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:

Happy Birthday Israel!

Nobody who knows me would accuse me of being overly sentimental (with the exception of Maor who makes me watch Cellcom commercials and waits for me to tear up).

But every year starting at Pesach I get emotional, and not because of the cleaning (well, not exclusively anyway).

First the flags start going up. I notice them first on the highway on my daily drive to work. Then when I drive to Kfar Saba I see Israeli flags and blue and white streamers gracing the streets. Finally, my own yishuv and inter-city roads join the fray, and it seems like I cannot go more than a few kilometers without viewing that proud blue and white flag blowing in the wind.

The whole country seems to be gearing up for the next few weeks, a time of introspection and reckoning. Articles about Holocaust survivors finishing their lives alone and in poverty, accusing the establishment of only caring at this time of year but not doing anything to help them, are printed. Articles about how the last of the survivors are dying and soon nobody will be left. And when Yom Hashoah finally arrives, the entire country takes note. Stores and restaurants close early. There are no cultural performances scheduled – no plays, no movies, no concerts. The music being broadcast on the radio changes to a somber playlist. The regular tv schedule is gone, replaced by official ceremonies, Holocaust movies, interviews with survivors. 

And at 10am the next morning, a two minute siren sounds. Throughout the country, cars stop, people stand, heads bowed, lost in their own thoughts. An entire country. Stops. Stands still. Remembers.

 And then a week later, it all happens AGAIN! The early closing of businesses, the somber playlist, the changed tv schedule. The cemeteries are visited by a nation of people who come to remember the 23,169 people who gave their lives while serving the country and the 2,495 citizens killed in terror attacks.

I began the Yom Hazikaron commemoration in Yerushalayim, at the Sultan’s Pool, at an event called זוכרים שרים ומספרים (Remembering, singing, and telling the story) which incorporates the stories of the fallen along with musical performances, including a choir of bereaved fathers. You cannot imagine the feeling of standing in Jerusalem with the walls of the old city to your right, listening to Rav Yisrael Meir Lau talk about the fallen, and say that he carries a prayer in his heart that we should be worthy of the 23,169 who gave their lives, worthy in our daily actions and in our relationships between man and his fellow man, before quoting Natan Alterman’s famous poem, מגש הכסף (A silver platter).

Those of us who do not participate in ceremonies at a cemetery go to work for half a day. This is the memorial stand that the director of operations in my company set up:

And at 11:00am the siren sounded, and again, the entire country stood still and remembered.

There are many bereaved families who have a hard time with the sharp transition from the sadness of Yom Hazikaron to the joy of Yom Haatzmaut, and while I certainly understand and respect them, it feels so fitting to segue from one to the other. I discovered, while working on my 66 question Israel trivia quiz to be debuted at our barbecue this afternoon, that in fact, Yom Hazikaron was instituted nine years before Yom Haatzmaut, and Rav Shlomo Goren, former Chief Rabbi of Tzahal and later of Israel said in a television interview in 1994 that it was only by chance that these two days are side by side.

At any rate, Yom Haatzmaut is THE day, with people visiting the many museums and sites open for free, hiking, or relaxing at home (but alas not sleeping late) before barbecuing with family or friends. You can read about why it’s great to live in Israel, including Benji Lovitt’s 66 things I love about Israel or watch the international Bible quiz. This follows the celebrations organized in almost all municipalities, large and small, beginning at the close of Yom Hazikaron and lasting until the early morning hours of Yom Haatzmaut.

I hope this post has convinced those of you living abroad to pack your bags and move to Israel before Israel celebrates her 67^th birthday. I for one am both grateful and happy that I get to spend every day living here.