Each year I find myself reading multiple books at once. I can’t seem to pick one and settle down with it. Several call my name at once.
Out of the stacks beside my chair or bed, I have favorites when most have been read. In 2014, nothing changed.
My favorites of 2014 are listed below in no particular order:
Creative Nonfiction:
Committed by Patrick Ross
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
My Father’s Gardens by Karen Levy
Always Returning by D.A. Hickman
Ever Faithful to His Lead by Kathleen Pooler
Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Growing Up Country by Carol Bodensteiner
Fiction:
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
Dear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay
There Was an Old Woman by Hallie Ephron
A Fitting Place by Mary Gottschalk
The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly Whittemore
How to Climb the Eiffel Tower by Elizabeth Hein
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
For Writers:
Write Within Yourself by William Kenower
Self-Publisher’s Legal Handbook by Helen Sedwick
Social Media Just for Writers by Frances Caballo
Avoid Social Media Time Suck by Frances Caballo
Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
Spirituality and Faith:
Raw Faith by Kasey Van Norman
The Trail by Ed Underwood
Waves of Change by Pamela Hernandez-Kaufman LMFT,
MJ Plaster, and Dr. Melissa Riley
Now, it’s your turn. What are some of your favorite reads from 2014?
(Image attribution: Tim Geers via Flickr with modifications to add word overlay per CC license)
Above image, Favorite Books of 2014, by Sherrey Meyer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Great list, Sherrey. I’ve read some on your list and some still sit in a stack by my bed, unread. And I see some here to add. Thanks! Happy New Year!
Joan, glad you enjoyed some of the same books and have others to look forward to in 2015. Happy New Year to you!
Lovely list Sherrey! Some i know of, others not. Hard for me to remember what I’ve read this year .. earlier this year I much enjoyed Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, Wally Lamb’s We are Water. I read an Arunduthi Roy, an oldish book … can’t remember the title … the one about the twins. Currently am reading an Umberto Eco (hard going this one), and also Wilbur Smith who always writes a great yarn. Also a Scott Peck: about the spirit of golf or some such title .. lessons in life. I note I gave it to my husband in 2002 …
Hello Susan! Good to “see” you here. I still need to read We are Water, but I have difficulty reading Umberto Eco’s works. Like Scott Peck on occasion. Thanks for sharing what you’ve read, are reading, etc. Happy New Year!
Wow, Sherrey, I’m sure I’ve read that many, but have not kept a log, and nearly all of mine are on my tablet, so I don’t see the pile. As a graduate student nearly forty years ago, I began spending significant amounts of time in professor’s offices and noticed what looked like acres of books on their shelves. “Have you actually READ all of those?” I recall asking one prof. “Yes.” He read them one book at a time, three or four a month, and over the course of ten or more years, that adds up to several hundred, filling yards of shelving.
Anyway, my reading is trending more toward fiction, though I am still reading memoir. I now resolve to make my own book -reading log. Thank you for the inspiration.
Hi Sharon! I cheat by using Goodreads which at year’s end provides a listing of the books you’ve read. Makes it fairly easy to keep track, and then take a look at what you enjoyed and didn’t the past 12 months. I have so many yet to read, and I’m crossing over from memoir to fiction to creative nonfiction to historical novels, especially WWI when Bob’s dad served, etc. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your thoughts.
What a great list, Sherrey! And I’m honored to see Ever Faithful among your choices. Thank you. I have read several on your list and have added a few more based upon your suggestions. Although this past year has been consumed with reading memoirs, I am branching out and reading historical nonfiction.Currently, No Ordinary Time, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt:The Home Front in World War Ii by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Happy New Year!
Yes, when it came to memoir, there was no question that I have a fondness for Ever Faithful. It’s message is so near to my heart. Nice to know what you’re reading now and are looking forward to reading. I read Goodwin’s Lincoln, and I love the Roosevelts, especially Eleanor. Enjoy your new reading genre! And thanks for stopping by and leaving comments.
I see many familiar titles on your list including Growing Up Country and Ever Faithful to His Lead, which I reviewed this year. Rifflebooks.com helps me catalog and keep track of all the books I’ve read. Just now I’ve flipped through the list and some of my favorite covers flashed by: Lee Martin’s Such a Life (parental abuse), Phyllis Tickle’s The Shaping of a Life (spiritual biography), Eleanor Vincent’s Swimming with Maya (loss of daughter), and Jordan Rosenfeld’s Make a Scene (memoir help with scores of other books to read).
Reading books is one of the best ways I know to stay sane in a crazy, non sequitur world. Happy reading in the new year, Sherrey!
Marian, thanks for sharing about what read and reviewed that was on my list, what some of your year’s favorites were (added some of those to my TBR list). Noted Jordan Rosenfeld’s book and recently connected with Jordan and need to read that one too. Books do keep our sanity somewhat intact, don’t they?
I’m honored that my memoir made your list, Sherrey. The Paris Wife, Always Returning, and Bittersweet are also on my TBR stack. Favorites on my list from this year include: fiction – The Mountain Woman series by Carol Ervin, Lies Told in Silence by M.K. Tod, and The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd; for writers – Write Away by Elizabeth George. Happy New Year!
Carol, I’m glad you were pleased to find your memoir among my favorites. I want to read Tod’s Lies Told in Silence and Kidd’s The Invention of Wings. I just can’t seem to get the pile to get short enough to get to them! Happy New Year and happy reading!
I know. So many good books; so little time.
I love seeing your lists, Sherrey. We share enthusiasms, and I have a few of these on the bed stand. Your endorsement will bring them up the ladder. 🙂 Thank you so much for the service you do for authors and readers in reviewing books.
Have a Happy New Year!
Hello Shirley! Glad you enjoyed the list, and I’m happy to hear we share enthusiasms. I hope the ones you’re moving up the ladder are enjoyed by you as much as they were by me.
Happy New Year to you!
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