Best of 2014: My Favorites

My Faves for 2014

The new year is just around the corner so it’s time to wrap-up 2014. Here are my top ten books read this year.

I kind of had a hard time coming up with books because I liked many of them but there were a few that really made me think.

Here’s my list in no particular order:

The Last Days of California by Mary Miller
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Mr. Lynch’s Holiday by Catherine O’Flynn
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
We Are Called To Rise by Laura McBride
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Painter by Peter Heller
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

Happy New Year to you all. Here’s to another year of reading!

33 thoughts on “Best of 2014: My Favorites”

  1. Love these lists! Bernadette and Eleanor & Park were great, but Dept. of Speculation just didn’t work for me (I’m definitely in the minority!) The Goldfinch is on my kindle and I just downloaded Station Eleven from the library. Happy New Year, Ti!

  2. Station Eleven is on my list of Wanted to Read But Didn’t Get To in 2014! Should have included Dept. of Speculation, which I still want to try, and the Murakami (but still haven’t read IQ84).

    1. Dept of Speculation is so short but wonderful. You can fit it in.

      I would love to read 1Q84 again.

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  3. Loved Dept of Speculation! But both the Murakami and the Tartt were sticky reading places for me and surprisingly so. I actuallu wound up skimming most of the Las Vegas section of The Goldfinch. I’ve been really curious about The Painter. Happy reading in the new year!

  4. Loved Bernadette (on audio!), E&P and Station Eleven. One of these days I need to just plunge into Murakami. Wind Up Bird really blew my mind.

    1. I like Murakami a lot, yiou know this, but I really like to read his stuff when I am just sick of everythig else. His writing is like a palate cleanser to me. I could not binge read him. That, I know.

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    1. A lot of readers didn’t care for Last Days but I really liked that one. Station Eleven made lots of lists this year. It surprised me. I wasn’r expecting to like it as much as I did.

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  5. The only ones I read were Speculation and We Are Called To Rise…and I am not sure that I loved them…

    Happy New Year!

  6. So glad to see the Bernadette book on your list – that one was on my list last year. I need to read Station Eleven soon – I love Emily St. John Mandel’s books writing.

  7. Great list! Station Eleven was awesome. I listened to it on audio and it was so good.

    Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great year filled with health and happiness! Give the pup a squeeze for me.

  8. Nice to see The Painter made your list; I thought it was quite good too. I’m going to put The Last Days of Calif on my list and perhaps the Dept of Speculation too. Thanks.

  9. Happy New Year, Ti! I really hope to get to Station Eleven this year. And Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is on my wish list. I still haven’t read a book by Haruki Murakami. I know. Shame on me.

    May your year be filled with many good books!

  10. The Goldfinch and Eleanor and Park were two of my favs this year as well. Glad to see Station Eleven on your list – it’s the one book I insisted I be given as a gift at Christmas.

  11. Hi Ti! I wanted to stop by and tell you Happy New Year and wish you and your family a great 2015! I’ve missed talking with bloggers and am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things.

    I have a new blog – kay’s reading life – and invite you to visit and chat. I’ve missed book sharing and life sharing and all that stuff. Take care and happy reading!

    1. Oh good! Thanks for stopping by and for letting me know about your new blog. I am going to add it to my reader now.

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  12. Happy New Year Ti! Where’d You Go, Bernadette was also in my top of 2013. it was a great audiobook. I’m really curious about The Goldfinch (just say it live in The Hague a month ago!), but I’m intimidated by its size…

    1. The Goldfinch is hefty. Could have been shaved down a little but once you get to the end, at least in my opinion, it’s all worth it.

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  13. Happy happy new year Tina! I’m finally back to work and finally finally feeling like I’m getting organized again. Fun to see your list from 2014. I have Station Eleven on my e-reader and Where’d You Go Bernadette on my iphone so now I just need to load them both up.

    1. Station Eleven was really good. It starts off on the quiet side but I ended up really liking it quite a bit.

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