This year was pretty good in terms of reading; I read more in 2013 than I have in the past couple of years, mostly because I graduated from university and had more free time. BUT STILL. In the past I've usually had months long reading slumps but this year I pretty much read continuously from January right up until now; I think I doubled my last year's reading count? Whatever, I hope next year will bring more amazing books and the time to read them!
Best book you read in 2013?
Hahahaha, my answer is so obvious and I don't care - Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I have a feeling I shall be answering a lot of these questions with this answer t b h.
I'm gonna cheat a little bit too and add to my answer because I loved both these books so much - The Diviners by Libba Bray (no-one is surprised lbr) and Gullstruck Island by Frances Hardinge.
Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn't?
Soooo many. Angelfall by Susan Fe, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky, Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, all the sequels in The Maze Runner series by James Dashner as well as all the sequels in The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy by Carrie Ryan.
Me after reading these books:
Not. Impressed.
Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2013?
Gullstruck Island, easily. I was just so blown away by the level of complexity in the story; I want to take this book and shove it in the faces of anyone who doesn't think Children's literature has any literary value tbh.
Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?
Code Name Verity and The Diviners, probably. Although everyone just went and read The Song of Achilles instead, which is an excellent compromise since y'know, Achilles and Patroclus.
Best series you discovered in 2013?
Lauren will like this answer XD Umm, 'discovered' may not be the right word here, more like 'threatened into reading', but I am really loving both the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong and The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I am going to find a way to marry Gansey, you watch.
Favourite new author you discovered in 2013?
Kelley Armstrong, Frances Hardinge, Donna Tartt, Libba Bray, Madeline Miller and Elizabeth Wein.
Neil Gaiman would be on this list too but he is on notice after Neverwhere, a book in which rats are important characters. Like, n o p e.
Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
Err, none of them? I don't know, I read widely so it'd be pretty hard for me to come across something out of my comfort zone since I don't really have one.
Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013?
Code Name Verity, Gullstruck Island and The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness, bane of my existence.
Book you read in 2013 that you're most likely to reread next year?
I want to reread so many but the only one I know I'll be rereading soon is Code Name Verity. Because I hate myself.
Favourite cover of a book you read in 2013?
All the main characters of The Raven Cycle, Evie from The Diviners, Julia and Maddie from Code Name Verity, Patroclus from The Song of Achille, Hathin from Gullstruck Island and Viola from The Ask and The Answer & Monsters of Men.
Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
The Raven Boys & The Dream Thieves, Gullstruck Island, The Secret History, The Song of Achilles, Code Name Verity and The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente.
Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
Code Name Verity, The Song of Achilles and Monsters of Men absolutely devastated me, I will never be whole again tbh.
Book you can't believe you waited until 2013 to read?
The Secret History and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. They're both old as balls and yet somehow passed under my radar? HOW?!
Favourite passage/quote from a book you read in 2013?
“I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.”
- The Song of Achilles
“It's like being in love, discovering your best friend.”
- Code Name Verity
“You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants. Not 24/7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche...or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can't hide. Every single successful song of the past fifty years can be traced back to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding.”
- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
- Monsters of Men
Shortest and longest book you read in 2013?
Without counting any novellas I've read this year, my shortest read, at fifty seven pages, was Esio Trot by Roald Dahl. I have a box set and I'd never bothered to read it before, okay. My longest, at one thousand, four hundred and ten pages, was A Breath of Snow & Ashes by Diana Gabaldon.
Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and crying and dying to talk to somebody about it?
Uhh, have I mentioned Code Name Verity too many times already? Also The Song of Achilles because it legit made me want to throw myself out the nearest window.
Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2013?
Hahahahahaha, Julia and Maddie from Code Name Verity as well as Patroclus and Achilles from The Song of Achilles. I ship myself with pain, if you didn't know.
Favourite book you read in 2013 from an author you've read previously?
This one's easy - The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There.
Best book you read in 2013 that you read based solely on a recommendation from someone else?
Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. Amber recc'd it to me; I'm not much of a fan of Tiger Lily so I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. I'm glad she talked me into it though, it's a really good adaptation and Hook is fantastically creepy in it.
Genre you read the most in 2013?
Dude, I don't have the foggiest idea. Probably fantasy? I don't know, I don't pay attention to these things.
Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?
Gansey from The Raven Cycle, precious boat shoe wearing, mythical king hunting love of my life <3 Also Adam because of reasons.
