Best of 2014

This survey was created by Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner

 

Number Of Books You Read: 75

Number of Re-Reads: 1

Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary

1. Best Book You Read In 2014? This is the hardest question, so I will break it down by genre.

Adult Contemporary: Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. Chances are, if she has a new book out, it will be my favourite of the year. A close second are both books by Lucy Clarke - Swimming at Night & A Single Breath

 

Young Adult: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. It was heartbreaking, beautiful, and real.

 

Thriller/Mystery: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas kept me guessing until the very end, and beyond.

Fantasy: City of Bones & City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare. I just loved the urban fantasy setting, and the banter.

 

Non-Fiction: I only read two non-fiction books this year. That's terrible, especially since I really enjoy non-fiction. From the two I read, I loved 'The 13th Gift' by Joanne Huist Smith. Definitely a good story to read at this time of year.

 

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Silent Sister by Diana Chamberlain. It was good, and thrilling, but I didn't like it as much as I liked her other novels. It didn't quite hit the mark for me. Also, We Were Liars got a lot of hype and I didn't love it nearly as much as others.

 

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2014? City of Bones. This book is a love or hate book/series, and I'm a little surprised how much I loved it.
 

4. Book you read in 2014 that you recommended to people most in 2014? Leaving Time (always recommending Jodi Picoult) & I forced my mom to read quite a few books.
 

5. Best series you discovered in 2014? This is hard because I started a few series this year: The Mortal Instruments, Outlander, Throne of Glass, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Greatcoats series. For contemporary, I'm really enjoying the Lowcountry Summer series by Mary Alice Monroe. This was a year all about series apparently.
 

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2014? Lucy Clarke for adult, Morgan Matson & Cassandra Clare for YA.

 

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you? I read Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series by Tyler Knott Gregson, which was definitely out of my normal genres. I enjoyed it, and found some of the poems really inspiring. It's a beautiful, visual book.
 

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2014? I hate to repeat, but Second Chance Summer. I read the majority of that book in one night.

 

9. Book You Read In 2014 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? I don't really re-read any books other than the Harry Potter books, and I did re-read the first one this year. I want to re-read the last one because I haven't read that one since it came out. Plus, the movie marathons on TV this time of year are making me crave a re-read.

 

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014? That Night by Chevy Stevens. That cover is just beautiful. The Mortal Instrument covers are really pretty, too.
 

11. Most memorable character in 2014? Magnus Bane.

 

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2014? While I didn't love it as much as everyone else, We Were Liars was beautifully written.

 

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2014? The 13th Gift really made me remember what Christmas is about. I think of it when the holidays seem to be too much, which is often.

 

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to finally read? Anne of Green Gables! I read a childrens version of this when I was a kid, but it took me until 2014 to finally read the full book.
  

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2014? It's actually a poem from Chasers of the Light. "Will you follow me down that old dirt road and get lost inside those mountains? Will you rip up that map and dance inside the confetti? Let's chase the horizon and find ourselves along the way. These are wandering feet and they wish for yours to join them."

 

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2014? Longest was Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon at a whopping 947 pages. Shortest was Chasers of the Light at 144 pages.
  

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!: Many scenes in Outlander.

 

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2014 (be it romantic, friendship, etc). Romantic: Jamie and Claire
Friendship: Rachel, Emilie, and Matthew from The Single Girl's To-Do List.
Family: The Edwards' family in Second Chance Summer

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2014 From An Author You’ve Read Previously: The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain. It's an older release, but I really liked it. Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf was really good, too. 

20. Best Book You Read In 2014 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else? Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.
  

21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2014? Contemporary, but I found myself picking up a lot of fantasy this year.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014? I feel too old to have crushes on literary characters. I read a lot of YA, and it feels pervy to crush on a 16-18 year old.  

23. Best 2014 debut you read? You by Caroline Kepnes. That book was disturbing, but so good.

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2014? Any of the fantasy books I read - Throne of Glass, The Mortal Instruments, Traitor's Blade.

25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2014? The Single Girls To-Do List by Lindsey Kelk was a lot of fun to read, and got me out of a reading slump.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2014? Second Chance Summer definitely made me weepy.
 

27. Book You Read in 2014 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out? A Single Breath by Lucy Clarke, That Night by Chevy Stevens.

  

LOOKING AHEAD

 

 

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2014 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2015? The rest of the Mortal Instruments. I would have read them all in 2014, but I ran out of time.
  

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2015 (non-debut)? Probably The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. She is another of my favourite authors. For YA, it's Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen.

3. 2015 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? Probably An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

4. Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2015? I don't think I have any series that are ending in 2015.
  

5. One Thing You Hope to Accomplish or Do in Your Reading/Blogging in 2015? Be more consistent. There are months where I hardly blog at all. I also want to keep a paper journal with all the books I read, and include my favourite quote of the book.

I really want to read more non-fiction this year, and maybe some classics. I've never read The Great Gatsby! Crazy, I know, but my classes never had to read it.

This was fun! It was interesting to go back over my Goodreads and see what I read early in the year. It's easy to forgot those early in the year reads, but I definitely read some good ones early on.