2013: A Year In Books

The year's over already. It was a big year all around. Big moves in location and in career. My first year as a bookseller meant that I had a legit excuse to keep my nose in a book, and despite what my friend Kenny claims, I swear these numbers are correct. (For the record, he claims I read way more, not less.)

Quick Facts:

• Total number of books read: 109
• Month I read the least: January
• Month I read the most: September
• Poetry books read: 4
• Short story collections read: 6
• Picture books read: 4 (That are worth counting, at least)
• Kids' (beginner & middle grade) books read: 14
• YA books read: 34
• Mystery/thrillers read: 11
• Graphica read: 1
• Non-fiction read: 9
• Memoir read: 4
• Top three books of the year: Bad Unicorn, The Snow Child, Perfect Ruin
• Worst books of the year: The Resurrectionist & Asylum
• Most painful cliffhanger of the year: Perfect Ruin
• Number of series started: 18
• Number of series completed: 2
• Book I thought I hated but I actually wound up loving: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
• Number of started, but currently unfinished books this year: 18

After the jump, you can see a month-by-month guide to all the books I read in 2013 (with links to any reviews I may have done for them).

January

Nada... How sad and depressing is that fact?

February

1. Jam by Yahtzee Croshaw

2. Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis

3. Murder Below Montparnasse by Cara Black

4. Hello, My Name is Pabst by Miek Bruno and Kerry Sparks

March

5. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

6. Glitches by Marissa Meyer

7. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

8. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

9. One Hundred Names For Love by Diane Ackerman

10. The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

11. The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

12. Mila 2.0 by Debra Driza

April

13. Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger

14. The Taken by Vicki Pettersson

15. The Lost by Vicki Pettersson

16. Adamant by Kieran Wisser

17. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

18. Asylum by Madeleine Roux

May

19. Bad Unicorn by Platte F. Clark

20. Faces of Evil: Obsession by Debra Webb

21. Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos

22. Inferno by Dan Brown

23. The Beautiful Indifference by Sarah Hall

24. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

25. Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

June

26. Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman

27. The Stud Book by Monica Drake

28. Lost Sloth by J. Otto Seibold

29. A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel

30. Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity by Emily Matchar

31. The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E. B. Hudspeth

32. The Art Forger by B. A. Shapiro

July

33. The Inventor's Secret by Chad Morris

34. Fireblood by Jeff Wheeler

35. Cain's Blood by Geoffrey Girard

36. The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

37. Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl by David Wondrich*

38. The Master's Muse by Varley O'Connor

*Not pictured

August

39. Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas

40. The Arrivals by Melissa Marr

41. Night Terrors: Sex, Dating, Puberty and Other Alarming Things by Ashley Cardiff

42. The Real Boy by Anne Ursu

43. The White Forest by Adam McOmber

44. If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

45. The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan*

46. Kraken by China Miéville

47. The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente

48. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

49. The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski

50. Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgway

*Not pictured

September

51. Let the Games Begin by Niccolò Ammaniti

52. The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

53. The Infernals by John Connolly

54. Undertown by Melvin Jules Bukiet

55. The Unrest-Cure and Other Stories by Saki

56. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Field Guide by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

57. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

58. The Spiderwick Chronicles: Lucinda's Secret by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

59. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Ironwood Tree by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

60. The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Wrath of Mulgarath by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

61. Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown

62. Desert Tales by Melissa Marr

63. Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

64. How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks

65. The Bones of Paris by Laurie R. King

66. Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea

67. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

68. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

69. The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde

70. Cress by Marissa Meyer**

**Advanced copy, not yet released

October

71. The Creature Department by Robert Paul Weston

72. Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman

73. Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez

74. Poached by Stuart Gibbs**

75. The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone by Tony Abbott**

76. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tucholke

77. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge**

78. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
79. The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand
80. Strange Bodies by Marcel Theroux***
81. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
82. The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell
83. Potty Mouth at the Table by Laurie Notaro
84. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
**Advanced copy, not yet released 
***Advanced copy, not yet available in US 

November

85. The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus

86. All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry
87. Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales by Melissa Marr
88. Earth Again by Chris Dombrowski
89. Solo: A James Bond Novel by William Boyd
90. Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano
91. The Big Chihuahua by Waverly Curtis
92. The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett
93. The Creeps by John Connolly
94. The Last Unicorn (Graphic Novel) by Peter S. Beagle and Peter Gillis
95. The Replacement by Breanna Yovanoff
96. Tooth for a Tooth by Frank Muir
97. The Savages by Matt Whyman
98. The October List by Jeffery Deaver

December

99. The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble
100. The Fire Dance by Helene Tursten***
101. The Commonplace Book of Pie by Kate Lebo
102. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
103. Mothership by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal
104. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
105. Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong**
106. Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance by Carla Kaplan
107. Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells**
108. About Face by Ann Gerike*
109. The Little Book of Hindu Deities: From the Goddess of Wealth to the Sacred Cow by Sanjay Patel*
*Not pictured
**Advanced copy, not yet released 
***Advanced copy, not yet available in US