2014 Reading in Retrospective: Book Survey
End of the Year Book Survey
This year, I didn't quite meet my reading goal, but I did get to read 32 titles for a total of 9,739 pages (6 more titles and 2,716 more pages than 2013). Here are the results!
1. Best book read in 2014.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. This book is an exciting tale of kids who are going to be legally turned into organ donors and "unwound". As they run from the law and find sanctuary, readers get the story from multiple characters' perspectives which really adds to the suspense.
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more, but didn’t:
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Everyone was loving this love story, but honestly nothing happened until the last fifty pages or so. Teenage romance is annoying.
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. Everyone was praising this book of essays and stories as perfect fuel for forensics competitions, but as a coach, none of these really work.
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman. This book was also getting a lot of online praise. A book about modern dating from the male perspective, it was about a guy who liked certain girls until he randomly didn't and doesn't know why. Then he finds someone random to stay with so the book can end. Not very profound or authentic. The book's goal of showing how pretentious that group of people is was successful however.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2014.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. Just another dystopian young adult novel about kids competing against each other? That's what I thought, but it was actually still unique and a really good read. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
4. Book you read in 2014 that you recommended the most?
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Willow Chance is a child genius with a hard time relating to people. After the death of her adoptive parents, she creates a rag-tag surrogate family.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. An epic tale of Theo Decker and his life after his mother dies in an art museum bombing and he steals a painting. Going from different home lives in different cities and different continents, I loved following Theo's story in this Pulitizer Prize-winning novel.
5. Best series you discovered in 2014.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I owned these books for more than a decade, but it wasn't until recently that I devoured my way through them. And it was totally worth it. Great stories! Now, I understand the hype.
6. Favorite new author discovered in 2014.
I read a few new authors this year, but it's hard to pick one that is my favorite. Maybe Donna Tartt.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone.
What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund. I don't typically read non-fiction, and this one is pretty out there with formatting; however it was very interesting, and the graphics made it engaging.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2014.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Great storytelling and lots of action.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. Super intriguing plot with a lot of suspense, problem-solving and possible backstabbing.
9. Book read in 2014 that you are most likely to reread.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. Vera struggles after the death of her friend Charlie. She keeps his secret while dealing with her father and the glamorous life of pizza delivery. I think I might teach this to my students, which would give it a reread.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014.
Wonder by R.J. Palacio. This cover puts a great face to the story.
Honorable Mention:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. A great peak at Theo's stolen painting.
11. Most memorable character of 2014.
Auggie Pullman from Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Auggie makes for a great narrator. He's an ordinary kid transferring from home school to middle school, except not all ordinary kids have a facial abnormality that sends kids away crying.
Lev from Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It's normal to expect a bunch of kids to rebel after their parents sign up to have them turned into organ donors. What's different and interesting about Lev is that he has been raised as a tithe and actually wants to be unwound for the most part and struggles with his beliefs.
Boris from The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The truant escapades this Russian emigrant has with the main character during Theo's stay in Las Vegas are truly wild. Then it's interesting to see Theo reconnect with his as an adult. Boris, what a character!
12. Most beautifully written book of 2014.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. With the final installment of the Magician's triology, Grossman proves again that he is an excellent writer, from his creative worlds to his wonderful turns of phrase.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you.
About the Author by John Colapinto. This book definitely taught me how NOT to become a best-selling author.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher. While much of the material is known to those with an education degree, there are some very helpful tips about teaching reading that I will be using in my classroom.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to read.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, more specifically The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (#3), The Silver Chair (#4), The Horse and His Boy (#5), The Magician's Nephew (#6), and The Last Battle (#7). It took me over a decade to finish the series after reading the first two in middle school.
15. Favorite passages/quotes.
"It didn't matter where you were, if you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home."
"A few books in some of the more obscure corners of the stacks retained some autonomy, dating back to an infamous early experiment with flying books, and lately they'd begun to breed. Shocked undergraduates had stumbled on books in the very act. Which sounded interesting, but so far the resulting offspring had been either predictably derivative (in fiction) or stunningly boring (nonfiction); hybrid pairings between fiction and nonfiction were the most vital. The librarian thought the problem was just that the right books weren't breeding with each other and proposed a forced mating program. The library committee had an epic secret meeting about the ethics of literary eugenics which ended in a furious deadlock."
- Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land
"When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."
"There are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other."
- R.J. Palacio, Wonder
“If there is anything I’ve figured out in the last months it’s that you can find labels to organize living things, but you can’t put people in any kind of group or order. It just doesn’t work that way.”
- Holly Goldberg Sloan, Counting by 7s
16. Shortest and longest books read in 2014.
Shortest: The Last Battle, 184 pages
Longest: The Goldfinch, 771 pages
17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it.
