Looking For a Good Book

The Best of Looking For a Good Book in 2014

In the tradition of my friend, Kootch, I think it’s important to create a “best of” list (though he would do a ‘top ten’ list).

According to Goodreads, I reviewed 251 titles in 2014.  That’s a runaway record for me, and I can promise that I won’t be doing that again in 2015.  It takes a LOT of effort to read and review that many books, and since I don’t actually get paid for this (other than free books … which is a GOOD thing [my expenses of buying books went way down]) I know I won’t be able to keep this pace for the next year.

Getting a perfect ‘5’ from me is not easy.  Of the 251 titles reviewed, I gave out only twelve perfect scores, and four of those were to children’s picture books (The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn; Claude at the Beach by Alex T. Smith; All About Marvelous Me by Becky J. Radtke; and The Animal Etiquette Book of Rhymes, a reissue by Helen Cowles LeCron and Maurice Day).

This is a listing of books read and reviewed in 2014.  Books may have been published in previous years, or possibly even are yet to be published in 2015.  My blog, my rules!

Here are my top picks for 2014.

#1: A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman

#2: Three by Jay Posey

#3: The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter by Rod Duncan

#4: The Yankee Club by Michael Murphy

#5: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

My top picks by category are as follows:

In Science Fiction/Fantasy (perhaps my favorite category, and a difficult one to rank because of the sheer variety):

#1: Three by Jay Posey

#2: The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter by Rod Duncan

#3: The Martian by Andy Weir

#4: The Big Reap by Chris F. Holm

#5: The Madonna and the Starship by James Morrow

#6: Honor Among Thieves by James S. A. Corey

In Mystery/Thrillers (a relatively new genre-of-interest for me, but one in which I’ve quite enjoyed):

#1: The Yankee Club by Michael Murphy

#2: The Man With the Golden Mind by Tom Vater

#3: All That Glitters by Michael Murphy

#4: The Professor by Robert Bailey

In Young Adult books (this is also a difficult category to assemble because of the wide range of ages that comprise the category):

#1: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

#2: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

#3: Jake and the Giant Hand by Philippa Dowding

#4: The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud

#5: Frostbite Hotel by Karin Adams

#6: Skraelings by Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

In Children’s Books (typically picture books):

#1: Claude at the Beach by Alex T. Smith

#2: All About Marvelous Me by Becky J. Radtke

#3: The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

#4: The Animal Etiquette Book of Rhymes by Helen Cowles LaCron and Maurice Day

#5: Denslow’s Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore and W.W. Denslow

#6: Lindbergh by Torben Kuhlman

In Graphic Novels:

#1: Shutter

#2: The Only Living Boy

#3: Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files: War Cry

#4: March

#5: The Shadow Hero

#6: Ghosted

#7: Meteor Men

#8: Lazarus

#9: Fables, Vol. 20

In Fiction (that isn’t otherwise categorized):

#1: A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman

#2: Roachkiller and Other Stories by R. Narvaez

#3: Lungs Full of Noise by Tessa Mellas

In Non-Fiction (again, there is a wide rang eof subject matter here, making it difficult to select the top books):

#1: Mobile for Good by Heather Mansfield

#2: Alternative Movie Posters by Matthew Chojnacki

#3: The O’Neill by Jeffrey Sweet

#4: All the Songs by Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon

#5: Writers Between the Covers by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon

#6: Daily Painting by Carol Marine

#7: Artspeak by Robert Atkins

#8: Treasury of American Pen-and-Ink Illustrations by Fridolf Johnson

#9: Gibson Les Paul by Dave hunter

#10: Bullying Under Attack edited by John Meyer

2014 has been a good year for books and I look forward to what 2015 will bring!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!