I once met a girl in high school who kept track of all the books she'd read in a tiny, fat spiral-bound notebook, and I've never forgotten her. (That's a lie, of course; I have no idea her name or how I met her.) Since then, each December I've caught myself remembering some vague promise to keep track of the books I'd read that year. "Oh, that?" I'd think. "Yeah, I was supposed to do that. Oh well."

Oh well indeed. Because guess what, folks? I finally did it. Take that, past self! In January I started a spreadsheet and dutifully tracked every book I read, with two exceptions.*

Pre-2013, I made an effort to read more adult novels this year (for many reasons, none of which anyone else cares about); and I think it shows, especially compared to last year. In total, I read 20 children's books (Young Adult and Middle Grade) and 14 adult, for a grand total of 34 books (again, see exceptions below). I'm pretty proud of that number.

I always like to know what other people read, so if you're interested, here's my list (it's even in order!).

The Princesses of Iowa, M. Molly Backes

Ask the Passengers, AS King

Beautiful Creatures, Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia

I Hunt Killers (re-read), Barry Lyga

Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple

Stay with Me, Paul Griffin

A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty

Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg

17 & Gone, Nova Ren Suma

Going Vintage, Lindsay Leavitt

Gallagher Girls series, #1-4, Ally Carter

Someday, Someday Maybe, Lauren Graham

September Girls Bennett Madison

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, Matthew Quick

Family Tree #1, Ann Martin

Game, Barry Lyga

The Middlesteins, Jami Attenberg

Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfeld

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, Anton DiSclafani

The Engagements, J Courtney Sullivan

A Hundred Summers, Beatriz Williams

The Interestings, Meg Wolitzer

The Cracks in the Kingdom, Jaclyn Moriarty

Austenland, Shannon Hale

Night Film, Marisha Pessl

The Silent Wife, ASA Harrison

Debutante Hill, Lois Duncan

Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell

The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers, Lynn Weingarten

And because we are a world of rankings, here are mine:

My favorite adult reads of the year: The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls; A Hundred Summers; The Goldfinch; Where'd You Go, Bernadette.
My favorite YA: A Corner of White; Eleanor & Park; Game; Stay With Me.
My favorite MG: Ann M. Martin, whose new series, Family Tree, is just darling.

I'm in the middle of a couple of books already, but they'll count for the 2014 list. (Including another non-fiction title!! It's like I don't even know myself anymore.) I'll definitely keep going with this list -- it made book recommending this year so much easier, and it's super interesting to look back and remember what I've read.

If you've got any recommendations for me, please do leave them here!

*I didn't list all The Baby-sitters Club books I read. This is because a. that's embarrassing and b. they're so short I don't really count them. The other exception is various works-in-progress from my husband and my writing group. (One of which is a massive, thousand-page tome, so please note that if this list looks sparse, it's because I spent all of June immersed in that.)

**In general, please remember I work in children's publishing, but these opinions are my own.

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