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BookLoons Recommended Reads 2013
by Hilary Williamson


Snow lies heavy on the ground. Winter has come, though I truly hope we don't have a Stark one ahead of us. Our fruit cakes are drizzled, cranberry breads baked, and we've already started nibbling rum balls from the holiday stash. We've agreed with friends on appropriate donations in lieu of unneeded gifts and anticipate many festive get-togethers in the weeks ahead.

My family has always loved to give and receive books for birthdays and holidays. I'm already piling up a bunch to wrap as gifts and for my own enjoyment during stolen moments in the eye of the seasonal storm. If books matter to you too, leaf through our recommendations of the best of 2013 below (limited to 3 per genre with some difficulty and a definite personal bias). These are mainly hardcovers - find great reads most likely published in paperback in 2013 in our Recommended Reads 2012.

FICTION
Contemporary Fantasy Historical
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion
Ordinary Grace
The Panopticon
Blood Song
A Memory of Light
River of Stars
Blood & Beauty
Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker
Whistling Past the Graveyard
Mystery Mystery - Cozy Mystery - International
Gods and Beasts
The Last Winter of Lani Dancing
Sycamore Row
Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach
The Hen of the Baskervilles
Speaking from Among the Bones
Dark Secrets
Lineup
Treasure Hunt

Romance SF Thriller
The Angel Stone
That Night on Thistle Lane
What the Duke Desires
Earth Afire
On the Razor's Edge
Requiem
The Andalucian Friend
Six Years
Tell No Lies
NON-FICTION
Biography General Travel
A Curious Man
Elizabeth of York
The Kennedy Half-Century
Act of War
George Washington's Secret Six
The Girls of Atomic City
Gold Rush in the Jungle
Paris in Love
The Vast Unknown
KIDS
The Lying Carpet
Maps
The Tiny King
TEENS
YA Contemporary YA Fantasy
Crusher
The Namesake
The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Impulse
Raven Flight
Steelheart

Find more book gift suggestions in our many previous Holiday Columns. And if we missed any of your own 2013 favorites, please write and tell us about them.


All of us at BookLoons wish you and yours the best of times, the happiest of
holidays, and a joyous, healthy, prosperous and peaceful 2014!!


Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons.