As 2103 draws to a close, I wanted to look back on some of the books I read this year. I didn’t do as much reading as would have liked, in fact, reading more is on my list for 2014. However, I did manage to read the third book in the Game of Thrones series and Revenge Wears Prada the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. Of the dozen or so books I read this year, two books seemed to stay with me long after I closed the cover.

I am going to jump on the Hunger Games bandwagon. I read all three books in the series in just a few days. While they were quick reads, they held my interest and didn’t want to put them down. I liked each book for a different reason. In the first book, I kept trying to figure out which district corresponded to each region of the United States. I have decided that the Capital was Las Vegas. Yes, I could be completely wrong but it is described as quite the spectacle where anything goes. And that pretty much sums up Vegas. The suspense during the games kept me reading well past midnight on Thanksgiving night. Knowing that she survives the games, didn’t diminish the suspense for me. Catching Firte, the second book in the series, did not end quite the way I expected it to but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The third book is the one that left me unsettled at the end. It was disconcerting to see Katniss so broken throughout the book and , even more so, at the end of the book. But then I started to think about how she was only 17 years old. How many teenagers given what she’d been through would have held up as well? She’d lost her father, her confidant Cinna, her home district, her sister and at times her sanity. More than enough for anyone to deal with, regardless of age. Over time, I was able to reconcile the ending in my mind, but the trilogy topped my list of good reads.

Also at the top of my best books of 2013 list is Thirteen Reasons Why. I still cannot shake this book. I was so into the story that I couldn’t put the book down, I read it all in two nights. The premise of the book is that the narrator receives a package in the mail of 13 audio cassettes. He discovers that the cassettes were made by a co-worker of his whom he had wanted to get to know better but she committed suicide. Each tape details the events/reasons leading up to her suicide. The book hit home with me, I think because I work with young people and understand how fragile they can be underneath the bravado. If I see a student, reading it in class I always approach them and ask what they think. I have been told many times by students that it’s one of their favorite books.

With 26 hours remaining in 2013, I am ready to start 2014 off right. I came home to eight books on my doorstep I had ordered over the weekend to help me read more in the upcoming year. My new year’s resolution brought to you by Amazon.