2013: The Year In Books

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With another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 18 books I read over the past year, 6 overall less than last year but the same total if you exclude the graphic novels.  Of those 18, 5 were non-fiction and, of the 13 novels, 5 were TV show tie-ins.  Only 3 of the books came from the “to-read” drawer, and 7 were e-books, which was a new category for me last year.

 

A majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before.  The 11 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Alan Sepinwall
Joe Hill
Rebecca Forster
Sarah Silverman
Kimberly McCreight
Andrew Gross
Ben Mezrich
Tina Fey
Ron Rapoport
David Mack
Dustin Diamond

The ghost writer for Richard Castle was the only author I read multiple times in 2013.

The five books that I read this year that were released this year were Richard Castle’s Deadly Heat, Kimberly McCreight’s Reconstructing Amelia, Brad Meltzer’s The Fifth Assassin, Warren Ellis’ Gun Machine, and From Black Sox to Threepeats, edited by Ron Rapoport.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Being off again for most of December certainly helped pad the total a tad bit.

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Book 3 (of 52) – The Fifth Assassin

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The Fifth Assassin – Brad Meltzer

When I finished Brad Meltzer’s last book 2 years ago, I noted that the ending seemed rife for a follow-up.  His latest picks up the threads left behind and strings together another tale of Beecher White, the latest member of the fabled Culper Ring, as he tries to protect the man who has vowed to take him down: the President of the United States.

Meltzer again follows his formula of the little man going up against the Washington DC power structure, but it once again works for him.  The one knock I have against this book is that it assumes that you have read The Inner Circle, and read it recently.  This one throws you right into the action with little in the way of introduction for the returning characters.  Once you catch up with what’s going on, though, it is full speed ahead.

Judging from the ending, the story of Beecher White is destined to be a trilogy, so it looks like there will be another two year wait before we get the end of the story.