2014 book roundup

One of my goals for 2014 was to read 100 books. I made it just past halfway, with a total of 56 (I didn’t include textbooks or journal articles I read for grad school, or kids books I read with my son, even the chapter books like the Ninja Meercats or Dragonslayers Academy series).

Here’s a breakdown of what I read:

    6 (11%) were either kids or young adult; the rest were adult.
    3 (5%) were nonfiction and the rest were fiction.
    17 (30%) were single short stories (yes, I realize it’s cheating to include those), and 10 (18%) were short story anthologies.
    I know the authors of 34 (61%) of the books; 8 of the authors (15 of the books or 27%) of them are also with my publisher, Evolved.
    Only 7 (13%) were books that randomly caught my eye on a library shelf or website; all the rest were either recommended or written by someone I know or follow online.

Best books I read in 2014:

    “Duck” by Stephen Parolini: a short story about a boy and an unexploded bomb that shapes his life
    “No Punchline: Or, The Night Chale Thayer Blew his Head off at the Punch Drunk Comedy Club” by Jeff Suwak:  nearly perfect story about a comedian who doesn’t want to be funny.
The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti: a disturbing and moving story about growing up Palestinian during the Israeli occupation.

If you challenged yourself to read a set number of books in 2014, how did you end up doing?  What were your favorites?  Anything you particularly disliked?