Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read in 2013

 Top Ten Tuesday topic is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Today is a Top Ten Tuesday Rewind! Since I started this blog in 2014, I chose to do the Top Ten Books I read in 2013 so I'd have a chance to mention some of my favorite books from last year.

1. The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell: About the making of The Room, one of the best bad movies ever! I do love The Room, but this book can stand on its own merits as well. It had me laughing out loud at some passages and tearing up at others. It really does a good job at depicting the utter ridiculousness of Tommy Wiseau's movie-making plans without mocking him or undermining how hard he worked to make his ridiculous dreams come true.

2. Under the Light by Laura Whitcomb: A Certain Slant of Light is easily one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, and the sequel, while not quite as magic, was a joy to read.

3. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick: It was chilling to read these personal stories from former North Korean citizens. It's easy to read, and the personal stories from the six individuals profiled have more impact than any statistic.
 
4. If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman: These books were so sad but so uplifting at the same time. Good reads.

5. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh: I love Hyperbole and a Half! Brosh is hilarious, and she has a real talent for portraying every nuance of expression with simplified drawings. Her stories about her dogs and her childhood are priceless!

6. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: All of Rainbow Rowell's books were amazing, but Fangirl so far is my favorite. I loved reading about Cath's first year of college, her fears of growing apart from her twin, and her worries about growing up.

7. Tenth of December by George Saunders: This was a Rumpus Book Club pick, and it's probably one of my favorites from there. Lots of complex short stories here; each one gives you a lot to think about.

8. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: I love zombie movies, but I very rarely enjoy zombie books, so I really wasn't expecting to like this one. I also hate when the monsters that frighten me are turned into saccharine romantic heroes, with neither fangs nor depth. This book was a happy surprise, and though I still prefer my zombies scary, R was certainly endearing.

9. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple: I love how this book managed to surprise me by humanizing characters that had seemed like one-dimensional nuisances. Books like this always remind me to show more empathy toward people who irritate or antagonize me in real life, which I appreciate. 

10. Hild by Nicola Griffith: About Saint Hilda in seventh-century Great Britain. This book felt epic! Definitely a good pick for a fan of Game of Thrones, but maybe looking for some more empowering female characters and some historical accuracy.

Bonus! Pivot Point by Kasie West: Like I mentioned in my review for the sequel, Split Second, I loved the dual points of view from Addie's two diverging powers. I would love to have this super power; I'm so indecisive that I'd probably use it for every tiny decision I had to make.

Book 22: Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #1)

I've heard so many good things about this book, and I put off reading it for so long because I thought I'd be disappointed with it, but I was surprised to find I actually really enjoyed this. It shouldn't have been such a surprise; I love fairy tale retellings, and years of loving Sailor Moon pretty much conditioned me to sit up straight and pay attention whenever a missing moon princess is mentioned (even if the identity of said moon princess is inevitably easy to discern). The love story didn't really hook me yet (maybe in the sequels? They just don't seem to know each other well enough, and they both have way bigger things on their minds), but the relationships between Cinder and Peony, Iko, and the doctor were believable enough. I liked the futuristic China setting (especially considering that I'd always heard that the earliest known versions of Cinderella are from China), and I like how Cinder had interests and goals that had nothing to do with the prince and resisted typical, ultra-feminine stereotypes (but I cringed all the way through the ball scene! It made me wish a fairy godmother would make a quick appearance). I look forward to reading the next book in the series! B+

Book 21: Split Second by Kasie West (Pivot Point #2)

I loooved Pivot Point, so I was really excited to read the sequel. I was a little disappointed that Split Second didn't follow the same format as Pivot Point, with the POV alternating each chapter between the two potential paths Addie sees while using her Divergent gift, but the chapters do alternate between Addie and her friend Laila, who totally stole the show. Seriously, Laila was awesome, and her whole storyline with her brother and father and Connor was a lot more emotionally engrossing than Addie's story this time around, although both POVs held my interest. It was also interesting getting to learn a few more of the secrets of the Compound. Not as good as the first book, but solid B.

