Hey everyone! I can’t believe the year is almost over! Seriously! I’m hoping 2013 will be a great year for all of us, it will definitely be a year of change for me!
Anyway, today’s post is a look back on all the books I read in 2013. Don’t worry, I left all those law school books off this list. Those might bore you to death… I also have two new reviews for you, and two to come since I’m working on reading It Starts With Food, and Anna Karenina.
The first review is Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult.
I. Loved. This. Book. Reason 1: It had a great story and kept me very entertained, I was DYING to know how it ended! Reason 2: I love wolves and there is so much information in this book about how wolf packs function. I just thought it was fascinating.
The story follows a family that was torn apart many years ago. The father studies and lives with wolf packs, spending more time with his wolves than his family. The mother divorced him and re-married and now has a “new family” with young twin boys. The older brother left at 18 (6 years ago) after a mysterious fight with his father and moved to Thailand and the daughter moved in with her father after feeling like an outsider in her mom’s family (she is now 17).
The story begins with a car crash, and follows the two children as they deal with having to make very difficult decisions regarding their father’s life. The story also spends a great deal of time looking back into the past, before their family fell apart. Each chapter of the story changes perspective, jumping from one character to the next. She uses a specific font for each character, which I loved. Even if I picked the book back up in the middle of a chapter I immediately knew who was speaking.
The story touched on some very interest and highly debated issues in our culture, as Jodi Picoult always does, and I liked how she never really took a side, especially since each child was on their own side of the issue. I loved this book and highly recommend it. I actually recommend Jodi Picoult’s novels in general!
The second book review I have for you today is Something Blue by Emily Giffin.
I never really wanted to read this series of books, but I heard they were coming out into a movie and so I was intrigued. I got this one for Christmas and dug right in, finishing it in just 2 days.
Overall, I liked the book. It’s a cute chick lit, beach read type of book and has a nice ending, which kind of kept me guessing. About halfway through I figured out how it would end, which is pretty good for most chick lit. My only issues were that I disliked the main character for the first half of the book, I kept thinking “Seriously!?! Get ahold of yourself!” Also, she insults redheads a couple of times, which I took personal offense to. It was a fun read, and good if you want something light and quick, but I can’t say I LOVED it.
And now, here are the rest of the books I read during 2012:
Brave New World by Aldous Hudley
The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure by James Dashner
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Divergent by Veronica Mars
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
Still Missing by Chevy Stevens
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Peach Keeper by Sarah Allen
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Anthem by Ann Rand
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
MWF Seeing BFF by Rachel Bertsche
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Have you read any of these books?
What was the best book you read in 2012?