Monday, January 5, 2015

2014 Book List

I don't know what happened this past year, but aside from anything else, I sure read a lot.  More than in any of the other years since 2007 (when I started tracking my reading through Shelfari). 
Here is a list of the 153 books I read in 2014.  I enjoyed most of them, but there are a few on the list that I did not like at all, and wished I hadn't wasted my time on those.  So if you have questions about a particular book, feel free to ask.  It was impossible to pick just one favorite from so many.  So instead I narrowed it down to 10 favorites, which I put an asterisk by.


1.       Lucky Us – Amy Bloom
2.       The Mother Knot – Kathryn Harrison
3.       Hunger – Jackie Kessler
4.       The Prepper’s Cookbook – Tess Pennington
5.       Cutting for Stone – Abraham Verghese
6.       If I Stay – Gayle Forman
7.       Paris in Love – Eloisa James
8.       Prepare for Anything – Tim MacWelch
9.       Haunted – Kay Hooper
10.   Belong to Me – Marisa de los Santos
11.   Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy – Bil Wright
12.   Next Stop – Glen Finland*
13.   Gypsy Boy – Mikey Walsh
14.   The Doula – Bridget Boland
15.   Monkey Mind – Daniel Smith
16.   Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty
17.   What Alice Forgot – Liane Moriarty
18.   Reckless – Cornelia Funke
19.   Galileo’s Daughter – Dava Sobel
20.   Beautiful Ruins – Jess Walter
21.   Close Your Eyes Hold Hands – Chris Bohjalian
22.   Dancing Through It – Jenifer Ringer
23.   The Lost Island – Preston & Child*
24.   The Death Cure – James Dashner
25.   The Book of Life – Deborah Harkness*
26.   Fever – Megan Abbott
27.   The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman
28.   The Scorch Trials – James Dashner
29.   Say What You Will – Cammie McGovern
30.   All Fall Down – Jennifer Weiner
31.   The Maze Runner – James Dashner
32.   Conversion – Katherine Howe
33.   The Silver Star – Jeanette Walls
34.   Among Others – Jo Walton
35.   Hattie Big Sky – Kirby Larson
36.   The Call – Yannick Murphy
37.   Fever – Mary Beth Keane
38.   The Bay at Midnight – Diane Chamberlain
39.   The Skin Collector – Jeffrey Deaver
40.   Looking for Alaska – John Green
41.   The Expats – Chris Pavone
42.   The Pregnancy Project – Gaby Rodriguez
43.   The Final Solution – Michael Chabon
44.   Cleo – Helen Brown
45.   Lost in Place – Mark Salzman
46.   Red Hill – Jamie McGuire
47.   I Promise Not to Suffer – Gail Storey
48.   Eat & Run – Scott Jurek*
49.   Witches of East End – Melissa de la Cruz
50.   The Age of Miracles – Karen Walker
51.   Fiction Ruined My Family – Jeanne Darst
52.   The Yomahlossee Riding Camp for Girls – Anton Disclafani
53.   Shine Shine Shine – Lydia Netzer
54.   Above – Isla Morley
55.   The Scent of Rain and Lightning – Nancy Pickard
56.   Lone Wolf – Jody Picoult
57.   Crown – Nancy Bilyeau
58.   Winter People – Jennifer McMahon
59.   The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
60.   The Barbarian Nurseries – Hector Tobar
61.   Missing You – Harlan Coban
62.   Unsaid – Neil Abramson
63.   The Interestings – Meg Wolitzer
64.   Hollow City – Ransom Riggs
65.   The Inquisitor – Mark Allen Smith
66.   Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
67.   The Red Book – Deborah Kogan
68.   The Reason I Jump – Naogi Higashida
69.   Return to Tradd Street – Karen White
70.   Restoration – Charles Palliser
71.   Sister – Rosamund Lupton
72.   The Girl on Legare Street – Karen White
73.   The House on Tradd Street – Karen White
74.   Beyond Summer – Lisa Wingate
75.   The Summer Kitchen – Lisa Wingate
76.   A Month of Summer – Lisa Wingate
77.   Where’d You Go Bernadette – Maria Semple
78.   The Strangers on Montagu Street – Karen White
79.   The Wednesday Letters – Jason Wright
80.   Behaving Badly – Isabelle Wolfe
81.   Dandelion Summer – Lisa Wingate*
82.   When Mockingbirds Sing – Billy Coffey
83.   Summer Rental – Mary Kay Andrews
84.   The Canary List – Sigmund Brouwer
85.   Triggered – Fletcher Wortmann
86.   Afterwards – Rosamund Lupton
87.   Recovery Road – Blake Nelson
88.   The Dovekeepers – Alice Hoffman
89.   The Fixer Upper – Mary Kay Andrews*
90.   Upon a Winter’s Night – Karen Harper
91.   Bed – David Whitehouse
92.   Finding Casey – Jo-Ann Mapson
93.   The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion*
94.   The Bookman’s Tale – Charlie Lovett
95.   Solomon’s Oak – Jo-Ann Mapson
96.   Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Book Store – Robin Sloan
97.   Little Children – Tom Perrotta
98.   Sisterland – Curtis Settenfeld
99.   The Museum of Extraordinary Things – Alice Hoffman
100.                        The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht
101.                        Lost Lake – Sarah Addison Allen
102.                        The Swan Gondola – Timothy Schaffert
103.                        Sing You Home – Jody Picoult
104.                        The Abstinence Teacher – Tom Perrotta
105.                        Once Upon a Time, There Was You – Elizabeth Berg
106.                        The October List – Jeffrey Deaver
107.                        The Next Best Thing – Jennifer Weiner
108.                        Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls – David Sedaris
109.                        Cut to the Bone – Jefferson Bass
110.                        Bellman and Black – Diane Setterfield
111.                        The Invention of Wings – Sue Monk Kidd
112.                        Boy 21 – Matthew Quick
113.                        Enchantments – Kathryn Harrison
114.                        Necessary Lies – Diane Chamberlain*
115.                        The Family Fang – Kevin Wilson
116.                        Looking for Me – Beth Hoffman
117.                        The Abominable – Dan Simmons
118.                        Bodies of Water – T. Greenwood
119.                        Songs of Willow Frost – Jamie Ford
120.                        The Butterfly Sister – Amy Hanson
121.                        Mrs. Poe – Lynn Cullen
122.                        Guests on Earth – Lee Smith
123.                        The Odds – Stewart O’Nan
124.                        Hostage – Kay Hooper
125.                        Ghostlight – Marion Zimmer Bradley
126.                        Build the Perfect Bug Out Bag – Creek Stewart
127.                        The Tortilla Curtain – T.C. Boyle
128.                        Strong Poison – Dorothy L. Sayers
129.                        Imperfect Birds – Anne Lamott
130.                        Dark Water – Laura McNeal
131.                        The Beach Trees – Karen White
132.                        The Transformation of Things – Jillian Cantor
133.                        The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt
134.                        The Zookeeper’s Wife – Diane Ackermann
135.                        W is for Wasted – Sue Grafton
136.                        White Fire – Preston & Child
137.                        Perfect – Natasha Friend
138.                        Homer’s Odyssey – Gwen Cooper
139.                        Listen Up – Sarah Dessen
140.                        Opening Skinner’s Box – Lauren Slater*
141.                        Skeletal Marriage – Jim Kohl
142.                        Leaving Time – Jodi Picoult
143.                        Brave Girl Eating – Harriet Brown
144.                        You Know Your Way Home – Suzanne Jauchius
145.                        Gift from My Son – Keli Lendelien
146.                        Mindless Eating – Brian Wansink
147.                        Dirty Secret – Jessie Scholl*
148.                        The Magic Daughter – Jane Phillips
149.                        The Land of Decoration – Grace McCleen
150.                        PR – Amber Sayer
151.                        Blue Labyrinth – Preston & Child
152.                        The Wolf Gift – Anne Rice
153.                        Faith Bass Darling’s Last Garage Sale – Lynda Rutledge
 