Book 20: Ophelia's Ghost by Gary Lee Entsminger and Susan Elizabeth Elliott

Surreal and cerebral. It's 1958, and tracker Joe Hill has been asked by a friend to search for Eva, an anthropologist in her thirties who disappeared from her campsite while studying Anasazi ruins in the American Southwest. The plot is really incidental to this book's intellectual discussions, intent on finding patterns in topics a wide-ranging as Shakespeare's Hamlet (Joe's daughter plays Ophelia in a production of the play), the Anasazi, the phases of the moon, flowers and herbal healing, UFOs and government conspiracy, memory systems, folklore of the Southwest, and all sorts of other things It's a good book to just read a few pages at the time and go to sleep with all the strange idea patterns swirling in your head. All of the characters seem to talk in the same voice, likely because their primary purpose is to serve as mouthpieces for the authors' esoterica, but it seemed to fit the book. The ending was very ambiguous, and I'm still trying to puzzle it out.

Book 19: Body and Soul by Stacey Kade (Ghost and the Goth #3)

This is book three of Kade's The Ghost and the Goth series. I'd actually read the first two way back in 2011 when I first got a Nook, and I had no idea that a third book even existed until I looked it up for my Top Ten Tuesday post this week. Pleasant surprise! The first two books were absolutely adorable, and this one was no different. Alona is a more likable Regina George, with far more depth, and Will is just so sweet. This series is a lot of fun without being totally mindless, and it's always a good sign when the last book in a series just makes you want to immediately pick up the first one again. A

Book 18: All the Truth That's in Me by Julie Berry

Two girls disappeared from their small, Puritan-esque town; only Judith came back, tongueless, unable or unwilling to tell the town what happened to her and her friend. This book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. The story itself actually ended up being a lot less dark than I'd expected. The real flair Berry's story is how the facts of Judith's disappearance are slowly uncovered over the course of the book as she slowly gains the confidence and the urgency to let her story be known, so I'm hesitant to go into detail about any aspect of the plot; I don't want to inadvertently give anything away... I loved Judith's friendships with Maria and Darrell, but I wish they had gone a little deeper; they seem to serve only as the means by which Judith begins to work on overcoming her injury rather than playing major roles during any of the heroine's crises. I groaned a little bit when I realized that whole book was written in second-person narration to Judith's childhood sweetheart, but it actually ended up working really well for this story. Solid B-.

Top Ten Tuesdays: Books that Will Make You Swoon

 Top Ten Tuesday topic is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten Books that Will Make You Swoon.

1. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb: I loooved this book. It's impossible not to relate to Helen and James's connection, and the writings is just so beautiful.

2. Persuasion by Jane Austen: All Jane Austen books are swoonworthy in their own way, but the dynamic between Anne and Captain Wentworth is my personal favorite. And that letter!

3. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Oh, Peeta, Peeta, Peeta.

4. If I Stay/Where She Went by Gayle Forman: This duo is so sad, but I totally fell in love with Mia's family, best friend Kim, and boyfriend Adam (I suppose that's why it was so sad).

5. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: Before reading this book I never in a million years would've considered zombies swoonworthy, but here we are. Even the heavy-handed Romeo and Juliet allusions couldn't keep this book from being absolutely adorable.

6. The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade: I was super-skeptical about this book, but Alona and Will were just so cute together.

7. Anything by Rainbow Rowell: Seriously, Fangirl, Attachments, Eleanor and Park, they'll all make you melt inside.

8. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux: I haven't read this book in ages because I loved it so much when I was younger that I'm afraid it can never live up to my memories of it.

9. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding:I first read this when I was fifteen and even though it's about thirtysomethings it will forever remind me of teenage girl conversations about perfect guys.

10: I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells: I feel a bit creepy putting this on the list since it's not really the warm, feel-good series you'd normally associate with the term "swoonworthy," but what the hell. I picked this, the third in the series, because I loved the dynamic between John and Marcy.

