My Top Ten for 2013

I forgot to do a Top Ten list last year, but there were so many good books this year I couldn't make the same mistake again.  As before I've limited it to books I read this year (a little known secret: some of my blog posts are for books I read years ago!), and nearly all were new releases this year.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, most are histories but there are a couple of YA novels (listed at the end).  They are not in any order (just narrowing it down is hard enough!) although The Boys in the Boat would probably be #1 if I ranked them.  But feel free to share your thoughts and favorites, especially if you've read any on my list.

• The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
• The Last of the Doughboys: The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War by Richard Rubin
• How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
• Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin
• Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff
• The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance That Changed the World by Greg King and Sue Woolmans
• Year Zero: A History of 1945 by Ian Buruma
• Kiss It Good-Bye: The Mystery, the Mormon, and the Moral of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates by John Moody
• Where the Ground Meets the Sky by Jacqueline Davies
• How To Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks