I don’t think I’m going to finish Sunshine by Robin McKinley before midnight on New Year’s Eve, so here it is, the list of books I read in 2014 as best I can remember. I did not keep excellent records of books read this year, nor is my Goodreads account any help, since I tend to add books willy-nilly as I remember that I read them, even if I didn’t read them this year. Just further evidence of my failure to operate social media according to its design.

There was a lot of comfort reading. Some books found on the shelf at the hostel I stayed at in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica (and thank the lord for hostel bookshelves). A lot of books written by friends (yay! author friends!). Not too much nonfiction. I’m still reading a jazz theory book and The Rural Roots of Bluegrass, but I read those kind of books slowly because of all the talking back I have to do (“Really? ALL you need is 3 chords? What about those songs with that freaky major 7 instead of the 5?” “Honey, are you going to be up fighting music a lot longer?”).

I would not normally do one of those Top 10 of the 33 Books I Read This Year things, but Alif the Unseen was spectacular. Although maybe I shouldn’t say that with any finality because I really loved As You Like It.

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7th Heaven – James Patterson

Agent to the Stars – John Scalzi

Alif the Unseen – G. Willow Wilson

Ancillary Justice – Ann Leckie

Angels – Marian Keyes

As You Like It – William Shakespeare

Boneshaker – Cherie Priest

Book of Iron – Elizabeth Bear

The Break-In – Aidee Ladnier

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown – Holly Black

Drakon: Awakening – Erich Schubach

The Flight of Michael McBride – Midori Snyder

Gaudy Night – Dorothy Sayers

Ghost Songs – Andrew Demcak

Haffling – Caleb James

Iron Sunrise – Charles Stross

The Judy Grahn Reader – Judy Grahn (edited by Lisa Maria Hogeland)

Kiki Strike – Kirsten Miller

Love Is the Law – Nick Mamatas

Measure for Measure – William Shakespeare

Nickel and Dimed – Barbara Ehrenreich

The Other Side of the Story – Marian Keyes

Rule 34 – Charles Stross

Snake Agent – Liz Williams

Something Rotten – Alan Gratz

Song of Achilles – Madeline Miller

Sushi for Beginners – Marian Keyes

Sweet Giordan, Please Remember – Raine O’Tierney

Troilus and Cressida – William Shakespeare

Unnatural Death – Dorothy Sayers

Us Three – Mia Kerick

We Were Not the Enemy – Heidi Gurcke

Will Grayson, Will Grayson – David Levithan and John Green