What were your favorite books this year? They don’t have to be new as long as they were new to you!
Here are some of my favorites (not presented in rank– they were all 5 stars for me):
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- Vicious by V.E. Schwab
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
- The Cider House Rules by John Irving
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Julie Israel 
Some intriguing stuff there Julie; I thought you might be fantasy-heavy but far from it. I’ll be putting a couple of these on my TBR list.
I’ve done a lot of reviewing of new writers this year and, with one or two exceptions, the writing has been disappointing – to me anyway. The very best book, and in my ‘top of all time’ list was Keeper of the Crystal Spring http://www.amazon.com/Keeper-Crystal-Spring-Naomi-Baltuck/dp/B000H2N48G/ref=sr_1_6/179-7474984-8544624?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387566772&sr=1-6&keywords=naomi+baltuck. Written in 1999 it’s an epic tale set in 11th century England. Loved it.
Oh yes, I enjoy many genres 🙂 Actually, now that I think about it, I read almost no traditional fantasy– but I do love urban fantasy and certain sci-fi!
Thanks for mentioning Keeper of the Crystal Spring. I’m off to check it out!
Every Day – David Levithan
The Diviners – Libba Bray
Dreams and Shadows: A Novel – C. Robert Cargill
The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman
The Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett
I think Every Day was the most memorable of the year. I caught myself wanting to write quotes from this book every time I’d read it. A person that switches bodies every day with no control over how he/she does it or they end up.
C. Robert Cargill was a new author for me (and everyone else as I think this is his first book) a truly dark take on fantasy as I’ve never read before, the nasty side of fairy tales.
The others I’ve been fans of for a while, new book for Gaiman and Bray and just an old one I didn’t know about with Pratchett.
Awesome list! Every Day intrigues me, as does the Cargill. And of course The Ocean at the End of the Lane is already on my to-read list 😀
Thank you for sharing, Betsy! Here’s to more good reads next year 🙂
Oooh, definitely some amazing books on this list! The Fault In Our Stars was my favourite book last year! And Neverwhere was this year, actually! 🙂
AGH! I know! Both so good! If I had to pick a favorite among these, Neverwhere might actually be it 🙂
Ah, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was so so good! I read that book while I was working night shift and it would have me absolutely wrapped up in agony for hours and hours…
I don’t know what my list would be… Hmmm… Must sleep and think on this.
Jonathan Safran Foer is one of my absolute favorite authors. Brilliantly poignant literary, and I just loved Oscar in Extremely Loud and all his Oscarisms. Have you read Everything is Illuminated? (If not, I highly recommend it!)
Look forward to hearing what else is on your list 🙂
No, I haven’t read that! I used to always look at the cover of the book when I was at Borders but for some reason I never took the plunge of reading it… I can picture it perfectly in my mind right now!
The universe is telling you to read it! Oh wait– that’s just me 😉 But do! It is SO GOOD!