Best books of 2014

As December comes each year it seems that every publication and website publishes their end of year best of collections. Books, music, television, we all have opinions and as some of us (myself included) are natural list makers the end of the year prompts this flood. 

So now the most important lists, those from yours truly will begin to be published. Today I will be writing about my favorite and or the best books I have read this year. It should be noted that this list will encompass not just books from this year. To be eligible for this list the book must only be one I have read this year, so if an older book appears do not be surprised. 

Number TEN: Legacy of Ashes and Enemies both by Tim Weiner. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist has published in the post 9/11 era these histories of the CIA and the FBI. The author gives enough 
information in both books for the reader to be more afraid of the mistakes made by our agencies than the bad guys gunning for us. Still heroes do emerge in the side of justice. Two fantastic books. 

Number NINE:  Some Luck by Jane Smiley. The first of a proposed trilogy Smiley introduces us to an Iowa farm family in 1920. With each chapter encompassing a single year this first book we move from 1920 to the early fifties. All the books in the series are written and Smiley has promised a quick release of the series. This is great 
news.

Number EIGHT:  An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. Harris adds to his list of impressive books (Fatherland, Enigma, Pompeii) with this fictionalized history of The Dreyfus Affair. Historical fiction is a hard project, Harris does it better than most. Best of all for someone like me with little knowledge of this event I learned a great deal. An excellent read


Intermission # 1: Guilty pleasure of the year goes to The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. I had, on purpose, waited until all three of these books were published to begin and then this fall the folks at Amazon helped out a great deal by, at various times, offering all three of these books at bargain prices on the Kindle. Over the years I have read at least ten or more of his books. As I have become a more serious reader the flaws in his writing have become more apparent. That said this collection, I have only read the first tow thus far, does have a much to speak well of.  Follett writes characters one cannot help be engaged with and with these doorstop books has inevitably pleased his wide audience. 


Number SEVEN:  Three books by Tom Drury. Drury writes short 







books, too rarely, but they are great works. In these books with interconnected characters not much happens. What the reader is given is some strong, wry, writing of the type you will not forget. In order The End of Vandalism, Hunts in Dreams, and this years entry, Pacific. Truly this is a writer to become familiar with. 


Number SIX:  Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. With The Border Trilogy being in my All Time Favorites list this year I 
delved deeper into McCarthy's collection and enjoyed this classic. McCarthy writes in the same sparse way he always does with a thesaurus at his side. This might be his most powerful book as he examines the nature of true evil versus the evil begat by opportunity and or events. 


Intermission # 2:  This summer my daughter and I read a few books together over her vacation from school. Of those We Were Liars, a 
Y.A. Book by E. Lockhart was the best. Family drama, young love, wealth and privilege, with a story that comes with a twist that, I for one, never anticipated. An excellent story.