2014 Reads.

With the year coming to a rapid close, it's time for my annual What I Read List to appear.  I love keeping this list, I love sharing this list with the three friends that swap book lists with me every single year.  It's a great tradition - both the swapping notes, comments, and lists with these old college pals of mine - and the simple, sheer act of taking note of what books I tuned into throughout the year. It's a tradition that started without intention of becoming any sort of tradition.  Just like the best ones always are.

20 books in 2014.  That's what I managed this year. Which, maybe is a lot to some, a puny few to others.  Every year I try and try not to get obsessed with the number of books consumed - it's the journey not the destination, etc.- but still, this one felt like an awfully short list, no matter that I usually average in the 20-25 books/annually range.

I stumbled upon some real gems this year.  There were a few that I expected from the get-go to be good (Patchett, Harding) and others that left me pleasantly pleased (Novak, Strayed).  My favorite read came as a complete surprise, when I picked up Rules of Civility in the spring for our book club read.  There were disappointments (Rowell, (I know people love her and Eleanor & Park, but it just didn't do it for me) Glass, Cameron, Sullivan, Lahiri, (Lahiri! A disappointment!) as well.  Par for the course.  But this year I felt like I kept hitting these spells of bad book after bad book and it would take forever to get back into something worth reading/that I really cared about.  One of my aforementioned college friends offered the elixir of jumping to a long neglected classic the next time I get a case of the bad book rut, which will be my plan in the coming year.  Back in the saddle and all that.  Onward, to 2015 and all of THOSE books I can't wait to get my hands on.

But, first!  My list!

Books I read in 2014:

1.  The Lowland – Jhumpa Lahiri
2. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage – Ann Patchett
3. The Orphan Master’s Son – Adam Johnson
4. Almost French – Sarah Trumball
5. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena – Anthony Marra
6. One More Thing (Stories and Other Stories) – B.J. Novak
7. Divergent – Veronica Roth
8. Rules of Civility – Amor Towles
9. The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach
10. Eleanor and Park – Rainbow Rowell
11. The Bear – Claire Cameron
12. The Whole World Over – Julia Glass
13. Maine – J. Courtney Sullivan
14. Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
15. Sharp Objects – Gillian Flynn
16. It’s Not You: 27 (Wrong) Reasons You’re Single – Sara Eckel
17. Tiny Beautiful Things Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar – Cheryl Strayed
18. Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand
19. Half-Broke Horses – Jeannette Walls
20. Yes Please – Amy Poehler