The Books of 2013

Once again, I'm going to post the list of books read in 2013 a little early - I finished book 63 this morning and it's highly unlikely that there will be a 64th. Indeed, I rather hope not, as that will knock my plans for 2014 out of alignment. So, here's the list for 2013:

1. "A Blink of the Screen", by Terry Pratchett
2. "Master of Devils", by Dave Gross
3. "Pathfinder: Into the Nightmare Rift", by Richard Pett
4. "Desolation Island", by Patrick O'Brian
5. "Pathfinder: The Dead Heart of Xin", by Brandon Hodge
6. "Strata", by Terry Pratchett
7. "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", by Thomas Hardy *
8. "Death's Heretic", by James L. Sutter
9. "The Fortune of War" by Patrick O'Brian
10. "Pathfinder: The Snows of Summer", by Neil Spicer
11. "Song of the Serpent", by Hugh Matthews
12. "The Bromeliad", by Terry Pratchett
13. "Pathfinder: the Shackled Hut", by Jim Groves
14. "A Crown Imperiled", by Raymond E. Feist
15. "City of the Fallen Sky", by Tim Pratt
16. "Last of the Gadarene", by Mark Gatiss
17. "The Surgeon's Mate", by Patrick O'Brien
18. "Pathfinder: Maiden, Mother, and Crone", by Tim Hitchcock
19. "Nightglass", by Liane Merciel
20. "The Ionian Mission", by Patrick O'Brian
21. "Treason's Harbour", by Patrick O'Brian
22. "Pathfinder: The Frozen Stars", by Matthew Goodall
23. "Blood of the City", by Robin D. Laws
24. "The Long Earth", by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
25. "The Far Side of the World", by Patrick O'Brian
26. "1356", by Bernard Cornwell
27. "Pathfinder: Rasputin Must Die!", by Brandon Hodge
28. "The Reverse of the Medal", by Patrick O'Brian
29. "The Folklore of Discworld", by Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson
30. "Queen of Thorns", by Dave Gross
31. "Persuasion", by Jane Austen *
32. "The Hunger Games", by Suzanne Collins
33. "The Letter of Marque", by Patrick O'Brian
34. "The White Company", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
35. "Pathfinder: The Witch Queen's Revenge", by Greg A. Vaughan
36. "Called to Darkness", by Richard Lee Byers
37. "Pathfinder: The Dragon's Demand", by Mike Shel
38. "Heart of Darkness and Other Stories", by Joseph Conrad *
39. "Catching Fire", by Suzanne Collins
40. "Pathfinder: The Worldwound Incursion", by Amber E. Scott
41. "The Wasp Factory", by Iain Banks *
42. "Liar's Blade" by Tim Pratt
43. "The Thirteen-Gun Salute", by Patrick O'Brian
44. "Only You Can Save Mankind", by Terry Pratchett
45. "Johnny and the Dead", by Terry Pratchett
46. "Johnny and the Bomb", by Terry Pratchett
47. "Mockingjay", by Suzanne Collins
48. "Pathfinder: Sword of Valor", by Neil Spicer
49. "The Nutmeg of Consolation", by Patrick O'Brian
50. "The Blood of Gods", by Conn Iggulden
51. "Pirate's Honor", by Chris A. Jackson
52. "The Carpet People", by Terry Pratchett
53. "Clarissa Oakes", by Patrick O'Brian
54. "The Wizard's Mask", by Ed Greenwood
55. "Pathfinder: Demon's Heresy", by Jim Groves
56. "X-Wing: Mercy Kill", by Aaron Allston
57. "Dodger", by Terry Pratchett
58. "The Wine-Dark Sea", by Patrick O'Brian
59. "King of Chaos", by Dave Gross
60. "Red Dwarf: Better Than Life", by Grant Naylor
61. "Pathfinder: The Midnight Isles", by James Jacobs and Greg A. Vaughan
62. "Pathfinder: Bestiary 4", by Paizo Publishing
63. "The Bridget Jones Omnibus: The Singleton Years",by Helen Fielding *

So, a grand total of 63, 5% over my goal at the start of the year. However, the break down of these into my five 'series' is rather patchy - there are twelve Patrick O'Brian novels, fourteen Pathfinders, and twelve Pathfinder Tales, and the Pratchett series is likewise complete (as it turned out there weren't twelve unread books). However, there are only five books from The List, which is rather poor. Still, it's not too bad.

The book of the year is "Dodger". For a long time, it looked like the very first book, "A Blink of the Screen" was going to be the best, with a couple of noble efforts falling at the last hurdle. However, "Dodger" managed to sneak it at the last. Of course, that means that Terry Pratchett managed to write both the top two picks of the year. The worst book of the year was "The Wizard's Mask", which I've blogged about before.

Honourable mention really must go to two particular series. The first of these is "The Hunger Games" trilogy, which really was excellent. Young adult fiction tends to be dismissed by literary types, generally those who can't see beyond "Harry Potter" and "Twilight", but "The Hunger Games" can probably stand up there with "Nineteen Eighty-Four" or "The Handmaid's Tale" as a strong exemplar of a rather unrealistic, but still compelling, dystopia.

The other excellent series is the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. These were universally excellent, although no individual novel quite made it to book of the year. Still, for a series of sixteen (so far) novels to be so consistently so good is incredibly impressive. I both look forward to reading the remaining volumes and am somewhat disappointed that I'm coming to the end.

Next year I'm planning to continue in much the same vein, except that some of my series are at, or close to, the end. Thus, I have six 'series' that I'll be following: the Aubrey/Maturin novels (5 volumes remaining, plus one other by PO'B), Pathfinders (12), Pathfinder Tales (7 or 8 volumes next year), the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary novels (10 plus a short story collection), new books (9), plus books from The List (12). That probably leaves me a little short of the target of 60, but I'm sure I can find a couple of others to fill in any gaps.