Books of 2013
Jan. 8th, 2014 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhI'm a few weeks behind in my bookblogging, but I'll get caught up eventually. In the meantime, here is my complete list of books I read in 2013. Most of these you can find a review of by following the bookblogging tag, but I am also always open to questions!
I read a total of 122 books this year. 45 were written or edited by people of color (37%), and 75 were written or edited by women (61%). I also- just barely- managed to succeed in my goal of reading 50 books about South Asia.
January
3. The Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant
5. Theft of Swords - Michael J. Sullivan
9. Rise of Empire - Michael J. Sullivan
11. The Folded Earth - Anuradha Roy I#1
16. The Hindus: An Alternative History - Wendy Doniger I#2
17. The Heir of Novron - Michael J. Sullivan
19. Bedlam: London and its Mad - Catharine Arnold
21. Nectar in a Sieve - Kamala Markandaya I#3
22. Jherg - Steven Brust
24. Yendi - Steven Brust
25. Around Indian in 80 Trains - Monisha Rajesh I#4
27. Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat - Bee Wilson
30. The Inventor’s Companion - Ariel Tachna
February
3. Such a Long Journey - Rohinton Mistry I#5
4. Pink Sheep - Mahesh Natarajan I#6
7. Eels - James Prosek
12. Emma - Jane Austen (Audiobook)
19. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie I#7
20. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York - Deborah Blum
24. The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga I#8
25. The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
25. World Music: Traditions and Transformations - Michael B. Bakan
March
9. Villette - Charlotte Bronte (Audiobook)
12. The Discovery of India - Jawaharlal Nehru I#9
15. Point of Hopes - Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett
16. Narcopolis - Jeet Thayil I#10
16. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch (Audiobook)
17. Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality - Jacob Tomsky
19. Sister of My Heart - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni I#11
19. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary - David Sedaris
24. Point of Dreams - Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett
25. The Artist of Disappearance - Anita Desai I#12
25. Point of Knives - Melissa Scott
27. Untouchable - Mulk Raj Anand I#13
April
1. A Free Man of Color - Barbara Hambly
6. The Secret of the Nagas - Amish I#14
7. Fever Season - Barbara Hambly
11. Graveyard Dust - Barbara Hambly
12. Sold Down the River - Barbara Hambly
14. Die Upon a Kiss - Barbara Hambly
16. Wet Grave - Barbara Hambly
19. Days of the Dead - Barbara Hambly
22. Dead Water - Barbara Hambly
22. Dead and Buried - Barbara Hambly
24. The Shirt on His Back - Barbara Hambly
26. Run Away - Barbara Hambly
May
1. Fever Season - Barbara Hambly (reread)
8. Good Man Friday - Barbara Hambly (audiobook)
11. A Free Man of Color - Barbara Hambly (reread)
13. Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh I#15
15. The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World - Steven Johnson
20. Saraswati Park - Anjali Joseph I#16
21. Graveyard Dust - Barbara Hambly (reread)
25. The Englishman’s Cameo - Madhulika Liddle I#17
26. Sold Down the River - Barbara Hambly (reread)
31. Die Upon a Kiss - Barbara Hambly (reread)
31. Swami and Friends - R. K. Narayan I#18
June
6. Bookless in Baghdad and Other Writings about Reading - Shashi Tharoor I#19
7. Wet Grave - Barbara Hambly (reread)
13. The Co-Wife and Other Stories - Premchand I#20
14. Days of the Dead - Barbara Hambly (reread)
16. Dead Water - Barbara Hambly (reread)
19. Dead and Buried - Barbara Hambly (reread)
20. A River Sutra - Gita Mehta I#21
29. Six Suspects - Vikas Swarup I#22
July
4. Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France - Lucy Moore
7. Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana - Eds. Anil Menon and Vandana Singh I#23
14. The Shirt on His Back - Barbara Hambly (reread)
19. Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division - Patrick French I#24
20. Ran Away - Barbara Hambly (reread)
22. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before - Tony Horwitz
25. Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks - Ken Jennings
30. Good Man Friday - Barbara Hambly (reread)
August
3. India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking- Anand Giridharadas I#25
3. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
8. Untamed - Anna Cowan
16. The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries - Madhulika Liddle I#26
24. Bombay Time - Thrity Umrigar I#27
25. Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis - Helen Bynum
30. Jim Corbett’s India - Selections by R.E. Hawkins - Jim Corbett I#28
31. Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties - Lucy Moore
September
4. An Atlas of Impossible Longing - Anuradha Roy I#29
10. The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur I#30
10. Venetia - Georgette Heyer
18. Sunlight on a Broken Column - Attia Hosain I#31
18. The Lotus Palace - Jeannie Lin
24. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
October
1. Gora - Rabindranath Tagore I#32
1. Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age - Kevin Boyle
5. Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold
7. Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold
7. The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar I#33
10. I Am an Executioner - Rajesh Parameswaran I#34
11. The Warrior’s Apprentice - Lois McMaster Bujold
16. The Fire’s Stone - Tanya Huff
19. India: A Sacred Geography - Diana Eck I#35
21. The Vor Game - Lois McMaster Bujold
23. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia - Mohsin Hamid I#36
26. Cetaganda - Lois McMaster Bujold
30. On Sal Mal Lane - Ru Freeman I#37
31. The Borders of Infinity - Lois McMaster Bujold
November
1. Quarantine - Rahul Mehta I#38
4. Brothers in Arms - Lois McMaster Bujold
6. When Dreams Travel - Githa Hariharan I#39
12. Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga I#40
15. The Thing About Thugs - Tabish Khair I#41
17. Mirror Dance - Lois McMaster Bujold
21. Riot: A Love Story - Shashi Tharoor I#42
22. Etiquette & Espionage - Gail Carriger
25. Curtsies & Conspiracies - Gail Carriger
December
2. The City of Devi - Manil Suri I#43
3. Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold
8. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
8. Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda I#44
11. The Case of the Love Commandos - Tarquin Hall I#45
14. Komarr - Lois McMaster Bujold
15. Indian Takeaway - Hardeep Singh Kohli I#46
17. A Civil Campaign - Lois McMaster Bujold
21. Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier I#47
23. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid I#48
26. Haunting Jasmine - Anjali Banerjee I#49
30. Ravan and Eddie - Kiran Nagarkar I#50
5. Indian Takeaway, Hardeep Singh Kohli. Boring, shallow, and despite being about food, featuring no worthwhile foodporn or even recipes. A waste of time.
4. Quarantine, Rahul Mehta. Every single short story was exactly the same barely-fictionalized nazel-gazey take on the author's life.
3. The Inventor's Companion, Ariel Tachna. Incredibly cliche, poorly down m/m steampunk romance. (One of the characters is sold into unwilling prostitution! Where the customers beat him up all the time! And despite his apparently being the Best Prostitute Ever, his owner doesn't care! That is how cliche this is.)
2. Villette, Charlotte Bronte. UGH I HATED EVERY CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK. Just wanted to slap them all.
1. Haunting Jasmine, Anjali Banerjee. Oh god, every terrible chick-lit cliche ever. Her husband cheated on her! But she will be healed by her eccentric aunt and her bookstore! Also, the ghost of Jane Austen talks to the main character for some reason.
5. Six Suspects, Vikas Swarup. Fun and clever and a nice take on modern Indian politics.
4. Untamed, Anna Cowan. YES GOOD. Everyone needs to read this, and also I want more books by the author immediately.
3. The Thing About Thugs, Tabish Khair. SOOOOOO GOOD. Smart and excellently written.
2. The Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold. Funny and exciting and moving and SO MANY wonderful characters. I love it.
1. The Benjamin January mysteries, Barbara Hambly. I'm going to count this series as one, because otherwise all top five places would have been taken by it. You may have noticed that, despite my obsession with all things Ben-January, I have not read anything else by Hambly. This is because I'm sort of afraid to. Either it won't be as good, and then I will be disappointed, or it will be as good, and then I'll become obsessed with it instead. At the moment I just want to wallow in my current love.
