It’s that time of year! Everywhere you look, “best of” lists are coming out. Best Books, Best Movies, Best Songs, Best Moments in Sports, etc. etc. Personally, I won’t assume that I have the power to individually say what’s best (plus I’m a big believer of “to each his own”). Instead, I would like to share what my personal favorite reads were this year. There were lots of books that I read and enjoyed this year, but these books stayed with me either because I loved the characters, or I couldn’t put the book down, or I thought it was incredibly well-written, or a combination of these things.

So here I give you – my favorite reading experiences for 2013 (reviews of all can be found on this blog):

Cozies:

The Maggie Hope series by Susan Elia MacNeal

The Royal Spyness series by Rhys Bowen

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley

YA:

Twerp by Mark Goldblatt

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

Historical Fiction:

The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian

The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

I Shall be Near to You by Lindsay McCabe

Fiction:

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Looking for Me by Beth Hoffman

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg

Non-Fiction:

The Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel