TOTAL BOOKS READ: 54

FAVOURITES:
[bc:Warchild|184786|Warchild (Warchild, #1)|Karin Lowachee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344270885s/184786.jpg|178604] [bc:Burndive|184801|Burndive (Warchild #2)|Karin Lowachee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1400282957s/184801.jpg|2431107] [bc:Cagebird|184777|Cagebird (Warchild #3)|Karin Lowachee|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402328890s/184777.jpg|178595]

DISAPPOINTMENTS:
[bc:Captive Prince|9305362|Captive Prince (Captive Prince, #1)|C.S. Pacat|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356028113s/9305362.jpg|14188292] [bc:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462] [bc:Assassin's Apprentice|77197|Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1)|Robin Hobb|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1464570795s/77197.jpg|171715] [bc:MaddAddam|17262203|MaddAddam (MaddAddam, #3)|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1366394020s/17262203.jpg|17613051] [bc:Requiem|9593913|Requiem (Delirium, #3)|Lauren Oliver|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1340992438s/9593913.jpg|14480925]

JUST PLAIN AWFUL:
[bc:Allegiant|18710190|Allegiant (Divergent, #3)|Veronica Roth|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395582745s/18710190.jpg|15524549] [bc:The Decisions We Make|12684393|The Decisions We Make|R.J. Scott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1376076688s/12684393.jpg|17813170] [bc:The Taking|17838475|The Taking (The Taking, #1)|Kimberly Derting|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1381515013s/17838475.jpg|24961844]

SERIES FINISHED: 8
BOOKS REREAD: 1
2014 RELEASES READ: 3
MOST READ AUTHOR: 3-way tie between Tanith Lee, Karin Lowachee, and Lauren Oliver (3 books each)

GOODREADS SUMMARY: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2014/3937220

Fionnuala, thank you for this great idea!

My favourite book event of the year happened on Christmas Day. My 14 y.o. daughter and I gave each other the same book, [b:Collected Poems|20447657|Collected Poems|Mark Strand|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406506342s/20447657.jpg|31455149] of [a:Mark Strand|31907|Mark Strand|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1288991579p2/31907.jpg]. Squeals of delight and repeated OMGs at the coincidence.

Favorites: [b:A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing|18218630|A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing|Eimear McBride|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1374386236s/18218630.jpg|25647879], [b:Americanah|15796700|Americanah|Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356654499s/15796700.jpg|21519538], [b:Fullblood Arabian|17574857|Fullblood Arabian|Osama Alomar|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363584420s/17574857.jpg|24515027], [b:How to be both|20439328|How to be both|Ali Smith|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405890478s/20439328.jpg|30862334], [b:The Death of Ivan Ilych|18386|The Death of Ivan Ilych|Leo Tolstoy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336967150s/18386.jpg|234915], [b:Sweetland|19347307|Sweetland|Michael Crummey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1396226108s/19347307.jpg|27406941], [b:Savage Love|17925492|Savage Love|Douglas Glover|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368559337s/17925492.jpg|25122368], [b:The Detour|15799144|The Detour|Gerbrand Bakker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345767839s/15799144.jpg|14393259]

Female authors wrote 36% of the books -- [a:Julian Barnes|1462|Julian Barnes|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1387175450p2/1462.jpg] and [a:Edward St. Aubyn|23194|Edward St. Aubyn|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1405245514p2/23194.jpg], those old British white guys, alone account for 7.4%. I wonder if the proportion of women writers will increase this year, the 2015 The Year of Reading Women

Short story collections: 20% of books read. Best: [b:Savage Love|17925492|Savage Love|Douglas Glover|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1368559337s/17925492.jpg|25122368]
Non-fiction: 9.5% Best: [b:The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery|18774002|The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery|Sam Kean|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385349835s/18774002.jpg|26573388]
Translated works: 24%. Best: [b:Fullblood Arabian|17574857|Fullblood Arabian|Osama Alomar|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363584420s/17574857.jpg|24515027]

I had a reasonably good world tour of literature this year. My home country wasn’t neglected (Canada 22.1%), and England (21.7%) and America (17.9%) were well represented, but almost 40 % of the books were by authors from 19 other countries.

