My favorite books from 2014

For the past five years, I have been recording each book I read with a rating.  Here are the 10 books I rated a "5" in 2014 (well, 12 books, but there's a trilogy, so I'm counting them as one!)

1.  My favorite of the year was "My Notorious Life" by Kate Manning.  Based on the life of Axie Muldoon, known as the "wickedest woman in New York" for her work in women's reproductive rights in the late 19th century.  Axie's life begins on the streets of New York in the 1860s, where she and her siblings struggle to survive.  Sent west on an Orphan Train, she later finds her way back to NYC where she is apprenticed as a midwife.  Unwilling to go quietly about her work, Axie struggles to give women reproductive choice in a time when to do so was scandalous.  I can't recommend this book highly enough!

 

2.  There is nothing I love to read as much as sweeping historical fiction.  Ken Follett's Century Trilogy certainly fits the bill!  Following the lives of 5 families from America, England, Germany, and Russia from pre-World War I through the 1980s, "Fall of Giants," "Winter of the World," and "Edge of Eternity" are worth your time.  For much of the first book, I felt as though I was in the world of Downton Abbey (which I also watched for the first time this year!).  If you like historical fiction, these books are for you.

3. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is probably my single favorite book of all time.  I've been fascinated with Nelle Harper Lee for years - as most readers have probably asked, why did she write a single book?  After watching a PBS special on her life and learning about her family, particularly her older sister Miss Alice, who worked as an attorney alongside their father, I wanted to know more.  Journalist Marja Mills befriended Nelle and Alice and was granted access to their lives of the course of multiple years.  One of the things I found most interesting was Nelle Harper's thoughts about young adult fiction, and how glad she was "To Kill a Mockingbird" was not classified as such, as she believed it would have limited its exposure to adults.  As a lover of young adult fiction, I wish I could disagree with her, but I think many excellent books are discounted because they are written for young people!  (As an interesting side note, Nelle Harper Lee joined her friend Truman Capote to Kansas to help him research "In Cold Blood."  For a period of time, they rented a house in Manhattan just a few blocks from my house - 1711 Fairchild Ave.)

4.  This book has been on my list to read for multiple years, and I finally got around to it this year.  Wish I had read it sooner!  "The Night Circus" is simply enchanting.  I found it reminiscent of the movie "The Prestige," where two young magicians compete against each other in what becomes a battle of life or death.

5.  I read "The Rosie Project" while we were in Colorado last winter.  Don is a geneticist with some unusual thoughts about life.  When he decides to find a wife, he creates a survey to find the right woman.  Not just any survey - Don's survey has sixteen pages and is designed to eliminate women with characteristics he finds unacceptable.  Rosie is a bartender who is searching for her father.  Don sets aside the Wife Project to help Rosie with her Father Project and ends up falling in love despite his best efforts.  The second book in this series will be released this week, and I can't wait!

6.  How have I never read this book?  After hearing my friend Audra Reed talk about reading it with her 6th grade class, I checked it out from the library.  What amazing young adult fiction!  Like "The Hunger Games," it makes you think about how very different our future world could be with just a few changes to the present, and not in a good way.  

7.  This is the "fun" book on my list, particularly for all you parents of kids in elementary school or for my teacher friends!  A parent is dead at a PTO fundraiser.  Was it murder or an accident?  What is really going on behind closed doors in this sleepy school community?  And why does everyone in the PTO have a blonde bob?  Too entertaining!

8.  The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books are quiet stories, but I always find them quite entertaining.

9.  My friend Beth St. Amand wrote this memoir about her son's death by suicide.  Every parent or person who works with young adults should read this book.

10.  While in Florida for Christmas, I read "All the Light We Cannot See."  Another work of historical fiction (are you noticing a theme in what I like to read?), it follows the lives of two children in pre-WWII France and Germany whose lives intersect during the war.  I've seen this book mentioned multiple times as one of the best of 2014, and I couldn't agree more!

I know there are still three days left in 2014, so I may have an update to this list ;)  Happy reading!

My first favorite read of 2014

My Notorious Life by Kate Manning follows Axie Muldoon from her early childhood as a beggar on the streets of New York City in the 1860s to her notoriety as Madame X, a wealthy midwife and provider of contraception and abortions.  Based on the life of Ann Lohman, called the "wickedest woman in New York," Axie's story is thought-provoking and suspenseful.

Some of my other recent reads worth your time:
Fannie Flagg's The All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion made me laugh out loud.  The characters grab your heart and your imagination!

Outcasts by Kathleen Kent follows a prostitute turned teacher named Lucinda Carter and a Texas policeman named Nick Cannon in post-Civil War Texas.  Their stories converge as Nick hunts for a killer named McGill.  This book reminded me of Lonesome Dove in the setting and storytelling.

I discovered TimeBound by Rysa Walker on my Kindle when I was searching for a book to check out with my Amazon Prime membership.  Young-adult fiction often captures my imagination in a way I don't find with other books, and this was no exception.  16-year-old Kate receives the ability to time travel from her grandmother and must return to the 1893 Chicago Colombian Expo to save her grandmother's life.

