Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Looking Back at the Books of 2013

I didn't read 100 books as I attempted last year, but it's a new year and I can set that as a goal again.  I did read 81.  I also almost finished my challenge of reading all of Agatha Christie's books.  I have 14 more of those to read and most of those are short story collections.  Rather than listing all the books I've read in the order read, I'm grouping them.

Agatha Christie books read in 2013
The Man in the Brown Suit - recommended by my doctor and she was right.  Great book.
The Secret of Chimneys
The Seven Dials Mystery
THe Mysterious Mr. Quin
The Sittaford Mystery
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Murder is Easy
And Then There Were None - I knew how this one came out because I saw it as a play.
Towards Zero
Death Comes at the End
Sparkling Cyanide
Crooked House
They Came to Baghdad
Destination Unknown
The Pale Horse
Endless Night
Passenger to Frankfurt- this was the strangest one I've read of hers.
The Secret Adversary
Nemesis - A Miss Marple mystery, one that I missed reading in 2012.
Partners in Crime
Black Coffee

Books Read for My Book Clubs in 2013
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb - excellent!
Molaka'i - a sad story
Five Quarters of an Orange - quite an intriguing story
The Orchardist - tedious, too wordy.
Guest of Honor
Plain Song
The Kitchen House - not believable
Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Talk Funny Girl - spellbinding
The Silver Star
Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker - not what you'd expect from historical fiction, a disappointment.

Non-fiction Selections in 2013
Adoption is a Family Affair
The Hare With Amber Eyes - A Family's Century of Art and Loss
Wicked Baltimore - Charm City Sin & Scandal
Finding Everett Ruess
A Dream So Big
In the Sea There Are Crocodiles
100 Objects from the British Museum
The Mary Lincoln Enigma

Other Books I Enjoyed in 2013 that I Recommend to You
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
The Language of Flowers
Playing for Pizza
The Aviator's Wife
The Secret Keeper
Remarkable Creatures
Soloman's Oak
The Gallery of Vanished Husbands

I'm not going to list all the books I read.  The ones not included above were okay, but largely not worth mentioning.  I don't make a practice of reading a book I don't like unless it's for the book club. I did re-read four books this year that I highly recommend.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - read it for the third time.
Time and Again - read after many years break for the third time.
Tears of the Giraffe- part of the series No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, re-read for second time.
The Secret Garden - a children's book I hadn't read in a very long time.  Still a delight.

What books would you recommend I add to my list to read in 2014?

Happy New Year!