I read a total of 122 books this year. 45 were written or edited by people of color (37%), and 75 were written or edited by women (61%). I also- just barely- managed to succeed in my goal of reading 50 books about South Asia.
January
3. The Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant
5. Theft of Swords - Michael J. Sullivan
9. Rise of Empire - Michael J. Sullivan
11. The Folded Earth - Anuradha Roy I#1
16. The Hindus: An Alternative History - Wendy Doniger I#2
17. The Heir of Novron - Michael J. Sullivan
19. Bedlam: London and its Mad - Catharine Arnold
21. Nectar in a Sieve - Kamala Markandaya I#3
22. Jherg - Steven Brust
24. Yendi - Steven Brust
25. Around Indian in 80 Trains - Monisha Rajesh I#4
27. Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat - Bee Wilson
30. The Inventor’s Companion - Ariel Tachna
February
3. Such a Long Journey - Rohinton Mistry I#5
4. Pink Sheep - Mahesh Natarajan I#6
7. Eels - James Prosek
12. Emma - Jane Austen (Audiobook)
19. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie I#7
20. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York - Deborah Blum
24. The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga I#8
25. The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
25. World Music: Traditions and Transformations - Michael B. Bakan
March
9. Villette - Charlotte Bronte (Audiobook)
12. The Discovery of India - Jawaharlal Nehru I#9
15. Point of Hopes - Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett
16. Narcopolis - Jeet Thayil I#10
16. Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch (Audiobook)
17. Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality - Jacob Tomsky
19. Sister of My Heart - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni I#11
19. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary - David Sedaris
24. Point of Dreams - Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett
25. The Artist of Disappearance - Anita Desai I#12
25. Point of Knives - Melissa Scott
27. Untouchable - Mulk Raj Anand I#13
April
1. A Free Man of Color - Barbara Hambly
6. The Secret of the Nagas - Amish I#14
7. Fever Season - Barbara Hambly
11. Graveyard Dust - Barbara Hambly
12. Sold Down the River - Barbara Hambly
14. Die Upon a Kiss - Barbara Hambly
16. Wet Grave - Barbara Hambly
19. Days of the Dead - Barbara Hambly
22. Dead Water - Barbara Hambly
22. Dead and Buried - Barbara Hambly
24. The Shirt on His Back - Barbara Hambly
26. Run Away - Barbara Hambly
May
1. Fever Season - Barbara Hambly (reread)
8. Good Man Friday - Barbara Hambly (audiobook)
11. A Free Man of Color - Barbara Hambly (reread)
13. Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh I#15
15. The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World - Steven Johnson
20. Saraswati Park - Anjali Joseph I#16
21. Graveyard Dust - Barbara Hambly (reread)
25. The Englishman’s Cameo - Madhulika Liddle I#17
26. Sold Down the River - Barbara Hambly (reread)
31. Die Upon a Kiss - Barbara Hambly (reread)
31. Swami and Friends - R. K. Narayan I#18
June
6. Bookless in Baghdad and Other Writings about Reading - Shashi Tharoor I#19
7. Wet Grave - Barbara Hambly (reread)
13. The Co-Wife and Other Stories - Premchand I#20
14. Days of the Dead - Barbara Hambly (reread)
16. Dead Water - Barbara Hambly (reread)
19. Dead and Buried - Barbara Hambly (reread)
20. A River Sutra - Gita Mehta I#21
29. Six Suspects - Vikas Swarup I#22
July
4. Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France - Lucy Moore
7. Breaking the Bow: Speculative Fiction Inspired by the Ramayana - Eds. Anil Menon and Vandana Singh I#23
14. The Shirt on His Back - Barbara Hambly (reread)
19. Liberty or Death: India's Journey to Independence and Division - Patrick French I#24
20. Ran Away - Barbara Hambly (reread)
22. Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before - Tony Horwitz
25. Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks - Ken Jennings
30. Good Man Friday - Barbara Hambly (reread)
August
3. India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking- Anand Giridharadas I#25
3. Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
8. Untamed - Anna Cowan
