Top 10 New to Me Authors that I Read in 2013

Top 10 New to Me Authors that I Read in 2013

I read a whopping 55 new to me authors in 2013. By comparison the number of authors that I read that were not new to me was only 21. Anyway, here are the 10 that I liked the best, in no particular order:

1. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - I read Half of a Yellow Sun, and I was in awe of her talent. 

2. Nicole Krauss - The History of Love was spellbinding and a lit lover's paradise of words and images.

3. Rainbow Rowell - Eleanor & Park and Fangirl were both so good. I can't wait to see what she writes next, and of course, I must go back and read her adult book too!

4. George Saunders - Wait, what? His stories are surprising, but real and really quite strange. I read Tenth of December. 

5. Anne Fadiman - The Spirit Catches You will stay with me for a long time. I want to read it again, and that doesn't happen often for me with nonfiction.

6. Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend was uneven, but hilarious! 

7. Elizabeth Wein - I don't think I was as enamored of Code Name Verity as some people, but it was still very good, and I look forward to reading her newest book soon.

8. Donna Tartt - The Secret History kept me going. I still can't decide what I think about Henry...

9. Maria Semple - Bernadette was a delight. I love the way the novel is put together.

10. M. L. Stedman - The Light Between Oceans was the best moral dilemma I read this year. The characters felt real.

Welcome!

I had a book blog once, but it didn't have a bookish name, and I didn't post very often, soooooo....

Ta-da!

My name is Rachel. I like to read, but sadly I have never liked to write about what I read. I see this as a character flaw, and I am somewhat determined to rectify it. My posts will be short, possibly infrequent, and hopefully spoiler-free. My goal is to convey whether I liked a book, what I liked about it, or, if I didn't like it, some thoughts on why it didn't work for me. I will not rock your world. I will hope for occasional displays of humor.

I read about 100 books a year. They range from classics to middle readers with many stops in between. I read quite a lot of YA. It started out as a palate cleanse between more weighty books and has become a thing.

The last book I finished was "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I am currently reading The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.