End of Year Book Survey 2013

Hi guys! I hope your holidays have been as good as you hoped, whatever you were celebrating!
We're now in the last few days of 2013, which is scary to me when I think of how little I've done over this year.  Actually, I might have done a lot. I'm doing a roundup on Tuesday of the year. We'll see.

For now, because I can't think of many different topics to do top ten lists of, and don't feel like regurgitating last year's, I'm going to do The Perpetual Page Turner's End of Year Book Survey.  I'm going to skip the book blogging section, cos I haven't done that much this year (I will try harder to change that next year!), but everything else should work out ok here. I found this via Georgia.


Best Books in 2013
1. Best Book You Read In 2013? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)
Plays- Equus by Peter Shaffner. Beautifully messed up. I'd love to see it one day.
Historical- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Kept me interested, all 1100 odd pages of it.  Moved along wonderfully.
Mystery- Cruel  Summer by James Dawson. Unpredictable, great characters, biggest climax ever.
Fantasy- I CANNOT CHOOSE ONE  Either Pantomime by Laura Lam, Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman or Skulk by Rosie Best. The plots and characters are great, and the worlds and or concepts are totally unique and pulled off reallywell.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
John Green's stuff. I'd read The Fault in Our Stars in 2012 and I thought I'd love the rest of his things just as much, but I didn't. He's still a great person, even if I don't like his writing.
 3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013? 
Ken Follett's stuff, all that I read. I don't normally read pure historical, but I read this becasue of a friend, and I am very glad that I did.
 4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?
Pantomime by Laura Lam, definitely.
 5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

Did I really discover a series this year? I don't think so... the only series I read two or more of this year were Lou Morgan's Blood and Feathers and Joseph Delaney's Spooks series, which isn't that great. So I suppose Blood and Feathers.
 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?
Does Laura Lam count if I knew she existed in 2012? No? Er, Ken Follett or Rosie Best.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
Ken Follett keeps coming up, doesn't he? Also, The S Word by Chelsea Pitcher- gritty contemporary looking at lots of teenage issues.
 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?
Cruel Summer by James Dawson. Read in one sitting, something I don't normally do.
 9. Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
I don't tend to reread that often, but if I were going to, I'd say The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?
What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang. Whoever designed that is too clever to exist.
11. Most memorable character in 2013? 
Argh! Er, I don't know. There's lot. Alan Strang (Equus). Micah and Aenea and Drystan(Pantomime).  Alice and Mallory and Vin(Blood and Feathers). Mal and Coby(Anne Lyle's Alchemist of Souls). If I had to choose, Luna (titular character of Julie Anne Peter's book). She goes through quite a lot, and the way she says goodbye to her sister at the end is stunningly beautiful.
 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
Most of my favourite fantasies are beautifully written, but for something new, The Oathbreakers' Shadow by Amy McCulloch has wonderful description.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013? 
The S Word by Chelsea Pitcher  made me think a lot.
 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read? 
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. Action is so good. I need to read more of her stuff soon.
 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2013?
"It is nothing to die. It is terrible to not live"--Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?
Shortest- Cinema Pantopticum by Thomas Ott-104 pages, but it's a graphic novel thing with four panels a page and four or five gothic and slightly disturbing but very awesome stories.
Longest- World Without End by Ken Follett-1248 pages. Close second ia Les Miserables (which I read on a kindle but my friend's edition is 1232 pages so let's go with that).
 17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
The final scene of Cruel Summer. The magical duel scene of Shadowplay (by Laura Lam). The bit with Adriel and Vin in Rebellion (by Lou Morgan).
18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).
Eva and Addie from What's Left of Me. All the Hybrids, really. The idea of sharing a body and not always having control of it and having to rely on the other is really interesting and very unique. I loved it.
19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Excluding books I've already mentioned in this post, Prince of the Icemark by Stuart Hill.
20. Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?
Fantasy.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?
Aenea from Pantomime.
23. Best 2013 debut you read?
The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke.
24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
There were many, Cassandra Rose Clarke's and Amy McCulloch's books had them especially, but then there was also Tom Pollock's The Glass Republic which has a great new mirror London.
25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?
The Savages by Matt Whyman.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?
Luna by Julie Anne Peters. The ending.
27. Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out?
I never saw much love for Skulk by Rosie Best, but then again, I wasn't around much so I'm not sure how well that counts.

Looking Ahead
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014?
The Night Circus!
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)?
James Dawson's Bloody Mary.
3. 2014 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
Liz de Jager's Banished. Beautiful cover. Hoping the writing's just as good!
 4. Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2014?
Our Lady of the Streets by Tom Pollock. Also, Delete by Kim Curran.
5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014?
Er, I'd quite like to be able to carry on with it, because lots of things have started happening and time to blog has gone down a lot. Other plans for 2014 will be decided later.

Thanks Jamie  for doing this! Hope you liked it :)