Divergent by Veronica Roth. I wanted to talk about how the movie actually did things better during the trials.
The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure by James Dashner. My sister and mom started reading the Maze Runner series after, so we had plenty to talk about.
Also The Giver by Lois Lowry. That bath scene my friend mentioned in seventh grade was actually not as attractive as I imagined it would be. It was a boy washing an old woman at a nursing home. He could have been a more descriptive twelve-year-old.
18. Favorite relationship in a book read in 2014 (romance, friendship, etc.)
Vera and Ken Dietz from Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. (father/daughter)
Theodore "Theo" Decker and James "Hobie" Hobart from The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. (mentor/mentee in the antique business)
Ivan and Ruby from The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. (circus mall animals, specifically the gorilla who tries to get the baby elephant a new and better life)
19. Favorite book you read in 2014 from an author you read previously.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman.
Honorable Mention: The Giver by Lois Lowry
20. Best book you read in 2014 based solely on a recommendation.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I knew absolutely nothing about this book and never heard anything about it. I am very happy a student suggested it to me. (Thanks, Maxim!)
21. Genre you read the most in 2014.
Young adult.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014.
A year later, and this question is still weird. I do think Jonas from The Giver is pretty cool though.
23. Best 2014 debut.
All of the 2014 debuts I want to read are still sitting in my "to-read" pile. The only debut book from an author in 2014 that I read would be What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund.
24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2014.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. Grossman's world of magic is great, from Brakebills (college for magicians), to the transitional world of the Neitherlands and both sides of the fantastic Fillory.
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. It was definitely new and interesting to see the world from a narrator who can see the color of numbers and taste sounds with her synesthesia.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Not only did C.S. Lewis create an entire world with its own countries, languages, islands, monsters, creatures, and worlds-within-worlds, but he also fully described Narnia's creation and destruction. That's detail!
25. Book that was the most fun to read.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library byChris Grabenstein. Kids are locked in a library and have to find their way out in order to win a reading and board game based scavenger hunt to win the grand prize. It's like Willy Wonka for book and game nerds. It's a wonderful read and a wonderful puzzle.
26. Book that made you cry.
No tears this year. Sorry.
27. Best book you read that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. Maybe it's because there are too many similar titles already out there, but this book is just as good as the others out there in this (dystopian) genre.
This year, I didn't quite meet my reading goal, but I did get to read 32 titles for a total of 9,739 pages (6 more titles and 2,716 more pages than 2013). Here are the results!
1. Best book read in 2014.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. This book is an exciting tale of kids who are going to be legally turned into organ donors and "unwound". As they run from the law and find sanctuary, readers get the story from multiple characters' perspectives which really adds to the suspense.
2. Book you were excited about & thought you were going to love more, but didn’t:
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Everyone was loving this love story, but honestly nothing happened until the last fifty pages or so. Teenage romance is annoying.
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. Everyone was praising this book of essays and stories as perfect fuel for forensics competitions, but as a coach, none of these really work.
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman. This book was also getting a lot of online praise. A book about modern dating from the male perspective, it was about a guy who liked certain girls until he randomly didn't and doesn't know why. Then he finds someone random to stay with so the book can end. Not very profound or authentic. The book's goal of showing how pretentious that group of people is was successful however.
3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2014.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. Just another dystopian young adult novel about kids competing against each other? That's what I thought, but it was actually still unique and a really good read. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
4. Book you read in 2014 that you recommended the most?
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. Willow Chance is a child genius with a hard time relating to people. After the death of her adoptive parents, she creates a rag-tag surrogate family.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. An epic tale of Theo Decker and his life after his mother dies in an art museum bombing and he steals a painting. Going from different home lives in different cities and different continents, I loved following Theo's story in this Pulitizer Prize-winning novel.
5. Best series you discovered in 2014.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I owned these books for more than a decade, but it wasn't until recently that I devoured my way through them. And it was totally worth it. Great stories! Now, I understand the hype.
6. Favorite new author discovered in 2014.
I read a few new authors this year, but it's hard to pick one that is my favorite. Maybe Donna Tartt.
7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone.
What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund. I don't typically read non-fiction, and this one is pretty out there with formatting; however it was very interesting, and the graphics made it engaging.
8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book of 2014.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. Great storytelling and lots of action.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. Super intriguing plot with a lot of suspense, problem-solving and possible backstabbing.
9. Book read in 2014 that you are most likely to reread.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. Vera struggles after the death of her friend Charlie. She keeps his secret while dealing with her father and the glamorous life of pizza delivery. I think I might teach this to my students, which would give it a reread.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014.
Wonder by R.J. Palacio. This cover puts a great face to the story.
