Year End Book Post 2013

If it's within the first week of the new year, it still counts as a year-end post. Them's the rules.

The full list is on myGoodreads shelf, but the following were the five books I enjoyed most in 2013. I'm not counting graphic novels or short stories because I tend to rate those uniformly high compared to novels.

• Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko -
  These aren't in a particularly ordered list, though I do think Night Watch was my favorite book of the year. I'm a huge fan of the film adaptation, so no big surprise there.
  


• Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson -
  Sentience, AI, transhumanism, aliens, religion, magic...all of my favorite books included some or all of these elements. Dunno why. Spin made my head hurt, and I want to read it again. That's usually a good sign of a good book, right?
  


• The Quantum Thief, by Hannu Rajaniemi -
  This book was all over the place. I liked how literally everything had either embedded computational power or some sort of digital information significance. I loved how the book played with identity, and what it means to be who you are.
  


• vN, by Madeline Ashby -
  More AI and religion. I'm looking forward to reading iD this year.


• The Habitation of the Blessed, by Catherynne Valente -
  So weird. So, so weird. I wish I hadn't read this book so late in the year; it took me forever to stay sitting long enough to read it, but it was one of the most imaginative books I've ever read.
  

I ended up reading 56% men to 36% women, with 9% mixed. Pretty terrible compared to 2012, when I was doing the 5:1 challenge with Nay, but pretty good compared to 2011, when I had 89% to 11% in favor of men. In 2014, we're doing the 6 month challenge, so depending on how my burnout looks (I tend to read more in Spring and less in Winter), I may get near-parity. It should be interesting.

Alright, assuming I keep my normal posting schedule, I'll be back in 2015. Cheers.