A Very Belated 2013 End of Year Book Survey

The End of Year Book Survey is hosted by Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner

Previously, my 2012 End of Year Book Survey and my 2011 End of Year Book Survey.


1. Best book you read in 2013?
Five books really stand out in my mind from 2013 (way too hard to narrow down!): Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (this book was my JAM!), The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (absolutely gripping!), The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (brilliant and memorable!), Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (story of my LIFE!), and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (beautiful and impactful - review to come!).

2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to like more but didn't?
I was so excited for the finales of two of my favourite series (Delirium and Divergent), but was sad to find that Requiem by Lauren Oliver and Allegiant by Veronica Roth were two major let downs for me.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2013?
Pantomime by Laura Lam! But I can't tell you why because that would ruin the surprise!

4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

5. Best series you discovered in 2013?
The Grisha Trilogy and the Lunar Chronicles.

6. Favourite new author you discovered in 2013?
SO MANY. Leigh Bardugo, Maggie Stiefvater, Rainbow Rowell, Marissa Meyer, Markus Zusak, Gail Carriger, Victoria Schwab, and Robert Galbraith.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I don't normally "do" Adult Fiction or strict Whodunnit type books, but if there is anyone who can get me to take a step outside my comfort zone, it's Queen Rowling. So I'm definitely going to have to go with The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2013?
Shades of Earth by Beth Revis! Now THIS is how you do a thrillingly epic and climactic finale!

9. Book you read in 2013 that you are most likely to reread next year?
Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor is not a book I read in 2013, but it's one I most definitely want to reread in 2014 to prepare for Dreams of Gods & Monsters!


10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2013?

11. Most memorable character in 2013?
Cormoran Strike from The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, the Darkling from Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and Death from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013?
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

14. Book you can't believe you waited until 2013 to finally read?
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card! I finally caved and read this one around the time that the movie came out. Unfortunately, the experience wasn't a positive one (review to come...).

15. Favourite passage/quote from a book you read in 2013?
Can I just copy the entirety of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak here?

16. Shortest and longest book you read in 2013?
Shortest: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - 206 pages
Longest: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare - 570 pages

17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it?
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner! You KNOW the scene I'm talking about if you've read this book!

18. Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2013?
Liesl and Max from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Cath and Levi from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and Puck, Dove, Sean, and Corr (yup, horses too) from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

19. Favourite book you read in 2013 from an author you've read previously?
I can always count on Rick Yancey and Patrick Ness (two of my MOST favourite authors) to produce good content and The 5th Wave and A Monster Calls were no exception.

20. Best book you read in 2013 that you read based solely on a recommendation from someone else?
Seems like everyone in the book blogging community has read and loved The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Finally in 2013, I was able to see what all the raves were about!


21. Genre you read the most from in 2013?
Fantasy, of course.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?
Levi (and his eyebrows and great hair) from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. True fact: at the Rainbow Rowell book signing that I attended in 2013, Rainbow described Fangirl as "eyebrow erotica" due to the detailed descriptions of Levi's eyebrows in almost every scene that he is in.

23. Best 2013 debut you read?
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner!

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo and The Archived by Victoria Schwab.

25. Book that was the most fun to read in 2013?
Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger was simply a delightful read! Gail knows how to get whimsy just right.

26. Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2013?
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (obvs), The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (that ending), and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (happy tears!).

27. Book you read in 2013 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out?
Pantomime by Laura Lam. Pantomime was a highly original and profound read.

28. One book you didn't get to in 2013 but will be your number 1 priority in 2014?
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (reading now!!), Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas, The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.

29. Book you are most anticipating for 2014 (non-debut)?
DREAMS OF GODS & MONSTERS by Laini Taylor. Without. A. Doubt.

30. 2013 debut you are most anticipating?
Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne sounds right up my alley!

31. Series ending you are most anticipating in 2014?
Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor and The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo.

32. One thing you hope to accomplish or do in your reading/blogging in 2014?
Keep up this no pressure/stress blogging and reading thing I've got going on because it suits me and I'm loving it.

Muggle Monday: The Cuckoo's Calling Review

It's time for Muggle Monday, in which I highlight a significant piece of news from the Harry Potter franchise. This is somewhat inspired by the Mundane Monday posts by The Mundie Moms.

But let's be real as to why I made up this feature: I just want the opportunity to post something about Harry Potter.


This week, I'm posting my review for The Cuckoo's Calling, J.K. Rowling's second post-Potter book:

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: April 30, 2013
Pages: 449
Source: Bought
Rating: 5 Stars

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his long-time girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Landry walks through his door with an amazing story. His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, fell, famously, to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rockstar boyfriends, desperate designers, and every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detective novels, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know the world of the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen it investigated by a detective like this one.

In short: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) is an incredibly effective and ingenious mystery with the highly intricate and complex characterization we've come to expect from Jo.