My favorite books of 2013

I read fewer books in 2013 than I have read in many years.  My new crochet hobby took up more time than I thought!  However, I easily found 10 favorites for 2013.

1.  My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

I found Justice Sotomayor's autobiography enlightening and inspiring.  What a childhood she had and what incredible experiences as an adult. 

 

2.  Criminal by Karin Slaughter.  I discovered Karin Slaughter through this book, which was featured in the Book Page Daily email I get from our library.  I then went back and read all of her books.  The protagonist of this book is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent named Will Trent.  He first appears in her book Triptych, and I would highly recommend reading the whole series (Triptych, Fractured, Undone, Criminal, and Broken).

3.  Beyond Cold Blood by Larry Welch.  This book, while non-fiction, follows nicely after Criminal.  Welch is the former director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigations and he highlights the role of the KBI in some of the biggest crimes in the state of Kansas.  Absolutely fascinating!

4. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.  I just love Morton's books!  Mystery and history wrapped together.  For fifty years, Laurel Nicolson has kept a secret from her family - while hiding in a tree during a family picnic, she saw her mother commit a terrible crime.  Now, as the family gathers to celebrate their mother's 90th birthday, Laurel is determined to find the truth.

5. Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

This book contains two intertwined stories, one of which I found wanting but the other which truly touched my heart.  Olivia's son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three.  Following his death, she seeks to understand the meaning of Anthony's short life.  Author Lisa Genova is a PhD neuroscientist, and her fiction focuses on disorders of the brain.  Her first, Still Alice, was a favorite of mine in 2009.

6. The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande.  This was our first CASA book club selection of 2013 and a great way to start the year - for once, a book without a depressing ending!  Reyna Grande and her two siblings were left behind in Mexico while their father sought work in America.  Reyna details their live in Mexico (poverty beyond anything we can imagine in America), their attempts to cross the border and find their father, and their life in America once they do find him.

7. Joyland by Stephen King.  This is King at his best.  Novellas have always been his strong suit (The Body, which became the movie Stand By Me, and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redepmption to name a couple).  I also read and enjoyed his Dr. Sleep this year, but not as much as I enjoyed Joyland.

8. Astor Place Vintage by Stephanie Lehmann.  One of the few books of historical fiction I found this year.  Amanda Rosenbloom owns a vintage clothing store.  She discovers a journal written by Olive Westcott in 1907 sewn into the lining of a muff she purchased from an older woman.  

 

9. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.  So often I read Picoult's books only to find that I HATE the ending; however, this time it was worth the read.  Sage Singer is a baker who meets a man named Josef Weber in her grief support group.  After developing a relationship, Weber reveals a life-altering secret to Sage.  What will she do with the information he shares?

10.  Inferno by Dan Brown.  While is wasn't as good as The Da Vinci Code, it was the first book I read this year that I couldn't put down.  Read it from cover to cover over a weekend.

My favorite books of 2012

Since I learned how to crochet in October, I've spent much less time reading and more time with my yarn creations!  Of the 93 books I read in 2012, these were my favorites.

1.  The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman - as normal, my favorite book of the year was historical fiction.  Two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews were trapped on the mountain of Masada by Roman forces and ultimately, massacred.  This book tells the story of four, strong Jewish women who came to Masada for different reasons and meet as dovekeepers on the mountain.  Fabulous characters and a spell-binding story makes this a must-read.

2.  The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker - This is now a Target book club selection (and I have yet to find one of their books I didn't enjoy), but I bought it on sale for my Kindle early in the year (one of only 2 books I bought this year - I love our library!).  I was immediately fascinated by the story of a young woman searching for her missing father in his native Burma and with her father's story.  Amazing writing! 

3.  The Faith Club by Rany Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner - The subtitle says it all - A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew - Three Women Search for Understanding.  I not only gained knowledge about the Muslim and Jewish faiths through the exploration of these three women, I also gained a much better understanding of my own Christian faith.

4.  Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver.  The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorite books.  Kingsolver's new book reminded me of the reasons I loved Poisonwood - beautiful prose, fascinating characters.  Young wife and mother Dellarobia Turnbow is on her way up the mountain behind her home in Tennessee to have an affair in the woods when she discovers what she believes to be a massive fire.  The fire was actually millions of monarch butterflies wintering in Tennessee rather than their normal winter grounds in Mexico.  What has caused this change and will the butterflies survive?

5.  The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  I read this book on the beach during our vacation to the Virgin Islands - I'm missing the beautiful blue water right now!  Vanessa Diffenbaugh is a foster and adoptive parent who wrote the most accurate portrayal of the fears, desires, and challenges faced by a child who ages out of foster care.  While fictional, this could be the story of any number of children I have worked with over the years. 

6.  Frontier Manhattan by Kevin Olson.  This book should be required reading for anyone living in the Little Apple!  I learned so much about the founding of our town and the players whose names still dominate the landscape of Manhattan.  I am proud to live in a town founded by abolitionists to help ensure Kansas became a free state.

