order as well as his other stuff too.

[Patti (baconater)]

Haha, Joo. ;)

Yeah, I'm gonna try to remember to use it this year.

I'd be better at it if there was a link to it in our group chat threads pages.

[Joo]

It is at the top of every page. Just pop in the one you are reading when you remember, then on my home page I have books read on the side and I can do an update to say I've finished it. Simple. (the process, not necessarily you ;p)

[Patti (baconater)]

No, I meant the bit on the homepage.

And I'm dead simple. :)

[Michael]

Ignite wrote: "I don't want to miss any out!









[bookcover:Maureen and The Big ..."

Thanks!

[Patti (baconater)]

Oh. I've had an idea!

I'll share it in the morning thread.

[Carol]

My favourite book of 2013 is the Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes. I am not normally interested in this subject, but I found the book fascinating with its wealth of knowledge about old herbal remedies and folklore about animals. The burning of witches is a topic which we all know about, but which its unpleasantness makes us shy away from. This book made me understand its nature better and I found the correlation with witch-burning and later anti semitic behaviour very pertinent. I see Hansel and Gretel now in a new light.

[[deleted user]]

My fav reads over the last year, in no particular order, were:-

The Watchman
Matchbox Memories
The See-Through Leopard
Sealed with a Kiss
Copy

Looking at my list, all of these have been independently published!

[Jim]

Just to say that in 2013 I read the complete Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters from cover to cover in order, and found (somewhat to my surprise) that I didn't get jaded and was still loving them at the end.

[[deleted user]]

I'm ready to re-read Cadfael. Wish they'd bring them out for the kindle.

[David]

My 2013 good reads were:

[Rosen]

Thank you, David.

[Michael]

We're all about the granny love here :-)

[David]

How about having a 'Books I didn't like in 2013' thread too?

[Rosen]

That could cause conflict.

[Jim]

Rosen wrote: "That could cause conflict."

Yes, it could cause a lot of unpleasantness

[Kath]

I didn't think it was meant to be a serious suggestion? ;)

[Rosen]

Phew!

[David]

Kath wrote: "I didn't think it was meant to be a serious suggestion? ;)"

Oh, I dunno... I find what people don't like as interesting as what they do like.

[Patti (baconater)]

Hmmm.

We could have a 'books I didn't finish 2013' thread.

Doesn't mean the book wasn't great. I frequently start and set aside books for many reasons.

Usually because life takes over and I can't devote the required time and undivided concentration that the book warrants.

The more I'm enjoying the book, the more likely I'll set it aside as a holiday read for later so I can have the mindset to savour it properly.

I've done that with Andy's Black by Rose. It's too good to read while being distracted with start of term.

[David]

I know what you mean, Patti. At the moment I only have time to read while eating lunch, so also have certain books that I'm holding back until I can give them the attention they deserve.

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

I like the idea of both books you didn't like and didn't finish.

[David]

I have an 'Abandoned' folder on my Kindle (it currently has 5 books in it) for books I've stopped reading for various reasons.

Some I may go back to.

Some I didn't like but may try again sometime.

Some I may never want to read.

Personally I can't see anything wrong about saying you don't like certain books*.

After all, there may even be some creatures in a far distant galaxy somewhere who do not like bacon, doesn't mean we should think any less of them.


*As long as you are not nasty about it or the author, that is.

[Jud]

It would be ok if the book wasn't an author from this group but I don't really want to confess to Darren that I've never finished any of his UNDEAD books because I just find them dull, or any of our other authors.

(It's all lies I do love the UNDEAD books really but it was just for an example, honest!)

[David]

Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "It would be ok if the book wasn't an author from this group"

That is an interesting dilemma, isn't it?

As a reader you don't want to say to an author you know that you don't like, didn't finish, or whatever, their books.

But, as an author, that is something I would - personally - find very useful, someone I know and - perhaps - whose tastes I understand or even share finding things wrong with my stuff. Things that I could try to address, take into consideration and so forth.

A four or five star review is great and something to be very grateful for, of course. But sometimes a bit of honest no bullshit criticism could be useful.

Or we could just badmouth the famous authors instead.

[Elle]

I must not have that shame. If I don't like a book I won't be shy about telling someone I don't like it. I'm never horrid and I always have reasons though