2013 in Books {the best & worst}

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I love sharing my favorite reads with you each year!! I also love reading these posts are your blog, so if you have a similar list, be sure to leave me a link so I don’t miss it! 🙂 I get most of my book suggestions from bloggy friends…and I’m already working on my stack for 2014!

If you’d like to see the complete list of books that I read in 2013, click over here.

Best Fiction

Without a doubt, the best fiction I read was the Divergent Series! This series has 3 books and reminded me a little bit of Hunger Games, which I also loved. I couldn’t put it down. I actually read the first book in this series last year, but when my sister-in-law picked up the 2nd book and let me borrow it, I read it in 2 days…and then ordered the 3rd book on kindle because I HAD to know what happened. 🙂

Best Non-Fiction

This is a hard one. I think I’m going to have to give a tie to Almost Amish &  The Dirty Life – I have a post discussing this book and Almost Amish. I won’t ever live this life, but it’s fun to dream of growing our own food and living life on a farm. 🙂

Best New-To-Me Author

I’ve heard lots of great things about Wendell Berry, but I had yet to read any of his books until 2013. I loved Hannah Coulter!!

Book That Made Me Laugh

Hands down, Sparkly Green Earrings: Catching the Light at Every Turn by Melanie Shankle! I loved this book so much! It is her memoir on motherhood, but she writes with such humor about mothering that I laughed out loud several times…I may or may not have cried also. 🙂

Favorite Parenting Book

I really enjoyed Fit to Burst : Abundance, Mayhem, and the Joys of Motherhood, though it did challenge and convict me a lot! So, I’m not saying this book was enjoyable so much…but maybe that I needed it.

Best Homeschooling Book

Without a doubt, my favorite homeschooling book of 2013 was an ebook called The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks, which I have shared with you before. I just loved this and loved getting to meet the author at Allume also. Heather is a precious homeschooling momma, who is a homeschool grad herself, who writes about how our bodies NEED movement…and I have loved applying her methods to our homeschool day!! You can read my full review of this ebook here, as well as look at pictures of this at work in our homeschool!

Best Blogging Help Book

Another ebook that I loved reading in 2013 was VERY beneficial for me as I work towards making blogging goals for 2014! Ruth Soukup blogs at Living Well, Spending Less and I happen to love her blog as well as her ebook called How to Blog for Profit (Without Selling Your Soul). I wrote more about this book here.

Best Book of Encouragement

Million Little Ways, A: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live – this book deserves a post of its own, hopefully I can get to that soon. This book was just what I needed at a discouraging time in my life. God could not have given me this book at a better time in my life. It is so wonderful. And don’t think that you aren’t an artist so you should not read this book. I’m not an artist either, though I do have a lot of right brain creative tendencies. 🙂 This book shows us that we ALL have art within us – given to us by the God who CREATED us in HIS image – and when we grow into who God has made us to be, we are showing off HIS glory to the world! I recently started a book club and this was our first book!

Book that Challenged & Convicted

I’m going to give another tie in this category. I like to share books with you that challenge and convict and GROW my faith!! I shared a lot earlier in the year about Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace…I started a series on this blog that i never finished {blush, oops, forgive me!} But I really want to go back and read this again.  There is such an ABUNDANCE in simplicity, friends, and this is what I want for my own life!! In addition to that book, a surprising book that fits in this category is The Warrior, which is a fiction book that inspired and challenged my prayer life! This fiction book was about a prayer warrior…and will really inspire you to spend more time in prayer.

Most Disappointing Book

I’ve heard so many good things bout Anne Lamott, but I could not get into her book called Traveling Mercies.  I might still be willing to try another of her books if any of you have one to recommend!

So, there you have it, friends!! My favorite (and least favorite) books of 2013!

What would you add to this list?? I’d love to hear from you!