The Best Of 2014 Your Top 5 Books?

[D_P]

Did you get around to Ace of Skulls? It turned out to be my favorite of that magnificent series.

not yet...i'll read it soon. i have a problem with things being over, even though i constantly harp on the need for a beginning, middle and end. also, i'm so disappointed in quantity this year that i'm trying to finish off blood song and guns of avalon before the new year. i realize that only i will feel better should their completion beat the deadline but there ya go...the braided path is also high on my list for next year.

something that amazes me is that we all have a soft spot for stories that flow so well but many of us try to dissect jonathon strange and mr. norrel...a good book, to be sure, but who wants to work that hard all of the time? i feel that the same reason the two of us like wooding is the same reason that ppl like aaronovitch, butcher or lynch...hard to find any wooding love outside of the cursory mention that the board allows though.

[Ferrum Aeternum]

not yet...i'll read it soon. i have a problem with things being over, even though i constantly harp on the need for a beginning, middle and end. also, i'm so disappointed in quantity this year that i'm trying to finish off blood song and guns of avalon before the new year. i realize that only i will feel better should their completion beat the deadline but there ya go...the braided path is also high on my list for next year.

I'm usually the same way about literary endings (often I find them disappointing and anticlimactic), but for my money the Ketty Jay ending was about as satisfying as it possibly could have been.

something that amazes me is that we all have a soft spot for stories that flow so well but many of us try to dissect jonathon strange and mr. norrel...a good book, to be sure, but who wants to work that hard all of the time? i feel that the same reason the two of us like wooding is the same reason that ppl like aaronovitch, butcher or lynch...hard to find any wooding love outside of the cursory mention that the board allows though.

Yeah, there's no shame in enjoying a series as fun on so many different levels as this one. It's interesting though that as soon as I finished up with Ketty Jay that I started in on Malazan. It's like after all that swashbuckling fun and fast-paced excitement that I subconsciously sought out something slower-paced and more challenging. Maintaining the balance, I suppose.

[Words-Are-Wind]

5. American Gods - Neil Gaiman

This is one of my favorite books of all time. Can't wait for it to be turned into a TV series.

Anyways... some of my personal favorites that I read this past year:

The Silkworm (Robert Galbraith)

Bring Up the Bodies (Hilary Mantel)

The Dinner (Herman Koch)

Cinnamon and Gunpowder (Eli Brown)

The Golem and the Jinni (Helene Wecker)

[Words-Are-Wind]

Double-post. Apologies.

[Darth Richard II]

Hrmmmm. I think I can do a 2014 only list

City of Stairs by Bennett

Unwrapped Sky by Davidson

Fool's Assassin by Hobb

Prince of Fools by Lawrence

Widow's House by Abraham

If we slotted in everything I read, heck, it would probably be the same. Good year.

[Teng Ai Hui]

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer Chely Wright

The Passage Justin Cronin

Blue is the Warmest Color (graphic novel) Julie Maroh

The Churn and Cibola Burn James S.A. Corey

[Spockydog]

Hrmmmm. I think I can do a 2014 only list

City of Stairs by Bennett

Unwrapped Sky by Davidson

Fool's Assassin by Hobb

Prince of Fools by Lawrence

Widow's House by Abraham

If we slotted in everything I read, heck, it would probably be the same. Good year.

Oooh, that Unwrapped Sky looks pretty good. Gonna get the sample and take it for a test drive.

[Bjornbert]

If going by 2014 releases it would be something like this:

1. Prince of Fools

2. Half a King

3. The goblin emperor

The widow's house which I'm reading now will probably jump at 2 or 3. I may be able to read one of Foxglove Summers( honourable mention for the whole series which I read in the last couple of months) or City of Stairs( which seems pretty fucking cool and extremly hyped) before the year ends

Edit: stuff not released this year I'll mention The Broken Empire trilogy by Marl Lawrence amd Republic of Thieves(which while not perfect was a joy to read)

[Larry.]

Finally got around to listing my Top 5 (out of 50) on my blog. Here they are, with links to the original reviews:

5. Evie Wyld, All the Birds, Singing

This was a delight to read, this wonderfully-written tale of a woman fleeing her past in Australia only to come upon a seemingly-minor and yet frightening episode in rural Britain.

4. Catherine Lacey, Nobody is Ever Missing

This tale of a woman who up and leaves her dissatisfying home and professional life to discover herself is well-written and moving.

3. Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See

Finalist for the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction, this tale, set in WWII France, of a blind girl and a German radio savant, constantly surprises with its rich language and poignant moments.

2. Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You

This story of a biracial American family's fissioning, leading up to the suicide of their daughter, was a devastating read.

1. Phil Klay, Redeployment

This National Book Award winning collection is my favorite book of the year for its combination of humor, rage, frustration, doubt, and all the gamut of human emotions in these tales of Iraqi War veterans dealing with their experiences, both wartime and after. Just an outstanding debut and a well-deserving winner of the National Book Award.

