Best Books Read in 2014

9 years ago

So what were your favorite books this year?

I'm a long-time fan of year-end book lists, both as a look back at stories I really enjoyed and as a way to add to next year's TBR pile. In tallying up my favorites, I was a bit surprised to find that almost all of what I liked best in 2014 fell into the fantasy category. In no particular order, here are my favorite books read this year.

1) The Martian by Andy Weir. This hard sci-fi survival tale of an astronaut left behind on Mars when his crew believes him dead was fascinating. While it was a little dry in a few places, the science of his survival was well-explained, well written, and easily understandable, and the writing was sharp and very funny in spots. It was a real page-turner and I hope the movie does the book justice.

2) The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. This was the third book in her All Souls trilogy and it was a wonderful wrap-up to the series. I loved the characters and this mix of literary and popular fiction (very literary vampires, witches, missing manuscripts from Oxford's Bodleian Library, and time travel) was fantastic. I will be re-reading these again soon.

3) The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. Set in1899 New York City, a place teeming with immigrants and a melting pot of cultures and stories, this tale of two supernatural beings finding each other and surviving in the human world was beautifully written and just a wonderful story all around.

4) Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. The main character goes to work in Mr. Penumbra's book store and is soon drawn into the mysterious research his customers are doing. Figuring out what's going on and then trying to solve the puzzle himself with the aid of computers pits book research against the internet in a very interesting way.

5) A Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker. I loved this story of a woman pulled from her own ordinary world into Faerie, and then rescued by a wizard from still another magical land. The author does a great job of world-building, and the quest the main character must undertake to get herself home is only the beginning of her adventures. There's a sequel in the works and I can't wait.

6) The Iron Seas books by Meljean Brook. This is a steampunk adventure/romance series that starts with The Iron Duke and includes three additional full novels (Heart of Steel, Riveted, The Kraken King) and five novellas (The Blushing Bounder, Here There Be Monsters, Wrecked, Tethered, and Mina Wentworth and the Invisible City). Brook's world-building is terrific, her imagination is boundless, her characters are witty, smart and sexy, and I loved every one of these books.

What books did you enjoy most this past year?

Comments (29)

J C
9 years ago
Where to start? So many good ones. I read all but one that Sheriz6 listed and loved them all.

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green. YA novel about teenagers fighting cancer while trying to live their lives. Really enjoyed it, Green has a real gift for characterization.

The Wildest Dream - the biography of George Mallory - Peter and Leni Gillman. I read this during my mountaineering book binge and it was a favorite. Mallory would be a fascinating study even if he hadn't died on Everest.

World War Z - Max Brooks. Surprisingly compelling, unusual novel about...zombies.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - Haruki Murakami. The great novelist does it again. If you like Murakami, don't miss this one. If you have never read Murakami, you might want to start with another of his works.
woodnymph2_gw
9 years ago
Number one: "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doeur.

Second: "The Woman Upstairs" by Claire Messud.

I also liked Rennie Airth's mystery, "In the Deep Midwinter."
Anything I read by Susan Hill was enjoyable. As well, "The Year 1000" was excellent.

