2014 reading roundup

So, as you may know I spent weeks on my 2014 reading roundup only to have it disappear when I accidentally hit Undo one time too many. I was feeling pretty discouraged and wasn't sure I wanted to redo my post, but I've decided to give it another shot. May the Gods of Google look favorably upon me and not delete my post.

This year I read 64 books, which included 19 paper books, 20 audiobooks, and 25 ebooks.






Here is the list of books I read in 2014, in the reverse order I read them.  I've linked to their pages on Amazon and linked to the author's homepage, Facebook page, or Wikipedia page if that was what was available. 

1 The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

2 The Burning Room by Michael Connelly

3 The Mark Of The Assassin  by Daniel Silva

4 Murder 101 by Faye Kellerman

5 Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

6 Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

7 Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

8 Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation by Yossi Klein Halevi

9 The Keeper: A Novel by John Lescroart

10 Last Train to Babylon by Charlee Fam

11 City of Thieves by David Benioff

12 Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

13 All Over Creation by Ruth Ozeki

14 The Gods of Guilt  by Michael Connelly

15 הרוח של אניה by Vera Brosgol

16 Landline by Rainbow Rowell

17 Personal by Lee Child

18 Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer

19 A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry

20 Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

21 The Book of Jonah by Joshua Max Feldman

22 When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson

23 This One Is Mine by Maria Semple

24 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

25 A Death In Vienna by Daniel Silva

26 The Heist  by Daniel Silva

27 The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

28 I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

29 You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt

30 Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead by Sara Gran

31 Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys by Billy Crystal

32 Gold by Chris Cleave

33 The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

34 Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler

35 Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand

36 Field of Prey by John Sandford

37 The Scar Boys by Len Vlahos

38 The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel

39 The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

40 Live Wire by Harlan Coben

41 Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

42 The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

43 Being Sloane Jacobs by Lauren Morrill

44 The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

45 The Bat by Jo Nesbo

46 Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust by Leanne Lieberman

47 We Are Water by Wally Lamb

48 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  by Ransom Riggs

49 The Orphans of Race Point by Patry Francis

50 Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink

51 The People in the Photo by Hélène Gestern

52 The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

53 We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

54 Fatal Conceit  by Robert K. Tanenbaum

55 This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash

56 My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

57 My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit

58 Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

59 All I Have In This World by Michael Parker

60 One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

61 The Color of Light by Helen Maryles Shankman

62 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

63 & Sons by David Gilbert

64 Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman

Some of my favorite fictional books this year included  The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Rosie Project, Landline (I totally fell in love with the husband), Shotgun Lovesongs, Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Scar Boys, City of Thieves, and The Language of Flowers. The one I enjoyed most and highly recommend is Station Eleven. Don't be put off by it's description as post-apocalyptic. I don't like post-apocalyptic fiction (I HATED The Road) and I LOVED Station Eleven.

One of my goals this year was to read more non-fiction and I'm happy to say that in 2014 I read (mostly listened to) six non -fiction books. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, The Emperor of All Maladies, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation, and The Emperor of All Maladies were all fascinating reads. And Lauren Hillenbrand is an incredible storyteller. You would not believe that a book about a racehorse would keep you riveted like Seabiscuit does.

 

Some of my least favorite reads this year included & Sons, The Color of Light (sorry BKU), All I Have in This World, Dept. of Speculation, We Were Liars (yes I know everyone loved it), The Finkler Question, and The Book of Jonah. 

I read 29 male authors and 30 female authors this year. I read books by 17 authors I've read previously. Some of these books were very enjoyable, and others were a little disappointing (Wally Lamb's We Are Water and Ruth Ozeki's All Over Creation, for example). Surprisingly, two authors I read for the first time in 2014 were Donna Tartt and Neil Gaiman. Although I enjoyed them, I'm not sure they'll be repeats. Neil Gaiman's genre is not my favorite to read (science fiction, fantasy) and though I enjoyed Tartt's Pulitzer Prize winning Goldfinch, it was loooong!

 

In 2014 I read 15832 pages and listened to 266 hours and 43 minutes of audio. The longest book I read was The Color of Light at 575 pages and the shortest was Dept. of Speculation at 192 pages. The longest book I listened to was The Goldfinch with 32 hours and 24 minutes and the shortest was The Ocean at the End of the Lane with only five hours and 48 minutes.

Below is the breakdown of how many books I read each month, with a high of eight and a low of two.

 Another visualization of the books I read in 2014:

I have four books under my belt in 2015, so far. If you want to see what I'm reading as the year progresses you can find me on Goodreads or Librarything. And here's a thought to keep in mind: