I ended up reading 51 books in 2014 (and rereading 4 more), which totaled over 17,000 pages according to Goodreads. I finished at least one book in every month of the year except February and read the most books in August. For the second year in a row, I didn't read any truly awful books, mainly because I wasn't taking any more writing seminars and didn't have a horrible summer reading book assigned. As always, though, there were some books that were better than others. I decided to give out some book awards completely made up by me.
The What Am I Reading? award
The Colour of Magic (and The Light Fantastic) by Terry Pratchett. The best way to describe what I’ve read of the Discworld series so far is a fantasy version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. While there’s no Vogon poetry or a restaurant at the end of the universe, Discworld takes places on a rotating disk carried on the backs of elephants on the giant turtle the Great A’Tuin and includes imaginary dragons and the Luggage. So yeah, it’s weird . . . but good. Really.
The That’s Worse Than Vogon Poetry award
Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo. In this Newbery Medal winning children’s book, Flora’s mother vacuums up a squirrel (Ulysses) that survives and writes poetry and thinks about food a lot. I’m willing to suspend belief about a lot of things (see above) but the squirrel poetry was kind of contrived (and not very good). I also didn't particularly care for any of the characters and the storyline wasn't very developed or engaging. Granted, I’m about a decade older than the target readers, but I remember other books (The Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn Dixie) by the author as being better.
The I Actually Can’t Pronounce Any of These Names award
The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. Turns out the history of Middle Earth was pretty complicated. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who’s not a Tolkien fan but there’s a lot of backstory and I found it interesting, even if it took me three tries to get through it.
The “Houston, we have a problem” award
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. For a storyline frequently found on “The 10 Most Confusing Movies” list, I didn't think the book was that strange (again, see above). Until I reached the end. Besides the brief foray into “What Am I Reading?” territory, most of the science and story made sense. Apollo 13 got home on the computing power of a pocket calculator. Discovery in 2001 gets in trouble because their computer is artificially intelligent. Computers: friend or foe?
The Stavromula Beta award
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. You might only get this award if you've read both American Gods and The Hitchhiker’s Guide, but I thought American Gods was pretty good. It’s about the fight between old and new mythological beings and was a bit hard to get into but the characters were well done.
Most disappointing book:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. I really liked Musicophilia, another of Oliver Sacks’ books, but this one just wasn't as engaging.
Best book of the year:
Dune by Frank Herbert. Everyone has this book on the “Must read” list of science fiction, so I checked it out of the Cornell library over Thanksgiving break. When I started, I didn't think the plot was that great, and there were a bunch of characters wandering in and out. Then I kept reading, and the plot kept developing, and I thought “I want to know what happens next.” The characters turned out to be more complex than they seemed originally (though maybe ironically, the main character is the one I found to be the least well written), and the plot was detailed without dragging on and on. Definitely a science fiction must read.
Everything else I read:
Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis
The Emerald Mile, Kevin Fedarko
Along for the Ride, Sarah Dessen
Giant George, Dave Nassar
The Boys of October, Doug Hornig
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
Dealing With Dragons, Patricia C Wrede
Friction, E.R. Frank
The Garden of Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Rama Revealed, Arthur C. Clarke
Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger, John Flanagan
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
The Fabric of the Cosmos, Brian Greene
Roads, Larry McMurtry
Loop Year, John Sheirer
The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Pirate Cinema, Cory Doctorow
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
2010: Odyssey Two, Arthur C. Clarke
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon
Our Town, Thornton Wilder
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
Animal Farm, George Orwell
2061: Odyssey Three, Arthur C. Clarke
Schroder, Amity Gaige
My Name Is Not Easy, Debby Dahl Edwardson
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
3001: The Final Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
Dragon and Thief, Timothy Zahn
Earth Unaware, Orson Scott Card
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Should I Go to Grad School?, Jessica Loudis
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Eleanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell
The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
Flyboys, James Bradley
The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger
A Tale of Two Cities: The 2004 Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry and the War for the Pennant, Tony Massarotti
Denali's Howl, Andy Hall
Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham, J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
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