I've decided to take a page from Peter Bratt, who every January lists all the books he's read the last year, and then decides which ones were the best (see, for example, Peter's post here)
In Peter's case, this is done in lieu of regularly blogging about his reading material. In my case, since I've been blogging about my reading material as I finish each book, it's redundant and probably unnecessary, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway, just for the self-indulgent fun of reflecting over my reading for the past year.
1. Second Language Learning Theories by Rosamond Mitchell and Florence Myles [Second Edition] January 7, 2014
2. The Vicomte De Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas January 17, 20143. The English Verb by Michael Lewis February 10, 2014
4. Black Ajax by George MacDonald Fraser February 14, 2014
6. An Introduction to Language by Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Peter Collins, and David Blair [Third Edition] March 19, 2014
7. How Languages are Learned by Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada March 21, 2014
8. Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas March 27, 2014
9. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson March 29, 2014
10. Beyond the Sentence by Scott Thornbury April 8, 201411. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson May 12, 2014
12. Louise de la Valliere by Alexandre Dumas May 20, 2014
13. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching by Diane Larsen-Freeman [Second Edition] May 22, 2014
14. The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas June 21, 2014
15. The Language Teaching Matrix by Jack C. Richards July 3, 2014
16. The Once and Future King by T.H. White July 11, 2014
17. Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein July 31, 2014
18. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells August 2, 2014
19. The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel August 22, 2014
20. Sound Foundations by Adrian Underhill September 5, 2014
21. The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents by Alex Butterworth September 7, 2014
22. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman September 9, 2014
23. Kidnapped and Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson September 24, 2014
24. George Orwell: Essays September 26, 2014
25. Conspirata by Robert Harris September 29, 2014
26. The Quiet American by Graham Greene October 1, 2014
27. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells October 7, 2014
28. Cambodia’s Curse by Joel Brinkley October 16, 2014
29. Hothouse by Brian Aldiss October 20, 2014
30. The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson October 22, 2014
31. Burmese Days by George Orwell October 27, 2014
32. A Little Book of Language by David Crystal October 28, 2014
33. The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess October 30, 2014
34. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris November 18, 2014
35. Rubicon by Tom Holland November 19, 2014
36. A Very Short History of the World by Geoffrey Blainey November 20, 2014
37. A World On Fire by Amanda Foreman November 25, 2014
38. The Way of the Kings by Andre Malraux December 1, 2014
39. Alexander: Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Alexander Trilogy Book 1) December 4, 2014
40. The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay December 12, 2014
40.5 Tonoharu (Parts 1 and 2) by Lars Martinson December 18, 2014
41.5 The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns December 26, 2014
40.5 Tonoharu (Parts 1 and 2) by Lars Martinson December 18, 2014
41.5 The Bible Tells Me So by Peter Enns December 26, 2014
41.5 books in total. (I'm counting Tonoharu as only half a book because it is a graphic novel. I'm also omitting from this list all of the Graded Readers).
This is actually a pretty good year for me reading wise. (Compare this to 2010, for example, when I only read 15 books.) Although I don't know if this increase in reading is something to be proud of, or a sign that I'm becoming a recluse and need to get out more.
I've never yet come close to the huge list that Peter (and some of my other bibliophile friends) manage to get in a year, but then I've always been a slow reader, and furthermore easily distracted. (I rarely can sit down and read for much more than 20 minutes at a time, and all too often I get distracted from my reading projects in favor of mindlessly surfing the Internet or watching videos). So for someone of my temperament, this is a fairly good reading year.
So, what were the best and the worst?
Because it's difficult to compare across categories, I'll divide this reading list into a few different categories before I compare them.
Also, because this is a list of voluntary reading, almost all of the books on here are somewhat dear to my heart by the very fact that I finished them. (Books I don't like, I don't tend to finish. And books I don't finish, I don't blog about, so every book I manage to write a review of represents some form of recommendation. Every year there is, in my reading list graveyard, a large list of books which I've started but not finished.*) But that being said, I'll try my best to make some tough choices and choose "best of"s.
