My 2014 Book Review
I’m a little late finishing this but here are highlights of what I read in 2014. Although I never posted my December reading (must do that still). This is an expanded version of something I posted on Tumblr.
By the Numbers:
I read (or listened to) a total of 97 books in 2014.
- 88 of these books were new to me books and 9 were re-reads.
- 36 of those were books and 61 were audiobooks.
- 13 of these were published in 2014.
- 3 books had two authors
- 15 were written by men and 85 by women
(**if you count books with two authors as two, and you count books by the same person separately as well as counting re-reads separately. So this takes the total of the 97 books I read and adds three for the three books I read with two authors)
(not counted above: Anything I didn’t finish reading in 2014 and 1 book I quit without finishing)
My Favorites:
- YA Fantasy:
The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
This is probably my all around favorite book of the year. It emotionally destroyed me … but in a good way.
- My OTP of the Year:
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
I don’t care what the 3rd book says. This is another book that emotionally killed me.
- Favorite New-to-Me Author:
Beth Revis
I read her Across the Universe trilogy and The Body Electric and I am in love with all of them! She's now on my auto-buy list.
- Adult Fantasy:
Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
I really need to read more of Joyce’s books. What he does here is amazing.
- Adult Memoir:
Call The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth
It’s just as good, if not better than the TV series!
- Adult Non-Fiction:
The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller
Wow!
Runners Up:
- Divergent by Veronica Roth
Just book 1: I didn't mind the ending of Allegiant, but the middle completely lost me.
- The Selection series by Kiera Cass
I see the flaws but I don’t care. I got ridiculously involved with the characters.
- The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
The whole series is just … wow! Beautifully written books!
- Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Completely swoon worthy!
- The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
A wonderful sweet story that emotionally destroyed me (I say that a lot).
- Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
It lives up to the hype.
- Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
So poetic!
And it's so hard to leave it there because there were so many other great books!
Least Favorites:
- Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta which I finished.
- Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck which I did not finish.
Other Stats:
- Most Books Read by One Author:
If you don't count re-reads: Amanda Hocking - oddly enough, but just barely. I read 5 of her books. But I read 4 books by Beth Revis, Carrie Jones, Kiera Cass and Marissa Meyer (I’m counting “Glitches” because GoodReads does). If you do count re-reads then Kiera Cass and Beth Revis also have 5 titles because I re-read The One and Across the Universe.
- Genre I Read the Most of:
YA
- The First Book I Read:
The Cinderella Debutant by Elizabeth Hanbury - I designed the cover
- The Last Book I Finished:
Winterspell by Claire Legrand
- Oldest Book:
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
- Newest Book:
Overrated: Are We More in Love with the Idea of Changing the World Than Actually Changing the World? by Eugene Cho - I got an advanced copy
See my year end review from GoodReads (which doesn’t count re-reads)
See my previous book posts here on Live Journal
The image at the top of this post is of all the books I read or re-read in 2014 that I still own copies of (Note that all the books by Garth Nix were re-reads). Others I got from the library or have since passed on to other readers. The bookmarks mark places I like to re-read.
ETA: Edited later to add the stats for women and men authors as I had them but forgot to add them when I originally posted this.