These are the books I read during 2014. I've noticed for myself that no non fiction books have been selected for the top five. There were good bios of David Dinkins, Barbara Stanwyck, The Nixons, and Mussolini! But I'm attracted less to facts and more to exquisite writing, and for that my choices were made.Top favorites for 2014:
All the Light we Cannot See examines the connection between a blind girl and a young Nazi soldier in occupied France.
Redeployment is a collection of stories of soldiering in the Iraq war. You are there and you are horrified and enthralled.
Redeployment is a collection of stories of soldiering in the Iraq war. You are there and you are horrified and enthralled.
Fourth of July Creek has a very creative premise: a social worker and an abandoned kid in the wild.
Miriam Toews almost made suicide funny. All My Puny Sorrows has a woman emotionally entangled with her suicidal sister.
Richard Ford, God love him, continues to make middle aged men moving and important.
Oh, one more, for me, indispensable:
Virgil Thomson, Music Chronicles 1940-1954
Thomson was a fine composer and is the best writer on music I've encountered. Funny, dry, nasty, concise and extremely learned.
Thanks to Tim Page for making this available.
THIS IS I SHOW YOU MINE YOU SHOW ME YOURS!
PLEASE NOTE ON THIS BLOG YOUR
OWN FAVORITES AND RECOMMENDATIONS! THANKS!
*= a
favorite
+=interviewed
the author
________________________________________________
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| Richard Ford. He's done it again with Let Me Be Frank With You |
____________________________________________________
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| Russell Banks |
*The Death
of Santini Pat Conroy
Exposed:
Jodi Arias Jane Velez Mitchell
Mayor David Dinkins
*My Reading
Life Pat Conroy
My Beautiful
World Sonia Sotomayor
Still
Fooling Them Billy Crystal
 |
| Henry David Thoreau...Walden was worth reading. |
Walden Henry David Thoreau
Vicar of
Christ Walter F. Murphy
Favorite
Sons Robin Yocum
Song of the
Spiderman Greg Berg
*The
Essay Robin Yocum
*The Fault
in Our Stars John Greene
Beach
Music Pat Conroy
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn
Barbara
Stanwyck Victoria Wilson
The Great Santini
Pat Conroy
Doctor Sleep
Stephen King
The Global
Vatican Francis Rooney
The Queen’s Gambit
Elizabeth Fremantle
This Road
Will Take Us Closer to the Moon (stories) Linda McCullough Moore
*A Permanent
Member of the Family (stories) Russell Banks+
(esp Big
Dog)
 |
| Edmund White |
Jack Holmes
and his Friend Edmund White+
Mad As Hell
(Network) Dave Itzikoff
The Soldier
and the Spy (Dreyfus) Richard Harris
*David Copperfield
Charles Dickens
Mussolini
and the Pope David Kertzer
Pat and Dick
(Nixon) Will Swift
Civil War Diaries
Walt Whitman (in Specimen Days)
Living the
Quaker Way Philip Gulley
Little Failure
Gary Shteyngart
The Queen’s Bed
Anna Whitlock
Fosse Sam
Wasson
*The
Husband’s Secret Liane Moriarty
The Burglary
Betty Medsger
*Redeployment
Phil Klay +
Mission at Nuremburg
Tim Townsend
*Stoner John Williams
Faith Jennifer Haigh (Boston, priests)
*Across the Bridge
Mavis Gallant (stories rec. by Russell Bank)
Sum it Up
Pat Summit
North of
Boston Eliz. Elo
Tastemaker
Carl Van Vechten and the Beginning of Modern
America --Edward
White
*The Sweet Hereafter
Russell Banks+
*Orfeo
Robert Powers
*The Middle Men
(stories) Jim Gavin
Leonardo and
the Last Supper Ross King
Henderson
the Rain King Saul Bellow
*The
Condition Jennifer Haigh
The Days of
Anna Madrigal Armistead Maupin
Deception Phillip Roth
Suspicion
Nation Lisa Bloom (Trayvon)
*Bring up
the Bodies Hilary Mantel
**The
Invention of Wings Sue Monk Kid
Escape
From Auschwitz Joel Rosenberg
*The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Samuel Clemens
Fatherland
Robert Harris
The Windsor
Faction D.J. Taylor
To Quell the
Terror William Bush
*Coal Black Horse
Robert Olmstead (civil war, local author)
Newtown
Matthew Lysiak
Divide:
American Injustice in the Era of the Wealth Gap
Matt Taibbi
The
Professor and the Housekeeper Yoko Ogawa
You Should
Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz
A Time to
Keep Silence Patrick Leigh Fermor
Perfectly
Miserable, God, Guilt and Real Estate in a Small Town Sarah Payne Stuart
Cut Loose by
Leah Vincent (left ultra-orthodox Jews)
Dominion CJ
Sansom Nazi victory in WWII
The Hiltons
J. Randy Taborirelli
The Good
Pope-John XXIII Greg Tobin
What is Visible
Kimberly Elkins (Laura Bridgman)
*Famous
Writers I have Known Magnuson
Stokely
Joseph E. Peniel
**Fourth of
July Creek Henderson Smith
I said yes
to everything Lee Grant+
 |
| Lee Grant. Loved her. |
*Unbroken
Lauren Hillebrand
Play it
Again Alan Rusbridger
*Blue Eyed
Boy Robert Timken (‘Nam vet, journalist,
burns)
Hot Dogs and
Cocktails (FDR/Royal Family) Peter Conradi
To Rise
Again at a Decent Hour Joshua Ferris
*Mr.