Book 17: You Look Different in Real Life

I'm a huge fan of the Seven Up documentary series, so when I read a summary for You Look Different in Real Life, I just had to get the book. This novel is about Justine, one of the children featured in a documentary series called Five at Six, which focuses on five children at six years old, and then again at eleven, and so on for every five years. Now it's time to start filming Five at Sixteen, and Justine, one of the viewer favorites from the first two movies, is insecure about coming across as a disappointment in the new film. She has no hobbies, her friendships have imploded since the last documentary, and she's just not where her sassy eleven-year-old self had envisioned she'd be. Every character here has a lot to deal with on individual level, and they're all so likable. I loved the complex relationships, especially between the five kids and their past selves (although Ian, Justine's recently ex-boyfriend, felt a little red herring), and everything just unfolded perfectly. My favorite book this year so far. A+

Book 16: Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan

I hate how the ebook editions of these have been "updated" for modern readers! Just let the story have happened in the early eighties; that's much easier on my suspension of disbelief than awkwardly explaining away cell phones and e-mails. Stranger with My Face is an atmospheric, spooky book taking place on an isolated New England island (one of my favorite spooky settings). Teenage Laurie is being spotted in places she hadn't been and soon begins seeing a spectre that looks eerily like herself. Astral projection is a rare enough book topic (for me at least) that it held my interest, and I loved Laurie's family and her friends Helen and Jeff.

Book 15: The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P by Adelle Waldman

New York intellectual Nate Piven begins a relationship with "nice and smart or smart and nice" Hannah as a series of interactions with angry, indifferent, or broken-hearted ex-girlfriends (and lovely platonic friend Aurit) prompts him to reexamine his behavior with women. The heart of the book is in the clever conversations and small observations. Reading this book, seeing the love interest through the eyes of the male protagonist, I just kept thinking, "Oh man, I've been there." It was a little uncomfortable reading Waldman's unblinking depiction of Nate watching confident, intelligent Hannah crumble into an insecure, clingy shadow of herself, but Waldman is definitely talented at depicting the crazy-making back-and-forth of power in a relationship. Nate walked a fine line between relatable and despicable, and I really admire how evident Waldman made his faults to the reader even as they remained a mystery to Nate himself. It's not really fun being inside his head, but it's a worthwhile read nonetheless.

Book 14: Gunnerkrigg Court Vol. 4 by Tom Siddell

Another Gunnerkrigg book! I'm always amazed at stuff I catch when reading these in book form that I missed when I read it online. Everyone ought to at least give this series a try, especially since you can read the whole thing free online. It's so good!

Book 13: Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

 Beauty Queens is about a group of teen beauty pageant contestants stranded on a desert island after a plane crash. Over the course of their stay on the island, they discover an evil corporation's secret volcano lair, a marooned ship of pirates, and lots of secrets about each other. This is sort of like Libba Bray's feminist, satirical take on an all-girl Lord of the Flies. Her commentary on consumerism and reality TV I found quite funny, but while I agree with the heart of her message on girl power and sisterhood, it just felt a little too preachy to work for me. It's a weird position to be in as a reader, to be in essence agreeing with the book yet still feeling put off by its tone, which seemed a bit patronizing. I did enjoy learning more about each character and seeing them interact with each other. A lot of the  humor fell flat for me as well, but I could see it working for other people. 3/5

Book 12: Help at any Cost by Maia Szalavitz

I bought this book after reading this Cracked article on the troubled-teen industry, wilderness camps and faux therapeutic facilities that ostensibly help rehabilitate teens with drug problems, eating disorders, behavioral problems, and a whole host of other problems parents might find troubling in their teenaged children. In reality, as Szalavitz reveals, many of these programs have no licensed therapists on staff and are usually run by teenagers themselves, totally unequipped to deal with addiction, and there have been a number of suspicious deaths from the children in their care.

This was definitely not a fun read, but it was engrossing and informative. The individual accounts of the kids that Szalavitz provides are harrowing, especially the long-lasting effects of the therapy/brainwashing. It's incredible that this industry has been allowed to operate under so little regulation for so long, and hopefully by bringing more attention to these programs books like these can help to change that.