Books of 2014

This past year was a great one for reading. Despite living in a non-English speaking country for half of the year, in general, I had easy access to books. Thankfully, I was able to borrow from the school library that was fairly well stocked with novels. I was also pleasantly surprised when a parent came in and offered me her old Kindle. I've always been a bit against e-readers so it sat on my desk for a few months while I worked up the courage to use it. In the end, I'm still a paper book person. However, I definitely appreciate the convenience of an e-reader, especially while living abroad. Sometimes you need a book that you just can't get your hands on.

My goal for 2014 was to read 37 books. I very happily exceeded that goal.

Here's what I read this past year:

1. Hope was Here by Joan Bauer (186)

2. Sold by Patricia McCormick (263)

3. Bob: No Ordinary Cat by James Bowen (293)

4. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez (290)

5. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan (252)

6. Just Juice by Karen Hesse (137)

7. Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote (194)

8. Mr. Stink by David Walliams (267)

9. Gangsta Grandma by David Walliams (297)

10. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough (673)

11. Where'd You Go Bernadette? by Maria Semple (352)

12. Buster Keaton: Tempest in a Flat Hat by Edward McPherson (253)

13. Habibi by Craig Thompson (664)

14. No Longer At Ease by Chinua Achebe (194)

15. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (771)

16. The Spider's House by Paul Bowles (406)

17. Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud (186)

18. In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah (414)

19. The Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun (165)

20. A Life Full of Holes by Driss Ben Hamed Charhadi (295)

21. The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp (304)

22. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (337)

23. A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers (354)

24. Maggie and Me by Damian Barr (242)

25. Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked by James Lasdun (218)

26. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (245)

27. This One is Mine by Maria Semple (289)

28. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence (306)

29. Northern Exposed by Darren Burrows (220)

30. Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy (559)

31. The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum (280)

32. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell (325)

33. Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington (133)

34. Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami (195)

35. Wildwood Imperium by Colin Meloy (580)

36. The Circle by Dave Eggers (491) 

37. Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker (162)

38. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley (160)

39. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick (273)

40. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (433)

41. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (256)

42. Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee (262)

43. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai (289)

44. Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein (192)

45. California by Edan Lepucki (393)

46. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (422)

47. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (112)

48. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood (267)

49. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (400)

50. Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes (336)

51. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (352)

52. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (480)

52 books...that's an average of a book a week. Not bad. That means 53 is the goal for 2015. Better get started.