The Reader Survey
Believer Readers Vote for Their Favorites
All of This Year’s Votes Were Cast via Frighteningly Fast Electronic Mail
Rebecca Lee’s Bobcat and Karen Green’s Bough Down were chosen from our short lists of books of fiction and poetry (published in the March/April issue and accessible online at believermag.com) selected by the editors of the Believer. We also asked our readers to fill out an email form with what they thought were the three strongest works of fiction and poetry published in 2013. The top twenty most represented titles in each category follow. One spot on the following list, for a book whose author works on this magazine, has been intentionally left blank because it would look creepy to include it.
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Readers’ Favorite Works of Fiction in 2013
- Tenth of December – George Saunders
- The Flamethrowers – Rachel Kushner
- Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish – David Rakoff
- ______________________________ – ____________
- The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. – Adelle Waldman
- Taipei – Tao Lin
- Bobcat and Other Stories – Rebecca Lee
- Traveling Sprinkler – Nicholson Baker
- Tampa – Alissa Nutting
- Note to Self – Alina Simone
- Speedboat – Renata Adler
- The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells – Andrew Sean Greer
- In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods – Matt Bell
- Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Spectacle – Susan Steinberg
- The Interestings – Meg Wolitzer
- The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
- S. – J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst
- A Schoolboy’s Diary and Other Stories – Robert Walser
- The Era of Not Quite – Douglas Watson
Readers’ Favorite Works of Poetry in 2013
- Red Doc> – Anne Carson
- The Boss – Victoria Chang
- Silverchest – Carl Phillips
- Tongue Lyre – Tyler Mills
- Black Aperture – Matt Rasmussen
- You Good Thing – Dara Wier
- The Rose of January – Geoffrey Nutter
- My Enemies – Jane Gregory
- Small Porcelain Head – Allison Benis White
- Great Guns – Farnoosh Fathi
- Debts and Lessons – Lynn Xu
- Dear Boy – Emily Berry
- Antidote – Corey Van Landingham
- Orange Roses – Lucy Ives
- The Tales – Jessica Bozek
- Ocean – Sue Goyette
- The Narrow Circle – Nathan Hoks
- The Glacier’s Wake – Katy Didden
- All night in the new country – Miriam Bird Greenberg
- King Me – Roger Reeves
What did you think?
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