2014...a year in books

According to my Goodreads account, I managed to finish 102 books in 2014. I was well below my goal of 150 books, but I knew it would be unlikely I'd hit 150 so I'm not upset by that at all. There were definitely some things I wanted to read that I didn't get to, but honestly, I finished 102 books this year. How many of you can say the same? Not all of the books were great, most were just good. Only a few made me wish I hadn't picked them up, but there were some that I loved and those are the ones I'd like to mention here.
I don't know how many books are going to end up on this list so I can't call it a top 10 list or count them down in any way. Even as I type I only know a few of the books that will end up here. I'll be going through my list of 102 books to refresh my memory to add to the list. Yeah...I'm disorganized tonight...

So first up, The Serpent of Venice and A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore:
 

You want to be looked at funny in public while you read a book? Christopher Moore is the author for you. I can't begin to count the number of times I was looked at strangely because I giggled, belly laughed and/or guffawed out loud while reading him. The Serpent of Venice takes you into the world of Shakespeare with a little Edgar Allen Poe thrown in for fun and centers around the character of The Fool from the works of Shakespeare. A Dirty Job deals with death, souls, and what happens after a person dies...and is REALLY funny. I had read A Dirty Job before, but came across the audio book at the library one day and decided to give it a listen. While reading the book when it was first released, I pictured the actor of Fisher Stevens as the main character and was delighted to find that he, in fact, recorded the audio version. It was perfectly done.

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker:
 

Read this book. You won't regret it. It is amazing. It is a wonderful look at 1899 New York City and the life that two types of immigrants to the City live. While the main characters are "supernatural", they are also people trying to adjust to a new place the best they can. Don't let the "supernatural"ness of the book scare you away if that is typically not your thing. Wecker wrote a book that is way more literary than genre.

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan:
  

I love books about books and bookstores. This one definitely didn't disappoint. In fact, it had a lot of things I love in books. It's about a bookstore. It's a bit techie. It's got a literary club/secret society. It's vaguely futuristic. All of which might turn a lot of people off, but Sloan deals with all of it in a way that makes it work. The characters are just the right amount of quirky and keep pulling you through the book because you care about what happens to them. And the cover of the book glows in the dark.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin:
 

Yep. Another book about books and bookstores. A.J.'s store is nothing like Mr. Penumbra's though. Gabrielle Zevin is the author I love that almost no one has ever heard of. I have read most of her stuff and own all of it. Her style is just relaxing and easy. Storied Life is no different. It's the perfect book to curl up with on a Sunday afternoon and read until you finish. Not a long book, Storied Life tells the story of A.J. Fikry, his bookstore and the people who call it home (both literally and figuratively). You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be fully satisfied when you close the book for the last time.

The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman:


I met Christopher Buehlman this summer when he was performing at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. His show was very funny as was another show at the festival that he wrote, but didn't perform in. I liked his style so when he mentioned at the end of his show that he was an author and his 4th book would be released in the fall, I decided to give him a read. I wasn't disappointed. I have no read 3 of the 4 books and enjoyed all three...so much so that I actually bought 2 of them after I finished reading the library copies I had gotten. But of the three, this in the one that I want to mention. I don't read much horror fiction (Buehlman's genre of choice)...mostly because I rarely find horror novels to be all that scary. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that I can just put the book down if I want to break the tension being built up. But this book was scary. I read a lot of vampire fiction. In recent years, vampire fiction has become less and less scary and more and more romantic. I'd be lying if I didn't say I found vampires a little sexy (the bad boyness of it and all), but vampires are NOT suppose to be romantic. They are suppose to be scary. And the vampires in this book are scary! Better than that? This book has vampires that scare other vampires because of their cruelness. You want a good, scary vampire book? One in which the vampires don't sparkle? This is the one for you.


Instead of boring you with more reviews, I"ll just add the link to my Goodreads list for 2014 and call it a night. So if you're interested in what else I read in 2014, here you go.