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The Best Of 2014 Your Top 5 Books?

Nearly Headless Ned

By Nearly Headless Ned,
in Literature

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Sheep the Evicted Council Member

Sheep the Evicted

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Posted

Short Version:



1) Tigerman by Nick Harkaway


2) Watership Down by Richard Adams


3) Solar by Iain McEwan


4) Time of Contempt by Andrezj Sapkowski


5) Mater by Iain Banks




Long Version:



Completed (23 books):



The Terror by Dan Simmons - 7.5/10


Solar by Ian McEwan - 9/10


The Fifth Elephant by Prattchet - 7/10


Rule 34 Charles Stross - 7/10


The Long Earth by Pratchett, Terry and Stephen Baxter - 7/10


The Long War by Pratchett, Terry and Stephen Baxter - 6/10


Matter by Banks, Iain, - 8.5/10


Halting State by Charles Stross - 8/10


The business by Banks, Iain - 7/10


The last werewolf by Duncan, Glen - 8/10


Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawerence - 7.5/10


Talulla rising by Duncan, Glen - 7/10


King of Thorns by Mark Lawerence - 8/10


Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawerence -7/10


Tigerman by Nick Harkaway - 10/10


Prince of Fools by Mark Lawerence - 8/10


Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin - 8/10


Time of Contempt by Sapkowski, Andrzej – 8.5/10


Baptism of Firm by Sapkowski, Andrzej - 7.5/10


Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - 8/10


Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - 8/10


Watership Down by Richard Adams. – 9/10


Contact by Carl Sagan - 8.5/10



Abandoned (7 books):



At home : a short history of private life by Bryson, Bill, - lost interest


How to fight Islamist terror from the missionary position by Tangye, Tabish – pretentious.


The children's book by Byatt, A. S.


Red Mars by Robinson, Kim Stanley – aged poorly IMO.


The colour of memory by Dyer, Geoff – unengaging characters


Makers by Doctorow, Cory - overly far-fetched. Lost interest.


Throne of the Crescent Moon by Ahmed, Saladin – very interesting setting, bad execution.


Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley – too slow.


Act of War by Brad Thor – reads like a published fan-fiction.





So a very poor showing this year with only 23 books and not a single work of non-fiction between them. I still think i love The Gone-Away World more than Tigerman but i also recognize that its technically a better book and i can't find a fault in it; still i have only read it once my opinion may change on the re-read. I was planning to re-read Watership Down but i soon realized that i only remembered the barest details; did i ever read it or do i remember it from the show ? Either way it was so long ago that this was essentially a nostalgia-free read and i'm happy to say it holds up incredibly well now that i’m an adult. The Long Earth series by Prattchet has to be the disappointment of the year, a truly fantastic, inventive setting but no plot or characterization worth the name and the pacing was awful. It’s not enough to have a great backdrop you have to have a story to tell as well.



As for the books that didn't make I found that The Childrens Book by A. S. Byatt was extremely well written, characterization was truly top-notch and it had portions that i thought were phenomenal. But the plot, if there was one, was meandering and I found that I didn’t have the stomach for some of the really unpleasant scenes in this book; which is a rare occurrence and probably an indication of just how good her characterization was. Makers is the first work by Doctrow that I didn’t love though I couldn’t really say what it was exactly that made me stop reading. Finally Mists of Avalon is a book i’ve been meaning to read for a very long time and while it was well written I also feel that the Tribes folks were unrealistically progressive and were just there to push MZB’s agenda plus when looking at reviews i saw that a common complaint was that there was no “action” throughout. In the end I decided it wasn’t worth investing my time and energy to power through the slow sections for little to no pay-off.


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Dendrophobic Ent Freerider

Dendrophobic Ent

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1: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin- Pretty much as close to genius as I've seen Sci-Fi get.



2: Pylon by William Faulkner- Not the best Faulkner novel but still a Faulkner novel



3: Anna Karenina by Tolstoy- Pretty dumb soap opera in places, great novel in others.



4. The Fires of Heaven by Robert Jordan- Strongest WoT book thematically but bedevilled nonetheless by the series's flaws.



5. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis- Hilarious and well-written novel that suffers from misogyny and one-dimensional villains


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williamjm Council Member

williamjm

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I feel this might be slightly provisional since I might be able to read Foxglove Summer and/or The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August before the end of the year and I've noticed them appearing on some lists.



For now I'd say:


The Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky


The Paradox Trilogy by Rachel Bach


The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham


Replay by Ken Grimwood


The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson



If we limited it to 'published in 2014' I'd probably add


The Volunteer by Peadar O Guilin


Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie


To replace the last couple.



Shorter fiction:


The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss


The Waiting Stars by Aliete De Bodard


Equoid by Charlie Stross


Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne Valente


Wakulla Springs by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages

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Inigima Council Member

Inigima

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I like these threads, they help me choose some books for the coming year.



1. John Irving - A Prayer For Owen Meany - Jawdropping book. Slow pace but so, so good.


2. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird - Finally got around to this and it lived up to the hype.


3. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun - I don't read much African lit. This was excellent if soul-crushing.


4. Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous With Rama - Yes, I know this is foundational. Didn't read it til this year. Science fiction in the purest sense.


5. Kurt Vonnegut - God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater - Not one of my favorite Vonnegut books, but Vonnegut on a bad day is head and shoulders above the crowd.






So a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters can reproduce the works of Shakespeare but one ape can't join Goodreads?



Dude...





:lol: That's the only way I can keep track too.


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Gigei Council Member

Gigei

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Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw


The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black


War for the Oaks by Emma Bull - for the longest time I thought I had already read this because the synopsis was similar to another book but this time I actually picked it up and it was great


The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman


The Red Dwarf book series


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Buckwheat Council Member

Buckwheat

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So a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters can reproduce the works of Shakespeare but one ape can't join Goodreads?

Dude...

There might be reasons as to why somebody does not want to join another Internet site, you know. (I am just quoting you, but this really goes for everybody saying the same thing in this thread.) :leaving:

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Frey Pies Council Member

Frey Pies

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1. Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson (the quality of this, combined with the drop in quality of ASOIAF, has bought Stormlight Archive dangerously close to supplanting ASOAIF as my favourite fantasy book series).



2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey



3. The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch



4. Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut



5. American Gods - Neil Gaiman


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Ravenhair Council Member

Ravenhair

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1. Jhumpa Lahiri--Interpreter of Maladies

2. Donna Tartt--The Goldfinch

3. Richard Flanagan--The Narrow Road to the Deep North

4. I cannot remember if I read them this year or last, but all of Gillian Flynn's books are excellent. For those who liked Gone Girl, Sharp Objects and Dark Places are both fantastic reads.

5. Hilary Mantel is much like Gillian Flynn in that I enjoy most of her work. If you have read Bringing up the Bodies and Wolf Hall, add a Place of Greater Safety to your list.

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Candre Sellsword

Candre

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Looking back, this year I read a huge pile of books. But more importantently, I finally discovered Podcasts, which made all the travelling I do as a consultant way more fun.



1. Embers by Sandor Márai - A book for all of us, who were deeply hurt by one they loved and can´t forgive him or her. Actually gave me some relief, which sounds weird, I know. Should be read in Hungarian, as most of you will not be able to do that, try the German translation if possible. The English translation is meh.


2. The German Army by Phillipe Masson - The best military history I´ve read so far, possibly only available in French or German.


3. Lés Miserables by Victor Hugo - I read the abridged version and enjoyed it a lot, still thinking about trying the unabridged version in the future.


4. Born Again by Frank Miller - There was a time, Frank Miller was a really good. I like this one even better than Dark Knight Returns.


5. The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clarke - Details, more details, even more details


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YellowDogJen Noble

YellowDogJen

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Geeze. It's hard to just pick 5.



In no particular order -



Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie


City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett


Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb (and all the other Robin Hobb! Except Rain Wilds - haven't read them yet! YET.)


Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding


Cibola Burn - James Corey


The Widow's House - Daniel Abraham


Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence



And yeah, that's more than 5. Tough beans.



Thanks, Goodreads, for helping me keep track of the 68 books I've read so far this year - and thanks, Westeros, for all the wonderful recs!!!


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