I spent a lot of time last year at the library, browsing the stacks for new authors.  I also read a lot more books from the psychology section than usual.  Teaching psychology classes again has restored my love for the subject.  I doubt I will ever have another year where I read this many books!  Typical for me is around 80 books a year. 
 
Readers, what was your favorite book you read last year?  I'm always looking for recommendations!

28 comments:

Out on the prairie said...

You have enlightened your mind with a lot of books.

Steve Surratt said...

Whew-wee! That's a lot of books. I read a lot of sci-fi in series and started working on some of the Indian masters, Ramana Maharshi, to start. That's some slow reading/experiencing. I re-read 'The Way of Zen' by Alan Watts, for probably the 5th time. I'd recommend that one to anyone.

Jill of All Trades said...

Nice. I'm always looking for new books to read. 153 books good grief, I'm lucky to get 50-60 read. I've read a few on you list but will check out some of the others.

Fernando Santos (Chana) said...

Você é o construtor da sua
transformação....
Cumprimentos

Cat said...

Sequel to The Rosie Project is out. The Rosie Effect. It is on order at my library and I am first in line.

TexWisGirl said...

you go, girl!

i just love your rustic shelves. reminds me, i need to pick the name of the winner for the bear drawing. would be awesome if it were you! :)

mail4rosey said...

