2014 Reading List

This year was a pretty good one for reading considering I had a baby in April.  If I had a nickel for every time someone told me I could forget about ever reading again after I had a baby, I'd be a rich woman.  I still read every night before I go to bed.  And when I first had Brigid, I actually read more because I would often read to her.  Since she had no idea what I was reading to her, I just decided to read her the books that I was reading.  Worked like a charm.

Here are the books that I read this year:

1. The Bonfire of the Vanities (started in 2013)
2. The Sleepeasy Solution
3. Bringing Up Bebe
4. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
5. The Happiest Baby on the Block
6. Out of Order
7. The Black Dahlia
8. Allegiant
9. The Oath
10. Scaredy Dog
11. Atonement
12. Crazy Rich Asians
13. The Geography of Bliss
14. Veronika Decides to Die
15. Life After Life
16. Iron Curtain
17. A Clash of Kings
18. Zeitoun
19. A Visit From the Goon Squad
20. The Light Between Oceans
21. Simplicity Parenting
22. The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl (currently reading, but probably won't finish by end of year)

When I go through this list, I realize that I read some clunkers this year.  None of the books were the worst book I ever read, but some of them were pretty boring.  And none of them were great.  

Favorite Book: The Black Dahlia.  Although this was a hard one to pick.  I read The Black Dahlia fast and was really engrossed in the story.  One weird thing about reading this book was that I was about 3/4 of the way finished when I told my husband that I was reading this really great book.  He answered, "I'm reading a good book now too."  Then we realized that we were reading the exact same book.  We don't have the same taste in books at all, so this was super bizarre.

Worst Book: Out of Order.  I'm picking this one as the worst simply because it was so surprisingly bad.  Out of Order was written by Sandra Day O'Connor and is about the history of The Supreme Court.  It was the most boring book I have ever read.  No sense of humor, no good anecdotes.  Some other stinkers on my list are Allegiant, Iron Curtain, and Life After Life.  The book Life After Life got great reviews, but I didn't get it.  I would actually read it again, though.  The plot gets really confusing if you aren't paying close attention, and I read this while I was sleep deprived and pumping milk alone in the dark at 2:00 a.m.  I think it is definitely worth another read but for this first read-through it is on my worst list.

Best Parenting Book: The Sleepeasy Solution.  If you want a good book on how to get your baby to sleep, it is this book.  It is not preachy.  It is simply filled with valuable information about the science of sleep and why we need to take the time to teach babies how to sleep.  I really loved this book and often refer back to it when I have a question about my daughter's sleeping.  

I love to hear what other people are reading.  Let me know what your best and worst books of the year were.  I love to know what I'm missing out on or what I should skip.