Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
10 Best Reads in 2014 (So Far)
It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a “Top Ten Tuesday” meme. These are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and they always have great topics. This week’s topic is “favorites of the year so far.” Since I like to keep track of my own personal favorites, and share them with others (what else is a book blog for, anyway?), I thought this week’s topic was a good one to post.
According to my records, I have read 40 books so far this year, which puts me a bit ahead of schedule (I only had a goal of 60 for the whole year). I’m also reading A TON of books for my summer independent reading (preparation for doctoral exams in January), so I’m sure I’ll be way ahead of schedule come mid-August. If I manage to keep up with the reading list, that is. HAH.
Now, the folks at The Broke and The Bookish say, specifically, “favorites.” Not best books, not top rated etc. So, “favorite” being the only qualifier, I have chosen 5 works of fiction and 5 works of non-fiction that I really enjoyed in this first half of the year. I could have included a poetry section, too, as I’ve read some great poetry in this first half of the year, but I spent too much time trimming each of these sections down from 10 works to 7 and, finally, to 5. So, yay for poetry but, no, it’s not making the list this time!
Fiction:
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- Imre: A Memorandum by Edward Prime-Stevenson
- The Stand by Stephen King
- Ulysses by James Joyce
Non-Fiction:
- Eminent Outlaws by Christopher Bram
- If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? by Kurt Vonnegut
- This is Water by David Foster Wallace
- The Lavender Scare by David K. Johnson
- Gay New York by George Chauncey
Have you read any of these? If so, what did you think? And what are some of your own personal favorites so far this year?
Roof Beam Reader 
Rebecca!
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I’ve read The Book Thief, The Stand and Ulysses. (You better believe that any time I get the opportunity to say I read that book I’m gonna take it!:)
Really glad I read all of them. I enjoyed two out of the three.:)
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Haha! I am sure that Ulysses is one of the two. 😉
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Rebecca and The Book Thief were both in my Top Ten for the year in 2007!
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I have read The Book Thief.
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Love Rebecca–duMaurier was a master of the psycho thriller. Got to read Book Thief one of these days!
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Adam: I’ve read The Book Thief, Rebecca, and Ulysses. Like lostinliterat, I enjoyed two out of three. 🙂 Rebecca is amazing–and I love it as a Hitchcock film as well. (now you’ve got a 50/50 chance of guessing the second one) I’ve done my list: HERE.
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I have read and really enjoyed Rebecca
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I’ve read The Book Thief, which I also loved, and Rebecca is one of my all-time favorites. Your post inspired me to give it another visit — I watched one of the BBC TV adaptations (just okay) and to listen to the audiobook, which is brilliant. It’s narrated by Anna Massey and I love it all over again.
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I love that DFW speech. Good choice. 🙂
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