Reading Reflections

In 2014 I read 85 books. Well, unless I finish my book today. It's an average of about 7 per month, though of course it doesn't work out that neatly in real life. I tend to read more in winter months, and finish fewer things in August and September, when summer is ending and school is starting up again.

Just for fun, here are some of my favorites from the past year:

Some favorite fiction:
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Circle by Dave Eggers
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Favorite book on creativity:
Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp

Favorite Young Adult fiction:
Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente

Favorite Graphic Novel:
Angel and Faith series by Christos Gage and Rebekah Isaacs

Some favorite Spiritual books:
Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber
Zealot by Reza Aslan
Altars in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor

Favorite simple living memoir:
Notes From a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider

Favorite laugh until I cried memoir:
Carry On, Warrion by Glennon Doyle Melton

Favorite Childhood re-read:
Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

Favorite parenting book:
All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior

Favorite pool-side mysteries:
Red Harvest and Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett

Some favorite Literary commentary:
My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead
The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Paul Elie
What Matters in Jane Austen by John Mullan

Favorite Kid-Lit Literary commentary:
Wild Things by Betsy Bird et all.

Favorite History book:
The Tudors by Peter Ackroyd

Favorite Guilty Pleasure:
Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris