2014 Books of the Year

I like to hold books and read books and fall into a book and lose myself in a book and become the book.  I absolutely prefer holding a real book in my hand to reading one on the Ipad.  I doggy ear pages and I set books down open and I crack their spine.  I thoroughly enjoy my books.  People know this and often ask me what is good to read.  I am not sure why, but I always initially freeze when someone asks me what to read.  I do it at work too and it is very awkard.  Sometimes I have to walk through the stacks with a reluctant teen tailing me until something jogs my memory.  My goal for years has been to read 100 books in a year.  I did not come anywhere near that this year but I did read some good books that I have to share with you. 

This would be my happy place.

First up, please read “The Girl You Left Behind” by Jo Jo Moyes.  That Jo Jo; she gave us “Ship of Brides” and “Me Before You” and was then generous enough to give us “The Girl You Left Behind” as well.  I love historical fiction and I love a good war novel and this has both.  It is also set in WWI, not WWII, and the ending will surprise you -that is all I have to say about that.  I was on a real Jo Jo love fest until I read her new one, “One Plus One”, and decided she might be pumping them out too fast to satisfy her readers’ demands for more.  Meh, I thought.  Take your time Jo Jo!  We will wait.

Next up, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.  Oh. My. God.  Have you been a teen girl?  Loved a teen girl?  Been a teenager?  Lived in the eighties?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, pick this book up!  I finished it the same day I started because I couldn’t set it down.  The characters entered my mind and occupied my thoughts.  The writing made me laugh and cry.  The chapters change voices and tell the story from both perspectives and it made me wish that books were written like this when I was a teenager so I had some clue what boys thought.  READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!

I must say that I am most proud of reading Anna Karenina this summer.  That was 800+ pages of Russian turmoil and strife and was some heavy stuff to get through.  It took me six weeks.  There is only so much angst one can take at a time.  That Anna – what a hot mess!  Good grief, by the time I hit page 300 I was wishing they had Zoloft back then and that she would take some.  By page 600 I was eagerly turning pages hoping this is when the train got her and was both happy and relieved when it did.  However, just because I didn’t like her doesn’t mean that I didn’t like the book.  It is good to read literature like that when you have time to read a page and as you turn it think “what did that just say?”  I found myself going back or forgetting which Russian guy was which and having to trace the dotted line of characters throughout the novel.  It was interesting and it was good to stretch when reading like that.  It will, however, be awhile before I pick up my next Russian novel.

Have you been a Room Mom?  Hated a Room Mom? Wondered when it was that the PTA got so political and vicious?  Then you should read Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.  I was not expecting to like this book because I did not like her book The Husband’s Secret – anyone with a brain figured out the secret by Chapter Three.  This book was funny and funny in a way that points out how stupid we are about our kids and about the social scene at school.  In addition to providing us with a magnifying mirror, she also provides us with a really good, funny and interesting story.  Dig in!

Do you just want to read something that makes you laugh?  This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper is what you need.  I know they made a movie out of it and I am sure that is funny too and yes, we all love Jason Bateman, but how often do you read a book that makes you laugh out loud?  This book will do it for you and more than once.  I tittered, snickered, giggled and guffawed. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.  How I did not find this book ages ten through fifteen, I have no idea.  I loved this book! Historical, interesting, characters that made you care about them – it had it all.  If I had found this book when I was younger, I would have read it a million times.

Alright, here are some honorable mentions before I get to my favorite book of the year.  In the YA category:  Losers by Matthew Roth (I recommend it at school to kids all the time because it is short and I thought it was well written and funny) and The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer Smith.  Teens fall in love, fate keeps them apart, what will happen?  Cute and feel-good.  Oh and  Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (my first Stephen King book!) and Silkworm by JKRowing but under her detective alias Robert something with a G.

Ready??  Drum roll please……..My favorite book of 2014 was Shotgun Lovesongs by Nikolas Butler.  It is his first novel and I would like to lock him in a room providing him with only food and water until he writes another one.  Oh the writing!  It was beautiful, it was lyrical, and it painted pictures in my head.  It is very rare for me to get hung up on words or a phrase while reading as I like to read, read, read, and get to the end.  This book kept me hitting pause with its descriptions.  I could see what he was describing every single time and it was haunting, aching and mesmerizing.  The book follows four friends and their lives in high school and present day and changes voices (love that!) throughout.  The story itself is good and the writing will just destroy you.  Absolutely read this book. 

So that is it for the year in books.  2014 saw some great ones but more average ones or ones where I look at the title I wrote down and can’t remember reading at all.  I am currently in a bit of a book slump, but I think that is because I know I should be studying instead of reading.  I am sure that once my content test is behind me that a multitude of fabulous books will fall into my lap.  Until then, I will ignore the guilt of not studying and plow through the tedium until I find one that makes me so excited that I have to share.