[Arbor Gold]

The Son, Philip Meyer

The Book of Strange New Things, Michael Faber

The Martian, Andy Weir

The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker

The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell

[kairparavel]

Goodreads tells me I've read 16 books to completion this year. I also have another 3 on the go.

My favourites would be:

In the Woods - Tana French

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store - Robin Sloan

The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker

Memoirs of An Imaginary Friend: A Novel - Matthew Dicks

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Flavia de Luce #1 - Alan Bradley

[shortstark]

City of Stairs. Bennett

Widows House, Abraham

Fools Assassin, Hobb

Thunderer, Gilman

and Scudder. i reread Lawrence Block matthew scudder books and found them to just as good as the last time..esp, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes..

[Nosutchmanas Tulsadum]

City of Stairs. Bennett

Widows House, Abraham

Fools Assassin, Hobb

Thunderer, Gilman

and Scudder. i reread Lawrence Block matthew scudder books and found them to just as good as the last time..esp, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes..

Try 'Eight Million Ways to Die', shortstark. I've read a bunch of the Matthew Scudder novels and that one is by far my favourite. A lot of people like Sacred Ginmill and A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, but Scudder's bout with alcoholism is pretty realistic in this one and a great subplot to another excellent mystery.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I read a lot I didn't enjoy this year, but there were a few that won me over.

Carmilla by Joseph Le Sheridan Fanu--don't remember why I picked it up, but I loved it. Thought it was way better than Dracula, maybe because it was shorter.

The Hunter by Richard Stark. I didn't know the Payback movie had been based on a novel. Though I didn't care for the novel as much as the movie, I still liked this book quite a bit--it was much darker, and not nearly as humorous as Mel Gibson may it out to be.

Monsters of the Gevaudan by Jay M. Smith--I finally found a full novel, recently written about the mythic events that transpired in Gevaudan! Of course, this is a historic text so the superstition surrounding the legendary Beast is surrounded by "rational explanations" which is a bummer for something that is often called a real werewolf story, but the whole thing is so fascinating I couldn't put it down. It is very academic in nature, but even still, this book really helped me put the events in context.

Baptism of Fire/Sword of Destiny (formerly Truth) by Adrzej Sapkowski. I put these books together to cheat the top 5 a bit I guess, but I was so glad to read the English fan translation of the Sword of Truth because it made all the rest of the Witcher series that much better, then Baptism of Fire came out and was phenomenal! Love this series. Can't get enough of it. I want more right now.

Nietzsche books. Never read him before. For grad school we read Beyond Good and Evil, then for my paper I read The Antichrist, Ecce Homo, and Thus Spake Zarathustra and I can't choose between them. I love it all, and I read these books far too quickly to really have a good understanding. I can't wait to read each of these slowly and with more care. Right now I'm going to choose Beyond Good and Evil as my number 1 because our professor took us slowly through it and I feel like I understand it the best, though Zarathustra, I think, will speak to be the best when all is said and done. I love his writing.

[Larry.]

Baptism of Fire/Sword of Truth by Adrzej Sapkowski. I put these books together to cheat the top 5 a bit I guess, but I was so glad to read the English fan translation of the Sword of Truth because it made all the rest of the Witcher series that much better, then Baptism of Fire came out and was phenomenal! Love this series. Can't get enough of it. I want more right now.

Sword of Truth? Freudian (Goodkindian?) slip there? :P

Jokes aside, the Witcher series is good. Waiting for the Spanish translation of Storm Season to come out this year, along with the third Hussite trilogy book, Lux Perpetua, so I can be caught up with the Polish readers.

[YellowDogJen]

I didn't put The Golem and the Jinni on my list, but I should've. I really enjoyed it!

I read 69 books last year! WOOT!

[Mark Lawrence]

Oooh, that Unwrapped Sky looks pretty good. Gonna get the sample and take it for a test drive.

I'm on page 357 of 430 ish. It's a non-standard fantasy book. Sometimes it feels a bit like a Russian 20th century classic. I can see it not being to the taste of quite a few fantasy readers but I'm finding good things in it.

[Centrist Simon Steele]

Sword of Truth? Freudian (Goodkindian?) slip there? :P

Jokes aside, the Witcher series is good. Waiting for the Spanish translation of Storm Season to come out this year, along with the third Hussite trilogy book, Lux Perpetua, so I can be caught up with the Polish readers.

Yeah whoops, I've never even read Goodkind. Must have seeped in from here? Lol.

[Ser Dalton Vaas]

Words of Radiance - Brandon Sanderson

Blood Song - Anthony Ryan

The Black Prism - Brent Weeks

The Blinding Knife - Brent Weeks

The Broken Eye - Brent Weeks

Honourable Mentions: The World of Ice and Fire, The Tower Lord & The Lions of Al Rassan

[Rorshach]

I tend to work against myself in these. I am on Goodreads, but I feel I should write a review when rating, and suddenly I have a backlog, and then I'm just postponing and ... well.

Anyways, of those I've rated, I go for Sult (Hunger) by Knut Hamsun as the best read this year. Will see if I get around to remember any more books I've read... :blush: