Best of 2013: Top 25 Books Released in 2013

2013 has been a good, if not exactly great, reading year.  There were several books published in multiple genres that I felt were at least very good, if not excellent, works of fiction or non-fiction.  I read a little over 100 of these 2013 releases and having a "success rate" (or at least works that engaged me on some level) of over 50% is very good (helps that I am very careful when selecting books to read, I suppose).  It is difficult to come up with a list of great works that does not exclude at least a handful of others that are very near in quality to those that make such a list, even an expanded one as my Top 25.  In fact, the difference between #25 and #6, to use semi-arbitrary numbers is often minute enough that if I were re-list the books I chose for this list six months later, the ordering might be very different.  But such is the nature of the list beast, I suppose.  Here are the 25 titles over which you can debate their merits, if you so choose (those for which I had already written formal review will contain links to said reviews):

25.  Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being
 
24.  Leena Krohn, Datura 

23.  J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur 

22.  Kate Atkinson, Life After Life

21.  Helene Welker,  The Golem and the Jinni  

20.  James McBride, The Good Lord Bird 
 
19.  Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries  

18.  Sinan Antoon, The Corpse Washer 

17.  Matt Bell, In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods  

16.  Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck 

15.  NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names 

14.  Karen Russell, Vampires in the Lemon Grove 

13.  Jean-Marie Blas de Robles, Where Tigers are at Home 

12.  Matt Rassmussen, Black Aperture 

11.  Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari 

10.  William H. Gass, Middle C 

 9.  Gene Yuen Yang, Boxers/Saints 

 8.  John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March:  Book One 

 7.  Karen Joy Fowler, We are all Completely Beside Ourselves 

 6.  Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch 

 5.  George Packer, The Unwinding 

 4.  Philipp Meyer, The Son 

 3.  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah 

 2.  George Saunders, Tenth of December 

 1.  László Krasznahorkai, Seiobo There Below

Best of 2013: Three Books That Weren't Able to be Read in Time for Consideration

It is always inevitable, that no matter how much I try to plan reads ahead of time or how fast I can read, that there are always books that fly under my radar until it is too late in the year to read them or that something comes up in the way of me getting around to reading it before the rush of the holidays and the year-end posts (and the last-minute reads that I do manage to cram in, sometimes minutes before I do write-ups on various categories).

I just finished reading my 400th and last book for the year and have met or surpassed every single reading goal that I set for 2013.  That reading list will be posted later today if I have time or (more likely) on Wednesday afternoon before I go to work.  But here are three books (one I purchased last week, the other is arriving by UPS today, and the third I've had on my shelf for two months, awaiting the time that I can go through it carefully to see which elements I can lift and alter in case I have to teach English as well as ESL in the upcoming semester) that likely would have garnered at least some consideration for the category shortlists, if not the Top 25 itself:

3.  Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, The Mirror of Beauty

I had this book recommended to me on Twitter on Christmas night by Musharraf Ali Farooqi (2012 Man Asian Prize finalist; review here) and the premise is very promising for this novel that was only just recently released in the US in English translation from Urdu.  Hardcover copy should arrive today.

2.  Michael Cisco, Member

I think Cisco is one of the finest writers writing in the English language today, so it was to my great chagrin that it wasn't until a week or so ago (I believe it was on a Facebook post by Jeff VanderMeer) that I learned that Member had been out since mid-October.  Just not enough time to read it before the new year, alas, as I wouldn't have been surprised if it would crack my Top 25 list if I had somehow had the time to read it.

1.  Jeff VanderMeer, Wonderbook

I have been very curious about this "fully illustrated writing book" ever since Jeff started talking about it around two years ago.  A casual thumbing through has revealed quite a few interesting lines of thought when it comes to the art and craft of writing, but this book deserves much more time from me than I have been able to manage during the past two months.  It will be read in small segments during the early months of 2014 and I might just take a few notes to see how I could apply it in the classroom if I were to teach English/writing full-time again.

Best of 2013: Non-Fiction

2013 Non-Fiction Read:

Lauren Elkin and Scott Esposito, The End of Oulipo?

Justin Landon and Jared Shurin (eds.), Speculative Fiction 2012

Carolyn Dalgliesh, The Sensory Child Gets Organized

Martín Arias and Martín Hadis, Professor Borges:  A Course on English Literature

Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump

Giacomo Leopardi, Zibaldone

Wendy Lower, Hitler's Furies

John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March: Book One

Al Gore, The Future

Denise Kiernan, The Girls of Atomic City

Gene Yuen Yang, Boxers/Saints

Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari 

Umberto Eco, Le Sette Meraviglie

George Packer, The Unwinding

I read more non-fiction in 2013 than in any of the previous four or five years.  There were popular histories, collections of essays (including one in which two 2012 pieces of mine appeared), autobiographies, graphic novel renderings of histories, art books in Italian, translations from Italian and Japanese, guides to help people understand special needs children, and a transcription of a college lecture series.  Even the one book on the above list that appears on my Most Disappointing Releases list will hold quite a bit of interest for the lay reader (alas, I cannot claim to be such when it comes to the Nazi era).  I learned a lot from reading these books (the Dalgliesh and Higashida in particular opened my eyes further when it came to sensory/children with autism and both provided insight that has helped me immensely at both of my current jobs) and hopefully in the years to come I will discover even more excellent non-fictions that will educate me as much or more as these did this year.  Now for the list of the three that have stuck with me the most:

3.  John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March:  Book One

I discussed my reasons for liking this graphic novel rendering of Rep. John Lewis's early life up to the 1960 Nashville sit-ins in my previous listing of graphic novels and anthologies read this year.  It is a book that I would love to use as a supplementary reading material if I ever choose to teach 11th grade US History again.

2.  Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari 

Excellent art/history of how people over the centuries have envisioned both real and legendary lands near and far.  See my earlier comments in my listing of the best foreign language works released this year.

1.  George Packer, The Unwinding 

Winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Non-Fiction.  Packer interviewed several Americans from all walks of life, from tech founders to those who lost their jobs when the physical economy began to shift toward a service economy in the late 1970s.  Each of these Americans' stories are fascinating and Packer does an excellent job in breaking these narrative threads into chronological years that show the various ways in which people even conceive of "America" has changed since 1980.  One of the best books I've read this year.

Best of 2013: Foreign Language Works

2013 Foreign Language Works:  

João Barreiros (ed.), Lisboa no Ano 2000 (Portuguese)

Alliah, Metanfetaedro (Portuguese)

Ildefonso Falcones, La reina descalza (Spanish)

José Ovejero, La invención del Amor (Spanish)

Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari (Italian)

Umberto Eco, Le Sette Meraviglie (Italian; e-book-only)

João Tordo, O Ano Sabático (Portuguese)

Mariano Villarreal and Luis Pestarini (eds.), Terra Nova:  vol. 2 (Spanish)

Despite making an effort to read at least a 1/3 of my 2013 total reads in a foreign language (current count has me at a little over 180 books read in a language other than English), it is very difficult to get very recent works.  Thankfully, more and more publishers are releasing e-editions (more so on iBookstore than on the Kindle store, I've noticed) where US readers such as myself can read them.  Three (and one of those, Lisboa no Ano 2000 was sent to me as a review copy by the publisher) of the books listed above were purchased books; the other five were e-books.  The genres are also varied, with three being SF/F, one historical fiction, two non-fiction/art books, and two more contemporary fictions.  Likely about half of these books will be translated into English in the near future (the first Eco already has, the Falcones is a near-certainty, and I suspect Ovejero and Tordo will see their works translated at some point).  All in all, the number of strong literary works belies the paucity of numbers on this list.

3.  José Ovejero, La invención del Amor 

This 2013 Premio Alfaguara winner is about love, yes, but even more about us humans who "invent" it in order to connect with one another.  I plan on re-reading it and writing a formal review sometime in 2014.

2.  João Tordo, O Ano Sabático

Tordo won the Premio Saramago for an earlier work, As Três Vidas,  and while I wouldn't go as far as to say that his latest matches that excellent work, it does come very close.  His characters, particularly the protagonist Hugo, are dynamic, fully-realized, with memorable scenes.  Will be reading more of his works in 2014.

1.  Umberto Eco, Storia delle Terre e dei Luoghi Leggendari

This is the fourth in a series of non-fiction/art books that Eco has written in recent years.  This time, the subject is the fantastical lands created by millennia of explorers, writers, and other mythmakers.  The accompanying art is beautiful and the essays are erudite without being too overwhelming for readers.  Although I think Eco's books on Beauty and Ugliness are better, this volume is one of the best books I've read this year.  A must-own/read for most sorts of readers (the English translation is already available).

