Favorite Reads From 2014 and One Disappointment

I read some books last year.  Sixty-eight to be exact.  I enjoy keeping a list , so I can remember.  It's under the Books tab at the top of the blog.  In fact, anything I want to remember these days, usually finds its way onto a list of some kind. 

I like to imagine that in the future, my great, great grandchildren might be interested.  That's the kind of thing I would like to know about my ancestors.  I have a few books that belonged to both of my grandmothers and one of my mom's poetry books, with her notations in the margins.  They are precious to me.  

The books we read say a lot about the kind of person we are and the things we're interested in at different times in our lives.  When I go back to my 2012 list, I can see that I was rereading the Chronicles of Narnia series, and lots of classics.  I was in a Great Books discussion group at the time and was swimming in some pretty deep water.  I didn't understand half of what I read.  In 2013, I must have rebelled, because I was on a kid lit kick. That was the year I also discovered Shauna Niequist, and wanted to read everything she had written.  This year, well, I've been a little all over the place.  I've read two books by Jane Austin, several about St. Francis, some young adult fiction, short stories and poetry, along with the ones below.   They're in no particular order.

This is the third book I've read by this author.  I enjoy her writing very much.  So far, The Poisonwood Bible  has been my favorite, but I liked this one too.  My copy of her memoir, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is dog eared and underlined throughout.  It motivates me to get outside and work in my garden.

This was a reread for me, as I had suggested it for our book club meeting a few months ago, and it had been a number of years since I had read it.  I liked it even better the second time around.  The ladies in the club loved it too, and we had plenty to discuss.  Some book discussions seem to fall flat, but everyone had something to say about this book.  It was a lively evening.

 This was one of my favorite kid lit selections.  I was surprised when I received it in the mail and it had a hefty 600 pages!  A  combination of pictures and prose make it a pretty quick read, despite it's size.  The story line is thought provoking.

I know very little about fashion and I'm ok with that.  But,  when I heard this book reviewed on NPR, it caught my interest.  I've wondered how some stores can sell clothing so inexpensively and after reading this book, now I know.  It may seem like a great thing, to buy a pair of jeans from TJ Maxx for $20, but there are serious ramifications to that decision.  This book made me think about my shopping habits, and want to be a more responsible consumer.  I don't need an overflowing closet of cheap clothes. 

This was a reread from my bookshelf, just because I love it.   I've talked our book club into reading this for one of our selections this year (it's taken me two years to convince them).  It's serious and beautiful and will make you cry and want to be a better person.  I got excited when I found a copy of this book on my Nana's bookshelf.  To think that I was reading something that she had read also, made me smile, and wish she was here so we could talk about it.

This is the true story of a nine year old girl and her librarian father, and their journey into books.  After making a promise to each other to read together every day, and never miss, they read for over 3000 days and ended their reading streak only when she left to go to college.  This isn't so much about the books they read, but more about how those books helped them navigate through family life.  I'm a big proponent of reading aloud to children of all ages and loved this book.

This is by far my favorite read of the year, but I already told you that back here.  You can scroll to the bottom of that post to read my thoughts, or just read the book.  I can almost promise you'll love it.

I had heard so much uproar about this series that I finally broke down and read the first book.  And, I didn't really love it.  I do love Scotland and historical fiction, but time travel, not so much.  I don't even object to a steamy romance sometimes, but this was over the top.  So, this is the book that disappointed me this year.  In a way, I'm glad though, because this lengthy series would monopolize my reading time and I have a number of stacks to work my way through.   Kenzie found this challenge and asked me to do it with her, and you know how I am about a challenge.  Let the reading begin!