Best Books of 2013

I found 15 “Best Books of 2013” lists and combined them into one list.  Here are the results.  The numbers in bold indicate the number of lists containing each book.  If I’ve read the book, I’ve included the rating I gave it on Goodreads (1-5 stars).

On 13 lists
LIFE AFTER LIFE.
 By Kate Atkinson.
TENTH OF DECEMBER: Stories. By George Saunders. (5)

On 12 lists
THE GOLDFINCH.
 By Donna Tartt. (4)

On 10 lists
THE UNWINDING: An Inner History of the New America.
 By George Packer.

On 8 lists
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. By David Finkel.
THE FLAMETHROWERS. By Rachel Kushner.
THE LOWLAND. By Jhumpa Lahiri.
A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA. By Anthony Marra. 

On 7 lists
THE LUMINARIES. By Eleanor Catton.
MEN WE REAPED: A Memoir. By Jesmyn Ward.
GOING CLEAR: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. By Lawrence Wright.

On 6 lists
FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. By Sheri Fink.
THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS. By Elizabeth Gilbert.
THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS. By Claire Messud.
THE SON. By Philipp Meyer. (4)

On 5 lists
THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945.
 By Rick Atkinson.
THE BULLY PULPIT: Theodore Roose­velt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. By Doris Kearns Goodwin.
HOW TO GET FILTHY RICH IN RISING ASIA.  By Mohsin Hamid.
THE BOOK OF MY LIVES. By Aleksandar Hemon.
THE PIKE: Gabriele d’Annunzio: Poet, Seducer and Preacher of WarBy Lucy Hughes-Hallett.
BOOK OF AGES: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin. By Jill Lepore.
THE INFATUATIONS. By Javier Marías. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
THE GOOD LORD BIRD. By James McBride.
SOMEONE. By Alice McDermott.
VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE: Stories. By Karen Russell.
ALL THAT IS.
 By James Salter.
THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P.  By Adelle Waldman.

On 4 lists
AMERICANAH. By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
LAWRENCE IN ARABIA: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East. By Scott Anderson. (5)
MADDADDAM. By Margaret Atwood.
LEVELS OF LIFE. By Julian Barnes.
WAVE. By Sonali Deraniyagala.
THE CIRCLE. By Dave Eggers.
WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES. By Karen Joy Fowler.
THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE. By Neil Gaiman.
THE WAR THAT ENDED PEACE: The Road to 1914. By Margaret Mac­Millan.
TRANSATLANTIC.  By Colum McCann.
BLEEDING EDGE. By Thomas Pynchon.
GULP: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.  By Mary Roach.
COMMAND AND CONTROL: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. By Eric Schlosser.
THE INTERESTINGS. By Meg Wolitzer. 

On 3 lists
THE BLOOD TELEGRAM: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide.  By Gary J. Bass.
WE NEED NEW NAMES. By NoViolet Bulawayo.
YEAR ZERO: A History of 1945. By Ian Buruma.
THE LETTERS OF PAUL CEZANNE.  Edited by Alex Danchev.
HARVEST.  By Jim Crace.
DIRTY LOVE. By Andre Dubus III.
& SONS.  By David Gilbert.
ENON. By Paul Harding.
AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED.  By Khaled Hosseini.
PENELOPE FITZGERALD: A Life.  By Hermione Lee.
DISSIDENT GARDENS. By Jonathan Lethem.
A HOUSE IN THE SKY: A Memoir. By Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett.
DALLAS 1963. By Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis.
A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING.  BRuth Ozeki.
LEAN IN: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. By Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell.
FAR FROM THE TREE: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity.  By Andrew Solomon.
SMARTER THAN YOU THINK: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better. By Clive Thompson.
THE MAID’S VERSION.  By Daniel Woodrell.
THE PEOPLE IN THE TREES. By Hanya Yanagihara.
LOST GIRLS: An Unsolved American Mystery.
 By Robert Kolker.

