2014 Reading Year in Review

Lianne at Caffeinated Life hooked me up with this link up hosted by Perpetual Page Turner and I liked how it looked so I thought I'd give it a try too. :)

Number Of Books You Read: 62
Number of Re-Reads: 13
Genre You Read The Most From: Classics

 

1. Best Book You Read In 2014?

(If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

• Best Non Fiction-Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen
• Best Classic- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Best "modern" book- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• Best Re-read- Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers and Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

• Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper 

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read in 2014? 

• I was pleasantly surprised by Kathryn Stockett's The Help. 

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did) In 2014?

• I don't really push people to read books. However, my best friend did finally read Mansfield Park after years of my telling her too. She liked it. :)

 5. Best series you started in 2014? Best Sequel of 2014? Best Series Ender of 2014?

• I didn't read any series in 2014 but I did RE-read the Harry Potter series which as always was great! :)

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2014?

• I wrote a Top Ten Tuesday on this which you can read HERE but I think for favorite I'll go with Pierre Boulle and his book Bridge on the River Kwai. 

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

• Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Card from the sci-fi genre... which I don't at all normally read. 

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

• Probably Bridge on the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle

 9. Book You Read In 2014 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

• Well I don't normally re-read books just a year after I read them but if I were going to re-read one of them in 2015 it would be Christianity and Liberalism because I feel there is always more you could get out of this book. 

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2014?

The epicness of this cover I think speaks for itself. :)

11. Most memorable character of 2014?

• Good character- Amy Dorrit from Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit
• Bad Character- Frollo from Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame 

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2014?

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Last of the Mohicans- Both I complained about their long description and unnecessary tangents but it was beautiful writing. 

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2014?

• Dickens Hard Times, Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Grey,  J. Gresham Machen's Christianity and Liberalism and Roland Bainton's Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2014 to finally read? 

• A lot, really most of them but I guess I'll go with Anthony Trollope's The Warden, as I read it's sequel Barchester Towers years ago. 

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2014?

• I'm not very good at keeping track of quotes but this one from Hugh Binning's book Christian Love is very good. 

“Self-love is the greatest enemy to true Christian love, and pride is the fountain of self-love” “He whose sins are covered by God’s free love cannot think it hard to spread the garment of his love over his brother’s sins” “Humility makes a man compare himself with the best that he may find how bad he himself is, but pride measures by the worst, that it may hide a man from his own imperfections”

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?

• Longest- Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
• Shortest- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most

(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)

• Probably Pierre Boulle's Bridge on the River Kwai... the ending just.... shocked me!
• Also Aldous Huxley's Brave New World shocked me because of the reality it presented. 

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

• I don't like the OTP/shipping thing but I suppose I can answer this with Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clenham from Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit. 

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

• Bean and Ender Wiggins from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. 

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2014 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell or Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens. 

21. Best Book You Read In 2014 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

• Well my brother has been raving about Hugh Binning's Christian Love for the longest time and I finally caved and read it. Probably would never have read it or heard of it if it hadn't been for him. 

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2014?

• All of these romantic questions! Umm... well I don't really have fictional crushes. I highly esteem men from literature like Mr. Knightley and Mr. Tilney but I don't have a crush on them. I guess though my new favorite "highly esteemed" male for this year would be Arthur Clenham from Little Dorrit. 

23. Best 2014 debut you read?

• I had to remind myself that I had read two 2014 books this year.  I just don't normally read modern books. My favorite of the two would definitely be Wouldn't it be Deadly, which while not being great was not bad. :)

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

• Frank Herbert's Dune 

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

• Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors was quite hilarious... given the title I think we can assume it was supposed to be. ;)

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2014?

• I don't cry over books but I suppose the one that made me the saddest was Kathryn Stockett's The Help but Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl was quite sad as well. Also, The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. 

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

• Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking... a great book! And also Roland Bainton's Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. 

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

• It will take more than a book to crush my soul. ;) Hmmm.... Maybe The Rape of Nanking? 

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2014?

• The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
•  The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

• Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame- I liked it but some of the characters made me... unhappy. 

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2014? 

• I discovered a LOT of great ones! I don't even know where to start... so I won't. :( If I visit your blog fairly often know that I love it and if I took the time to make a list you would be on it. :)

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2014? 

• I love how in depth I got with this review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Normally I don't make that much of an effort but I just write a little about what I liked and didn't like then done. I suppose you could say that Hunchback made me think more. :)

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

• I don't know! How about this one? :)

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

• I love doing the Top Ten Tuesday memes and the It's Monday What are You Reading meme

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2014?

• Bookish- I'm very proud of the amount of Dickens I read this year and overall so far. Can't wait to get some more read next year! 
• Blogging- I'm up to 36 followers on blogger and 40 followers on Bloglovin'! :) That may seem like a small number but it's a big leap for me. :)

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

• My announcement of the 2015 Birthday Month Reading Challenge!!!

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

• Ummm... awkward! I don't know.... all of them! ;) I suppose I like this post a lot and I feel like it expresses a lot of my sentiments. :)

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

• I love Novel Challenges for finding reading challenges and I'm continually discovering the wonders of Goodreads every day. :) I'm also utilizing Amazon more for buying books... especially used books. 

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

I completed ALL of them!!!!! See my accumulation page of the reading challenges I competed in this year HERE. 

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2014 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2015?

• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier- I really wanted to read that this year but it didn't get done. 

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2015 (non-debut)?

• Barnaby Rudge, Gone with the Wind and Rebecca. 

3. 2015 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

• I don't really read or keep track of new books much. 

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2015?

• I like N.D. Wilson's Ashtown Burials series and I'm hoping the last book is coming out in 2015. I haven't read the one before that though so probably I should get around to that too. ;)

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2015?

• Write a review of every book I read in 2015. Ambitious I know and I can't believe I'm considering it. 

6. A 2015 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

• Again, I don't read modern books much, so no... 

This was fun to fill out and I hope y'all enjoyed it too! 

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