Sunday, January 4, 2015

Favorites of 2014

I was on the fence about doing any sort of year-end wrap-up because, to be honest, I don't have the patience for those long surveys (writing them or reading them -- sorry!) I also usually don't think I've read enough books in a year to make it worthwhile, but since I did read 100 (!!!) books in 2014, I thought I'd take a cue from Kay and Charleen and do an "award" type post instead (though they came up with much more original and interesting categories). These are always my favorite posts to read this time of year, so I thought I'd take a stab at it myself.

This list is, of course, limited by my own reading choices in 2014 and I've made my selections from the pool of all books read without regard to publication date. All books selected I rated 4- or 5-stars and I am only allowing a book to *win* one category. And yes, I made up some categories, just so I could feature a particular book :)

Favorite Cover

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Favorite Creepy book
The Winter People, by Jennifer McMahon

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Favorite Mystery

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Favorite Historical Fiction
The Major's Daughter, by JP Francis

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Favorite Fantasy/Re-Telling
While Beauty Slept, by Elizabeth Blackwell

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Favorite Contemporary Fiction
Bittersweet, by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

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Favorite Guilty Pleasure book
The Heiresses, by Sara Shepard

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Favorite Humorous book
The Rosie Project, by Graham Simesion

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Favorite Adult Re-Read
Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

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Favorite Classic
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller

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Favorite Banned or Challenged Book
by Sherman Alexie

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Favorite Book Club book
Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

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Favorite Contemporary YA book
One Man Guy, by Michael Barakiva

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Favorite Dystopian YA book
Divergent, by Veronica Roth

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Favorite YA/Children's Re-Read

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Favorite Children's book
BookSpeak! written by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Josée Bisaillon

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Favorite New-to-Me Holiday book
The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg

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Favorite Holiday Re-Read
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson

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Favorite Graphic Novel
Embroideries, by Marjane Satrapi

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Favorite Poetry book
A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein

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Favorite Non-fiction book
Empty Mansions, by Bill Dedman & Paul Clark Newell, Jr.

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Favorite Memoir

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Favorite Food-Related book
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan

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I had to wait until 2014 was officially over to post this because you never know if a book from the final days of the year will sneak its way on! Have you read any of these? What was your favorite book of 2014?

14 comments:

  1. My December was actually pretty lackluster this year, but I'm the same way... I can start thinking about my list early but I won't make those final decisions until I'm done reading for the year.

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    1. I actually didn't have any last minute additions, but you never know! I like to look at the year in its entirety. I can understand if others do it differently, but it just doesn't work for me.

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  2. I have read a few of these and enjoyed them. I usually make up my list in late November, early December since I read ahead. A few books I read in December could have bumped others..but since they won't post/release till 2015 I hold off and judge them for 2015. Make sense?

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    1. Absolutely! Like I said to Charleen, I totally get why other people approach the end of the year differently, but I am SO not planned ahead like that, so I take the year a bit more literally -- whatever works for you!

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  3. So many books to add to my wish list! I like to decide on my favourites at the final moment too, you never know what might sneak in there over Christmas :)

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    1. I hope you found some good ones :) Nothing did sneak in over Christmas for me, but you never know!

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  4. It's always fun to see books broken down into categories this way! I really enjoyed Empty Mansions, so I'm glad to see it getting some love on your list, and totally agree that Bittersweet was a great read, too!

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    1. Thanks Shannon! Glad to hear you liked some of these too :)

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  5. So excited you did this! :) I rarely read those really long end of the year surveys either unless done by a close blogger friend.

    I love the cover, it's a great choice for best cover. I also keep meaning to read While Beauty Slept (among many other books you mention in this post.) If you didn't put HP as your favorite re-read then we would have a problem. lol

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    1. That cover is even prettier in person (even the ARC version which is the one I read!) They issued a really crappy cover for the paperback edition if you ask me -- why would you replace something so gorgeous?! I've read mixed reviews on While Beauty Slept, but I really liked it a lot. And I HAD to list HP as a favorite re-read, but couldn't really choose between that and Outlander, so I made two re-read categories. Cause I can. Hehe. :)

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  6. I've read some of these and loved them, especially HP and Sherman Alexie's. I'm also very interested in The Winter People. I do love creepy books! Looks like it was a good year for you.

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    1. It was! The Winter People was really great -- it was one of my first reads of 2014 and I definitely did not forget it as the year went on which is always a good sign :)

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  7. Now you've made me curious about The Winter People. I'm glad there were so many good reads for you in 2014! :)

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    1. Thanks Riv! I had read one other by Jennifer McMahon before, but thought this on was particularly good -- a little weird, but very good. One of these day I will tackle the rest of her backlist.

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I'd love to hear what you think :)