I admire the discipline of the Goodreaders who can plan ahead which books and which specialized areas of interest they are going to pursue over the course of the year. I don’t know what I’m going to read in bed tonight, or at lunch tomorrow, or in the armchair this evening. My best intentions are soon swept away by the onslaught of GR friends’ reviews, “you must read this!” exhortations, and the hype of awards season(s). But it is a delicious form of weakness, so I do not plan to strengthen my resolve.

Reading lamps were dimmed this year for [a:Mavis Gallant|99482|Mavis Gallant|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1281985868p2/99482.jpg], [a:Alistair MacLeod|8878|Alistair MacLeod|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1369482701p2/8878.jpg], [a:Nadine Gordimer|55397|Nadine Gordimer|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1328615990p2/55397.jpg], [a:Gabriel García Márquez|11188413|Gabriel García Márquez|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1420022370p2/11188413.jpg], and [a:Mark Strand|31907|Mark Strand|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1288991579p2/31907.jpg].
Their books are the best kind of memorial. R.I.P.
( )

I posted this as a 'note' on my page, but this looks like a great place for it to be duplicated! Of course, all these books have reviews in their proper location on Goodreads (I don't think my copy-pasted links are going to work..), but out of everything I read last year, these are the ones I most enjoyed and would most highly recommend to others...

It’s the annual book-round up time!

This year, 2014, I read 179 books. (Not counting magazines, shorts, travel guides, graphic novels, things I didn’t finish or facebook arguments, lol!)

And… here’s the final run-down of most-highly-recommended titles. I managed to narrow it down to 20. Please note, although I read a lot of new releases this year, this is based on what I read this year, not what was published this year:

Best Science Fiction Novel: “Ancillary Justice” – Ann Leckie (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Fantasy Novel (TIE!):

“Cold Hillside” – Nancy Baker (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

“A Creature of Moonlight” - Rebecca Hahn (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

“Dust and Light” – Carol Berg (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Horror Novel: “Broken Monsters” – Lauren Beukes (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Zombie Novel: “The Girl With All the Gifts” – M.R. Carey (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Historical Fiction: “Hild” – Nicola Griffith (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Fairy-Tale Retelling: “The Fairest of them All” – Carolyn Turgeon (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Pirate Novel: “Or Else My Lady Keeps the Key” – Kage Baker (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Court Intrigue: “The Goblin Emperor” – Katherine Addison (Sarah Monette) (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Post-Apocalyptic Mystery: “The Last Policeman” – Ben H. Winters (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Fantasy Mystery: “City of Stairs” – Robert Jackson Bennett (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Steampunk: “Unwrapped Sky” – Rjurik Davidson (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Drugpunk: “Afterparty” – Daryl Gregory (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...)

Best Anthology: “The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eight” – Jonathan Strahan, ed. (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Epic Fantasy: “Half A King” – Joe Abercrombie (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Entry Into A Long, Established Series: “Fool’s Assassin” – Robin Hobb (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

Best Sequel: “Infidel” – Kameron Hurley (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...) (Read “God’s War” first).

Most exciting posthumously-published work (TIE!):

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf. (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...) It can be argued whether Tolkien’s is the best translation of the ancient poem, but the volume is worth it just for Tolkien’s original ‘Lay of Beowulf.’

“Unexpected Stories” – Octavia Butler (http://readingtrance.wordpress.com/20...)

On to 2015! ( )

I had believed for the last several months that perhaps my 2014 reading year was not nearly as spectacular as it was in 2013, but still, all in all, a very rewarding experience. But when I began to assemble this list and I returned to take another look at what I had actually read I discovered how wrong I really was. There were plenty of star-studded gems for me. And again, for this year, I will list only the books I rated as 5-star wonders and termed “amazing”. There are so many books to read out there it is too daunting a task to also list books I simply “really liked”, but I do note that there were plenty of them and well worth my time.

