Well, there’s always 2015. What follows are the best of a pitiful 30 (?!) books I read in 2014, which is nowhere near previous glorious heights. These are in a very particular order – as more discerning readers will see – gently arranged for optimal reading pleasure. Don’t skim or jump around, or you’ll ruin the whole thing. All links are to my own notes on the books, such as they are.
- The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs is a great reminder to ignore everyone else’s rules about reading. Read at whim!
- Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia has to be my favorite fiction of the year, and The Reluctant Fundamentalist is right up there, too.
- Let’s Talk About Love by Carl Wilson is the best nonfiction of my year, easily.
- Stoner by John Williams just works, and I have no idea how.
- Definitely Maybe from the Strugatsky brothers.
- My experience reading Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl overlapped with the movie in really lovely ways.
- And I had similar fun with Dashiell Hammet’s The Thin Man and the film adaptation.
- Amy Hempel’s stories in Tumble Home make me want to write better.
- I love Charles Yu’s kooky Third-Class Superhero and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. I’ve got another one of his books lined up for early this year.
- Flush by Virginia Woolf – the best dog biography you’ll ever find.
- A new translation of Stanisław Lem’s Solaris by Bill Johnston
- I read Njál’s Saga at the end of last year, so I’m giving it another shout-out here.
I hope your year is filled with books you enjoy.
Mark Larson 