With a new year inevitably comes a reflection of the previous year’s reading. Whilst I am not going to recap everything which I read during 2014 – the task would be far too arduous and time-consuming – I thought that I would compile a list of my top twenty books. It was very difficult to narrow down my favourites as I read so many wonderful things, and I feel a little guilty that I wasn’t able to include everything. The following are in no particular order, and include a wide variety of genres. I have linked original reviews where appropriate.
1. The Ladies’ Paradise by Emile Zola – thoughts
2. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick – thoughts
3. The Love Child by Edith Olivier – thoughts
4. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller – thoughts
5. The Journals of Sylvia Plath – thoughts
6. The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson – thoughts
7. Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker – thoughts
8. Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote – thoughts
9. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor – thoughts
10. The Still Point by Amy Sackville – thoughts
11. Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald – thoughts
12. The Greek Myths by Robert Graves – thoughts
13. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
14. The Listener by Tove Jansson – thoughts
15. Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald
16. The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isobel Greenberg
17. Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson – thoughts (part one) and thoughts (part two)
18. A Certain Smile by Francoise Sagan
19. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
20. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri