2013 Reading Review

At the end of 2012 I promised myself that I was going to try to read more books in 2013, and write more reviews.

I did manage to read a few more more books than in 2012 (according to Goodreads I read 25 books total, with A Memory of the Light being the longest) but I failed miserably at writing more reviews.

That's an issue that I find myself wrestling with, and ultimately is the reason I haven't written as many this last year.  I feel like I'm not really "qualified' to "review" books.  I don't know why though.  What makes one "qualified" to write a review?  Further, does what I actually write about a book qualify AS a review?  I don't know how to answer these questions, and I kind of fell off the wagon, so to speak, and didn't even try.  But I do enjoy talking about books, so this year I'm going to TRY to try harder.

And If that doesn't say commitment, folks, I don't know what does!

But you know what I mean, I'm sure.  So - on to the books!!

In 2013 I read 25 books in total.  Somehow, this year became the "Accidental Young Adult Year," because 13 of those books, or 52%, were YA.  (I think?  Again the definition is somewhat nebulous to me).  And while I have been somewhat indifferent to YA in general, after reading so many this year, I believe I'm beginning to understand why they are so popular among "Adult Adults."

I've always had the impression that YA books are always written from the POV of females, usually teen girls - like The Hunger Games or Divergent.  And while there's nothing wrong with that and I applaud the fact that there are so many books for, by, and about girls and young women, I have to admit that I found it very refreshing to find YA books with a male POV (like Beautiful Creatures), or a POV that shifted between the male and female POV (like the Sky Chasers series), providing what to me feels like a more balanced approach to storytelling.  But without a doubt, my eyes have been opened and I no longer feel that YA books are somehow "less than" Adult novels.

I've noticed a lot of bloggers talking about their reading plans and goals for 2104.  I think that's a great idea from a blogging viewpoint, but not so much fun from a reading viewpoint.  I don't want reading to feel like a chore.  Ever.

But having said that, of course, here's my reading plans for 2014:
1.  Read whatever the heck I want.
2.  Revisit some of my old favorites.
3.  Continue reading what I like.

The last few years I've noticed that I've gotten super caught up in trying to stay current with what's being published.  Unfortunately, I just don't have that much time, and as a result I've neglected some of my faithful friends that I like to pull out and reread every few years.  In fact, I've already started!

I've started rereading Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn, one of my all-time favorite fantasy novels, and while I'm not going to treat it like an actual "Read and React" feature, I am going to try to put the book down every couple of chapters and talk about it here on the blog as I work my way through it.  If anyone would like to join me in discussing it I think that would be fantastic and I would welcome your thoughts and comments!  But more about that later; let's get on with what I read in 2013 before this becomes the never ending blog post!

So, here's my list of books read in 2013:

	Title	Author	My Rating	Date Read
	The Kingdom of Gods   (The Inheritance Trilogy, #3)	Jemisin, N.K.	4 of 5 stars	Jan 26, 2013
	A Memory of Light   (Wheel of Time, #14)	Jordan, Rober	5 of 5 star	Mar 27, 2013
	Notorious Nineteen   (Stephanie Plum, #19)	Evanovich, Janet	3 of 5 stars	Apr 05, 2013
	Gone   (Gone, #1)	Grant, Michael	3 of 5 stars	Apr 22, 2013
	Hunger   (Gone, #2)	Grant, Michael	3 of 5 stars	May 09, 2013
	The Emperor's Soul	Sanderson, Brandon	4 of 5 stars	May 14, 2013
	And Then There Were None	Christie, Agath	4 of 5 stars	May 21, 2013
	Allanon's Quest   (Paladins of Shannara, #1)	Brooks, Terry	3 of 5 stars	May 22, 2013
	The Weapons Master's Choice (Paladins of Shannara, #2)	Brooks, Terry	3 of 5 stars	May 24, 2013
	Perfect Shadow   (Night Angel, #0.5)	Weeks, Brent	3 of 5 stars	May 26, 2013
	Firstborn	Sanderson, Brandon	3 of 5 stars	May 30, 2013
	Theft of Swords   (The Riyria Revelations, #1-2)	Sullivan, Michael J.	4 of 5 stars	Jul 2013
	City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)	Clare, Cassandra	4 of 5 stars	Jul 17, 2013
	Divergent (Divergent, #1)	Roth, Veronica	4 of 5 stars	Jul 21, 2013
	Rise of Empire   (The Riyria Revelations, #3-4)	Sullivan, Michael J.	4 of 5 stars	Aug 26, 2013
	Insurgent   (Divergent, #2)	Roth, Veronica	3 of 5 stars	Sep 15, 2013
	Lady of Ashes	Trent, Christine	3 of 5 stars	Oct 03, 2013
	The Black Irix (Paladins of Shannara #3)	Brooks, Terry	3 of 5 stars	Oct 05, 2013
	Beautiful Creatures   (Caster Chronicles, #1)	Garcia, Kami	4 of 5 stars	Oct 28, 2013
	Born   (Born, #1)	Brown, Tara	3 of 5 stars	Nov 06, 2013
	Steelheart   (Reckoners, #1)	Sanderson, Brandon	4 of 5 stars	Nov 20, 2013
	Catching Fire  (The Hunger Games, #2)	Collins, Suzanne	4 of 5 stars	Nov 29, 2013
	World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War	Brooks, Max	3 of 5 stars	Dec 18, 2013
	Glow   (Sky Chasers, #1)	Ryan, Amy Kathleen	3 of 5 stars	Dec 27, 2013
	Spark   (Sky Chasers, #2)	Ryan, Amy Kathleen	3 of 5 stars	Dec 31, 2013

Did you read any of these books this year?  Do you have a favorite among them?  What are your thoughts about the whole "qualified to review" issue, and what a "review" should actually be?  Let me know in the comments - I'd love to hear all y'all's thoughts!  And stay tuned for the first look at Dragon Prince - coming soon!