Reading List 2014

A new year is beginning, and like everyone else, I'm taking a look back at the year now behind us.  For me it was a year of big changes, mostly good. After recovering from the cross-country move, I was able to get down to some serious reading. When all was said and done, I managed to complete 61 books in 2014.  There were some excellent books, some not-so-excellent, and a couple of hard-to-get-through.  There are a few that I'd read years ago, and read again this year, either for book discussions, or just for fun. 

Here are a few highlights of my reading year:

• I read my first James Patterson novel,NYPD Blue and found it not terrible. I picked it up because the co-author was Marshall Karp, and I've enjoyed his Biggs and Lomax mystery series.  I don't know if I'll continue reading the series he writes with Patterson, but I do now see the appeal that Patterson has for millions of readers.  
• I discovered a new author.  A co-worker had told me about Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret, but I'd not had a chance to read it earlier. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and eagerly picked up her latest, Big Little Lies, which I liked even better.  I also learned that Moriarty's sister, Jaclyn, is the author of some of my favorite YA novels.  
• I discovered a not-so-new author.  A couple of years ago when it was discovered that J.K. Rowling had written a mystery novel under the name Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling. I started it, but time did not allow me to finish it.  I picked it up again and really liked it. I then read the next book, The Silkworm and am looking forward to more in this series.
• I had been wanting to read Ken Follett's The Century trilogy, and I was finally able to read the first two volumes.  The third volume was released in September, and I'm hoping to get to it this year.

Here's the complete list of books I read in 2014. Let me know if you want any more information about any of them.  Also, please feel free to let me know what books you read this year that you loved.  I'm always looking for suggestions.

1. Berg, Elizabeth              What We Keep
2. Joyce, Rachel               Perfect
3. Cather, Willa                  My Antonia
4. Verne, Jules                  Around the World in 80 Days
5. Anderson, Neal             Victory Over the Darkness
6. Kingsolver, Barbara       Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
7. Beaton, M.C.                 Death of a Policeman
8. Batstone, David             Not For Sale
9. Diamant, Anita              The Last Days of Dogtown
10. Cleave, Chris                 Little Bee
11. Denise Brennan             Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States
12. Kingsbury, Karen           Divine
13. Nguyen, Bich Minh        Pioneer Girl
14. Cook, Kevin                  Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America
15. Ackerman, Diane           The Zookeeper's Wife
16. Zevin, Gabrielle             The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry
17. Caletti, Deb                   He's Gone
18. Patterson, James          NYPD Red
19. Lively, Penelope            How It All Began
20. George, Alex                 A Good American
21. Gladwell, Malcolm         David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
22. Bryson, Bill                   One Summer: America, 1927
23. Yancey, Preston            Tables in the Wilderness
24. Paton-Walsh, Jill           The Attenbury Emeralds
25. Heyer, Georgette           Why Shoot a Butler
26. Heyer, Georgette           Death in the Stocks
27. Heyer, Georgette           They Found Him Dead
28. Benjamin, Melanie         The Aviator's Wife
29. Smokler, Kevin              Practical Classics: 50 Reasons to Reread 50 Books You Haven't Touched                                             Since High School
30. Hustad, Megan              More Than Conquerors: A Memoir of Lost Arguments
31. Weiner, Jennifer            All Fall Down
32. Galbraith, Robert           The Cuckoo's Calling
33. Moriarty, Liane              The Husband's Secret
34. Hosseini, Khalid             And the Mountains Echoed
35. Galbraith, Robert           The Silkworm
36. Chast, Roz                    Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant
37. Follett, Ken                   Fall of Giants
38. Follett, Ken                   Winter of the World
39. Kemelman, Harry           Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry
40. Rowell, Rainbow            Landline
41. French, Dawn                Oh Dear Silvia
42. Lockhart, E                   We Were Liars
43. Von Bremzen, Anya       Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking
44. Todd, Charles               A Matter of Justice
45. Wood, Naomi                Mrs. Hemingway
46. Todd, Charles               An Unmarked Grave
47. Crombie, Deborah         To Dwell in Darkness
48. Moriarty, Liane              Big Little Lies
49. Kinsella, Sophie            Shopaholic to the Stars
50. Winspear, Jacqueline     The Care and Management of Lies
51. Baldacci, David             The Innocent
52. Chesney, Marion           Snobbery with Violence
53. L'Amour, Louis              Lonesome Gods
54. Trollope, Joanna           Sense and Sensibility (The Austen Project)
55. Campbell, Jen               Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores
56. Trollope, Joanna           Brother and Sister
57. Pym, Barbara                Some Tame Gazelle
58. Bryson, Bill                   Mother Tongue
59. Hillenbrand, Laura          Unbroken
60. Valentine, Genevieve     The Girls at the Kingfisher Club
61. Brett, Simon                  The Cinderella Killer