Best Fiction
This is a tough pick, but I suppose I'll go with The Once and Future King. Despite all the frustrations I had reading it (all of which are detailed in my review), it was a really epic story. T.H. White didn't write the original story, of course--that goes back to Malory, and before Malory to the French writers. But it was my first indepth exposure to the King Arthur legend.
Worst Fiction
Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson. This was the sequel to Kidnapped. Kidnapped was alright, but I wish the story would just have stopped there. Catriona was just mind-numbingly boring.
Best Historical Fiction
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. I've given Robert Harris bad reviews in the past, but it is no small feat to tackle all the complexities of the Dreyfus Affair in historical fiction, and have it still make engaging reading.
Worst Historical Fiction
Alexander: Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. I enjoyed this book because I tend to like all historical fiction, but the writing style was really terrible.
Best Nonfiction
Another tough call. I read a few really good histories this year, but I'll give the prize to A World on Fire by Amanda Foreman. Despite some complaints I mentioned in my review, Amanda Foreman can really write good narrative style history. Story-telling at its finest.
Worst Nonfiction
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. (Okay, you knew this was coming.) Admittedly, Lee Strobel can write very readable prose, so no problems on the readability front. But the whole book was entirely dishonest, and based on the premise that the reader was a complete idiot.
Best Book I Had Encountered Before As a Child, But Only Now Getting Around to the Original Version
Probably The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. With Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson as a close second. No worst for this category.
Best Book I Read for Professional Development
With this last category, we move away from pleasure reading, and so the standards change somewhat. I don't have to enjoy it, I just had to learn a lot from it. However, I did actually enjoy and learn from How Languages are Learned by Patsy M. Lightbown and Nina Spada. No worst for this category.
* Reading List Graveyard 2014
And my reading list graveyard for this year. Here are the books I gave up on this year:
*Read Real Japanese Edited by Janet Ashby and Colloquial Cambodian by David Smyth. (Part of me knew I should be keeping my language work up, as a language teacher after all. But in the end these books got crowded out by other books for professional development.)
*The Age of Capital: 1848-1875 by Eric Hobsbawm. (Despite the fact that I find Eric Hobsbawm to be a difficult read, these are considered classics in the field of history, and directly cover the area of history I'm most interested in. So I tried to pick up the second book in his series, but got bogged down. May someday try again in the future.)
* The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (After getting to know Henry Adams in A World on Fire, I decided to try reading his memoirs. It was readable, but difficult, and when I found myself getting distracted by other books, this was one of the first extra books on my reading list to get discarded. I may pick it up again someday.)
* The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. (After getting to know Henry Adams in A World on Fire, I decided to try reading his memoirs. It was readable, but difficult, and when I found myself getting distracted by other books, this was one of the first extra books on my reading list to get discarded. I may pick it up again someday.)
* Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory. (After reading The Once and Future King, I went through a brief spell where I was really eager to tackle the original Thomas Malory. But like Henry Adams, this was difficult and I gave up on it soon after getting distracted by other books.)
* The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. (Whisky, thanks for the recommendation. I regret to say I've given up on it for the moment. At the time I picked this up, I was juggling too many other books, and this book had too many characters and sub plots going on in it. I decided to temporarily shelve it until I can find time when I can more fully devote my attention to it.)
* A History of Cambodia by David Chandler (While reading A Very Short History of the World, I was reminded once again of how little of world history I actually knew outside of Europe and America. Since I was living in Cambodia, why not start with a history of Cambodia, I thought. But then this book got crowded out in favor of other books on Cambodia I picked up.)
*Common Sense, The Rights of Man, and Other Essential Writings of Thomas Paine (Having decided that Thomas Paine was a historical figure I admired, I decided I wanted to get more indepth with his writings. But didn't quite stick with the book--at least not this year. I might read it again at some future stage.)
* Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. (Another book from my childhood that I've read an abridged version of, but someday mean to go back and read the whole thing. But this year I've given up on it. I'll have to come back to it another time.)
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