(symptom: being excessively engaged in tasks that require exquisite attention to detail, such as list-making)
Summary
120 books* by 102 different authors (having read 5 by Susan Cooper, 3 by S. J. Bolton and Robert B. Parker, and 2 each by H. G. Wells, Lewis Carroll, Iain Banks, Pat Barker, Clive Barker, Elizabeth Peters, Roger Zelazny, Daniel Silva, and Mark Billingham) from 17 countries (including Nigeria, Pakistan, Chile, Argentina, Russia, The Netherlands, Germany, France, and Scotland).
*7 of the total were books I had previously read. These books were not included for consideration in the lists Top 10 Reads of 2014 or Least Favorite Books of 2014.
*7 of the total were books I had previously read. These books were not included for consideration in the lists Top 10 Reads of 2014 or Least Favorite Books of 2014.
Genres
Action & adventure, 2%
Nonfiction, 4%
Humor, 5%
Short stories, 6%
Short stories, 6%
Thriller/ suspense, 8%
Historical fiction, 12%
Fantasy, 16%
Scifi, 18%
(total greater than 100 due to some books fitting multiple categories)
64 out of the 120 (53%) won a major award or were named to a Best Of list in the year of their publication.
Top 10 Reads of 2014
- We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1927 - dystopian future in which we all live in glass houses)
- On the Road, by Jack Kerouac (1957 - seethingly energetic travelogue from the Beat Generation)
- Eucalyptus, by Murray Bail (1999 - a romantic fairy tale about the nature of storytelling)
- 2666, by Roberto Bolaño (2004 - we are distracted by minutiae while the killing goes on and on and on)
- The Lost Books of the Odyssey, by Zachary Mason (2011 - who is Odysseus, really?)
- HHhH, by Laurent Binet (2011 - assassination of Hitler's brain, with author's ruminations)
- Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis (1980 - dystopian novel in which no one reads)
- A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny (1993 - fantasy narrated by Snuff the dog, who happens to belong to Jack the Ripper)
- Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut (1963 - just because you can doesn't mean that you should, especially scientists)
- The Quarry, by Iain Banks (2013 - on living, loving, and dying human)
Least Favorite Books of 2014
- Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand: The Definitive Guide - Completely Revised & Updated, by Andrew Matheson (2011 - it might be good for people who already know all about beekeeping, which I do not)
- The Righteous Men, by Sam Bourne (2006 - religious mystery killings in the vein of Dan Brown, but not as entertaining)
- The Circle, by Dave Eggers (2013 - giving up one's digital identity to one's employer)
- Millennium People, by J. G. Ballard (2012 - British middle class teeters between apathy and revolution)
- Coalescent, by Stephen Baxter (2004 - human hive evolves in Roman catacombs)
- Too Late to Die, by Bill Crider (1987 - murder/mystery with an astonishing and misleading 4.5 star rating on Amazon)
- Lifeless, by Mark Billingham (2007 - killer targets homeless in London)
- Coldheart Canyon: A Hollywood Ghost Story, by Clive Barker (2009 - search for eternal youth, fame, and power yields misbegotten progeny)
- Beekeeping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Maintaining a Hive, by Alice Mackenzie (2013 - yet another entry suggesting beekeepers shouldn't write books about beekeeping)
- The Iron Duke, by Meljean Brook (2010 - rape-y steampunk romance)
The Chronological List
The Glass Rainbow, by James Lee Burke
Healer, by F. Paul Wilson
We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley
Year Zero: A History of 1945, by Ian Buruma
Occupied City, by David Peace
Goodnight iPad: A Parody for the Next Generation, by Ann Droid
The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog, by Elizabeth Peters
Defend and Betray, by Anne Perry
Split Images, by Elmore Leonard
One of Ours, by Willa Cather
A Test of Wills, by Charles Todd
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
February
Blood & Beauty, by Sarah Dunant
Bleeding Edge, by Thomas Pynchon
The Circle, by Dave Eggers
The Draining Lake, by Arnaldur Indridason
Too Late to Die, by Bill Crider
The Ape Who Guards the Balance, by Elizabeth Peters
The Other Side of Silence, by Ted Allbeury
Hope: A Tragedy, by Shalom Auslander
The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson
March
A Death in Vienna, by Daniel Silva
The Blind Man's Garden, by Nadeem Aslam
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley
Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy
Red Country, by Joe Abercrombie
The Widening Gyre, by Robert B. Parker
Thomas the Rhymer, by Ellen Kushner
Small Vices, by Robert B. Parker
Amagansett, by Mark Mills
MaddAddam, by Margaret Atwood
The Lost Ones, by Ace Atkins
April
All the King's Men, by William Penn Warren
Longbourn, by Jo Baker
Pure, by Julianna Baggott
Millennium People, by J. G. Ballard
Eucalyptus, by Murray Bail
Transition, by Iain Banks
Another World, by Pat Barker
Sacrament, by Clive Barker
The Sword of the Golden Girl, by M. L. Daniel
May
Toby's Room, by Pat Barker
The Book of Universes, by John D. Barrow
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Coldheart Canyon, by Clive Barker
Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes
City of Bohane, by Kevin Barry
The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder
June
Coalescent, by Stephen Baxter
Household Stories, by Brothers Grimm
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll*
Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll*
The Quarry, by Iain Banks
Dracula, by Bram Stoker*
Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley*
July
Dark Eden, by Chris Beckett
The Island of Dr. Moreau, by H. G. Wells*
The Invisible Man, by H. G. Wells*
A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Reapers Are the Angels, by Alden Bell
Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny
Terra, by Mitch Benn
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin*
August
In the Dark, by Mark Billingham
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
Lifeless, by Mark Billingham
The Faithful Spy, by Alex Berenson
Beekeeping: A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up and Maintaining a Hive, by Alice Mackenzie
Rubbernecker, by Belinda Bauer
The Free World, by David Bezmozgis
The Color Master, by Aimee Bender
September
2666, by Roberto Bolaño
HHhH, by Laurent Binet
Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand: The Definitive Guide, by Andrew Matheson
The Devil Knows You're Dead, by Lawrence Block
The Crown, by Nancy Bilyeau
The Etched City, by K. J. Bishop
Early Autumn, by Robert B. Parker
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solves the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel
Inferno, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
October
The Shining Girls, by Lauren Beukes
Blood Harvest, by S. J. Bolton
The Righteous Men, by Sam Bourne
A Universal History of Infamy, by Jorge Luis Borges
The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield
Greenwitch, by Susan Cooper
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin
The Ax, by Donald E. Westlake
Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
The Lost Books of the Odyssey, by Zachary Mason
Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
Island in the Sea of Time, by S. M. Stirling
November
Dancing with the Virgins, by Stephen Booth
Her Royal Spyness, by Rhys Bowen
Any Human Heart, by William Boyd
Open Season, by C. J. Box
Sacrifice, by S. J. Bolton
The Grey King, by Susan Cooper
A Night in the Lonesome October, by Roger Zelazny
Wild Child, by T. C. Boyle
Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis
Moscow Rules, by Daniel Silva
Dead Scared, by S. J. Bolton
December
The Master of Rain, by Tom Bradby
The Iron Duke, by Meljean Brook
Blue Heaven, by C. J. Box
The Sixth Lamentation, by William Brodrick
The Soldier's Return, by Melvyn Bragg
Silver in the Tree, by Susan Cooper
Marooned in Realtime, by Vernor Vinge
Tenth of December: Stories, by George
Saunders
Blind Man with a Pistol, by Chester Himes
Factoring Humanity, by Robert J. Sawyer
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, by Helen
Fielding
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