Year in Review: Favourite Reads from 2014?

On my list would be Cleave by Nikki Gemmell, Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, which I finally read, and three Canadian novels: For Today I am a Boy by Kim Fu, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan and Planet Lolita by Charles Foran.

My non-fiction reading has been as good as in past years, but I did like Crash into Me by Liz Seccuro.

Didn't get much read last year, but one that definitely stuck with me was Sweetland: A Novel by Michael Crummey. It's a fictionalized story of the resettlement of a Nfld village and the one person who hid and stayed behind. Very well written.

Without a doubt my favourite book of 2014 was The Orenda by Joseph Boyden. Since it was also the first book I read in 2014 you might think the rest of the year was a bust but not so. I also read books 2 to 9 in the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny and loved all of them. For non-fiction my choice would be split between Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs and Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink.

I'm glad you liked Sweetland, arcona. I got it for Christmas!

I will second the Sweetland recommendation!

Two standout Canadian reads for me in 2014 were The Complete Essex County by Jeff Lemire and Man by Kim Thuy.

Only one Canadian one on my list, but this is my summary:

My top 10 (5 + 4.5 stars):
The Flood of 2013: A Summer of Angry Rivers in Southern Alberta - Calgary Herald
Pot Plant Owl - Tracy and Allan Eccles
No Impact Man - Colin Beavan
Isaac's Storm - Eric Larson
Wildwood Dancing - Juliet Marillier
Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer
Testimony - Anita Shreve
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
Category 5: The Story of Camille... - Ernest Zebrowski and Judith A. Howard

Honourable mentions (the rest of the 4.5 stars):
Amazing Gracie: A Dog's Tale / Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse / Marilyn Singer
Hostage / Robert Crais
High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed / Michael Kodas

Dishonourable mentions (2 stars):
The Bone People / Keri Hulme
The Shack / William Paul Young
Child of God / Cormac McCarthy

I'm "touchstoning" the one Canadian one. Oh, wait! I think William Paul Young is Canadian, too. He got a "dishonourable" mention, so I'll touchstone it, too. :-)

I had four Canadian books/authors in my top ten:

Rilla of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, by Stephen Leacock
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley
A Tap on the Window, by Linwood Barclay

I gave very few 5 stars this year. The Luminaries and The Narrow Road to the Deep North were my two best book (in that order) from last year. It has been a while since I have liked Booker winners so two great books in a row was a pleasure.

The Orenda, Maddaddam and The Dead in their Vaulted Arches were my top Canadian Reads.

2014 Reading Year in Review

This time last year I had just finished rereading Pride and Prejudice, and joked that it was the best book ever written and I was ruined for everything else. Turns out not to be that much of a joke after all--2014 will go down as a solidly mediocre year in reading for me. Not one single 5 star read. Here's to a better 2015!

Of the 75 books I read, these stand out:

Best Non-Fiction:

Being Wrong:Adventures in the Margins of Error, Kathryn Schultz
Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite, Suki Kim
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick

Best Fiction:

Broken Harbour, Tana French
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
Harvest, Jim Crace
Chocky, John Wyndham
Before I Go to Sleep, SJ Watson
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
Bear, Marian Engel
Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell
The Edwardians, Vita Sackville-West

>10 Nickelini: I'm looking forward to reading Life After Life this month. :-)