Top reads of 2014?

[Werner]

As usual, I wanted to post a thread here where we can look back on our year of reading, and list the books that were our top favorite reads. (They don't have to have been published last year --just read last year!) I usually try to pick and list about five favorites (sometimes counting omnibus volumes, etc. as one).

Not counting free-standing short stories, I finished 31 books last year (and another today --but it'll count towards my 2015 total), and rated 30 of them. Of those, 11 got five stars from me and nine more got four, so I have an embarrassment of riches to pick favorites from!

If you're like me, that's not an easy task, but I'd have to pick the following:
1. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern.
2. The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, by Robert E. Howard.
3. Valley So Low: Southern Mountain Stories, by Manly Wade Wellman.
4. The Empty Crown, by Rosemary Edghill. (This is an omnibus volume that contains the first three books of a series.)
5. Hester Roon, by Norah Lofts.

Before I started reading three out of these five books, they hadn't been on my to-read list at all; two were common reads in other groups, and another was a title I stumbled on at the public library in Harrisonburg, VA. One of my four-star titles was also a common read I hadn't intended to read on my own, and several more were review copies or giveaway books I unexpectedly won or was offered. So 2014 was a good year for happy serendipities in that respect!

[Nicole]

Thanks for starting this thread, Werner.

My top five for 2014:
1. A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin
2. Daughter of Smoke Bone by Laini Taylor
3. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
4. Skin Game by Jim Butcher
5. Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

All were very deliberate. 2 are entries in series I'm hooked on. 2 are first books of a series I'd read/heard good things about and was not disappointed. 1 is the first book of a new series by an author I'm fond of.
Though sometimes I wish I could find a few more good standalone books.

[Mollie]

I am glad to see The Night Circus on a list. I listened to it on audiobook and loved being mesmerized by the reader's voice. It is a book that has stayed with me but at the same time, I miss it.

[Mollie]

It's a way to float...reading this book.

[Werner]

The Night Circus proved to be my top favorite read in 2014, and it hadn't even been on my radar before. I only read it because it was picked as a common read in one of my other groups. NOW, I see why so many people voted for it! :-)

[Mollie]

And it is difficult to describe it in words.

[Werner]

That's very true, Mollie!

[Mollie]

It sounds like we are on the same page...I do aplogize for the pun...but my typing finger made me do it!

[Werner]

:-)