Tuesday, January 06, 2015

2014 Book List



2014 BOOK LIST

 1. The Litagators   John Grisham   Entertaining and informative as Grisham always is.

2. The Strain   Guillermo Del Toro   First book of a trilogy.  A new kind of vampire.  First half of the 
book is very good. Second half, not so much.

 3. Five short stories from The Best Of P.G. Wodehouse  Always a pleasure.

4. The Rosie Project   Graeme Simsion  Entertaining love story with a mildly autistic/genius narrator. Good fun.

5. A Short History of Nearly Everything   Bill Bryson.  The big picture made clear.  Good stuff.

6. Paper Trails   Pete Dexter  Pete’s newspaper columns.  Great reads.

7. The Intrusion of Jimmy   P.G. Wodehouse  Great fun as always.

8.  How Long is Now?  Tim Freke  Interesting philosophical tome. Worth a look see by anyone.

9. The Goldfnch   Donna Tartt  A deserving Pulitzer winner.  Beautifully written.

10.  Darkly Dreaming Dexter  Jeff Lindsey  Fun, fast read from which the Dexter TV show’s first episode was written.

11. Mary’s Mosaic   Peter Janney   How JFK’s main squeeze was murdered and by who.  Nice companion piece to JFK and the Unspeakable.

12,  Rainbow’s End   Martha Grimes  Another satisfying Richard Jury and Company mystery.

13.  The Little Nugget.  P.G. Wodehouse  Always fun, but this one is not special.

14.  Silent in the Grave  Deanna Raybourn   Mystery set in the 19th century and told by the protagonist, Lady Julia Grey. Plays out in a nice unhurried fashion.

15. The Strain Book 2    Guillermo Del Toro  The story expands, becomes broader in scope.  Just good enough to move me on to book 3.

16. Silent in the Sanctuary.  Deanna Raybourn   Lady Grey solves another murder mystery in her own unique style.

17. Vertigo 42    Martha Grimes  Martha’s latest is one of her best.

18. Silent on the Moor  Deanna Raybourn  Nice wrap up of the trilogy.

19. Over Easy  Mimi Pond  Graphic novel set in a ‘70s diner.  Big fun.

20. The Little Warrior  P.G. Wodehouse  Love and complications around the making of a Broadway play.  Good P.G. stuff, as always.

21. Foul Matter  Martha Grimes  Most entertaining book of the year so far.  Read it all in two sittings. Publishers, writers, agents, editors and …hit-men. Fabulous!

22. Cold Flat Junction    Martha Grimes  More good Martha.  Twelve year old girl narrator solves murder mystery.

23.  The Deer Leap   Martha Grimes  Like I was when I ran out of Dick Francis’ mysteries, I will be when I’ve read the last of Martha’s, sad.  Always good entertainment.

24.  The Man With A Load Of Mischief.  Martha Grimes   Martha’s first Inspector Jury mystery.  I’m caught up now and will let Martha go for awhile.

25.  It’s Only Slow Food Until You Try To Eat It   Bill Heavy  Good writing from a man trying to catch, shoot, grow and forage for his own food.     

26.  The Souls of All Living Creatures   Vint Virga  D.V.M.  Caring for animals and philosophically linking their ways to ours.  Well done.

27. The Road Home  Jim Harrison  A great book.  A long, slow, deep read. I savored it from beginning to end.

28.  Love Among the Chickens  P.G.Wodehouse  Frolics and love at a chicken farm by people who know nothing about chicken farming.

29.   Different Seasons  Stephen King  I had read this collection of novellas before but didn’t realize it until I was well into it again, so I continued on.  Four solid stories and an interesting afterword.

30.  Desperation   Stephen King   Not one of his best, but still readable.