2014: A Year in Books

Choosing only ten books as favorites at year's end is always a difficult task. I'd written a rough draft mid-December, but then December happened to be full of amazing reads that couldn't be left off. #problemsthataren'tproblems

Only books I read for the first time this year were considered. Otherwise it goes without saying that Hobbit and Harry Potter would be featured prominently.

Top Ten Books of 2014
10. Fic by Anne Jamison (I am a huge fan of fanfiction and this book discusses it extensively.)
9. Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
8. Living My Life by Emma Goldman (Turns out that Emma Goldman is every bit as legit as I wanted her to be. I love it when that happens.)
7. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
6. Unfriending My Ex by Kim Stolz
5. Song of Spider-man by Glen Berger
4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (I'm in love with this book.)
3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (Read this book. Just read it.)
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak (This book will break your heart in the best way.)
1. The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr (I don't even know what to say about this book. It is perfect. This man is amazing. If this book doesn't inspire you to fight injustice, nothing will.)

Honorable mentions: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (fiction) and The Unpersuadables by Will Storr (non-fiction)


A few statistics:

• 81 total books, 37 fiction and 44 non-fiction. Although I read more non-fiction books, when it comes to page counts fiction leads with 12,591 pages to non-fiction's 11,552. That's a total of 24,142 pages.
• Longest book-- A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin (969 pages)
• Oldest book-- Evelina by Frances Burney (1778) 
• Books I've meant to read forever and finally got around to: The Maze Runner, The Eyre Affair, The Graveyard Book, The Fault in Our Stars, Brave New World, Three Cups of Tea, Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Book Thief 
• Historical figures I became better acquainted with through biographies: Emma Goldman, Shirley Temple, Martin Luther King Jr, Ike Eisenhower, Walt Disney, John Quincy Adams, Harry Selfridge
• Classics: Evelina, Three Blind Mice, Crime and Punishment, Madame Bovary, Wind in the Willows, The Heart of the Matter, Brave New World, Doctor Zhivago, Dracula, Around the World in 80 Days

 Complete list follows the Jump


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Recommendations are bolded, rereads are marked with a **

**Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself-- Alan Alda
The Hobbit and Philosophy-- Greg Bassham 

Song of Spider-man-- Glen Berger
French Kids Eat Everything-- Karen Le Billion
Wild Things-- Bird, Danielson, and Sieruta 
A Sentimental Murder-- Brewer
A Queer History of the United States-- Michael Bronski
Inferno-- Dan Brown

Evelina-- Frances Burney
The Real Pepsi Challenge-- Capparell
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey-- The Countess of Carnarvon
Three Blind Mice-- Agatha Christie
The Rocket Man-- Darling
The Maze Runner-- James Dashner
The Scorch Trials-- James Dashner 
The Empire Striketh Back-- Ian Doescher 
The Jedi Doth Return-- Ian Doescher
The Forger's Spell-- Edward Dolnick
Crime and Punishment-- Fyodor Dostoevsky
As You Wish-- Cary Elwes 
Ada's Algorithm-- James Essinger
The Star-Spangled Banner-- Marc Ferris

The Eyre Affair-- Jasper Fforde
Something in the Air-- Marc Fisher
**The Great Gatsby-- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Madame Bovary-- Gustave Flaubert
The Graveyard Book-- Neil Gaiman
Neverwhere-- Neil Gaiman
Living My Life-- Emma Goldman
The Wind in the Willows-- Kenneth Grahame
The Fault in Our Stars-- John Green
The Heart of the Matter-- Graham Greene 
I Don't Know What You Know Me From-- Judy Greer
Blue Latitudes-- Tony Horwitz
Brave New World-- Aldous Huxley
Manning Up-- Hymowitz
Fic-- Anne Jamison
Love Sense-- Sue Johnson
Love Illuminated-- Daniel Johnson
The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression-- John Kasson
The Gunslinger-- Stephen King
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr
Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar-- Klein and Cathcart
**Lassie Come-Home-- Eric Knight
Finding Me-- Michelle Knight

Girl in Translation-- Jean Kwok
The King's Speech-- Logue and Conradi
Hello, Gorgeous-- William Mann 
Beyond Glory-- David Margolick
A Clash of Kings-- George RR Martin 
Princesses Behaving Badly-- Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
Three Cups of Tea-- Mortenson and Relin
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle-- Haruki Murakami
Doctor Zhivago-- Boris Pasternak

Winterdance-- Gary Paulsen
Anna and the French Kiss- Stephanie Perkins
Lola and the Boy Next Door-- Stephanie Perkins
Chinese Lessons-- John Pomfret
The Mark of Athena-- Rick Riordan
Allegiant-- Veronica Roth 
**Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone-- JK Rowling
Sexy Feminism-- Rudulph and Armstrong

Me Talk Pretty One Day-- David Sedaris
All's Well That Ends Well-- William Shakespeare
The Two Gentlemen of Verona-- William Shakespeare
Curveball-- Jordan Sonnelblick 
One Hundred Dogs Who Changed Civilization-- Stall

Shiver-- Maggie Stiefvater 
Dracula-- Bram Stoker
Unfriending My Ex-- Kim Stoltz
The Unpersuadables-- Will Storr
The Science of Happily Ever After-- Tashiro

Walt Disney-- Bob Thomas
Ike's Bluff- Evan Thomas
**The Hobbit-- JRR Tolkien 
John Quincy Adams-- Harlow Giles Unger
Around the World in Eighty Days-- Jules Verne
The Picture of Dorian Gray-- Oscar Wilde
Shopping, Seduction, and Mr. Selfridge-- Lindsey Woodhead
Dot Complicated-- Randi Zuckerberg 
The Book Thief-- Markus Zusak