Here are the books I read in 2014, with links to reviews (here on this blog or on Goodreads) where I have them. As I’ve done in previous years, this is an exhaustive, “all of” list, not a “best of” list. (I definitely have “best of” list fatigue this year, more so than usual.)

I continued my commitment in 2014 to a daily devotion to at least one poem … and usually more, as friends on Twitter continued to generously share their poem choices and reflections via the #todayspoem hashtag. Now three years in, I haven’t missed a day, both contributing and enjoying selections from others in this edifying and vital communal experience. I’ve now pondered the works of nearly 650 unique poets, writers, songsmiths and wordsmiths I’ve revisited or unearthed myself, and countless more via others wielding that often revelatory hashtag. On into its fourth year, I’m continuing with my #todayspoem habit every day heading into 2015, and I hope many will continue or join anew.

I also celebrated some more beautifully built books in 2014, including:

• The Children Act, by Ian McEwan
• Correspondences, by Anne Michaels (portraits by Bernice Eisenstein)

The books I read, reread and read aloud in 2014 …

1. All the Rage
   by A.L. Kennedy

2. Life After Life
   by Kate Atkinson

3. A Recipe for Disaster & Other Unlikely Tales of Love
   by Eufemia Fantetti

4. how the gods pour tea
   by Lynn Davies

5. Maidenhead
   by Tamara Faith Berger

6. Crazy Town – The Rob Ford Story
   by Robyn Doolittle

7. The Luminaries
   by Eleanor Catton

8. Prairie Ostrich
   by Tamai Kobayashi

9. Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life
   by Hermione Lee
   (read aloud)

10. Bark
    by Lorrie Moore

11. Waiting for the Man
    by Arjun Basu

12. The Lease
    by Mathew Henderson

13. Grayling
    by Gillian Wigmore

14. Sun Bear
    by Matthew Zapruder

15. Ocean
    by Sue Goyette

16. Cockroach
    by Rawi Hage
    (reviewed for bookgaga by Paul Whelan)

17. Dog Ear
    by Jim Johnstone

18. New Tab
    by Guillaume Morissette

19. Congratulations, by the way
    by George Saunders

20. Based on a True Story
    by Elizabeth Renzetti

21. Americanah
    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

22. All My Puny Sorrows
    by Miriam Toews

23. The Rise & Fall of Great Powers
    by Tom Rachman

24. Swann
    by Carol Shields
    (reread)

25. Everyone is CO2
    by David James Brock

26. Juliet Was a Surprise
    by Bill Gaston

27. A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing
    by Eimear McBride

28. Elizabeth is Missing
    by Emma Healey

29. The Couch of Willingness
    by Michael Pond & Maureen Palmer

30. Gone Girl
    by Gillian Flynn

31. The Alphabet in the Park
    by Adelia Prado, translated by Ellen Watson

32. In the Approaches
    by Nicola Barker

33. Broom Broom
    by Brecken Hancock

34. Us Conductors
    by Sean Michaels

35. Paradise & Elsewhere
    by Kathy Page

36. [Sharps]
    by Stevie Howell

37. Lila
    by Marilynne Robinson

38. Love Enough
    by Dionne Brand

39. Thunderstruck & Other Stories
    by Elizabeth McCracken

40. Paddy the Wanderer
    by Dianne Haworth
    (read aloud)

41. American Innovations
    by Rivka Galchen

42. The Gallery of Lost Species
    by Nina Berkhout

43. Out of It
    by Michelle Kadarusman

44. Sweetland
    by Michael Crummey

I read 30 works of fiction (novels and short story collections), 9 poetry collections and 5 works of non-fiction.

The 44 works I read this year were written, co-written or translated by 46 individuals – 33 of them women. While I thought the #readwomen2014 effort was an admirable initiative, I didn’t purposely set out to focus or skew my reading in any fashion, but I’m still happy to see that it turned out this way.

Currently in progress, heading into 2015:

• Hard Light
  by Michael Crummey
  (reread)

• Into the Blizzard – Walking the Fields of the Newfoundland Dead
  by Michael Winter
  (read aloud)

Looking back fondly on my 2014 reading, looking forward eagerly and with anticipation to my 2015 reading, I’ll simply conclude (as I’ve done in previous years) …

It’s not how many you read that counts. It’s that you read that counts.