Absolutely WORST attempted read: "Black Swan."
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Honestly, I read a lot. I should make a list and keep track because I am not sure if I read a book in 2012 or the first part of 2013. So, I will be choosing books from the past six months. Science fiction: The Windup Girl I loved the setting in a futuristic Thailand, the plot, just a great read. "The Windup Girl is a biopunk science fiction novel written by Paolo Bacigalupi and published in September 2009. It was named as the ninth best fiction book of 2009 by TIME magazine,[1] and as the best science fiction book of the year in the Reference and User Services Association's 2010 Reading List.[2] This book is a 2009 Nebula Award and a 2010 Hugo Award winner (tied with The City & the City by China MiÃÂ©ville for the Hugo Award), both for best novel.[3] This book also won the 2010 Compton Crook Award and the 2010 Locus Award for best first novel." A Tale for the Time Being I had a lot of fun discussing this one here so perhaps that has something to do with this choice! The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. He is a Canadian author, and this novel is "a defining epic story of first contact between radically different worlds, steeped in the natural beauty and brutality of our country's formative years." There are three narrators, a captive Iroquois girl, A Huron leader and a Jesuit. Boyden did his research, I found it fascinating and learned a lot. Also I just finished it last night, so it is very fresh in my memory, lol.
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I keep a reading journal and it has a place to rate your reads on a scale of 1-10. So, I'll list the books I read this year according to how I rated them. (I know this message is way too long, but hey--I hardly ever get a chance to post, horrible lurker that I am, so a once-a-year overly long posting isn't too horrible, right?) 10-Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey Sentimental 10 rating--remember reading it as a child and it held up. Good fun. 10-Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell What a mind-blowing book with so many layers and connections. LOVED IT! 10-Gilead by Marilynne Robinson Such a beautiful and contemplative book that examines aging, new life, regrets, families, grudges, grace and God. Particularly loved how the main character finds beauty in sunlight catching a sprinkler's spray or birds roosting on a phone wire (two things that would have been impossible to see in the 1800s). 10-Gonzalez and Daughter Trucking Company: A Road Novel with Literary License by Maria Amparo Escandon This is the "One City, One Book" pick for 2009 in our town. It is such a page-turner! The main character is in a women's prison in Mexico for a crime that remains a mystery for most of the book. She starts a reading group for the inmates, only she doesn't actually read the text, rather tells her story. 10-I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith This book has been mentioned time and again on this forum and I finally got around to reading it this year--THANK YOU to whoever recommended it. I loved it so much! 10-There is Room for You by Charlotte Bacon Such beautiful descriptions of India, both in the 40s and the 90s. Loved the two intertwining narratives of mother and daughter, both outsiders in India but at two different times. A very lush book. 10-The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys I'm sure everyone in the world had read this but me. Written in the 1960s, it imagines the story of Mrs. Rochester (Mr. Rochester's crazy wife that he kept locked in the attic in Jane Eyre.) It was hard to read and I gave it a 10 not because I loved it, but because it did perfectly what it meant to do. It said so much about patriarchy, post-colonialism, feminism, and madness in ways I'd never thought of. I need to re-read. 10-The Woman I Kept to Myself by Julia Alvarez This book of poems was so great that I am going to buy the book. There's one poem in the particular about how she can tell who her husband is talking to on the phone by the tone of his voice. Another one talks about how she can't bear to throw out her headbands, even though she has short hair now, because they are such a symbol of her girlhood. You have to read these poems out loud so that you can hear the sound of them. 9-Five Skies by Ron Carlson Loved this book! Three men out on the plains building stuff and eating really good food. I have no idea why I related so strongly to them! It was downgraded to a 9 because of the...
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I always have a hard time choosing 'best of' for the year - there are the books which I enjoyed immensely and will re-read for fun (such as the CJ Cherryh Foreigner novels, the Bujold Penric & Desdemona novellas, or the delightful Miss Buncle's Book), that are not necessarily outstanding in other ways. Anyway, here are my 'best of' picks out of the 59 I read: Megan Whalen Turner: Return of the Thief A complex story of twists and turns, with an unusual narrator and wonderful characterization. An excellent wrap-up to the Attolia series, showing an adult Gen who is clearly the logical evolution from the teenager we met in Book 1. Michael Zapata: The Lost Book of Adana Moreau You don't read this one for plot! It was frustratingly easy to put down and hard to pick up again, since it meanders across time and through the stories of multiple characters with themes of storytelling, exile, human response to disasters of all kinds, with little plot to drive the story forward. But in the end a fascinating beautiful read as the author weaves together all these different story-lines of the many characters. Jason Chin, Grand Canyon A Caldecott Honor (and much better IMHO than the winner!) picture book about the geology and ecosystems of the Grand Canyon, with fantastic artwork and illustrations highlighting the perspective of the 10 year-old girl who is accompanying her father on a hike. The information provided is well explained for the younger audience but also interesting enough for the adult. Martha Wells: The Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect This is a book that's hugely fun space opera, but at the same time makes you think. Told in first person by a cyborg who is learning that it is a person, not an appliance to be owned and rented out. It is part of a series where the first book won the Hugo novella award a few years ago. Nnedi Okorafor: The Book of Phoenix Another SF, a page-turner with characters that are unique and different from the usual science fantasy. A story of bioengineering where experimental subjects are treated like cattle or utilitarian subhumans, with the wealthy and privileged taking what they perceive as their due without ever realizing their sense of entitlement - a story of inhumanity and the rage it engenders in its victims. You'll flip the pages to read as fast as you can, then put the book down and think very hard. Jon Gertner: The Ice at the End of the World A great non-fiction about Greenland and its ice sheets. The first half of the book is about its exploration in the late 1800's and early 1900's; the second half covers what we know about the ice sheets now and the field experiments being conducted. Have to admit that Gertner included several NASA-funded projects with which I was marginally involved, so that made the book more fun for me.
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carolyn_ky
9 years ago
Special to me this year, many of them mysteries:

