2014 Reading

Before January ends--and with ten-foot snowdrifts outside my door--I shall try to make up for my lack of  mini book reviews these last months with a spotlight on my reading statistics and favorite books of 2014.

Total Books Read: 138

Non-Fiction: 24

Historical Fiction: 36

YA Fiction: 17

Speculative Fiction: 30

Mystery Fiction: 44

(Don't try to make those numbers add up to 138--some books fit multiple categories.)

No huge surprises in the genre/category breakdowns. Every year, mystery fiction leads the field of what I read. My dream is to figure out how to write a sustainable, suspenseful mystery plot. The first two manuscripts I ever wrote were historical mysteries. I figure fate had a hand in landing me with Kate Miciak as my editor (after my first two editors left Random House), seeing as Kate is Mystery Editor Royalty. Lee Child, Elizabeth George, Laurie R. King, Susan Elia MacNeal, Alan Bradley . . . the list of writers she does/has edited is brilliant. Someday . . .

Historical fiction, not surprisingly, rose this year and YA went a little bit down. Clearly I am an eclectic reader. I do not have absolutes about what I will or won't read. Anytime I've thought, "Oh, that topic/character/genre isn't for me," I'm guaranteed to find an exception.

With that said, here's my highly eclectic and highly individual Top Ten (in no particular order):

1. STATION ELEVEN/Emily St. John Mandel

2. THE MARTIAN/Andy Weir

3. HEIR OF FIRE/Sarah J. Maas

4. WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?/Maria Semple

5. WE WERE LIARS/E. Lockhart

6. THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES/ Alan Bradley

7. THE SECRET PLACE/Tana French

8. THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE/Jeff Hobbs

9. WORDS OF RADIANCE/Brandon Sanderson

10. HOUSE OF NICCOLO SERIES/Dorothy Dunnett

So, yes, I cheated on number ten, seeing as the series is eight books long. But, come on! It's Dorothy Dunnett! Just trust me :)

And just to narrow it slightly, my favorites in each genre/category I listed above:

Non-Fiction: THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE

Historical Fiction: Hands down, HOUSE OF NICCOLO

YA Fiction: HEIR OF FIRE

Speculative Fiction: STATION ELEVEN

Mystery Fiction: THE SECRET PLACE

Hope your 2014 in books was as satisfying as mine--and here's to an awesome 2015!