Books I read in 2014:
- We Are Water, Wally Lamb
- The Theory of Opposites, Allison Winn Scotch
- Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
- All The Lonely People, Jess Riley
- How To Talk To A Widower, Jonathan Tropper
- I Am Nujood, Age 10 & Divorced, Nujood Ali w/ Delphine Minoui
- Mouseton Abbey
- Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together, Pamela Slim
- The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch
- The Blindfolded Marriage: Ever Feel Like Your Relationship Is Harder Than It Should Be? Jonathan Hoover
- The Worst Hard Time, Timothy Egan
- The Mastery of Management: or How To Solve The Mystery of Mismanagement, Taibi Kahler
- Look Me In The Eye: My Life With Asperger’s, John Elder Robison
- Daring Greatly: How The Courage To Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, & Parent, Brene Brown
- A Memoir of Going Home: Mennonite In A Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen
- The Dream Manager, Matthew Kelly
- Heaven Is For Real: A Little Boy’s Trip To Heaven, Todd Bopo, Sonja Bopo, & Colton Bopo
- The Giver, Lois Lowry
- The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
- Remember Me Like This, Bret Anthony Johnson
- Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
- This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
- The Husband’s Secret, Liane Moriarty
- The Lone Survivor, Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson
- Moloka’I, Alan Brennert
- Landline, Rainbow Rowell
- The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
- The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis
- Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed
- Larger Than Life, Jodi Picoult
- Tell The Wolves I’m Home, Carol Rifka Brunt
- The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
- Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale, Ian Morgan Cron
- The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
- Learning From The Voices In My Head, Eleanor Longden
- Bossypants, Tina Fey
- Blind, Rachel DeWoskin
- Get Busy Living, Jenny Hardin
- American Sniper, Chris Kyle
- Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
- Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn
- Plain Truth, Jodi Picoult
- The Light Between Oceans: A Novel, M.L. Stedman
- Natural Spirituality: Recovering the Wisdom Tradition In Christianity, Joyce Rockwood Hudson
- Department of Speculation, Jenny Offill
- Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
- You Better Not Cry, Augusten Burroughs
- The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman
- The Silver Star, Jeanette Walls
- Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche, Ethan Watters
- Euphoria, Lily King
My top 5 favorite (In no particular order):
As much as I love to read, I like to remind my girls, that true life is by far more interesting than fiction. I’ve always been a sucker for true life stories, and this one, my friends, is utterly fascinating.
2014 was the year I learned about Brene Brown and subsequently fell in love. Like her, I’m a LMSW so the self help genre has always interested me. Naturally, there are a lot of “crap” books out there that fall under self help, but this one is a complete and utter gem. If you’ve seen either one of her TED Talks then this book is that on steroids! You cannot go wrong reading this book. I guarantee you will learn something about yourself.
I don’t recall how I came across this book. I’m thinking perhaps I read an article about it or the author; I know it wasn’t recommended to me, but oh my this book! Yes, it’s geared toward teen and young adult, but I don’t care. This is still probably one of my favorites. It’s set in the 1980’s and involves comic books, mixed tapes, and first love, need I say more? What sets it apart is that as I completed it, I knew without a doubt, my oldest daughter (13 at the time) would absolutely adore it – and she did. We both hope that it will make it’s way to the big screen – only if it does the book justice, though. One of the many things I love about books is their ability to transcend age and unite generations and this book did just that.
Growing up, my dad was never much of a reader (other than the newspaper), though on those big, long distance road trips, he’d check out an audio book or two from the library and listen to them. It’s only in retirement, and really even only in the last couple of years, that he’s started to read books. He’s been a Christian since before my parents met and married, and will gladly tell you how he came to accept Christ in his life and the peace he’s had ever since. This is the first book, outside of scriptures in the bible that I’ve read that is faith based. It’s small, but mighty and shook me to my core.
One of my childhood friends is an English professor and during my quest to fulfill my goal, she’d routinely recommend books to me. I read one or two and wasn’t as moved by them as she, but then she suggested I read this one and I am so very glad I did. It is heartbreakingly beautiful. The emotions in this book are raw and tangible. It’s soon to be released as a major motion picture and while I generally hesitate to see a movie once I’ve read the book, I’m actually looking forward to this one.
The official movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5SOdK-9f_A
Through this experience, I discovered new to me authors like Jonathan Tropper and Liane Moriarty and have enjoyed reading other books by them. Lastly, even though the books didn’t make it into my top 5 of 2014, there are two books that, while not my favorite, have definitely stayed with me. Moloka’i by Alan Brennert and The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion.