In 2014 I met my goal of reading 65 books. (I always join the Goodreads Reading Challenge.) Some were really exceptional and some were pretty bad. I also re-read about a dozen books; they are not included on this list.
Favorite Books of 2014
Wild – Cheryl Strayed
Wonder – R.J. Palacio
Golden Boy – Abigail Tarttelin
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
A Good Man Is Hard To Find – Flannery O’Connor
Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg
The Children’s Blizzard – David Laskin
The House of the Scorpion – Nancy Farmer
Faith Shift: Finding Your Way Forward When Everything You Believe Is Coming Apart – Kathy Escobar
Orange is the New Black – Piper Kerman
Best Books of 2014
The Little Princes – Conor Grennan
Paper Towns – John Green
Night (The Night Trilogy, #1) – Elie Wiesel
Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane – Kate DiCamillo
Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #2) – Ransom Riggs
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart – Ode Ogede
The Julian Chapter: A Wonder Story – R.J. Palacio
Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell
A Solitary Blue (Tillerman Cycle, #3) – Cynthia Voigt
The Book of Lost Things – John Connolly
Zombie – Chuck Palahniuk
The Miseducation of Cameron Post – Emily M. Danforth
The Weight of Heaven – Thrity Umrigar
The Catbird Seat – James Thurber
The Aleph and Other Stories – Jorge Luis Borges
Passing – Nella Larsen
Kira-Kira – Cynthia Kadohata
Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
Pink – Lili Wilkinson
So B. It – Sarah Weeks
Saint Louis Armstrong Beach – Brenda Woods
Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened – Allie Brosh
Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns (The Devil Wears Prada, #2) – Lauren Weisberger
Sh*t My Dad Says – Justin Halpern
Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness – Scott Jurek
Not Best Books of 2014
Legend (Legend, #1) – Marie Lu
Seriously…I’m Kidding – Ellen DeGeneres
Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
Orphan Train – Christina Baker Kline
The Last Block in Harlem – Christopher Herz
Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real Answers on Amazing Inventions, Fascinating Products, and Medical Mysteries – Sherry Seethaler
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1) – Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2) – Cassandra Clare
Gone (Gone, #1) – Michael Grant
Cyanide and Happiness – Kris Wilson
Vinegar Hill – A. Manette Ansay
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green
Passive Aggressive Notes: Painfully Polite and Hilariously Hostile Writings – Kerry Miller
The Mark of Athena (The Heroes of Olympus, #3) – Rick Riordan
The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Apt Pupil – Stephen King