1.08.2015

2014 Books: fourth quarter

I read six more books than last year (hooray!) but I'm still hoping for a year that I can read 50 books. Maybe someday, but I'm not holding my breath.  Also, If I'm being honest, I actually finished a couple of these books in 2015.  But I started both in 2014 so I'm counting them.  The rest of 2014 books here: first quartersecond quarterthird quarter.  Here's to lots of great reading in 2015!!

Excellent
29-31.  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling- In preparation for our trip to Harry Potter World (!!!!) I re-listened to as many of the books as I could fit in.  Always, always an excellent use of time.

32. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand- In December I watched a tv special on the making of Unbroken. They interviewed Laura Hillenbrand and I was reminded what an amazing person she is- she suffers from terrible illness and rarely feels well enough to leave her house yet she researches and writes beautifully.  I'd been wanting to read Seabiscuit for a long time, but this finally pushed me over the edge.  It was fantastic (though not quite as compelling as Unbroken.)  And, I discovered that listening to a horse race while running on a treadmill is quite motivating.

Great
33. The Expats by Chris Pavone  This was a hide-in-the-bathroom-so-I-can-get-a-few-extra-minutes-to-read kind of book.  I was really, really into the story and was shocked and pleased at the end.  This made me think I should read more spy novels.

34. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie I kind of can't believe I had never read this before.  I loved it of course, and we had a really great book club discussion.

35. Wonder by R.J. Palacio- A wonderful book about a boy who has a severe face deformation entering public school for the first time.  In my opinion, this is a must-read for all middle schoolers.  It was age appropriate but had a very powerful message.

36. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple- It actually took me a little while to get into this, but then I loved it.  It's a quirky and very funny story told through letters/emails about the events that led to Bernadette's mysterious disappearance.

37. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond- I actually would have liked this better as a blog post, or series of posts.  It was a little wordy and redundant to be a book, but I do really like Ree and I thought her story was cute and fun.

38. Baby Proof by Emily Giffin- This was a fun, quick and fluffy book to read while at the beach.  Claudia and Ben are both thrilled to have found a spouse who also has no interest in having children.  But after a few years Ben changes his mind and Claudia is forced to re-examine her life choices.  I really liked the relevance of this book- I clearly fall into the camp of people that never ever dreamed of not having children of my own but I realize that lots of people disagree.


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