Mercedes Stephen King
Bleeding Edge
Thomas Pynchon
The Long
Loneliness Dorothy Day
The
Alteration Kingsley Amis
The Good
Luck of Right Now Matthew Quick (Richard Gere)
Shooting
Straight Piers Morgan
*The Rosie
Project (Asperger wife)-Prof Don Tillman
The Romanov
Sisters Helene Rappaport
*Remember Me
Like This (Justin Campbell lost boy)
Brett Anthony Johnston
Olivier Phillip Ziegler
Book of
Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
Jill Lepore
Savage
Harvest: The Search for Michael Rockefeller
Carl Hoffman
*The
Undertaking Audrey Magee
A Fighting
Chance Elizabeth Warren
The Chase
Janet Evanovich+
1776
Revolutionary Summer James Ellis
***Hold the
Dark by William Giraldi
Big Little
Lies Liane Moriarty
Terrorist’s
Son Zak Efraim
*Barracuda Christos Tsoikas
Easy Street
(The hard way) Ron Perelman
Heft Liz
Moore
War and
Peace Tolstoy
*The Life
and Tragic Death of Robert Peace Jeff
Hobbs
*The
Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
Hilary Mantel
You Might
Remember Me: Phil Hartman Mike Rowe
Eve of
Eternity Ken Follett
The
Mathematicians Shiva Stuart Rojszstater
The Good
Father Noah Hawley
*We are not
Ourselves Matthew Thomas
*Nora
Webster Colm Toibin
The Job
Janet Evanovich+
The Heist
Janet Evanovich+
How I Write Janet Evanovich |
| Janet Evanovich. Had a blast interviewing her to a sold out house, thanks to The Thurber House |
*Hold Tight
Gently: Michael Callen and Essex Hemphill
Martin Duberman
Sisters of
Treason Elizabeth Fremantle
Village of
Silence: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France Caroline Moorehead
On the
Edge Edward St. Aubyn
Lost for
Words Edward St Aubyn
City of Lies:
Therean Ramita Navai
*****All the
Light You Cannot See Anthon Doerr
(Bob) Hope
by Richard Zoglin
Without You There is No Us Suki Kim
*The Goldfinch Donna Tarrt
*The Children’s Act Ian McEwan
*All My Puny
Sorrows Miriam Toews
6 comments:
My top five books read for 2014 would be The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, The Secret History by Donna Tartt (an old one by her, definitely worth the read!), The Son by Jo Nesbo (king of the Swedish thriller) and The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling). Special mention for Landline by Rainbow Rowell, which was really quite good and a fun read about a not-so-fun situation.
The Goldfinch stands head and shoulders above all the other books I read. The writing is just astounding and the story is fantastic. It led me to her classic from the 90s, A Secret History, which is so very good that if you haven't read it, you should. It's just one of the best books I've ever read. Having two of those from one author is unusual for me.
Amy Milbourne's favorite reads of 2014 in no particular order are:
-The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
-Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
-Chanel Bonfire by Wendy Lawless
-We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
And for an audio book I loved Carry On Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy Beautiful Life written and read by Glennon Melton.
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 10:52 AM
To: Paul Burnam
Subject: Books 2014
1)
Author Harris, Robert, 1957-
Title An officer and a spy / Robert Harris
Publish Info New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2014, c2013
2)
Author Messud, Claire, 1966-
Title The woman upstairs : a novel / Claire Messud
Publish Info New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2013
3)
Author Unger, Harlow G., 1931- author
Title John Marshall : the chief justice who saved the nation / Harlow Giles Unger
Imprint Boston, MA : Da Capo Press, [2014]
4)
Author Rivers, Joan
Title Diary of a mad diva / Joan Rivers
Imprint New York : Berkley Books, 2014
Edition First edition
5)
Author Kaiser, David E., 1947- author
Title No end save victory : how FDR led the nation into war / David Kaiser
Imprint New York : Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group, [2014]
6)
Author Dorrien, Gary J.
Title Economy, difference, empire : social ethics for social justice / Gary Dorrien.
Imprint New York : Columbia University Press, c2010.
7)
Author Chast, Roz, author, artist.
Title Can't we talk about something more pleasant? : a memoir / Roz Chast.
Imprint New York : Bloomsbury, 2014.
So many great books read this year! However, the one that really stood out to me is Hagridden by Samuel Snoek-Brown.
Yes, Hagridden! Samuel Snoek-Brown is such an artful writer. Also really enjoyed Zealot by Reza Aslan.
Looking ahead to a couple of important books celebrating their centenary in 2015: D. H. Lawrence's The Rainbow (prosecuted as pornography but still "so passionate, so poetic, so full of the pith of life and the loveliness of Nature," as the critic Richard Aldington put it in 1961); Virginia Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out, in which a certain Clarissa Dalloway makes a brief first appearance; Joseph Conrad's complex psychological novel Victory; and Ford Madox Ford's war-inspired novel The Good Soldier, perhaps as close to a Cubist novel as we have.
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