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!