2014 Year in Reading

By James Wallace Harris, Thursday, January 1, 2015

Since 1983 I’ve kept a log of books read, noting the title, author and the date I finished the book. Over the years this has proved very rewarding and useful. This year I switched from using an old notebook to using the spreadsheet in Google docs because it allows me to search and order my list in different ways.  The spreadsheet also allowed me to add some new columns of information to collect – year published, type, and the format of the book I read. I wish I had started this log with the first book I ever read on my own back in grade school, whatever that was. I think it was a Scholastic abridgement of Up Periscope by Robb White. In the early 1970s I kept a similar log for 18 months, when I dropped out of college and read 479 books. I wish I had that list now. The older I get the more I wish I had systematically documented my life.

This year I read 67 books, up from 52 in 2013, 49 in 2012, 58 in 2011, which was my last big reading year. I thought I might read over 100 books this year since 2014 was my first full year of retirement. I know many bookworms that do read 100, 200 and even more books a year. I don’t think I’ll ever be that kind of bookworm. I’m guessing between 50-75 books is the most I can digest in one year.

I believe this year I read more nonfiction books than in past years, with 29 out of the 67, and more new books, 26 of the 67 were published in 2013 and 2014, which was my reading goal from 2013. My complete list of books read in 2014 is at the bottom of the essay. In the past I’ve listed my top five favorites, but this year I read so many great books I’m listening my top ten.

Favorite Novels Read in 2014

1. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
2. Stoner by John Williams
3. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
4. Possession by A. S. Byatt
5. Timescape by Gregory Benford
6. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
7. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
8. Summertime by J. M. Coetzee
9. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
10. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Favorite Nonfiction Books Read in 2014

1. Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty
2. The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin
3. Time Reborn by Lee Smolin
4. The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch
5. The Innovators by Walter Isaacson
6. The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
7. Short Night of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan
8. How Jesus Became God by Bart D. Ehrman
9. Hellhound on his Trail by Hampton Sides
10. Factory Man by Beth Macy

That doesn’t mean the other 47 books were bad, but these were the standouts. Every year I try to read one large 19th century classic. This year I read The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. It was very good, but not great.  I also like to read old forgotten science fiction novels, and the two I picked this year, Goslings by J. D. Beresford and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman both dealt with imagining societies of women without men. Both were engaging reads, but on the esoteric side. I only recommend them to historians of feminism and science fiction. But both were big fun to me.

I also like rereading science fiction novels I first discovered as a teen to see how they hold up. Two of my favorites from the 1960s were Nova by Samuel R. Delany and Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley. Both from 1968. I still like them, and even admire them, but the tides of time are eroding their once beautiful beaches.

As an experiment, I read one book, Timescape by Gregory Benford, and then a week later listened to it, which I wrote about in “Printed Book v. Audio Book.” The experience only validated what I’ve known for years, and that is I get far more out of fiction when I listen than when I read with my eyes.

Novel and Nonfiction of the Year

I wish the Capote novel wasn’t always overshadowed by the Audrey Hepburn film. I love the movie, but the novella is on much higher plane of existence than the movie.  I didn’t discover that until this year. When I image searched on “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” all the pictures were from the movie. Even when I added “paperback” – Audrey’s beautiful face dominates. Listening to the Michael C. Hall narration of Capote’s story brought the story to life far differently from my own reading year’s ago. I’m such a poor reader of fiction that I should always leave the job to experts. I did find this old Signet paperback cover that helps forget Audrey’s, but it’s still not a cover the book deserves.

The reason why I picked Capital in the Twenty-First Century is because it’s a magnificent work of history, literary commentary and economic insight. It’s also a very significant book everyone should read.

Reading Log for 2014

Plans for 2015

I want to continue reading even more nonfiction and newer books. Like I wrote the other day, I’m ready to leave the 20th century behind. My goal is to read two-thirds nonfiction next year, with most of them published in 2014 and 2015.

JWH