Call the Midwife, Jennifer Worth
Rag & Bone and A Mortal Terror, James R. Benn
Kings Mountain, Sharyn McCrumb
A Place in the Country, Sarah Gainham
A Small Death in the Great Glen, A. D. Scott
The Care and Management of Lies, Jacqueline Winspear
The Reckoning, Rennie Airth
The Soul of Discretion, Susan Hill
First Impressions, Charlie Lovett
The Paris Winter, Imogen Robertson
veer
9 years ago
No outstanding or memorable 'reads' for me this year but I did enjoy the following:

Dear Life Alice Monroe. Some of the collection of short stories left one doing some serious thinking . . . and not necessarily in a happy way . . .

As Green as Grass A continuation/memoir of the life of Emma Smith after growing up in sea-side Cornwall and WWII work on canal barges to 'life' in London as a dog's body for a film unit, travelling with the post-war literatti and dealing with her truly mad father.

The Playmaker Thomas Keneally. Based on a real event in early settlement days in Botany Bay Aus, where the convicts put on a play for the Governor.

Life After Life Kate Atkinson, slightly out of my comfort zone but a clever working of the idea of shifting time/events/what if's.

The most difficult book was W G Sebald's Austerlitz which must have been aimed at 'clever' people; way above my head.

I gave up on The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman with its meandering 'plot' and sloppy writing.
At Mrs Lippencote's by Elizabeth Taylor was also a disappointment . . . which was probably my fault. ;-(
woodnymph2_gw
9 years ago
Vee, what's a "dogs body" for a film unit?
veer
9 years ago
Mary, I didn't realise this was not a term used in the US. A dog's body/dogsbody is a drudge, someone who has to perform menial tasks at work; also called a 'gofer'.
carolyn_ky
9 years ago
"The most difficult book was W G Sebald's Austerlitz which must have been aimed at 'clever' people; way above my head. "

Me, too, Vee.
yoyobon_gw
9 years ago
I feel that any author who writes " above the head" of most readers is simply publishing for himself and his ego.

Only hope you didn't pay for the book !!
carolyn_ky
9 years ago
Not I, Yoyo. I'm mostly a library person unless it's a favorite author that I collect.
iris_gal
9 years ago
Nothing terribly fascinating this year. Enjoyed these 2 authors.

John Straley - 'The Woman Who Married a Bear' (1992)
Helene Tursten - 'Night Rounds' (2012)
If you like Tony Hillerman you may enjoy Straley's stories set in Alaska. Writing is a little clumsier than Hillerman's and protagonist Cecil Younger is beset with inner and outer turmoils.
Tursten's police detective, Irene Huss, is savy & well balanced (nice change). Set in Sweden. Translation is smooth. Easy read, good plot, minimal violence.

Irene Pepperberg - 'Alex & Me' was an interesting, often humorous, read about a famous African Grey parrot's training.
phyllis__mn
9 years ago
Earlier this year I read Alistair MacLeod's "Island", a collection of short stories. I loved it, though it made me weep! I now found his "No Great Mischief", another winner for me. His prose is absolutely poetic.
kathy_t
9 years ago
Just reviewed my reading journal for the year. These two novels were standouts:

Room by Emma Donaghue - a novel narrated by a six-year-old boy who was born in captivity after his college-student mother was kidnapped and held in a single room for 6+ years.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler - a novel about a family who raised a chimpanzee as a child as part of a psychology experiment at the University of Oklahoma.

These two I liked pretty well:

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - a young woman's memoir about her solo hike along a section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech - a young adult Newbury Award winner about a girl whose life was uprooted when her mother left her in the care of her father and he moved to another state.
timallan
9 years ago
In chronological order, my 2014 favorites:

Fiction

Sons and Lovers (1913) by D. H. Lawrence
Doctor Zhivago (1957) by Boris Pasternak
Love's Shadow (1908) by Ada Leverson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943) by Betty Smith
Love for Lydia (1952) by H. E. Bates
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) by A. Conan Doyle
The Remains of the Day (1989) by Kazuo Ishiguro
Revolutionary Road (1961) by Richard Yates
Whose Body? (1923) by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Go-Between (1953) by L. P. Hartley
Dark Entries (1964) by Robert Aickman (stories)
The Victorian Chaise-Longue (1953) by Marghanita Laski
A Game of Hide and Seek (1951) by Elizabeth Taylor
The Diary of a Nobody (1892) by George Grossmith

Non-Fiction

A Woman in the Polar Night (1938) by Christiane Ritter
Swing Low (2000) by Miriam Toews

Judging from the above list, it would appear most of the books I enjoyed this year are by British authors, with a surprising number published in the 1950s. I did not read much Victorian literature this year, though surprisingly two of my 2014 favorites were published in the same year: 1892. Nine of my favorite novels/story collections were written by men, compared to five by women authors. The only two non-fiction titles to make my favorites list, however, were by female authors.
lemonhead101
9 years ago
Hi friends !

Hope everyone is having/has been having a wonderful Christmas break. A rather large ice storm has hit our Texas town, and so things have rather come to a standstill. (The drivers are famous for being... how we shall say.... overly-optimistic of their ice-driving skills so itÃ¢ÂÂs safer to stay off the streets for the moment.)

I was just compiling my Best Reads of 2014, and came up with the following. (This year was tough to narrow down as IÃ¢ÂÂve had some exceptionally good reads, but this is a first draft.)

Best Fiction for 2014:
FeliciaÃ¢ÂÂs Journey - William Trevor
Stoner - John Williams
The PresidentÃ¢ÂÂs Hat - Antoine Laurain
The Hen who Dreamed She could Fly - Sun-mi Hwang (trans. Kim Chi Young)
Indian Horse - Richard Wagameese

Best Non-Fiction for 2014
Ten Years in the Tub - Nick Hornby (collection of book reviews)
Anything by Robert Lacey
Hiroshima John Hersey
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind - William Kamkwamba

And a tie between the following NF:
Blue Latitudes - Tony Horowitz
101 Things I Learned in Engineering School - John Kuprenas and Matthew Frederick

An awfully good year, old chaps! :-)
carolyn_ky
9 years ago
I have another one just finished today to add to my list and that is The Blackhouse by Peter May. A young man from the Hebridean island of Lewis can't wait to leave it and becomes a policeman in Edinburgh. His four-year-old son is killed in a hit and run accident, and a month later a murder very similar to one he had been investigating happens on Lewis. To take his mind off his personal tragedy and to be sure they don't have a serial killer, his boss sends him to the island to investigate, where he encounters all his old problems from the past. It's a terrific book!
Artiste8
9 years ago
My best books for the year were:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason

Sandrine's Case by Thomas H Cook

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
twobigdogs
9 years ago
My favorites this year:

1. Dracula, Bram Stoker - a re-read and always a favorite.
2. The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey - also a re-read when Richard III's body was found
3. The Man Without a Face (bio of Vladimir Putin), Masha Gessen - fascinating
4. Chaucer's Tale, Paul Strohm - made Chaucer a real person instead of the guy in the beginning of the Brit Lit text from high school

Worst? Rooms and If I Stay - both read for book club.

timallen, your list contains many of my favorites, especially Diary of a Nobody. To this day, I chuckle when I see a red bathtub. And A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is just wonderful from cover to cover.

Siobhan, which Murakami should one choose first?

PAM
michellecoxwrites
9 years ago
Hi, all! I'm new to this forum, but I thought I would jump into this post, albiet a bit late!

