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!
