Books of 2014
Oct. 6th, 2015 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustIn 2014, I read 86 books (half of which were Agatha Christie):
68 were fiction
18 were non-fiction
62 were novels
5 were collections
1 was an anthology
58 were by authors I had read before
28 were by authors I had never read before
6 were first novels in a series
8 were other novels in a series
Highlights:
Various works by Agatha Christie - Basically, it was the year of Agatha Christie, since I binged on 43 of her books. I think it was in high school that I discovered her, loved Poirot and Hastings and Tommy and Tuppence, but soon ran out of books I could access. This time, as an adult, the world is my oyster! So now I've read all the Miss Marples and most of the Poirots, but have yet to tackle the ones with other detectives.
I love that you have a fair chance of figuring out whodunnit as you read, and that was a big part of the fun for me. Admittedly, reading a whole lot of her books in quick succession made it easier to spot certain patterns: for example, her fondness for misleading times of death, ie when someone thought alive was already dead or someone thought dead was still alive. Some of the mysteries genuinely spooked me, and some broke my heart for their tragedy and waste. Highlights included Sleeping Murder, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, and A Murder is Announced.
She wrote from the 1930s to the 1970s, a time of huge and rapid change in British society. And the books paint a detailed portrait of this era without even trying, just from being set in contemporary times. So the early ones still have English manors with gentry and servants, and the later ones have new housing developments and fashionable young mods.
Cakewrecks by Jen Yates - The book inspired by the website. Who knew baked goods had such comic and disturbing potential?
Swan by Mary Oliver - Ever since discovering "The Summer Day", I've wanted to read more of Mary Oliver's poetry. This is a lovely collection, with a focus on nature and philosophy, like one of my favourites, "For Example".
Death of a Pirate King by Josh Lanyon - I started reading Josh Lanyon last year, and I've been following recent developments with interest. This book is the fourth in the Adrien English mystery series, about a gay bookstore owner and a closeted police detective, their turbulent relationship, and the murder investigations they get drawn into. It would be spoilery for the previous books to discuss the plot in detail, but for me it was all the emotional payoff I could want for character arcs set up earlier.
Deadroads by Robin Riopelle - Urban fantasy about an estranged family of ghost hunters, and a powerful new demon that just might force them to reconnect, if it doesn't destroy them first. Beautifully atmospheric writing, and an interesting take on magic.
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann - A murder mystery where the victim is a local shepherd and the detectives are his loyal flock of sheep. Like Watership Down, the animal characters actually think like real animals and not humans, so it's fascinating to watch them working out facts using their own knowledge and reasoning. I love their distinctive names and personalities, like Miss Maple, Othello, and Mopple the Whale.
The Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan - Another classic from Shaun Tan, this time a quirky and gorgeous tribute to childhood summers and sibling relationships.
The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg - A fantasy novel about a scholar with no magical ability, tasked with investigating a magical assassination attempt on the king. To help, he recruits a brilliant but antisocial mage and a suspiciously foppish nobleman. Like most of Berg's work, there's brilliant worldbuilding, complex plotting, delicious hurt and not quite enough comfort. I was shipping Portier/Dante, but I don't know if the author shares my preferences, alas. The first of a trilogy, so the overarching plot was still left open.
68 were fiction
18 were non-fiction
62 were novels
5 were collections
1 was an anthology
58 were by authors I had read before
28 were by authors I had never read before
6 were first novels in a series
8 were other novels in a series
Highlights:
Various works by Agatha Christie - Basically, it was the year of Agatha Christie, since I binged on 43 of her books. I think it was in high school that I discovered her, loved Poirot and Hastings and Tommy and Tuppence, but soon ran out of books I could access. This time, as an adult, the world is my oyster! So now I've read all the Miss Marples and most of the Poirots, but have yet to tackle the ones with other detectives.
I love that you have a fair chance of figuring out whodunnit as you read, and that was a big part of the fun for me. Admittedly, reading a whole lot of her books in quick succession made it easier to spot certain patterns: for example, her fondness for misleading times of death, ie when someone thought alive was already dead or someone thought dead was still alive. Some of the mysteries genuinely spooked me, and some broke my heart for their tragedy and waste. Highlights included Sleeping Murder, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, and A Murder is Announced.
She wrote from the 1930s to the 1970s, a time of huge and rapid change in British society. And the books paint a detailed portrait of this era without even trying, just from being set in contemporary times. So the early ones still have English manors with gentry and servants, and the later ones have new housing developments and fashionable young mods.
Cakewrecks by Jen Yates - The book inspired by the website. Who knew baked goods had such comic and disturbing potential?
Swan by Mary Oliver - Ever since discovering "The Summer Day", I've wanted to read more of Mary Oliver's poetry. This is a lovely collection, with a focus on nature and philosophy, like one of my favourites, "For Example".
Death of a Pirate King by Josh Lanyon - I started reading Josh Lanyon last year, and I've been following recent developments with interest. This book is the fourth in the Adrien English mystery series, about a gay bookstore owner and a closeted police detective, their turbulent relationship, and the murder investigations they get drawn into. It would be spoilery for the previous books to discuss the plot in detail, but for me it was all the emotional payoff I could want for character arcs set up earlier.
Deadroads by Robin Riopelle - Urban fantasy about an estranged family of ghost hunters, and a powerful new demon that just might force them to reconnect, if it doesn't destroy them first. Beautifully atmospheric writing, and an interesting take on magic.
Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann - A murder mystery where the victim is a local shepherd and the detectives are his loyal flock of sheep. Like Watership Down, the animal characters actually think like real animals and not humans, so it's fascinating to watch them working out facts using their own knowledge and reasoning. I love their distinctive names and personalities, like Miss Maple, Othello, and Mopple the Whale.
The Rules of Summer by Shaun Tan - Another classic from Shaun Tan, this time a quirky and gorgeous tribute to childhood summers and sibling relationships.
The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg - A fantasy novel about a scholar with no magical ability, tasked with investigating a magical assassination attempt on the king. To help, he recruits a brilliant but antisocial mage and a suspiciously foppish nobleman. Like most of Berg's work, there's brilliant worldbuilding, complex plotting, delicious hurt and not quite enough comfort. I was shipping Portier/Dante, but I don't know if the author shares my preferences, alas. The first of a trilogy, so the overarching plot was still left open.
