Favorite Books of 2014

I'm back with my picks of my favorite books for the year! It's hard to narrow it down from the 80+ books I've read this year, but I did my best. Granted some of these are not literary wonders, but they are the ones that moved me or entertained me in some way this year.  I find that sometimes a book will really strike a chord with me depending on my mood or what else I have going on in my life. This year I tried something new and read about 8 books in a row that had the word "rose" in the title. Maybe it was silly, but it was fun to look for books that would fit the bill!  Hopefully you will find something in my list that you love too! Feel free to share your favorites with me in the comments. I may have a billion books on my To Read shelf but I'm always happy to add more!

FICTION:
1. The Storyteller and Leaving Time both by Jodi Picoult - I tend to start a Picoult book with a bit of trepidation ever since I read My Sister's Keeper and bawled my freakin' eyes out. But she is a great author so I gave her another chance this year.  I really liked these two books! The Storyteller is a World War II book that will really pull at your heartstrings. I got so involved in the story that I went on to read two or three books related to this one, and I even learned how to make braided Jewish challah bread. Leaving Time is about elephants, missing mothers, wayward detectives and debunked psychics and somehow all those elements come together to create a great story!

2. Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt - this is actually the sequel to The Wednesday Wars but you can read it as a stand alone. I would highly recommend The Wednesday Wars too though.  Both are great books about teenage boys coming of age during the 60's. They are both YA.

3. Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - this is the sequel to another of my favorite books, Code Name Verity, but can also be a stand alone book. A few characters from CNV show up in this book but you don't have to have read the first book to understand what's going on.  This is another WWII book about a female pilot and Ravensbruck prison.

4. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - this book literally had me laughing out loud! It was the $.99 cent book on Amazon one day and I thought "Why Not?" It is about a genetics professor with Aspergers (but he doesn't know it) who's trying to find the most compatible wife.  It is hilarious! Yeah, it's a bit fluffy and predictable but who doesn't need that once in awhile? Be warned, the Rosie character has a bit of a potty mouth.

5. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd - Historical fiction at its finest. I continue to be impressed by Sue Monk Kidd's work.  Based on the real life of the Grimke sisters who were early abolitionists and feminists. The book alternates between the point of view of Sarah Grimke and a female slave named Handful. I love a book about strong women!

6.  Brave New World by Alduous Huxley - This is just a classic dystopic novel that everyone should read. Imagine a world where everything we consider good values (family, monogamy, emotions, freedom, individual thought) are actually vices. So interesting!

7.  Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli - This is a book every teenager should read.  It's about being yourself no matter what. Stop trying to "fit in" and go ahead and make a statement.  I read this about the same time I read Eleanor and Park which has a similar theme, but I liked this one a bit more.

8. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline - I really enjoyed this story. It brings a young girl in foster care during the present day into contact with an old woman who was a child on an orphan train earlier in the century.  I liked how young and old were able to relate to each other and have many things in common, and ultimately, help each other to grow. The history of orphan trains in America is really fascinating to me and I will be looking for more books on the subject.

9. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson - This book was a little different than my usual literary fare. It's about Super Heroes gone bad and the people who are trying to stop them from destroying the world.  I know it sounds kind of silly, but it was a fun read.

10. Sycamore Row by John Grisham - I used to enjoy a John Grisham book every now and then and then he wrote a few that I was disappointed in.  This book he gets back to his old style and it was a good courtroom drama type book. It's kind of a companion novel to A Time to Kill, but you don't need to have read A Time to Kill first.

NONFICTION
1. Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo - a heart-wrenching look at life in the ghettos of India and the incredible corruption that goes on there. It made me really appreciate my own life!

2. How to talk so your kids will listen and listen so your kids will talk by Adele Faber - this is a somewhat dated parenting book ("before you up and smack your child you should....") but it had lots of great advice. I've used a lot of the strategies both with my kids and while working as a substitute teacher and they really do work. As with any self help book it's good to approach it with a kind of a take-what-works-for-you-and-forget-the-rest mentality.

3. Hitler Youth by Susan Bartoletti - this is actually a young adult book that I picked up at the library for my kids, started reading, and couldn't put down.  It is a very interesting, basic, look at the Hitler Youth group.

4. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell - I don't have much to say on this one except it is classic Gladwell and I find him to be interesting (must be that hairdo!) I like books that make me challenge what I've always thought and this one does that.

5. Think Like a Freak by Leavitt and Dubner - the Freakonomics guys are back! I didn't like this quite as much as their first two books but it was still interesting. I mean, just the title alone should give you motivation to read it! I asked the librarian for it (they had just gotten it and hadn't got it out on the shelves yet) and she gave me such a look! It was funny!

6. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - I started listening to a lot of audio books this year and this was one of them. Claudette Colvin was the first person to refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus (even though Rosa Parks gets the credit) but because she was only 15 and got pregnant shortly after, they decided not to use her as the face of the movement. The book has lots of interesting information about the Civil Rights Movement.

FAMILY BOOK CLUB BOOKS:
These are the books I've read to my kids this year with my favorite ones highlighted.
1. Falling Up
2. Hatchet
3. Brian's Winter
4. The One and Only Ivan
5. Savvy
6. The Heroes Guide to Storming the Castle
7. Moon Over Manifest
8. Eskimo Boy
9. Al Capone Does My Shirts

And if that's not enough to sate your thirst for good books to read feel free to check out my lists from 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010. Happy Reading Friends!