Hands down Jens Bjorneboe and Agota Kristof were my greatest discoveries of 2014. After devouring early in the year everything I could of these two great writers I had my doubts about the rest of the year to come. I had begun my new year reading Jens and the very best of his work included [b:Moment of Freedom: The Heiligenberg Manuscript|744447|Moment of Freedom The Heiligenberg Manuscript|Jens Bjørneboe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1177950612s/744447.jpg|730596]; [b:Powderhouse: Scientific PostScript and Last Protocol|744446|Powderhouse Scientific PostScript and Last Protocol|Jens Bjørneboe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409271720s/744446.jpg|1474155]; and [b:The Silence|744448|The Silence|Jens Bjørneboe|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1177950613s/744448.jpg|730597]. All three novels were part of a trilogy titled The History of Bestiality. A follow-up absolute knockout to this trilogy included a biography of Bjornboe by Janet Garton titled [b:Jens Bjorneboe: Prophet Without Honor|1297392|Jens Bjorneboe Prophet Without Honor|Janet Garton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348618105s/1297392.jpg|1286545].

Agota Kristof followed and with her came her own trilogy which included [b:The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie: Three Novels|230514|The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie Three Novels|Ágota Kristóf|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348290333s/230514.jpg|2075023]. I then read everything else I could find of her’s and two more were 5-star wonders as well, one titled [b:Yesterday|230520|Yesterday|Ágota Kristóf|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1172915461s/230520.jpg|14554229] and the other [b:The Illiterate|19707301|The Illiterate|Ágota Kristóf|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392000681s/19707301.jpg|1231619].

I decided to re-read a novel I had loved years ago and discovered again how precious Thomas Bernhard is to those of us who demand a serious read. The novel was [b:Yes|92572|Yes|Thomas Bernhard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1238384600s/92572.jpg|2957340] and it certainly did hold up to my second reading.

A study of Elias Canetti finally began for me which entailed reading his long, and often boring, famous autobiography [b:The Memoirs of Elias Canetti: The Tongue Set Free/The Torch in My Ear/The Play of the Eyes|205190|The Memoirs of Elias Canetti The Tongue Set Free/The Torch in My Ear/The Play of the Eyes|Elias Canetti|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388777102s/205190.jpg|806933]. The second book of the three, [b:The Torch in My Ear|950757|The Torch in My Ear|Elias Canetti|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347842968s/950757.jpg|2446262], was amazing and I list it within this treasured group. However, I found the first and last volumes to be lacking and a bit of a bore.

I tend to read in fits and stages and get stuck within a geographical area or style of writing sometimes. It seems I both read and loved in a clump Jorge Luis Borges and his [b:Ficciones|426504|Ficciones|Jorge Luis Borges|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388197956s/426504.jpg|1007116], Cees Nooteboom and his [b:Rituals|1040534|Rituals |Cees Nooteboom|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1223480573s/1040534.jpg|1026905], and Antonio Tabucchi whose [b:Requiem: A Hallucination|118436|Requiem A Hallucination|Antonio Tabucchi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348308366s/118436.jpg|1403634] and [b:Pereira Declares: A Testimony|118434|Pereira Declares A Testimony|Antonio Tabucchi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348023698s/118434.jpg|114009] both delivered beyond my expectations. Other titles by these same authors have not held up as well for me.

At my cabin in Michigan this past summer I had a few welcome surprises. I bent my reading more toward Scandinavians and was blessed with a feeling of gratitude as I was introduced to the work of Per Petterson. His novel [b:Out Stealing Horses|398323|Out Stealing Horses|Per Petterson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1317791439s/398323.jpg|3321103] was pure joy. I liked his other novels as well but they did not reach the 5-star mark again until his latest which just recently came out titled [b:I Refuse: A Novel|22244923|I Refuse A Novel|Per Petterson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403428844s/22244923.jpg|21839362]. I read a few titles by Tomas Espedal and he provided me with another 5-star wonder titled [b:Against Art:|11512382|Against Art (The Notebooks)|Tomas Espedal|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347262140s/11512382.jpg|7163938]. I had read some glowing reviews regarding the trilogy of Jan Kjærstad. I have gotten through the first two books and so far only the first one titled [b:The Seducer|303899|The Seducer|Jan Kjærstad|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358755798s/303899.jpg|294933] qualified as amazing. It is possible when I have finished reading the last book of the three that I will change my mind about the second one, but without a doubt The Seducer was one of the very best books I read in 2014.

To cap off my summer I was moved to read [b:Letters to a Young Contrarian|780669|Letters to a Young Contrarian|Christopher Hitchens|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387702108s/780669.jpg|42824] by Christopher Hitchens. I think this book should be required reading for any adult child. Another “thinking book” a reader I respect suggested I would like was written by William Barrett and the title was Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy. I did read it, and I thought it was amazing, interesting, and written in an accessible language.

At the end of summer I took a chance on a dead Englishman by the name of J.L. Carr who I find quite fascinating. I have since purchased all of his books based on my successful reading of [b:A Month in the Country|60707|A Month in the Country|J.L. Carr|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388176690s/60707.jpg|2825054]. Carr is a clever man who has a charming personality that comes through on the page.

This fall I began a study of Elfriede Jelinek and the tour has taken me to documentary films as well as her books. Two of the printed works I read were 5-star wonders and I am thinking there will be more to come. [b:Lust|301829|Lust|Elfriede Jelinek|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328705088s/301829.jpg|1691556] and [b:Her Not All Her: On/With Robert Walser|15999973|Her Not All Her On/With Robert Walser|Elfriede Jelinek|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352963449s/15999973.jpg|21761054] were both amazing.

Late in the year I discovered a documentary film titled Shepard and Dark which led me to read the selected letters between these two one-time relatives and very old friends. Their book of correspondence was titled [b:Two Prospectors: The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark|17866605|Two Prospectors The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark|Sam Shepard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1378102833s/17866605.jpg|25014317] and was nothing short of amazing and even life-changing for me even though I gave it only 4 stars because it was all correspondence. But that book made me want to read everything written by Sam Shepard (which I did) and I even forked over a hundred bucks for a limited print edition of Johnny Dark’s book of photographs, stories, jottings, and memoir titled [b:Johnny Dark: People I May Know|2904474|Johnny Dark People I May Know|Johnny Dark|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1416509727s/2904474.jpg|2931620]. That gem was a five-star wonder if there ever was one. Sam Shepard gave me endless satisfaction in all four of his collected short fictions and more letters between he and another actor/playwright Joseph Chaikin. Sam Shepard is a wonder in spurts, but he cannot sustain the level of “amazing” throughout. He would be better served by having a more tyrannical editor at his publishing house Knopf.

[b:Rolling Thunder Logbook|265167|Rolling Thunder Logbook|Sam Shepard|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412320059s/265167.jpg|257065] written by Sam Shepard was also a great find. I had no idea it was this good. The photographs and text so rich in description. It was almost like being back in time. This is a must-read book for fans of Bob Dylan, artists, creativity, great music, and a time lost now forever except by the traces left by books like these that somehow show the way it was and could have been.

Due to my Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark extravaganza the last writer I discovered in 2014 was Paul Williams. He has published three volumes concerning the body of work and performances of Bob Dylan. Because of the Shepard and Dark boys above I was revisiting all my dvd’s I had collected through the years regarding Bob Dylan, and also re-watched some of the films he has starred in including his own. So I began my reading of Paul Williams in the middle and purchased [b:Bob Dylan Performing Artist 1974-1986 The Middle Years|22907969|Bob Dylan Performing Artist 1974-1986 The Middle Years|Paul Williams|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407852410s/22907969.jpg|42471448]. This book has been so informative and thought-provoking that I went on and purchased the other two (he died before completing his fourth) and I will read those in 2015. But to say this master-work is anything but amazing would be a travesty because of all the hard work, thought, and feeling that obviously went into the labor it took to produce these books on the greatest performer of all-time. (Not to mention his skill at singing and songwriting too.) It is mind boggling to me how much raw material is available if a person wanted to do a complete study of Bob Dylan. It is impossible to imagine any other performer/writer/composer equalling this man’s output and quality when taken as a whole. Paul Williams attempted the insurmountable task, and what he did accomplish in his own write is certainly notable. ( )