looking for a few good books

I was planning on putting together some lists of my favorite art books and art supplies for today's post. I started working on compiling my lists this weekend and then I got distracted looking at online painting tutorials (why did I never think to look for videos on the Internet when I was learning how to paint?). I soon succumbed to the call of the sunshiny living room and snuggled up with a book and my kitty and a mug of tea. After all, isn't that what weekends are for?

But I was having a hard time getting into my book. Maybe I was simply distracted. Or maybe it wasn't the right book for me for the moment. I started thinking about how I go about choosing books. It's a fascinating thing to me. How we choose what to read. As someone who worked for many years in a library and then for a bit in a bookstore, I was constantly witnessing the choosing of books. I was also constantly recommending books. And I was never at a loss for something to read. Looking back, it seems that it didn't always bother me to drag my way through a book that wasn't that great. I don't have the patience for that anymore.

My roundabout point is to ask you for recommendations. What's the best book (or 2 or 3 or 10) that you read in the past year? How do you choose books? What sorts of books do you like?

Me? I like all sorts of books and as long as the story is good and the writing is good I'll overlook genre. (And truth be told, I'm not above reading a good vampire or werewolf story, though I did not like Twilight -- Bella annoyed me to no end). Here are some of the books that I've enjoyed this past year:

• Evergreen by Rebecca Rasmussen -- a generation-spanning book about families surviving in the wilderness of Minnesota (I found it to be very similar to The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, another book I enjoyed this past year)
• A Fine Romance: Falling in Love with the English Countryside by Susan Branch -- a watercolor-illustrated travel memoir (charming, fun and the perfect armchair getaway book).
• The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay -- a girl's story of survival in late 1800s New York City
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel -- a time-shifting, multiple protagonist, post-apocalyptic tale (possibly my favorite of the bunch -- very well-imagined and beautifully written).
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green -- a teen "problem novel" that is so much more than just a book about teenagers dying from cancer. It might sound depressing, but I found it to be funny, compelling and beautiful.
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton -- a generation-spanning family mystery of sorts set in Australia and Cornwall
• Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi -- another historical fiction novel (1950s New England) filled with family secrets and fled pasts. Beautifully written and imaginative.
• The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh -- the story of a girl abandoned to the foster-system who is able to create a life for herself using her almost magical talent of choosing the right flowers for the right person
• Ripper by Isabel Allende -- an unusual murder mystery set in San Francisco and solved, in part, by a group of people (mostly teenagers) from around the world who play a mystery game online that they created

I've read far more historical fiction this past year than is usual for me -- it's not my favorite genre -- which I think is due to my scanning the New Fiction shelves at the library... whoever is ordering the books for our branch must enjoy historical fiction.

In any case, I think I need to be a little more deliberate in my choice of books. Dive into Goodreads. Play around on Amazon (I do it for art books, but almost never to help find fiction to read). Get recommendations from friends. So... please, share some of the books you've enjoyed recently in the comments below. Maybe you'll even find your next favorite book in someone else's comment.