You did a great job with your reading! I think I read three!! Tragedy, right? BUT, if I count kid books, I read almost 365 (I read to the little one before bed every night). :)

Michaele said...

O.M.G!

Harry Flashman said...

This year I started going back and reading books I collected all over the planet from 1971-1986. Lots of them are paperback and starting to fall apart. They are all either military history, or survivalist oriented though. My wife does as you do, goes to the library and gets bags of books. She likes mystery novels, crime novels, etc.

Ginny Hartzler said...

I don't know how you did it! What with your jobs and the boys. I love to read but have not been able to manage it for the longest time. When I was younger I read a book a day for maybe five years. WOW, this is a lot. And yes, I DO have some questions!! Mindless eating...a diet book? The Prepper's Cookbook and Eat & Run...cookbooks? The Book Of Life, I Promise Not To Suffer, The Magic Daughter, they all look very good, maybe I will look on Amazon and see what they are about. I may even print your list. HOW do you choose your books? I used to read the newspaper book review section, it guided me to all kinds of wonders. Love Anne Rice!

jp@A Green Ridge said...

I am adding those asterisked to a list for me to take to the library here. It's so darling, Baby Girl. I have t do a post about it...:)JP

Sally said...

Girl!
I am shocked that you were able to read all those books with everything you have to do. Wow. Now, I feel a little behind because I probably half that many (or maybe not) because like you I do love to read. :)

xoxoxo

Unknown said...

Now that is a lot of books! Whew...no way I could read that many in a year....maybe 3-4 years! lol

Lin said...

WOWEE! You sure read a lot! Good for you!

I saw a few of my books on that list. Try "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frye" you may like that one. It was one of my favorites this year.

Michelle said...

I am impressed! I confess that I have read a few mystery series and some David Sedaris, along with some Kindle books about moving abroad.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Wow, I am impressed!

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

WOW! 153! I am thinking how much your brain loved what you did for it last year!

I didn read nearly that many, but I did set a higher goal on Goodreads this year-40. I hope to surpass it. I have to watch the reading OCD, but I just have to push through it.

I noticed you didn't put an asterisk beside Unbroken. Do you think it was too hyped?

Have you read any of Louise Penny? She's a Canadian writer who features an Inspector Gamache working out of Montreal. I read the first, Still Life, and really liked it. You might like Meg Gardiner's books too. Very well written and absorbing. And my vocab grows when I read one of her books.

Tweedles -- that's me said...

Holy smokies!!!
that is total amazing!
Good job!
love
tweedles

Unknown said...

This is nothing short of an amazing accomplishment, Lisa! When my mother visits me, she'll say, "My God. All you read are biographies!" I remembered that as I looked at the variety of your list! Very nice. Happy New Year! :)

Gauri said...

153 books!! Thats awesome... i shall keep a lookout of your recommended list! The one i loved that i read recently is "Tuesdays with Morrie"... have you read that one?

Anonymous said...

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Montanagirl said...

My goodness, that's a lot reading! I can't read for very long at a time anymore - my eyes don't want to re-focus. But I used to be an avid reader.

Sonya @ Under the Desert Sky said...

Awesome! That is FANTASTIC that you read so many books in 2014.

Tell me, what did you think of Galileo's Daughter? I have had that book sitting on my shelf for a few years now, and haven't had the chance to get into it. My mom thought it would be something I'd really enjoy.

I usually read a lot of mysteries and action/adventure, and I've found in the past couple years, I've read a LOT of C.J. Box (mysteries set in Wyoming, with a game warden as the protagonist), Robert B. Parker's Jessie Stone series set in a small town in Massachusetts (written by others after Parker's death a couple years ago), and now, Craig Johnson's Longmire series (another Wyoming based series).

While I love these three authors' works, I would like to vary the "flavors" of my book list this year.

An Apel a Day said...

That is a lot of books. I rarely pick up one myself. Most of my free time I'm doing a craft, art, or blogging.

Mica reads all the time though.

Linda said...

I don't know where you find the time!

Elizabeth Edwards said...

i have never heard of Shelfari, i will have to look into a few of these books. i am always looking for something great to read. i am amazed by your time to put toward reading & with 3 boys. you are a reader-goddess. ha. ha!! my mom was a librarian and has always been a fast reader, usually can read a book in a day or couple hours. for me, if it is a great read i will be able to do that, but not usually because i have so much other stuff to fit in there too. i am amazed!! thanks, for the list. i wish you well on your 2015 book goal. ( :

Sandra said...

My goal is one a month for 2015. I use to read a lot more-my daughter put The Great Gatsby on my list for this year :)

Jenn Jilks said...

I'm always looks for book ideas. Mostly, mysteries by women.
You could check out my eBook club!