Honorable Mention:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. A great peak at Theo's stolen painting.
11. Most memorable character of 2014.
Auggie Pullman from Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Auggie makes for a great narrator. He's an ordinary kid transferring from home school to middle school, except not all ordinary kids have a facial abnormality that sends kids away crying.
Lev from Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It's normal to expect a bunch of kids to rebel after their parents sign up to have them turned into organ donors. What's different and interesting about Lev is that he has been raised as a tithe and actually wants to be unwound for the most part and struggles with his beliefs.
Boris from The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. The truant escapades this Russian emigrant has with the main character during Theo's stay in Las Vegas are truly wild. Then it's interesting to see Theo reconnect with his as an adult. Boris, what a character!
12. Most beautifully written book of 2014.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. With the final installment of the Magician's triology, Grossman proves again that he is an excellent writer, from his creative worlds to his wonderful turns of phrase.
13. Book that had the greatest impact on you.
About the Author by John Colapinto. This book definitely taught me how NOT to become a best-selling author.
Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher. While much of the material is known to those with an education degree, there are some very helpful tips about teaching reading that I will be using in my classroom.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to read.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, more specifically The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (#3), The Silver Chair (#4), The Horse and His Boy (#5), The Magician's Nephew (#6), and The Last Battle (#7). It took me over a decade to finish the series after reading the first two in middle school.
15. Favorite passages/quotes.
"It didn't matter where you were, if you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home."
"A few books in some of the more obscure corners of the stacks retained some autonomy, dating back to an infamous early experiment with flying books, and lately they'd begun to breed. Shocked undergraduates had stumbled on books in the very act. Which sounded interesting, but so far the resulting offspring had been either predictably derivative (in fiction) or stunningly boring (nonfiction); hybrid pairings between fiction and nonfiction were the most vital. The librarian thought the problem was just that the right books weren't breeding with each other and proposed a forced mating program. The library committee had an epic secret meeting about the ethics of literary eugenics which ended in a furious deadlock."
- Lev Grossman, The Magician's Land
"When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind."
"There are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other."
- R.J. Palacio, Wonder
“If there is anything I’ve figured out in the last months it’s that you can find labels to organize living things, but you can’t put people in any kind of group or order. It just doesn’t work that way.”
- Holly Goldberg Sloan, Counting by 7s
16. Shortest and longest books read in 2014.
Shortest: The Last Battle, 184 pages
Longest: The Goldfinch, 771 pages
17. Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to someone about it.
Divergent by Veronica Roth. I wanted to talk about how the movie actually did things better during the trials.
The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure by James Dashner. My sister and mom started reading the Maze Runner series after, so we had plenty to talk about.
Also The Giver by Lois Lowry. That bath scene my friend mentioned in seventh grade was actually not as attractive as I imagined it would be. It was a boy washing an old woman at a nursing home. He could have been a more descriptive twelve-year-old.
18. Favorite relationship in a book read in 2014 (romance, friendship, etc.)
Vera and Ken Dietz from Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. (father/daughter)
Theodore "Theo" Decker and James "Hobie" Hobart from The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. (mentor/mentee in the antique business)
Ivan and Ruby from The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. (circus mall animals, specifically the gorilla who tries to get the baby elephant a new and better life)
19. Favorite book you read in 2014 from an author you read previously.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman.
Honorable Mention: The Giver by Lois Lowry
20. Best book you read in 2014 based solely on a recommendation.
Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I knew absolutely nothing about this book and never heard anything about it. I am very happy a student suggested it to me. (Thanks, Maxim!)
21. Genre you read the most in 2014.
Young adult.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014.
A year later, and this question is still weird. I do think Jonas from The Giver is pretty cool though.
23. Best 2014 debut.
All of the 2014 debuts I want to read are still sitting in my "to-read" pile. The only debut book from an author in 2014 that I read would be What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund.
24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2014.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. Grossman's world of magic is great, from Brakebills (college for magicians), to the transitional world of the Neitherlands and both sides of the fantastic Fillory.
A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. It was definitely new and interesting to see the world from a narrator who can see the color of numbers and taste sounds with her synesthesia.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Not only did C.S. Lewis create an entire world with its own countries, languages, islands, monsters, creatures, and worlds-within-worlds, but he also fully described Narnia's creation and destruction. That's detail!
25. Book that was the most fun to read.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library byChris Grabenstein. Kids are locked in a library and have to find their way out in order to win a reading and board game based scavenger hunt to win the grand prize. It's like Willy Wonka for book and game nerds. It's a wonderful read and a wonderful puzzle.
26. Book that made you cry.
No tears this year. Sorry.
27. Best book you read that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. Maybe it's because there are too many similar titles already out there, but this book is just as good as the others out there in this (dystopian) genre.
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