2013 in Review

I am not quite sure where this year has gone: it hardly seems like two minutes that I was writing my 2012 in Review post. I can only assume that this is a factor of my increasing decrepitude . . . ho hum!

The year started with my unexpected and time-consuming voyage into employment at the local library. This had a severe impact on my blogging output for the first half of the year, which has significantly reduced the number of reviews that I have managed to write. I also took part in nearly twice as many Read Alongs, including the mammoth Wheel of Time Read Along, which is just entering its second year, so that had an impact as well. However, as you can see from the data below, I have written roughly the same number of posts. I am more disappointed that I have read so many fewer books this year, but I suppose that I can only do better in 2014.

Top Reads of 2013

You can get more details here, but here is my list:

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch – My Favorite

A Wheel of Time Series by Richard Jordan (Books 1 to 6)

The Tiffany Aching Series by Terry Pratchett

Midsummer Night and Grail of the Summer Stars by Freda Warrington

A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

A Season For The Dead by David Hewson

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I also want to add these debuts (more details here):

Celtic Moon by Jan DeLima – My Favorite

Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

A Lady Awakened by Cecilia Grant

The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schaffer

Most Anticipated Books of 2014

You can get more details here, but here is my list:

The Thorn of Emberlain by Scott Lynch – Most Anticipated

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

Title To Be Announced by Jan DeLima

Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear

Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor

Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Enemies At Home by Lindsey Davis

Raiders of the Nile by Steven Saylor

Top Films of 2013

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – My Favorite

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Most Disappointing Film of 2013

World War Z – Most Disappointing

Jack the Giant Slayer

New Year’s Resolutions

From last year:

1. This year I posted seventy-two reviews: next year I hope to get closer to a full one hundred. OK, so perhaps I was more than a little over-confident with this one: I can only try harder to keep to my present schedule of posting at least two reviews a week.

2. I will get around to writing some blurbs for the BookStore-BookBlogger Connection I really need to try to do this!

3. Reread and review some of my favorites from the Roman Mystery genre: I feel like I have neglected Lindsey Davis and Steven Saylor terribly. I have made a start towards addressing this by launching my other blog, Veni, Vidi, Legi.

4. I will make a special effort to read SF&F books written by women. I was fairly successful in my efforts to honor this one by attempting the 2013 Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge. I have finished 10 of the 12 required as well as several others that do not qualify for this particular challenge either because I had already read works by a particular author or because the book itself was not included in their database.

Hopefully I can do better to fulfill these same resolutions in 2014.