On 2 lists
WHITE GIRLS. By Hilton Als.
THE GOLDEN ASS.  By Apuleius. Translated by Sarah Ruden.
LONGBOURN. By Jo Baker.
THE QUARRY.  By Iain Banks.
MAGGIE AND ME.  By Damian Barr.
ALL THE LAND TO HOLD US.  BRick Bass.
TO THE END OF JUNE: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care.  By Cris Beam.
METAPHYSICAL DOG: Poems. By Frank Bidart.
ONE SUMMER: America, 1927By Bill Bryson.
THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS.  By J.M. Coetzee.
PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR: An Adventure. By Artemis Cooper.
NECESSARY ERRORS.  By Caleb Crain.
SEA CREATURES.  By Susanna Daniels.
THE INFERNO.  By Dante Aligheri.  Translated by Mary Jo Bang.
CLAIRE OF THE SEA LIGHT. By Edwidge Danticat.
DUPLEX. By Kathryn Davis.
AN APPETITE FOR WONDER: The Making of a Scientist. By Richard Dawkins.
MUSIC AT MIDNIGHT: The Life and Poetry of George Herbert.  By John Drury.
THE THIRD COAST: When Chicago Built the American Dream. By Thomas Dyja.
THE RIDDLE OF THE LABYRINTH: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code. By Margalit Fox. (5)
IKE AND DICK: Portrait of a Strange Political MarriageBy Jeffrey Frank.
THE SOUND OF THINGS FALLING. By Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Translated by Anne McLean.
SCHRODER. By Amity Gaige.
THE CUCKOO’S CALLING.  By Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling.
BACH: Music in the Castle of Heaven. By John Eliot Gardiner.
THE FIRST BOHEMIANS: Life and Art in London’s Golden Age.  By Vic Gatrell.
SELECTED POEMS OF ROBERT GRAVES. Edited by Michael Longley.
BOUGH DOWNBy Karen Green.
THE EXAMINED LIFE: How We Lose and Find Ourselves.  By Stephen Grosz.
AN ASTRONAUT’S GUIDE TO LIFE ON EARTHBy Chris Hadfield.
THE SILENT WIFEBy A.S.A. Harrison.
BENEDICTION.  By Kent Haruf.
CATASTROPHE 1914: Europe Goes to War. By Max Hastings.
JOHNNY CASH: The Life. By Robert Hilburn.
NOS4A2.  By Joe Hill.
SEA OF HOOKS.  By Lindsay Hill.
FALLING UPWARDS: How We Took to the Air.  By Richard Holmes.
EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China. By Jung Chang. (4)
MISS ANNE IN HARLEM: The White Women of the Black Renaissance. By Carla Kaplan.
THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster. By Jonathan M. Katz.
DOCTOR SLEEP. By Stephen King.
THE DINNER. By Herman Koch. Translated by Sam Garrett.
THE SKIES BELONG TO US: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking. By Brendan I. Koer­ner.
JACK LONDON: An American Life.  By Earle Labor.
THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING: Why Writers Drink. By Olivia Laing.
SUBMERGENCE. By J. M. Ledgard.
THIS TOWN: Two Parties and a Funeral — Plus Plenty of Valet Parking! — in America’s Gilded Capital. By Mark Leibovich.
ZIBALDONE.  By Giacomo LeopardiTranslated by Michael Caesar and Franco D’Intino.
WOKE UP LONELY. By Fiona Maazel.
FORTY-ONE FALSE STARTS: Essays on Artists and Writers. By Janet Malcolm.
MARGARET FULLER: A New American Life.  By Megan Marshall.
WILD ONES: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America. By Jon Mooallem.
MARGARET THATCHER – THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY, VOLUME I: From Grantham to the Falklands. By Charles Moore.
THE BOMBING WAR: Europe 1939-1945.  By Richard Overy.
THE TELLING ROOM: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, and the World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese.  By Michael Paterniti.
UNTHINKABLE: Iran, the Bomb, and American Strategy. By Kenneth M. Pollack.
LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE, CHERISH, PERISH. By David Rakoff.
THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD: And How They Got That Way. By Amanda Ripley.
THE BOY DETECTIVE: A New York Childhood. By Roger Rosenblatt.
THE GREAT WAR: July 1, 1916 – The First Day of the Battle of the SommeBy Joe Sacco.
THE FARAWAY NEARBY. By Rebecca Solnit.
THE EVERYTHING STORE: Jeff Bezos and the Age of AmazonBy Brad Stone.
THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT. By Amy Tan.
MOMENTS THAT MADE THE MOVIES. By David Thomson.
MO’ META BLUES: THE WORLD ACCORDING TO QUESTLOVE.  By Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Ben Greenman.
THE ISLE OF YOUTH: StoriesBy Laura van den Berg.
ECSTATIC NATION: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877. By Brenda Wine­apple.


1 thought on “Best Books of 2013

  1. Pingback: It’s the Most Wonderful Time – For Listers | Make Lists, Not War

Leave a Reply