Quelle surprise - I'm rating Jo's latest book 5 Stars. To be fair though, I don't think it's JUST my bias towards her that has me rating The Cuckoo's Calling so highly. Lots of people loved it back when they thought it was written by a debut author and ex-Royal Military Police investigator, Robert Galbraith. Releasing The Cuckoo's Calling under a pseudonym was a very clever move - and completely understandable. This way, J.K. Rowling was able to determine what people thought of her work based on the merit of her writing rather than her name and reputation. Readers went into it without any expectations or disappointment that they weren't getting the next Harry Potter, like what happened with The Casual Vacancy.

I was super excited when I heard Jo had written a mystery. I've always thought she had a special talent in that area. Many of the books in the Harry Potter series have had mysteries at the story's core. I can recall taking my time with the books upon first read, staying up to all hours of the night, getting my Veronica Mars on, trying to figure out the answers to each of the mysteries in the series for myself - who opened the Chamber of Secrets, who put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, who is the Half-Blood Prince, etc.? And not once did I ever manage to guess the outcome before the reveal at the end. I was always surprised and I was always left in awe at J.K. Rowling's genius.

The Cuckoo's Calling was certainly no exception. I was left utterly surprised at the identity of the murderer of Lula Landry. Over the course of the novel, I suspected almost every character at one point or another. It was written in such a way that many different people could have plausibly been the killer, but only one - the true killer revealed at the end - actually made sense. The clues are complex and the red herrings are numerous. J.K. Rowling has proved unequivocally that she has the talent to write mysteries to run with the best of the mystery writers. I wouldn't have thought there was anything left that could impress me about Jo, but it turns out there was. There really, really was.

And of course, no review of a book by J.K. Rowling would be complete without mentioning the brilliance and intricacy of her characterization, even if it's redundant at this point. She writes characters that are all very flawed and often hard to like in their entirety. But because of this, they are all REAL. They are all genuine and credible in a way only flawed, imperfect characters can be. I took to the gruffness and no-nonsense attitude of Cormoran Strike, the down-and-out private investigator who has just been dumped by the love of his life, immediately. Somehow he commanded both my sympathies for his bleak situation and my extreme respect as a man of morals and a highly skilled detective. Secondary characters are all similarly complex and well defined.

I think I liked The Casual Vacancy a bit more than The Cuckoo's Calling. The Cuckoo's Calling provided an excellent source of entertainment in the form of one impressively plotted mystery, but The Casual Vacancy seared right to the core of my heart with its emotion and insight and left me reeling and meditating for days and days afterwards. I think The Cuckoo's Calling will have a bit less impact on me in the long run, but that certainly doesn't mean it's not a story worth reading as it was perfectly excellent in its own right. I highly recommend The Cuckoo's Calling to fans of mystery stories and of course, to fans of J.K. Rowling's intricate characterization and clever writing. It excites me to no end that The Cuckoo's Calling is only the first in a planned series featuring Cormoran Strike!

Previously, my review of The Casual Vacancy

Other Reviews:
Alison Can Read
Novel Sounds

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Muggle Monday: J.K. Rowling Is Sneaky And Has A New Book!

It's time for Muggle Monday, in which I highlight a significant piece of news from the Harry Potter franchise. This is somewhat inspired by the Mundane Monday posts by The Mundie Moms.

But let's be real as to why I made up this feature: I just want the opportunity to post something about Harry Potter.


So by now you've probably heard: J.K. Rowling secretly published another novel called The Cuckoo's Calling under the pseudonym "Robert Galbraith". Back in April! And prior to the announcement, it had only sold 1,500 copies (but also garnered many positive reviews).

Publisher: Mulholland Books
Published: April 30, 2013
Pages: 455
Series: Cormoran Strike

A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

What's further, they even made up a fake "About Me" section for Robert Galbraith:

After several years with the Royal Military Police, Robert Galbraith was attached to the SIB (Special Investigative Branch), the plain-clothes branch of the RMP. He left the military in 2003 and has been working since then in the civilian security industry. The idea for Cormoran Strike grew directly out of his own experiences and those of his military friends who returned to the civilian world.

So basically, Jo is as sneaky as a Slytherin! I can't believe she got away with this for three whole months. But I can definitely understand her desire to publish something anonymously, without all the hoopla that her name brings to her other published works.

But now that the secret is out, there will be thousands more readers for this book than there was previously. I myself have already checked the bookstore and they had only one copy and it had been sold just prior to me arriving! And supposedly only 3 copies were left available in my entire city!

I have already requested an egalley from NetGalley and I suggest others try that or buying the ebook if you're interested in reading it. Otherwise I imagine you won't have to wait too long until Hachette will do another printing, maybe with a new cover with Jo's name on it. It is supposedly only the first book in the Cormoran Strike Series, after all.

Is anyone interested in reading The Cuckoo's Calling? So far, the reviews for it seem to be better than for The Casual Vacancy, which wasn't very well received by HP fans (although you may recall I LOVED it, personally). As for me, I'm just pleased as can be that we get a new book from Jo out of nowhere! What a fantastic surprise.