Some of my favorites for my 2014 favorites would be:

1. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

2. The Passing Bells (Book 1 of the Greville Family trilogy) by Phillip Rock

3. Orchid House by Lucinda Riley

These would get a rating of good/medium:

1. The Cater Street Hangman by Anne Perry

2. Callander Square by Anne Perry

3. Rose Cottage by Mary Stewart

4. Still Life with Murder by P.B. Ryan

5. The Vintner's Daughter by Kirsten Harnisch

6. A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

7. Pistols for Two by Georgette Heyer

8. To Marry an English Lord (non-fiction) by Maccoll and Wallace

9. Rutherford Park by Elizabeth Cooke
1. War Brides by Helen Bryan
2. Circles of Time (Book 2 of the Greville trilogy) by Phillip Rock
12 A Future Arrived (Book 3 of the Greville trilogy) by Phillip Rock

Two I did NOT like for 2014 were:

1. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
2. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Thanks for having me! I look forward to some good discussions!

Michelle
woodnymph2_gw
9 years ago
Welcome, Michelle. I think you will enjoy posting here, as we are a friendly group. :-)
michellecoxwrites
9 years ago
Thanks! Reading through a lot of the previous posts, I would have to agree! A very literate, friendly bunch!
sheriz6
Original Author
9 years ago
Welcome, Michelle! Thanks for adding to the list. I also loved Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and I'm definitely a Georgette Heyer fan.

So many interesting books on the lists above .... lots of good stuff to check out!
michellecoxwrites
9 years ago
Hi, Sheriz!

My background is English lit and up until only about 8 years ago did I start reading anything contemporary! I had an English professor that once told us that even if we lived to be 100, we still wouldn't have time to read everything we want to read - so choose wisely. I took her advice to heart! However, after my third child was born, I needed to read something other than the classics. I'm finding that I seem to gravitate toward historical fiction the most. My reading list from 2014 contains a lot of historical mystery because I am trying my hand at writing my own mystery set in the 1930's, so I felt like I should have something to compare it to.

Since you're a Georgette Heyer fan, which one do you recommend the most? I liked her style, but Pistols for Two was a collection of short stories, which I didn't realize when I bought it. I'd prefer a novel! Any suggestions?

I've enjoyed looking at everyone's reading lists, too. I tend to steer away from book clubs because I don't have time to read something I'm not that interested in just for the sake of a discussion, but this is a nice alternative!

Right now I'm reading Summer of the Bear by Bella Pollen. Anyone else? It's well written and an interesting story, but a little slow.

Thanks for sharing!
Michelle
rouan
9 years ago
Michelle,

I am a Georgette Heyer fan too. My absolute favorite books of hers are These Old Shades and Venetia. Others that I like a lot are The Grand Sophy, The Talisman Ring, and Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle.
michellecoxwrites
9 years ago
Hey, thanks! I'll pick a few of these up!
twobigdogs
9 years ago
Welcome Michelle,
You found the right place and I think your professor could also say, "Even if you live to 100, you will never have enough time to read all of the books recommended on RP."

You say you have discovered a fondness for historical fiction, have you read Simone St. James? She writes ghost stories set in 1930's England. Edward Rutherfurd is another of my favorites although I did not read any in 2014.

Again, welcome.
PAM
carolyn_ky
9 years ago
Hi, Michelle. Glad you joined us. For historical fiction, try The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson. I'm recommending it on every thread, it seems like.
sheriz6
Original Author
9 years ago
Michelle, my favorite Georgette Heyer books are The Grand Sophy, Frederica, Arabella and Cousin Kate. There are lots more, and she also wrote 1930s mysteries. Enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Georgette Heyer - Detection Unlimited
timallan
9 years ago
Pam, I was very lucky to find The Diary of a Nobody when I did. I read it when I was pretty stressed due to some interpersonal conflict in my life. Grossmith's humorous book really helped to lighten my mood, and to give me some perspective on human failings.

I do not know why I put off reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for so long. I absolutely loved it, though it was not what I expected at all. I thought it would be a rather gentle, sentimental book about a plucky young girl and her loveable, offbeat family. Instead I found a story which was unflinching, unsentimental, and often quite dark. But it is a magnificent book.

I also admire The Daughter of Time. I think Tey was such an innovative mystery writer. I think she would be better remembered had she lived longer.
michellecoxwrites
9 years ago
Thanks, all, for the suggestions!

I picked up "These Old Shades" by Heyer and "What Angels Fear" by C.S. Harris (based on another reader's suggestion), but will definitely check out Edward Rutherford, Antonia Hodgson and Simone St. James. Thanks Pam, Rouan and Carolyn for the tips!

Best Books Read in 2014

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J C

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