Juliababyjen's Reading Room

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Favorite Historical Fiction in 2013

I don't read a lot of historical, especially in YA...but this year I kept getting recommends from friends that I must "read this book!" The majority took place during World War II. And let's face it, you can never know too much about that era!

Looking forward to reading a lot more historical in 2014!

6. Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl

5. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

4. Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger

3. Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

2. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

1. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

What about you? Did you get to read any historical in 2013?

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Favorite Suspense/Mysteries in 2013

Ever since I was a kid and fell in love with Nancy Drew books, I have loved mysteries. I also really love suspenseful stories, and the creepier the better! Any book that you have to read with all the lights blazing and your door locked are worth a read for me! I love being deliciously scared, but I do recommend reading the following during the daytime!

8. The Dark Unwinding and A Spark Unseen by Sharon Cameron

7. Deadly Little Lessons by Laurie Faria Stolarz

6. Catherine by April Lindner

5. The Diviners by Libba Bray

4. I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

3. Dead Silence by Kimberly Derting

2. Name of the Star and The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

1. Notes From Ghost Town by Kate Ellison

What books did you read in 2013 that gave you the chills?

Favorite Sci-Fi of 2013

Time travel. Missions in space. Crazy abilities. Sci-Fi is takes a lot of brain power sometimes, to figure out all that "science." My favorite is definitely time travel. I loved the Back to the Future movies as a kid, and have been obsessed with time travel ever since!

Most of the sci-fi I read this year was kind of lumped into other categories as well. Here is the top true Sci-Fi reads I read this year!

8. Timebound by Rysa Walker

7. Altered by Jennifer Rush

6. Tempest and Vortex by Julie Cross

5. Pivot Point by Kasie West

4. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children

3. All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

2. Unraveling and Unbreakable by Elizabeth Norris

1. These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What was your favorite Sci-Fi in 2013?

Friday, January 3, 2014

Favorite Contemporaries of 2013

Contemporaries. Most are centered around romance, but not all. They can be fun, light and fluffy--or dramatic, dark, and heart breaking. Its not my most favorite genre, but I have found some amazing books over the last year in this category. And I read quite a few! Here are my faves! And if you attempt to read any of these, get your tissues ready!

10. Being Henry David by Cal Armistead

9. Hate List by Jennifer Brown

8. Me, Him, Them, and It by Caela Carter

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green

6. If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

5. Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell

4. Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

3. Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

2. Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

What about you? What were your favorite contemporaries this year?

Thursday, January 2, 2014

January Random Reads

I just learned about this fun challenge! And I like it because its monthly, so you can participate as much or as little as you want! Its hosted over at I'm Loving Books.

The details:

In short, Random Reads is a meme where we pick a random book from our shelf to read within the month. Feel free to do more than one per month, but since a lot of people have a lot of books to read each month, only one is “required” for the meme. I’m on Goodreads so I’m using a combination of the sorting feature and Random.org to pick the book I’m going to read.

WANT TO JOIN IN ON RANDOM READS?

It’s easy…

If you’re on Goodreads enable sorting to your to-read shelf (you should see numbers next to each book now).
Go to Random.org and type in the Min as 1 and the Max as how many ever books are on your to-read shelf. Or you can enter a smaller number as the Max in order to always pick books that have been on your TBR shelf for longer.
Scroll down to the book matching the number Random.org picks.
Link up to your Random Reads post (below). If you choose more than one book per month, be sure to put a number by your name in the list so it doesn’t look like a duplicate.
Read and be merry.

If you’re not on Goodreads just pick a random book from your list in whatever way you want to do it. You can use the method I used above or even just close your eyes and point randomly at a book on your bookshelf if you want (spin the bottle style). lol

-------------------------------------------------------

So, my Goodreads shelf has a ton of books that I don't own, and I didn't really want to spend the time sorting--so I just picked a random number and counted down my bookshelves until I got to that book. I had random #90....so I'll be reading

An adult read for once! I'm really pretty excited to read this one, too! I picked it up at a thrift shop a few months ago. Woot!

I think this month I'm only going to pick one random book, because I have so many review books to get to. Buy this will be one book down on my shelves! YAY!

Favorite Paranormals in 2013

I still have a lot of love for the genre, even if some of the themes are getting tired. Reading Twilight is was got me back into reading YA, so I will always think fondly of vampires and werewolves. And who doesn't love those cute, conniving fairies? And in my opinion, you can never go wrong with a story about witches!

Here's the best I read in 2013!

12. The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa