Top Ten Fiction Books of 2013
Top Ten Fiction Books of 2013
Today, I thought
it would be fun to see what I’ve been missing this year. Below are the top ten lists for fiction this
year from various sources. It seems I
have a lot of catching up to do. Which ones did you read?
Good
Reads Best Books of 2013 Choice Awards
And
The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
A look into the
lives of a brother and sister and their
families in Afghanistan, 1952.
The
Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
An unlikely
friendship between a young woman who lost her mother and an elderly man who
later confesses a long-buried and shameful secret.
Me
Before You by Jojo Moyes
A love story of
an ordinary girl who tries to help a wheelchair bound ex-Master of the
Universe.
The
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
After surviving
a crash, a young boy is taken in by a friend’s family. He clings to a small
painting from his mother and eventually is drawn into the art underworld.
The
Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (Also author of What Alice Forgot)
Cecilia has the
perfect marriage until she finds a letter from her husband meant to be opened in
the event of his death.
Orphan
Train by Christina Baker Kline
A young girl
helps an older woman clean out her home and discovers her history as a young
Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City.
A scientist, who
designs a scientifically valid survey to find the perfect wife for him,
encounters Rosie who meets his criteria yet he disqualifies her as a candidate
and helps her in her quest to identify her biological father. Update: I read this book in 2016 and LOVED it!!
The
House Girl by Tara Conklin
The story of an
escaped slave in the pre-war South, a determined young lawyer, and a woman
seeking compensation for families of slaves.
A
Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
A
sixteen-year-old girl plans to document the life of her great-grandmother
before taking her own life in Japan. Across the Pacific a novelist finds a collection
of artifacts washed ashore from the 2011 tsunami that connects to the girl in Tokyo.
Tenth
of December by George Saunders
A collection of
short stories about class, love, sex, loss, work, despair and war.
New
York Times 2013 Best Seller in Fiction (Hardcover)
Cross
My Heart by James Patterson
A man uses
Detective Alex Cross’ family against him in a page-turning thriller. (Alex
Cross Series)
Sycamore
Row by John Grisham
A man commits
suicide leaving a will that upturns the lives of his adult children, his black
maid, and Jake. (2nd book in the Jake Brigance Series)
Takedown
Twenty by Janet Evanovich
Stephanie sets
her sights on catching a notorious mob boss. (Stephanie Plum Series)
The
First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom
A small town on
Lake Michigan gets worldwide attention when its citizens start receiving phone
calls from the afterlife.
King
and Maxwell by David Baldacci
Former secret
service agents turned investigators look into the mysterious death of a
soldier in Afghanistan only to realize they’ve stumbled onto something bigger
and more treacherous than anyone could have imagined.
Doctor
Sleep by Stephen King
A tribe of
seemingly innocent people are quasi-immortal living off the steam that children
with the shining produce when they are slowly tortured to death—an
epic war between good and evil.
S.
by Doug Dorst
A young woman
picks up a book left behind by a stranger and finds notes from the previous
owner in the margin. She responds with notes of her own and the book is left for another stranger.
The
Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
After surviving
a crash, a young boy is taken in by a friend’s family. He clings to a small
painting from his mother and eventually is drawn into the art underworld.
The
Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
A remarkable
story of two couples whose parallel love stories intersect in profound and
surprising ways.
The
Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani
A heartbreaking
story that begins on the eve of a wedding in New York and travels to New
Orleans, and culminates in Tuscany.
Amazon’s
2013 Best Selling Women’s Literature & Fiction (Minus the Christmas
books, as of 12/8/13)
The
Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty (Also author of What Alice Forgot)
Cecilia has the
perfect marriage until she finds a letter from her husband meant to be opened in
the event of his death.
Soy
Sauce for Beginners by Kristen Chen
A woman leaves
her floundering marriage and moves back to Singapore and faces her mother’s
drinking problem and the machinations of her father’s soy sauce business.
The
Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
A remarkable
story of two couples whose parallel love stories intersect in profound and
surprising ways.
Sweet
Nothings (A Sugar Springs Novel) by Kim Law
Free spirited Joanie Bigbee, who sells
cupcakes out of a converted Volkswagen van, meets Nick Dalton who wants more
than just a fling
And
The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
A look into the
lives of a brother and sister and their
families in Afghanistan, 1952.
The
Second Chance Café (A Hope Springs Novel) by Alison Kent
A woman runs a café
in a Victorian home while she tries to uncover the truth about her birth
parents, but is distracted by a handsome carpenter.
Things
We Set on Fire by Deborah Reed
A series of tragedies brings Vivvie's
young grandchildren into her custody, and her two estranged daughters back
under one roof in this deeply personal, hauntingly melancholy look at the
damages families inflict on each other—and the healing that only they can
provide.
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion
by Fannie Flagg (Who also wrote A Redbird Christmas)
An
impressionable woman named Fritzi takes over the running of her family’s
filling station in the 1940s during the war and sees an opportunity for an even
more ground-breaking adventure. Update: I read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe in 2017 and really enjoyed it!
The
Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
A sweeping
family saga of Ciro and Enza who immigrated from Italy to the United States
separately in the early 1900s, built their lives in their new homeland, and
later reconnect.
It
Must Be Love by Bella Andre
The passion from
an unforgettable fling five years ago reignites when rock star Ford Vincent
vows to do anything to win back the heart of successful real estate agent, Mia
Sullivan.
Happy Reading!
Annette
Comments
Marianne from Let's Read