What I read in 2014

Read a good bit in 2014.  My resolution a couple years back was to read (or listen) to an average of a book a week.  I think I finished around 48 in 2013.  Got to 51 in 2014.  A couple of factors played into this...around June I decided to re-read The Stand, while listening to A Dance with Dragons.  Each of those took me about a month.  Then, December became a clusterfuck during the freight train rumble from Thanksgiving to Christmas (I've been thumbing through both Kip Thorne's book about the Science of Interstellar and Cherie Priest's Fiddlehead all month).

Anyway, a month-by-month breakdown of what I read this year:

January

Outer Dark, by Cormac McCarthy (Dark and Beautiful.  Like a poem about a nightmare).
A Feast for Crows, by George R.R. Martin  (started in 2013, but finished in January)
The Alchemy of Stone, by Ekaterina Sedia
Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny, by Garrison Keillor
This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper  (still need to see the flick...)

February

He Drank, and Saw the Spider, by Alex Bledsoe   (good one, from Alex....)
Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank   (one of those I'd always meant to read....Twilight Zone-y)
Horns, by Joe Hill
Ted Williams: Biography of an American Hero, by Leigh Montville

March

Story of Civilization, part I:  Our Oriental Heritage, by Will Durant
Beyond Bartman, Curses & Goats: 105 reasons it's been 105 years, by Chris Neitzel
True Grit, by Charles Portis   (a re-read, but a great one)
Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy
Blackout, by Connie Willis

April

Crooked Little Vein, by Warren Ellis
I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like, by Todd Snider
Ganymede, by Cherie Priest
30 Tickets to Paradise, by Cody Kaufman
Sacre Blue, by Christopher Moore  (made me find a new appreciation for Moore)

May

Union 1812, by A.J. Languth
Trail of Tears, by John Ehle  (the one that got me into my family history research, this year)
Serpent of Venice, by Christopher Moore
Under the Bright Lights, by Daniel Woodrell

June

A Dance with Dragons, by George R.R. Martin
The Stand, by Stephen King

July

Flight, by Sherman Alexie
Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh
The Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss

August

Marvel Comics: the Untold Story, by Sean Howe
Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King
The Man Who Killed Richard III, by Susan Fern  (And I may have Kingslayer in my blood)
The Smoke at Dawn, by Jeff Shaara

September

Jam, by Yahtzee Croshaw  (maybe the most pleasant surprise of 2014)
Dixieland Delight, by Clay Travis
Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
Maplecroft, by Cherie Priest
Nightwoods, by Charles Frazier
Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey

October

Flood, by Andrew Vachss
Supergods, by Grant Morrison
Fuzzy Nation, by John Scalzi
South of the Pumphouse, by Les Claypool

November

Moonwalking with Einstein, by Joshua Foer  (A great recommendation by Teresa)
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Graham
Rot & Ruin, by Jonathan Maberry
A Load of Hooey, by Bob Odenkirk
Nos4a2, by Joe Hill   (a re-read, because I upset Shyam when I let her read it...)

December

Kiln People, by David Brin  (my buddy Steve recommended this one...was awesome!)
In the Woods, by Tana French
The Science of Interstellar, by Kip Thorne
Fiddlehead, by Cherie Priest

A quick note.

There were a couple aborted reads in 2014...one I won't go back to, and another I will.

I tried, for the second time, Bill Bryson's At Home.  I've liked Bryson in the past, but this one just kept alternating between boring and snotty.  I don't think I'll try it again.

The other was David Mitchell's Bone Clocks, which just wasn't striking me right.  I think I might go read a couple others of his before I go back to this one.....