Best Books of 2013, Part 3

Books read in 2013: 135

Best month: June

Worst month:  Tie, March and September

Best Fiction

Caleb Crain, NECESSARY ERRORS

Lionel Shriver, SO MUCH FOR THAT

Ben Schrank, LOVE IS A CANOE

Meg Wolitzer, THE INTERESTINGS

Chimamda Ngozi Adichie, AMERICANAH

Ian McEwan, SWEET TOOTH

Stewart O’Nan, WISH YOU WERE HERE

Best Fiction That’s Practically Nonfiction: Adelle Waldman, THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P

Best Nonfiction

Oliver Burkeman, THE ANTIDOTE

Greil Marcus, DEAD ELVIS

Sheri Fink, FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL

Joe Queenan, ONE FOR THE BOOKS

Samantha Irby, MEATY

Rob Delaney, MOTHER. WIFE. SISTER. HUMAN. WARRIOR. FALCON. YARDSTICK. TURBAN. CABBAGE

Amanda Lindhout, A HOUSE IN THE SKY  

Gideon Lewis-Kraus, A SENSE OF DIRECTION

Kate Christensen, BLUE PLATE SPECIAL: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY APPETITES

Best Nonfiction Recently Back in Print: Nora Ephron, CRAZY SALAD/ SCRIBBLE SCRIBBLE. I don't even like "When Harry Met Sally" (gasp!) but Ephron wrote so much more than that, and her columns from the 60s and 70s reveal a sharp wit straining against the confines of what was expected from female writers. 

Best Books With An Asterisk

Can't resist a brag on behalf of the three people I know who published books this year! My former Ballast editor and fellow book critic Michael Hingston came out with his first novel THE DILETTANTES, an alternately biting and sweet look at the editorship of a failing college newspaper. Speaking of student journalism, my former college co-editor Jason Q. Ng studied Chinese censorship on the level we use the Internet every day -- the search engine -- for BLOCKED ON WEIBO, and Dissolve editor Nathan Rabin compared two passionate groups of music lovers -- Phish fans and the Juggalos -- in his memoir YOU DON’T KNOW ME BUT YOU DON’T LIKE ME.