Reading in 2013 -- Faves and Not So Much

2013 was not a great year for me, when it comes to reading.  I only read 38 books during the year -- not very impressive, although that's actually more books than I read in 2012 (so I am improving my record).  I don't generally do end-of-year wrap-ups, but I just wanted to do a bit of stock-taking today.

I keep a "collection" of the books I read each year, over at Library Thing, with ratings for each book.  And looking at that, I see that of the 38 books I read in 2013, fourteen got at least a four-star rating.  And one -- Heroic Measures, by Jill Ciment -- got a full five stars and has gone on my list of all-time favorites.  It's a wonderful little book, and I'd still like to get a review posted one of these days.

Of the other four-star books, two really stand out in my memory -- The Shooting Party, by Isabel Colegate (a book that's been on my TBR list for many years, and was apparently one of the inspirations for TV's "Downton Abbey"), and Night Film, by Marisha Pessl.  The Pessl book was a real surprise: It was not something I expected to like so much; but it kept me up all night twice, until I got it read -- a definite good sign!

At the other end of the spectrum, there were actually a few books I didn't rate at all.  One of them was The Buddhist Catechism, by Henry Steel Olcott.  Nothing wrong with it -- it is what it is.  Just not a book I felt was rate-able.  The other two no-star books were Time Will Tell, by Donald Greig, and A Fearful Madness, by Julius Falconer.  I had trouble getting through both of those -- just not my cuppa, but don't let that put you off giving them a try.

Well, that's it for 2013.  I'll be giving that elusive 50-book goal another try in 2014.  Fingers crossed.