Top 13 of 2013

It's hard to believe that it's New Years Eve again. Another year has passed, and a new year is about to begin, full of new books, TV shows and movies that I just can't wait to get my hands on. But I couldn't let 2013 slip by without an ode to some of the best the year had to offer. So without further ado, here are the . . . 

Top 13 of '13:

In no particular order (and some of them aren't actually 2013 releases, just new to me this year) . . .

1. Iron Man 3 

After Iron Man 2 (and the preview which hinted at a much darker tone) I was skeptical, but this one far surpassed my expectations. Definitely hilarious. 

2. Pacific Rim

Yes, this one had mixed reviews. But my fiance and I loved it. Monsters vs. Aliens -- WIN!

3. Thor 2 (aka. Loki stole the movie)

I think I may have liked this one even better than the first Thor. Loki -- please never leave the Marvel franchise. 

4. Almost Human 

One of my new favorite TV shows, it's iRobot meets Blade Runner. A definite win. 

5. Silver Linings Playlist  

It came out in December 2012 but I didn't see it until February. One of my favorite movies of the year, hands down. 

6. Now You See Me 

A real dark horse, this one was just a good time. Heists, funny characters, interesting plot. Fun. 

7. Much Ado About Nothing 

Joss Whedon. WHY HAVE YOU NOT MADE MORE SHAKESPEARE FILMS??? And a special shout out to Nathan Fillion and Alexis Denisof. Job well done. 

8. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters 

This movie is ridiculous. And please god make a sequel. 

9. Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades 

I have loved every book in the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series, and this one did NOT disappoint me. 

10. Warm Bodies 

The book, not the movie. It was obviously NOT published in 2013, but I read it this year before going to see the movie (which was decent) and thought it was stunning. 

11. Frozen

This was simply terrific. Loved the story. Loved the songs. Loved the characters (particularly Olaf and Sven). Great job Disney. Thanks for sticking with this new theme of strong female characters. 

12. Tera Nova 

I missed the series when it aired two years ago, but I caught up with it on Netflix this summer. I really wish it weren't cancelled. 

13. Sleepy Hollow 

Hilarious. An excellent, excellent new series. Which probably means that Fox will cancel it soon. Damn you Fox. 

And there they are, what I consider the BEST of 2013. Of course I don't expect many to agree with my (my taste is eclectic and perhaps even a little bizarre). There are a few of you out there I know have already disagreed with some of my best and called them worst, but I stand by my choices. 

And speaking of the worst, here are a few books, movies and TV shows I consider The Biggest Flops of 2013 . . . 

- A Good Day to Die Hard (This one REALLY disappointed me)
- The Wolverine (I should have known)
- Allegiant (What the hell were you thinking Veronica Roth? I'm glad I skipped this one.)
- Oz the Great and Powerful (Just bad. Sorry I paid money to see this.)
- The Great Gatsby (awesome book, terrible adaptation)
- Enders Game (see above ^^^)
- The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (It pains me to see Joss Whedon's name connected with this series)
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (It just did NOT hold up to Once Upon a Time)
- Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters (Not even Nathan Fillion could save it)

And before anyone objects that I missed some key movies, let me say that there are a bunch that I just didn't get to. Which just means more fuel for my Netflix queue. Here are a few of the Movies I Wish I'd Seen . . .

- Gangster Squad
- Epic
- World War Z
- Paranoia
- About Time
- The Book Thief
- American Hustle
- The Wolf of Wall Street
- Kill Your Darlings
- Zero Dark Thirty
And the list goes on . . .

Road Trip Wednesday - Books of 2011

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link -- or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic: What were your top five favorite books of 2011?

For an avid reader, this is a truly horrible question to face. I read so many books this year, it's really challenging to narrow it down to only five. However, I've done my very best. A few of these are books that didn't come out this year, but that I only got around to reading in 2011. 

1. The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins 

2. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan 

3. Logan's Run by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson 

4. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 

5. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 

This is my finalized list (there was a lot of agonizing over which ones made the cut). They were all incredible, and if you haven't already read them, you really, really should. What were some of your favorite books of 2011?

Towering (and Ambitious) Bedside Book Stacks

The other day a member of the Houston Writer’s Guild sent me an email with a list of the “top 100 books to read before you die”. As I perused the list, I realized that there are many books on it that I’ve always mean to read but never got around to. There are even more books that I read so long ago that I barely remember them (or "read" for summer homework in high school when I was more interested in going to the beach). So, I’ve decided to take on a new project.

I plan on reading (or rereading) every book on this list that I haven’t opened in the last five years. Even the ones that I really hated the first time (that’s right Hemmingway – I’m talking to you).

For those of you who are interested, here’s the complete list. Furthermore, if there are any books not on the list that someone feels should be, I welcome the addition. I personally find it inexcusable that Dante’s Inferno, Paradise Lost and The Zombie Survival Guide are missing – but that’s neither here nor there. So for now, these are the books that will be adorning my nightstand for the next few months...

Top 100 Books to Read Before You Die:

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 

4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 

5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 

6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Macbeth - William Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 

34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemmingway   
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy. 
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert 

53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth. 
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez  
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville 
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce  
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt. 
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom  
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery  

93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole 
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare 
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo