Favourite Books of 2013

So I've been thinking back over the books I've read this year and which are my favourites. And I thought I'd make a list - partly to share the joy and partly to get recommendations in the comments for my 2014 reading. 

I'm going to start with the single title books, and look at my favourite category reads in another post. The books below weren't neccesarily published in 2013, I just got around to reading them this year.

So, in no particular order, here are my top 5 favourite books I read in 2013:

Captive of Sin, by Anna Campbell
Can you say intensity? This book gripped me from the start and didn't let me go. Gideon is a fabulous hero who had me sighing. 

Arabella, by Georgette Heyer
I'm slowly making my way through all of Heyer's Regencies, and this is definitely one of my favourites so far. Arabella was a fun heroine to be with, and Mr Beaumaris was so adorable in his journey to becoming a hero.

Emma, by Jane Austen
This one is a bit of a cheat, because I've read it before, many, many times. But this year I watched the mini-series staring Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller, then read the book again with those faces in mind. It's the most enjoyment I've had reading Emma since before 1996 when the two movies came out and the faces in my head changed from the ones I'd created.

Demonosity, by Amanda Ashby
This YA was so much fun and so beautifully layered with emotion that I wanted to read it again as soon as I'd finished.

Dream Lake, by Lisa Kleypas
I read this on the recommendation of MJ Scott, and I loved it. Great heroine, an emotionally damaged hero, a sick grandmother and a ghost, all set on an island in Washington State. What's not to love? 


So, what about you? What were your favourite single title reads of 2013? I'm looking for suggestions for my Christmas wishlist. :)

Jane Austen and the New Year!

by Emily May


What I'm reading: Jane Eyre

Watching: Dexter

Listening to: Fat Freddy's Drop







Welcome to a brand new year everyone!

To start 2011 with a regency flavour, I'd like to share some quotations from the incomparable Jane Austen. Since this is a blog for people who love to read, I'll begin with Mr Tilney's views on reading -- or rather, his damning views on people who don't read!



"The person,
be it gentleman or lady,
who has not pleasure in a good novel,
must be intolerably stupid."





None of us are intolerably stupid, right? If we were to meet Mr Tilney among the pages of Northanger Abbey, he would suitably impressed by our novel reading and pronounce us tolerably intelligent, wouldn't he? So, from one avid reader to another, let me wish you all many hours of joyful reading this year!

Secondly, here is a piece of Jane wisdom (said by Mrs Morland to her daughter Catherine, also in Northanger Abbey):

"You should never fret about trifles."

I'm a big trifle-fretter, but I'm going to do my best to follow this advice. Hopefully 2011 is the year I'll conquer this habit!

Another excellent observation of Jane's (via the eponymous Emma of Emma) is this:




"Silly things do cease to be silly
if they are done by sensible people
in an impudent way."




I love this quote -- it's definitely an invitation to us all to do silly things!




My favourite Jane Austen quote, however, is this one from Sense and Sensibility (as uttered by Edward Ferrars):





"I wish as well as every body else
to be perfectly happy;
but like every body else
it must be in my own way."



Very, very true. We each need to find our own happiness in our own, unique way. If we haven't already found it, may 2011 be the year that we do!



I'd like to finish with some excellent advice from Jane:

"Run mad as often as you choose, but do not faint!"

And to illustrate the excellence of that advice, here's Mr Darcy in his wet shirt after doing a little running mad (or rather, swimming mad)...








Happy 2011 everyone -- may it be a fabulous year for us all, full of reading, and no trifle-fretting, and lots of silliness, and finding our own happiness, and running mad -- but not fainting!
If you have any favourite Jane quotes, please feel free to share them!