Five(ish) Favorite Fiction Reads of 2014

This is a thread I have enjoyed in the past, so I thought I would start it again.

Mine were:
Borders of Infinity (3 Novella Collection) by Lois McMaster Bujold - Just the right touch of fun and adventure to relax a stressed out brain.
The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi - I wasn't going to list rereads, but this was read so long ago it surely doesn't count as a reread, does it?
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith - Again, a lovely place to relax in.
Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang by Ian Fleming, as read by David Tennant - another reread, but since I haven't had it read to me since I was about 5, I feel justified.
Macbeth: A Novel by A.J. Hartley. - Astounding how much I enjoyed this and didn't expect to.

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb for sure! I gave the Dragon Keeper books half a star more in my reading thread, but I’m re-thinking that on memory :) I think I might have enjoyed Fool’s Assassin more, I know it’s slow paced & takes a long time for things to really start happening so think some people would find it frustrating – but I found it beautiful & heartbreaking & just cannot wait for the next book to come out (apparently manuscript was submitted in the last couple of weeks so looking good for a 2015 release date *woot*)

Here are the five (and the only five) fiction works that rated five stars from me in 2014:

Stoner, by John Williams (review)
Edda (the prose Edda; Everyman edition, Faulkes), by Snorri Sturluson (review)
Peony, by Pearl S. Buck (review)
The Third Life of Grange Copeland, by Alice Walker (review)
The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld (review)

I did award five stars each to two Sherlock Holmes novels, but that was for sentimental reasons; I couldn't have ranked them by my normal scale any more than I could judge a talent show in which my son was performing.

>1 MrsLee: & >3 Meredy:

You evil, evil people. I am now nursing BB gun wounds from Stoner and The Little World of Don Camillo.

This was tricky and I'm not going with purely books that I gave five stars to, but ones that I think I'd come back to. In no particular order -

Splintered by A G Howard
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Beyond the Deepwoods by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
The Cry of the Go-Away Bird by Andrea Eames

and my final one gets a special mention as it is the audio version read by Tom Hiddleston and that's what made it for me Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming (that over-rides the dated attitudes etc for the sheer auditory pleasure of listening to someone read who's revelling in the performance they're giving)

I'm glad you started this thread Lee, I enjoy hearing about other people's favourites too. I'm going to do my best to dodge the BB gun ;)

Hard to pick just 5, but:

The Martian by Andy Weir
The Light Between the Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary by Ruby Ferguson
Legion by Brandon Sanderson
Macbeth: A Novel ( the audio version) by A.J.Hartley

I'm going to have to pull Robin Hobb out from the bottom of the TBR pile, along with Stoner, The Light Between the Oceans and Legion. I'm going to try and maneuver my way around any BBs that aren't already in the house! (ha ha ha)

I read a lot this year and most of it was high quality so it's wicked hard to find five...so there will be some 'ish' here, too. Thanks MrsL! In no particular order -

Oh and I have reviewed them all too, with spoiler warnings where needed.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - I can't believe that I'm the only one with it on the LT top five list since I've heard about it on lots of book blogs and best of 2014 lists. Much deserved, too, it conveys the anguish of racially motivated social ostracism without beating you over the head with it. Creates a complex family dynamic without creating villains and victims. Well-written with plenty to think about after you’re done.

A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin - I doubted a decades old psychological thriller could do anything to surprise me, but I was very wrong. Levin’s sleight of hand as an author is nothing short of amazing. When you realize what you’ve been reading and the penny drops, your jaw will also. I promise.

Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury - Infused with autobiographical insights and Bradbury’s trademark prose full dark surprise, this detective novel doesn’t follow any rules. Sinister and light at the same time, full of delirium and friendship, worlds within worlds it is sure to delight any adventurous crime novel fan.

The Orchardist by Amanda Chopin - Stories of orphans and outsiders usually follow a familiar storyline, but this novel surprised me both in characterization and in plot. Set in an unusual location and time it is an introspective and engrossing novel.

The Long Home by William Gay - Damn I wish this guy wrote more. A quietly menacing novel about people caught in the grip of an evil man. As he tightens his fingers, things slip through including honesty and love. Great use of language, gothic and powerful.

and now the 'ish'

San Miguel by T.C. Boyle - The story of an island off the coast of California and the lives of the women who dwell there. I think Boyle does well with character studies more than linear plot stories and he weaves the dramatic and the quotidian together perfectly. So good I read it twice this year.

The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore - Like Shakespeare it's better to experience the Pocket of Dog Snogging novels as performances - get this on audio if possible. There’s dragon shagging, fortune stealing, disguises, beheadings, cross-dressing, creative cursing, back-stabbing, religious persecution, heinous fuckery, swashes buckling, and a soupcon of lechery. Ok, more than a soupcon. A bucketful. Nay, a canalful. And a ghost. There’s always a bloody ghost.

The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian - A plane goes down, ghosts haunt a PTSD victim, a small town is controlled by witches with designs on two young girls. Plus a controversial ending that I personally loved.

Ok. I'll stop. Such a good reading year, I can only hope 2015 is up to the task.

>2 Seanie: I noticed that I questioned some of my stars on looking back through the year, too. I didn't change them though. They are what they are because I assigned them right after the reading of the book. If I ever do rereads, then I can change them.

>4 pgmcc: It's about time, and you won't be sorry. :)

>8 Bookmarque: That is a great reading year!

I awarded 5 stars to more rereads than fresh reads this year, but I do feel like I had an outstanding year in terms of overall enjoyment.

The Thirteenth Tale was one of my first reads of the year and remained a favourite to the end for gothic exuberance and for loving books (I do love a book that loves other books).

Bodies of Light was one of my last reads of the year, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel. It focused on the battle for emancipation of women in Victorian England, with a complicated heroine of the sort you cheer for even while you're wishing she wouldn't self-sabotage (but we all have our baggage).

The first 3 Culture novels get a group mention for still being fabulous - the more so for being read close together so I finally perceived some of the over-arching themes that bind this sequence together.

Thank you to @sandstone78 for introducing me to Burning Bright and A Matter of Oaths, both of which made my top ten and to @Morphidae for getting me round to reading The Prestige, which is every bit as good as the film (and not spoilt for having seen the film first).

Not really based on star awards or literary merit, but just the books that gave me, for one reason or another, the most reading pleasure last year:

The Owl Service
The Bride of the Rat God
Still She Wished for Company
Mrs. Queen Takes the Train
Stranger at the Wedding
The Goblin Emperor
Stiff Upper Lip

I'll just do books that I read for the first time in 2014. In no particular order:

Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher
The Martian by Andy Weir
Castle Waiting, Volume II, Definitive Edition by Linda Medley
Five Windows by D. E. Stevenson
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

All right, guys, I see that I'm going to have to star this thread. And I'll just come back every time I feel like standing in a hail of bullets.

If you hear me whining "What am I going to read next?" any time this year, feel free to smack me.

I managed 98 reads this year which is lowish for me but I had a reading dip in November when other things interfered.

I had two 5 star reads this year - Shards of Time by Lynn Flewelling and Dreamer's Pool by Juliet Marillier. They both gave me that lovely feeling of not wanting a book to end and with a big happy smile.

Honourable mentions of 4.5 stars go to -

Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay
Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
and my only non-fiction, Street cat named Bob by James Bowen

I also really enjoyed The Martian but it got 4 stars.