ALSO MY HUSBAND THE DARKLING, FROM THE GRISHA TRILOGY BY LEIGH BARDUGO, BECAUSE GODDAMN, I MEAN GODDAMN.
Best 2013 debut you read?
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, yet another book that made me want to smother myself with my pillow.
Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
I read The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, this year for the first time; Middle Earth is easily the most vivid, detailed fantasy world I've ever had the pleasure to read about. I still wish I was a Hobbit tbh.
Book that was the most fun to read in 2013?
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell :'D The main character writes slash fanfiction and cries over Simon Snow i.e. Harry Potter, a lot. What ISN'T fun about Harry/Draco slash is what I would like to know.
Book that made you cry, or nearly cry, in 2013?
Allllllll of them, and that is not an exaggeration.
Book you read in 2013 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out?
WHY HAVEN'T ANY OF YOU READ CODE NAME VERITY
ALSO, EQUALLY GOOD QUESTION: WHY HAVEN'T ANY OF YOU READ ANY OF FRANCES HARDINGE'S BOOKS
*casually skips blogging questions because I am not a real blogger person*
Looking Ahead
One book that you didn't get to in 2013 but will be your No.1 priority in 2014?
Lmao, as if I have that kind of organisational skill.
Book you are most anticipating for 2014 (non-debut)?
Lair of Dreams, the sequel to The Diviners.
2014 debut you are most anticipating?
Whatever debut Amber makes me read. These questions are silently judging me, I can feel it >.>
Series ending you are most anticipating in 2014?
I don't care if it finished like a year ago, I'm so excited to get to Thirteen, the final book in the Women of the Otherworld series. Witches, man :'D
One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging in 2014?
Read more Classics tbh.
"Although everyone just went and read The Song of Achilles instead" OBVIOUSLY, because that's the first one you said would kill me.
ReplyDeleteThe Ask and the Answer! *weeps* And Viola getting a mention.
"Tiger Lily is a really good adaptation." Really good. ITS FLAWLESS HDU.
Still not over your love for the Darkling. It's fabulous.
"*casually skips blogging questions because I am not a real blogger person*" Oh for the gods' sake.
"Whatever debut Amber makes me read." ^______^
yeah, but if i'd done the answers they'd have been 'i liek judith's blog' 'idk, that one time everyone got mad about goodreads and i didn't care' 'how do u network'
Deletemaybe i should make it a mission for 2014 to become a real blogger person, hmmm, hmmm
love your answers! and ugh you are making me feel bad.. i have code name verity as well as the companion rose under fire (i think?) on my bookshelf and I haven't picked them up yet.. and YES TO GANSEY <3 that boy *sigh*
ReplyDelete- Juhina @ Maji Bookshelf
you should read it because it is flawless. i didn't like rose under fire nearly as much tbh, it's not as good. have you read the dream thieves? :D i am in a love affair with gansey and adam, it's a problem
DeleteWhat was your favorite stand-alone book of 2013 (or ever)? There are not enough YA stand-alones. Sometimes its nice to have a resolution!
ReplyDeletecode name verity is a standalone, rose under fire takes place in the same time period with characters that appear in cnv but it's not in any way a direct sequel.
Deleteummmm, ever? i have no idea tbh, i read too much to ever just pick one book but all the ones i mentioned in the survey are legitimate faves XD
IKR, series are so upsetting because you get invested but then have to wait years for the next book. WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT
I REALLY want to read 'Code Name Verity' by Elizabeth Wein! I've heard so many good things about it! I LOVED the whole 'Chaos Walking' Trilogy by Patrick Ness, and Todd and Viola make up my favourite book-pairing! Their friendship was beautiful! Have you read any of Ness' other books? 'A Monster Calls' in just incredible!
ReplyDelete-Sophie :)
http://a-day-dreamers-world.blogspot.co.uk/
i haven't read any of his other stuff although more than this will probably be read soonish XD patrick ness is out to ruin my life.
Deletereadddd it, you will not regret!
I'm sad Perks of Being a Wallflower was "eh" for you. It's one of my favorites. But you've gotten me even more excited to read Code Name Verity. It's literally sitting next to my bed giving me puppy eyes.
ReplyDeletehave you started it????
Deletetbh i don't have a lot of patience with books like that, especially if they're from a dude's pov. real life is already full of people falling over themselves to be sympathetic to the male gender and i'd rather not experience it in the novels i read too.