Oh 2013, you were quite a remarkable year.

Wee Reader turned two in March. And is such a chatty, silly, sometimes ridiculously whiny when told to go to the toilet, little boy. Who will be three this year. Three! He still loves his trucks and construction vehicles. And thankfully, his books (especially those featuring trucks and construction vehicles). He loves being read to, and now wants to ‘read’ to us too.

And 2013 brought along little C, who is now a grand old 8 months old. A personality so different from his big brother – he’s easygoing and sociable and a terrible napper. And like his brother, he’s quite fond of chewing books.

So much of 2013 was about adjusting to life with a newborn and a toddler undergoing toilet training. And of course we had the brilliant idea of flying with those two young fellas halfway across the world (20 plus hours and a transit) to spend a month in Singapore with our families. The jet lag was a killer and so was the heat and humidity but everyone had a good time (after we started sleeping better).

And I did quite a bit of reading, although not as much as in 2012.

On to the numbers!

Total books read: 223

2012’s total: 227
2011’s total: 171 

More female authors than male!

Mostly fiction (too broad a genre I know), crime/mystery (especially considering that I’ve only quite recently started reading this genre of books) and graphic novels. I really ought to read more non-fiction!

More e-books! I am very very grateful for my Kindle Paperwhite, which accompanied me through those months of middle-of-the-night feeds.

Most of the books I read in 2013 were library books, whether print or e-books. The ‘own books’ included books that were sent from publishers and book tours, as well as free classic e-books.

I travelled to:

the Antarctic
Australia
Botswana
Burma
Canada
Chile
China
Egypt
France
Germany
Greece
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Italy
Japan
Laos
Mexico
The Middle East
Nepal
New Zealand
North Korea
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Scotland
Singapore
Senegal
Sweden
Thailand
Tibet
The United Kingdom
The United States
Vietnam

I read 20 works translated into English from:
Arabic
Chinese
French
German
Indonesian
Japanese
Norwegian
Portuguese
Spanish
Swedish

The oldest book I read was first published in:
1719 (Robinson Crusoe)

I read:
– 1 book published in the 18th century
– 6 books published in the 19th century
– 55 books published in the 20th century
– 162 books published in the 21st century (out of this, 28 books published in 2013!)

The shortest book I read was:
46 pages long (Griffin & Sabine)

The longest book I read was:
994 pages long (The wise man’s fear (Kingkiller Chronicle #2))
(Page counts via Goodreads)

New-to-me authors:
128 of them!

Memorable reads

Ah this is the part I both love and dread. Where to begin? Did I leave anything out? I frantically scrutinize my Google Docs list of books read in case my memory fails me.

 

The Name of the Wind brought the red-headed Kvothe into my world and for that I am grateful.

I fell for Wang Anyi’s gorgeous The Song of Everlasting Sorrow, set in the longtangs of Shanghai.

Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls broke my heart into tiny pieces, as did Xinran’s Sky Burial and Karen Connelly’s The Lizard Cage, set in a Burmese prison.

It was also the year that I finally read William Goldman’s Princess Bride!

And delved into a solid number of books written by Global Women of Colour (see my list of books and reviews here)

I was also blown away by Carol Shields’ The Republic of Love, and Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy.

And enjoyed the Austen-inspired magical (or glamour-filled) Glamourist Histories: Shades of Milk and Honey and Glamour in Glass. Although with my fondness for starting new series and never quite completing them, I’ve yet to read the third book, Without a Summer.

A surprising number of horror books were read, written by the King family (Stephen and his son Joe Hill). I’m looking forward to reading more from Mr King this year, and eagerly awaiting Volume 6 of Hill’s Locke and Key series.

It was also a great year for non-fiction reading, with Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that can’t stop talking; one of my favorite re-reads 84, Charing Cross Road

 

And ah, those graphic novels, like Margaux Motin’s cute But I really wanted to be an anthropologist, the Amulet series, Craig Thompson’s beautiful Habibi, Gene Luen Yang’s Boxers and Saints, and Lucy Knisley’s Relish: My life in the kitchen. (Plus, great covers!).

Thank you 2013 for being an unforgettable year. Here’s to a 2014 of great reads!