Best of 2013: Poetry

2013 Poetry Collections Read: 

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur 

Adrian Matejka, The Big Smoke 

Mary Szybist, Incarnadine 

Lucie Brock-Broido, Stay, Illusion 

Matt Rassmussen, Black Aperture 

Frank Bidart, Metaphysical Dog

Each year I try to make a resolution to read more recent poetry collections and each year most, if not all, of that year's releases that I read end up being from the National Book Award shortlists.  So it was this year (although if I counted pre-2013 poetry read, I would have had dozens from which to consider).  Five NBA finalists and a posthumously-published epic poem fragment from J.R.R. Tolkien.  Yet the overall quality was high.  This is not the space to devote to in-depth explorations (after all, these Best of 2013 merely are what moved me most in 2013), but I will say that each and every one of these collections deserves to be read.  But there shall only be three listed on these shortlists, so here we go:

3.  Mary Szybist, Incarnadine 

Winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Poetry, this collection combines mystical, religious, and deeply personal themes to create a haunting collection that lingers in the reader's mind days after the final poem is read.

2.  J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur 

My June review covers why I loved this unfinished poem, so I'll just suggest that you click on the link above.

1.  Matt Rassmussen, Black Aperture 

Rassmussen took a tragic event (his brother's suicide) and wrote a collection that examines this trauma from a plethora of angles.  I was greatly moved by collection's end, so this is why I have selected it as my favorite poetry collection for 2013.

Best of 2013: Children's/Middle Grades/Young Adult Books

2013 Children's/Middle Grades/Young Adult Books Read: 

Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses

Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince

Gene Yuen Yang, Boxers/Saints

Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone

Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck

Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp

Tom McNeal, Far Far Away

I have not read much in the way of children's, middle grades, or young adult literature this year (I do, however, believe it is better to divide the "YA" category into more specific categories, as a book intended for a 9 year-old will differ significantly in some aspects from one oriented more to teen readers).  In fact, all of my reading comes from the National Book Award longlist for Young People's Literature (or 7/10 of the books on that longlist), but that does not mean that I shouldn't at least acknowledge some of the excellent works released in the past year.  Almost all of these seven works I would recommend readily to young readers (the only exception is The Summer Prince, toward which I had slightly mixed reactions) and if I had the time, I would use many of them in my classroom.  While it was difficult to pare it down to three favorites that I thought were among the year's best in the field (or at least the tiny sliver of 2013 YA/MG/Ju. lit that I've read; feel free to suggest alternatives in the comments), here are the ones that moved me the most:

3.  Kate DiCamillo, Flora & Ulysses

OK, it does star a superheroic squirrel, but I could see me enjoying this work immensely if I were about 9 or 10 today.  See linked review for more on the book and why I loved it.

2.  Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck

This book about a Japanese-American farming family and their trials and tribulations was a deserving winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.  The characters and setting are fully realized and the story contains a subtle yet powerful twist toward the end that made it a joy to read.

1.  Gene Luen Yang, Boxers/Saints

Yes, Yang's graphic novel duology makes its second appearance on one of my year-end lists (and it will appear again before the 31st).  It is that good.  See linked review for more details.

Best of 2013: Debut Novels

2013 Debut Novels Read: 

Helene Welker, The Golem and the Jinni

Sofia Samatar, A Stranger in Olondria

NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names

Matt Bell, In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods

J.M. Sidorova, The Age of Ice

Therese Anne Fowler, Z:  A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

Ann Leckie, Ancillary Justice

Bill Cheng, Southern Cross the Dog

It was a decent year for debut novels read.  Some writers who had previously published collections or novella-length work saw their first true novels released, while others were completely new to US print publishing.  The stories varied greatly in theme and narrative approach, from personal, autobiographical accounts to reconstructed histories of mythologized historical (and authorial!) characters to tales that contained at least a smidgen of the fantastical.  With one exception (already covered in another post), these books provided at least mild entertainment and some engaged me from start to finish.  But there shall only be three on this shortlist, so here they are (with a note that I was tempted to list a tie for third, as a very solid tale set in a non-quasi-European world did appeal to me):

3.  Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni

Wecker's book has the feel of a historical novel set in 1890s New York, the mythological typology of the better fantasies of that time, and a richness in prose and character development that make it a touching read.  Certainly a work that I'll be wanting to revisit in the years to come.

2.  Matt Bell, In the House upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods

See the linked review for details as to why this was one of my favorite 2013 debut novels.

1.  NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names 

Not too often does a debut novelist see her work end up as a Booker Prize finalist.  The story moved me, short and simple, and that is why it is my favorite 2013 debut.  See linked review for more.