My family has always loved to give and receive books for birthdays and holidays. I'm already piling up a bunch to wrap as gifts and for my own enjoyment during stolen moments in the eye of the seasonal storm. If books matter to you too, leaf through our recommendations of the best of 2013 below (limited to 3 per genre with some difficulty and a definite personal bias). These are mainly hardcovers - find great reads most likely published in paperback in 2013 in our Recommended Reads 2012.

FICTION
Contemporary	Fantasy	Historical
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Ordinary Grace The Panopticon	Blood Song A Memory of Light River of Stars	Blood & Beauty Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker Whistling Past the Graveyard
Mystery	Mystery - Cozy	Mystery - International
Gods and Beasts The Last Winter of Lani Dancing Sycamore Row	Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach The Hen of the Baskervilles Speaking from Among the Bones	Dark Secrets Lineup Treasure Hunt
Romance	SF	Thriller
The Angel Stone That Night on Thistle Lane What the Duke Desires	Earth Afire On the Razor's Edge Requiem	The Andalucian Friend Six Years Tell No Lies
NON-FICTION
Biography	General	Travel
A Curious Man Elizabeth of York The Kennedy Half-Century	Act of War George Washington's Secret Six The Girls of Atomic City	Gold Rush in the Jungle Paris in Love The Vast Unknown
KIDS
The Lying Carpet Maps The Tiny King
TEENS
YA Contemporary	YA Fantasy
Crusher The Namesake The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B	Impulse Raven Flight Steelheart
Find more book gift suggestions in our many previous Holiday Columns. And if we missed any of your own 2013 favorites, please write and tell us about them.
All of us at BookLoons wish you and yours the best of times, the happiest of holidays, and a joyous, healthy, prosperous and peaceful 2014!!