Just for reference in 2011 I read 17 books (I was still in grad school the spring of this year. 2012 I read 55 books and 2013 I read 56 books. So this year's 30 makes me sad, but that's okay I have more memories than just books this year so it's cool.
Since I only read 30 books I can list them all here, rank them and even blurby blurb a little about the ones I liked or really didn't. Here's a link to my Goodreads page for this year, but I'll link my favorite ones or ones I think people should check out
- Wool - if you like speculative fiction this is a must!
- The Magician's Land - read the whole series if you're a fan of Harry Potter or Narnia or both!
- Big Little Lies - Not yo-mama's chick-lit- read it if you're a woman
- Annihilation - read if you like to get freaked out and like sci-fi-y type stuff
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- Landline - read if you didn't read a good Christmas story this year
- The Last Anniversary
- Attachments (edit after actually finishing the book)
- Shift
- Dust
- Yes Please (audiobook, read by author) - listen to if you have a long car ride coming up
- This is Where I leave You - read if you have siblings
- Bossypants (audiobook, read by author)
- Sand Omnibus
- Night Film
- The Shell Collector - read if you're worried about global warming
- Three Wishes
- Eleanor & Park
- Delicious!
- The Book of Life
- The Husband's Secret
- The Timekeeper
- We Were Liars
- California (audiobook)
- Authority
- Hollow City
- The Giver (Half audiobook, read last half) - no
- The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy (audiobook) - no
Read in a previous year, reread, it's cheating I know. But I actually listened to both of these on Audiobook my first time around and this time I read the actual physical books in my hands- so not even on my nook. So hopefully that makes up for it...hmmm who did I lend these to...they aren't on my bookshelf.
*The Magician King
Now when I rank books, I don't go back and look at the initial review I wrote on Goodreads, but go by what I remember. Because sometimes my review and what I remember 6 months later is drastically different. It's amazing sometimes how different the impression a book leaves on me versus the initial opinion. I used to make myself sleep before I wrote my reviews, but I was especially lazy this year.
Another interesting thing about this year was the number of repeat authors. Five authors I read multiple books by. The most being Hugh Howey, I read 5 of his books, more if you broke up the omnibus' I read. He will definitely go down as my favorite author/new to me author of 2014. I got wrapped up in his Wool/Silo series and then needed to read everything else he wrote. He's a really easy to read author, but a great world creator and a great speculative fiction writer because I'm terrified of all the things he wrote about. Next is Liane Moriarty who is not your average Chick-Lit Author. Yes her target readers are women, but she talks about some seriously tough issues. Tough marriage issues, societal issues and raising kids. I have really enjoyed all her books and look forward to what she does next. If you haven't read any of her books I can't recommend Big Little Lies more. Then there's Lev Grossman who I read 3 books from, 2 were re-reads of and the 3rd was the finale in his Magicians Trilogy. I love his books. When I finished the series I thought I'd never find anything I loved as much as those books. It took me a while to get out of my post-read funk with those books, because They were amazing. Rainbow Rowell I've also read 3 of her book this year. Landline was a Goodreads Book Buddy read and I enjoyed it so much I picked up two more of her books. The other two weren't as good but I enjoyed them enough. Then Jeff Vandermeer I finished 2 of his books and am still working on the 3rd of the Southern Reach Trilogy. I loved his first so much it was a Goodreads first read and it freaked me out! The 2nd I didn't like as much so the third is dragging for me.
Then there are the audiobooks from this year. Man I listened to some crappy audiobooks. I don't know if it was the book or just the audiobook that was bad, but I am not a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or The Giver and I know so many people who loves those! But the audiobooks were painful so I have no desire to continue those series. I also listened to California on audiobook as it was a Goodreads promotion as well and I loved the story and think I really would have liked the book more had it not been read by a woman who sounded like a 12 year old boy. Seriously, it's higher on my ranking because I did really engage in the story. Then I listened to two very good audiobooks- Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's books were delightful. Well produced audiobooks and read by the author. I think that's the key. They were excellent books on their own, but I feel like when the author read's their own story it makes it so much more believable and engaging. I loved those two audiobooks and am glad I picked them up.
So overall I'm not disappointed in this year of reading because of what I read but because of just the number. So my own fault completely. I'm so glad I discovered Hugh Howey this year and some series I'd been reading wrapped up so that's nice and I think there are some books from this year I'll definitely still be thinking about into next year and recommending. I read a good amount of bubblegum, just feel good books and that's okay. Especially since it took me practically the entire year to finish my Murakami book. I think next year I'll set my goal a little higher but not back up to my 50-55 yet. We'll see how it goes, I feel like 40 is pretty reasonable.
Another interesting thing about this year was the number of repeat authors. Five authors I read multiple books by. The most being Hugh Howey, I read 5 of his books, more if you broke up the omnibus' I read. He will definitely go down as my favorite author/new to me author of 2014. I got wrapped up in his Wool/Silo series and then needed to read everything else he wrote. He's a really easy to read author, but a great world creator and a great speculative fiction writer because I'm terrified of all the things he wrote about. Next is Liane Moriarty who is not your average Chick-Lit Author. Yes her target readers are women, but she talks about some seriously tough issues. Tough marriage issues, societal issues and raising kids. I have really enjoyed all her books and look forward to what she does next. If you haven't read any of her books I can't recommend Big Little Lies more. Then there's Lev Grossman who I read 3 books from, 2 were re-reads of and the 3rd was the finale in his Magicians Trilogy. I love his books. When I finished the series I thought I'd never find anything I loved as much as those books. It took me a while to get out of my post-read funk with those books, because They were amazing. Rainbow Rowell I've also read 3 of her book this year. Landline was a Goodreads Book Buddy read and I enjoyed it so much I picked up two more of her books. The other two weren't as good but I enjoyed them enough. Then Jeff Vandermeer I finished 2 of his books and am still working on the 3rd of the Southern Reach Trilogy. I loved his first so much it was a Goodreads first read and it freaked me out! The 2nd I didn't like as much so the third is dragging for me.
Then there are the audiobooks from this year. Man I listened to some crappy audiobooks. I don't know if it was the book or just the audiobook that was bad, but I am not a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or The Giver and I know so many people who loves those! But the audiobooks were painful so I have no desire to continue those series. I also listened to California on audiobook as it was a Goodreads promotion as well and I loved the story and think I really would have liked the book more had it not been read by a woman who sounded like a 12 year old boy. Seriously, it's higher on my ranking because I did really engage in the story. Then I listened to two very good audiobooks- Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's books were delightful. Well produced audiobooks and read by the author. I think that's the key. They were excellent books on their own, but I feel like when the author read's their own story it makes it so much more believable and engaging. I loved those two audiobooks and am glad I picked them up.
So overall I'm not disappointed in this year of reading because of what I read but because of just the number. So my own fault completely. I'm so glad I discovered Hugh Howey this year and some series I'd been reading wrapped up so that's nice and I think there are some books from this year I'll definitely still be thinking about into next year and recommending. I read a good amount of bubblegum, just feel good books and that's okay. Especially since it took me practically the entire year to finish my Murakami book. I think next year I'll set my goal a little higher but not back up to my 50-55 yet. We'll see how it goes, I feel like 40 is pretty reasonable.
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