16. The Eighth Guest & Other Muzaffar Jang Mysteries - Madhulika Liddle I#26
24. Bombay Time - Thrity Umrigar I#27
25. Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis - Helen Bynum
30. Jim Corbett’s India - Selections by R.E. Hawkins - Jim Corbett I#28
31. Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties - Lucy Moore
September
4. An Atlas of Impossible Longing - Anuradha Roy I#29
10. The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur I#30
10. Venetia - Georgette Heyer
18. Sunlight on a Broken Column - Attia Hosain I#31
18. The Lotus Palace - Jeannie Lin
24. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
October
1. Gora - Rabindranath Tagore I#32
1. Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age - Kevin Boyle
5. Shards of Honor - Lois McMaster Bujold
7. Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold
7. The Space Between Us - Thrity Umrigar I#33
10. I Am an Executioner - Rajesh Parameswaran I#34
11. The Warrior’s Apprentice - Lois McMaster Bujold
16. The Fire’s Stone - Tanya Huff
19. India: A Sacred Geography - Diana Eck I#35
21. The Vor Game - Lois McMaster Bujold
23. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia - Mohsin Hamid I#36
26. Cetaganda - Lois McMaster Bujold
30. On Sal Mal Lane - Ru Freeman I#37
31. The Borders of Infinity - Lois McMaster Bujold
November
1. Quarantine - Rahul Mehta I#38
4. Brothers in Arms - Lois McMaster Bujold
6. When Dreams Travel - Githa Hariharan I#39
12. Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga I#40
15. The Thing About Thugs - Tabish Khair I#41
17. Mirror Dance - Lois McMaster Bujold
21. Riot: A Love Story - Shashi Tharoor I#42
22. Etiquette & Espionage - Gail Carriger
25. Curtsies & Conspiracies - Gail Carriger
December
2. The City of Devi - Manil Suri I#43
3. Memory - Lois McMaster Bujold
8. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
8. Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda I#44
11. The Case of the Love Commandos - Tarquin Hall I#45
14. Komarr - Lois McMaster Bujold
15. Indian Takeaway - Hardeep Singh Kohli I#46
17. A Civil Campaign - Lois McMaster Bujold
21. Born Confused - Tanuja Desai Hidier I#47
23. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid I#48
26. Haunting Jasmine - Anjali Banerjee I#49
30. Ravan and Eddie - Kiran Nagarkar I#50
5. Indian Takeaway, Hardeep Singh Kohli. Boring, shallow, and despite being about food, featuring no worthwhile foodporn or even recipes. A waste of time.
4. Quarantine, Rahul Mehta. Every single short story was exactly the same barely-fictionalized nazel-gazey take on the author's life.
3. The Inventor's Companion, Ariel Tachna. Incredibly cliche, poorly down m/m steampunk romance. (One of the characters is sold into unwilling prostitution! Where the customers beat him up all the time! And despite his apparently being the Best Prostitute Ever, his owner doesn't care! That is how cliche this is.)
2. Villette, Charlotte Bronte. UGH I HATED EVERY CHARACTER IN THIS BOOK. Just wanted to slap them all.
1. Haunting Jasmine, Anjali Banerjee. Oh god, every terrible chick-lit cliche ever. Her husband cheated on her! But she will be healed by her eccentric aunt and her bookstore! Also, the ghost of Jane Austen talks to the main character for some reason.
5. Six Suspects, Vikas Swarup. Fun and clever and a nice take on modern Indian politics.
4. Untamed, Anna Cowan. YES GOOD. Everyone needs to read this, and also I want more books by the author immediately.
3. The Thing About Thugs, Tabish Khair. SOOOOOO GOOD. Smart and excellently written.
2. The Vorkosigan saga, Lois McMaster Bujold. Funny and exciting and moving and SO MANY wonderful characters. I love it.
1. The Benjamin January mysteries, Barbara Hambly. I'm going to count this series as one, because otherwise all top five places would have been taken by it. You may have noticed that, despite my obsession with all things Ben-January, I have not read anything else by Hambly. This is because I'm sort of afraid to. Either it won't be as good, and then I will be disappointed, or it will be as good, and then I'll become obsessed with it instead. At the moment I just want to wallow in my current love.