7.  The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty.  Another book on my list with a Kanas connection and another work of historical fiction.  It's 1922 and Louise Brooks, future silent movie star, leaves Wichita at age 15 to attend a prestigious New York dance school.  She is accompanied by 36-year-old empty-nester Cora Carlisle, who is to serve as Louise's chaperone.  Cora has her own reasons for wanting to go to New York City. 

8. When She Woke by Hillary Jordan.  Set in an unknown future date, the American criminal justice system has become so overburdened that criminals are chromed with viruses to denote their crime by the color of their skin and released into society.  The laws passed by the far Right have made abortion a crime worthy of chroming, as Hannah discovers when she wakes to find her skin red. 

9.  The Racketeer by John Grisham.  While I always enjoy Grisham's books, this one had a twist that pushed it onto my top 10 list for the year! 

10. Criminal by Karin Slaughter.  I have never read anything by Slaughter, who has been writing books with the same protagonist (medical examiner Sara Linton) for many years.  This book focuses on Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent with Linton playing a supporting role.  I read Slaughter's first three books featuring Linton, but definitely liked Criminal the best.

From the acknowledgements in Criminal, I discovered another crime writer - NYC Assistant District Attorney in charge of the Sex Crimes unit, Linda Fairstein.  Fairstein's first book, Final Jeopardy, was published in 1997 and features a protagonist based on Fairstein's own professional life.  I've read four of her books now, starting at the beginning of the series, and would recommend them to anyone who likes crime fiction!

Lily's Favorite Books - ages 2 to 3

Since we read MANY more books between 2 and 3 than in previous years, I'll just do a list here with a few comments!
1) Sandra Boynton continued to be a favorite, with new additions of Let's Dance, Little Pookie; Night, Night Little Pookie; and Snuggle Puppy. 

2) Lucy Cousins' Maisy books - particularly Maisy Takes a Bath, Maisy Goes Camping, Dr. Maisy, Maisy's Snowy Christmas Eve, and Maisy's Pool.

3) Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

4) Lily's Twinkly Bedtime (a Sweetheart Fairies book) which she loved because Lily the fairy had red hair.

5) Too Purpley by Jean Reidy - this book has great illustrations!

6) Some books from my childhood - Lucille by Arnold Lobel, Wacky Wednesday by Theo LeSieg (aka Dr. Seuss), The Fire Cat by Esther Averill, Corduroy by Don Freeman, Are You My Mother by PD Eastman, and George and Martha by James Marshall.

7) The Eric Carle books - The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Lonely Firefly, and The Very Quiet Cricket. 

8) All of Laura Numeroff's books (which we still enjoy quite a bit at almost 4), but particularly If You Give a Pig a Pancake, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, and If You Take a Mouse to the Movies.

9) More of the Eileen Christelow Five Little Monkey books - particularly Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car and Five Little Monkeys Bake a Cake.

10) Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama books (another series we still love).

11) Red is Best by Kathy Stinton (another baby shower present, this one from Kathy Swenson) that is just perfect for my strong-headed little redhead!

12) Jane Donovan's Small, Medium, and Large - a Christmas present from Dick and Vicki Holdman. 

13) Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea by Jan Peck, which we discovered at storytime at the library.

14) Another favorite that we're still reading at almost 4 are the Melissa Long pirate books (How I Became a Pirate and Pirates Don't Change Diapers).

15) Ladybug Girl at the Beach by David Soman - we're read more of this series as she's gotten older and enjoyed them all. 

16) We LOVED John Himmelmann's books Chickens to the Rescue and Pigs to the Rescue.  We've heard there's another one on the way.

17) Hickory Dickory Dock by Keith Baker - a great book about counting and telling time!

18) Dr. Seuss!  Our favorites were (and continue to be) The Lorax and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  But we love them all!

19) And finally, the original Berenstain Bears books, written with Dr. Seuss as the editor for his Beginner Books series.  The Big Honey Hunt, The Bears' Vacation, and The Bike Lesson. 

Happy Reading!!

Lily's Favorite Books - ages 1 to 2

From ages 1-2, Lily continued to love Sandra Boynton books (and we still do!).  Her favorites were Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs, Pajama Time, and The Going to Bed Book.  Boynton uses the same rhythm and rhyming structure as Dr. Seuss, and her illustrations are just fun!

The Usborne Touch and Feel books were also very popular between 1 and 3.  Lily's favorites were That's Not My Puppy, That's Not My Train, and That's Not My Snowman.

The Hinkler Books' Lift-the-Flap books also lasted us between 1 and 3.  Lily loved Words and Animals, but Farm was her favorite.

Lily received David McKee's Elmer as a baby shower present, and we continue to love this book and the rest of the series.  Elmer is a patchwork elephant who doesn't like being different from the other elephants but learns to love who he is.  Great for any age!



Other books we read for the first time between 1 and 2 and still read today at almost 4 are Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See by Bill Martin and Eric Carle and Eileen Christelow's Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed (and the rest of this series).