Year in Review: Adult (Fiction/Nonfiction)

In 2014, I read and reviewed 625 books. I read 109 adult books. This includes fiction and nonfiction.

My top five fiction:

1. The Daughter of Time. Josephine Tey. 1951/1995. Simon & Schuster. 208 pages. [Source: Bought]  
2. Bridge to Haven. Francine Rivers. 2014. Tyndale House. 468 pages. [Source: Library]  
3. Doomsday Book. Connie Willis. 1992. Random House. 592 pages.  [Source: Book I Bought]
4. To Say Nothing of the Dog. Connie Willis. 1998. Bantam. 493 pages. [Source: Bought]  
5. The Second Confession (Nero Wolfe). Rex Stout. 1949. 256 pages. [Source: Book I Bought] and In the Best Families. (Nero Wolfe). Rex Stout. 1950. 272 pages. [Source: Book I Bought]

My top five classics:

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Betty Smith. 1943/2006. HarperCollins. 496 pages. [Source: Bought]  
2. No Name. Wilkie Collins. 1862/1998. Oxford University Press. 748 pages.
3. The Belton Estate. Anthony Trollope. 1866/1993. Penguin. 432 pages. [Source: Bought]
4. Good Morning, Miss Dove. Frances Gray Patton. 1954. 218 pages. [Source: Book I Bought]
5. A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens. 1854/2003. Bantam Classics. 382 pages. [Source: Bought]

My top five nonfiction:

1. Unbroken. Laura Hillenbrand. 2010. Random House. 473 pages. [Source: Library]
2. An Autobiography. Agatha Christie. 1977/1996. Berkley. 635 pages. [Source: Bought]  
3. Frozen in Time. Mitchell Zuckoff. 2013. Harper. 391 pages. [Source: Library]   
4. Out of the Depths. Edgar Harrell, with David Harrell. 2014. Bethany House. 192 pages. [Source: Library] 
5. The Boys in the Boat. Daniel James Brown. 2013. Viking. 416 pages. [Source: Library]

My top five rereads:

1. Les Miserables. Victor Hugo. Translated by Isabel Florence Hapgood. 1862/1887. 1232 pages.
2. Jane Eyre. Charlotte Bronte. 1847.  300 pages. [Source: Own]
3. Persuasion. Jane Austen 1818/1992. Knopf Doubleday. 304 pages. [Source: Bought]
4. North and South. Elizabeth Gaskell. 1854-1855. 452 pages. [Source: Bought]
5. Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury. 1953/1991. Del Rey. 179 pages. [Source: Bought] 

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Year in Review: Middle Grade and Young Adult

In 2014, I read and reviewed 625 books. I read 193 books in the MG/YA category. This includes fiction and nonfiction.

Top five nonfiction:

1. The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Steve Sheinkin. 2014. Roaring Brook. 208 pages. [Source: Library] 
2. The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia. Candace Fleming. 2014. Random House. 304 pages. [Source: Library] 
3. Hidden Like Anne Frank. Marcel Prins. Peter Henk Steenhuis. Translated by Laura Watkinson. Scholastic. 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]   
4. The Girl From the Tar Paper School. Teri Kanefield. 2014. Abrams. 56 pages. [Source: Library]  
5. Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker. Patricia Hruby Powell. 2014. Chronicle. 104 pages. [Source: Library]

Top ten MG/YA:

1. The Night Gardener. Jonathan Auxier. 2014. Abrams. 350 pages. [Source: Library] 
2. Lady Thief. A.C. Gaughen. 2014. Walker Books. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
3. Seven Stories Up. Laurel Snyder. 2014. Random House. 240 pages. [Source: Review copy] 
4. A Snicker of Magic. Natalie Lloyd. 2014. Scholastic. 320 pages. [Source: Library]  
5. The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson. 2013. Simon & Schuster. 240 pages. [Source: Library]
6. Brown Girl Dreaming. Jacqueline Woodson. 2014. Nancy Paulsen Books.  336 pages. [Source: Library] 
7. Absolutely Almost. Lisa Graff. 2014. Penguin. 304 pages [Source: Library] 
8. The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher. Jessica Lawson. 2014. Simon & Schuster. 224 pages. [Source: Library] 
9. Free to Fall. Lauren Miller. 2014. HarperCollins. 480 pages. [Source: Library] 
10. The Chapel Wars. Lindsey Leavitt. 2014. Bloomsbury USA. 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Top five rereads:

1. The Book Thief. Markus Zusak. 2006. Random House. 560 pages. [Source: Book I Bought]  
2. The Giver. Lois Lowry. 1993. Houghton Mifflin. 180 pages. [Source: Library]   
3. To Kill A Mockingbird. Harper Lee. 1960. 281 pages. [Source: Book I Own]
4. The Long Winter. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1940. 334 pages. [Source: Library]  
5. The Teacher's Funeral. Richard Peck. 2004. Penguin. 208 pages. [Source: Library] 

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Year in Review: Board Books, Picture Books, Early Readers

In 2014, I read and reviewed 625 books.  I read 175 "picture books." For categorization purposes, I counted board books and early readers in the totals of my picture books.

My top ten picture books:

• The Midnight Library. Kazuno Kohara. 2014. Roaring Brook. 32 pages. [Source: Library]
• Max and the Won't Go To Bed Show. Mark Sperring. Illustrated by Sarah Warburton. 2014. Scholastic. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• Red Panda's Candy Apples. Ruth Paul. 2014. Candlewick. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• Santa Clauses: Short Poems From the North Pole by Bob Raczka. 2014. Lerner Publishing Group. 32 pages. [Source: Library]
• Very Little Red Riding Hood. Teresa Heapy. Illustrated by Sue Heap. 2014. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch. Anne Isaacs. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. 2014. Random House. 56 pages. [Source: Review copy] 
• Naughty Kitty! Adam Stower. 2014. Scholastic. 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• The Day The Crayons Quit. Drew Daywalt. Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers. 2013. Penguin. 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla. Katherine Applegate. 2014. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 40 pages. [Source: Library]  
• Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles. Douglas Florian. 2014. Penguin. 160 pages. [Source: Library] 

My top three early readers:

• Waiting is Not Easy. Mo Willems. 2014. Hyperion. 64 pages. [Source: Library]
• The Princess in Black. Shannon and Dean Hale. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. 2014. Candlewick. 96 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• Poppy the Pirate Dog's New Shipmate. Liz Kessler. Illustrated by Mike Phillips. 2014. Candlewick. 64 pages. [Source: Review copy]

My top three board books:

• Small Bunny's Blue Blanket. Tatyana Feeney. 2014. Random House. 24 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• B is for Bulldozer: A Construction ABC. June Sobel. Illustrated by Melissa Iwai. 2003/2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]
• Five Hungry Pandas. A Count and Crunch Book. Alexis Barad-Cutler. Illustrated by Kyle Poling. 2014. Scholastic. 10 pages. [Source: Review copy]

© 2014 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews