Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014--A Year in Books

"A simple wind of despair will easily break them. What must we do, my friends?"
All the faces in the crowd became serious.
"We must live in the radiance of tomorrow, as our ancestors suggested in their tales.For what is yet to come tomorrow has possibilities, and we must think of it, the simplest gift of the possibility of goodness. That will be our strength, that has always been our strength."
         --Ishmael Beah, "The Radiance of Tomorrow"


I'm beginning to think that I can tell a lot about my year by the books that I read, particularly the quality of the fiction and the topic of the non fiction. And also by the type and quality of the books I started, but didn't finish.

But the quality of my fiction I can tell if I wanted to work hard to get into a good book, whether i had the wherewithal to stick with it--or if I just needed to escape in an easy read.

The topics of my non-fiction speak for themselves. There's been a lot to learn this year.

And the books I haven't finished. These titles grieve me a bit. As in, I started it, enjoyed it for a night or two, but found that it was work and easily slipped back into something easy (those were often the times that i "had" to read one of the books the kids wanted me to read). I think a goal I may start with are the books I didn't finish this year.

Also, I don't know about you, but as I set out to choose/read books, I try to vary the topics and authors and perspectives that I read. Some of my titles were chosen with that in mind. But others were chosen just because that's what looked good on the library shelves.

A few notes before I start.
(YA) means Youth Fiction--but it's still good stuff. Sometimes I read it because my kids are reading it sometimes because it's fun.
A bolded title means I really, really loved it. And if you have a chance you should too.
And for the benefit of those really out there books, I provided a brief description (mostly because that's what I put in my own notes.)

2014 in Books

  • Beautiful Fools--R. Clifton Spargo (A fictionalized account of the the last affair of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, set in Cuba, 1939)
  • Daring Greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, & lead--Brene Brown
  • A Wrinkle in Time (YA)--Madeleine L'Engle
  • A Long Walk to Water--Linda Sue Park
  • Sister of my Heart--Chitra Banerjie Divakaruni
  • Song yet Sung--James McBride ( I couldn't put this one down. Interesting voices and topic)
  • Still Alice--Lisa Genova
  • Orphan Train--Christina Baker Kline
  • State of Wonder--Ann Patchett
  • Sycamore Lane--John Grisham
  • Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend--Matthew Dicks (A book from the point of view of autistic Max's imaginary friend.)
  • Parenting a Child with Sensory Processing Disorder-Auer/Blumberg
  • The Husband's Secret--Liane Miorarty
  • Revolution (YA)--Jennifer Connelly
  • Rescuing Julia Twice--Tina Traster
  • Written in My Heart's Own Blood (#8 of the Outlander Series)--Diana Gabaldon
  • Radiance of Tomorrow--Ishmael Beah (READ THIS BOOK!)
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--Maya Angelou
  • Where'd you go, Bernadette--Maria Semple
  • The Bitter Taste of Time--Bea Gonzalez
  • The Bookseller of Kabul--Selerstaad
  • Feed Me, Love Me--Katja Rowell, MD
  • Tim Gunn: A guide to Quality, Taste, & Style 
  • Your Fathers, Where are They? Your Prophets, Do They Live Forever?--Dave Eggers
  • Blink--Malcom Gladwell (Non-Fiction about how we make split second decisions)
  • The Language of Flowers--Vanessa Diffenbauch
  • The Invention of Wings--Sue Monk Kidd
  • Caleb's Crossing--Geraldine Brooks
  • Artemis Fowl (YA)--Eoinn Colfer
  • Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind--Ann B. Ross
  • The Invisible Bridge--Julie Orringer (A WWII book from a Hungarian point of view. Haunting in a different way)
  • The Light Between the Oceans--M.L. Stedman (Primarily set on a remote lighthouse island--This is a sad book)
  • Wonder (YA)--Palaccio
  • Choosing to See--Mary Beth Chapman
  • The White Princess--Phillippa Gregory
  • This is How you Lose Her--Junot Diaz
  • The House on Mango Street--Sandra Cisneros
  • Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe--Todd Wilson
  • I Saw the Angel in the Marble--Davis
The Books I started but didn't finish:

  • Guardians of Ga'hoole: The Capture (YA)--Lasky
  • The Day the World Ended at Little BigHorn--Marshall III
  • Unglued--Terkeurst
  • Sing Me To Heaven--Margaret Kim Peterson
  • A Sand County Almanac--Aldo Leopold
  • The Undertaking--Thomas Lynch
  • Lies My Teacher Told Me--Loewen
  • Flora & Uylesses (YA)--DiCamillo


So that makes my total: 39 books completed. 10 Non-fiction, 29 fiction, 4 Young Adult.
(I didn't include my repeat reads--I may be guilty of re-reading Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books. A Couple times)

Here's to a great year in books. Typing this list brought many remembrances. To me, that is the mark of a year well-read.

Happy New Year to you and yours.
S


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