Bookalicious Babe's Top Ten Books for 2014 Part 2: Who's Number One?

I'm still wrestling with numbers three and two, so I guess I will make up my mind when I get past number four.  Who knew picking my favorite reads of 2014 would come down to such a struggle?  Without further ado, here's the final four:


4.  Christmas at Tiffany's  by Karen Swan

This book was my biggest surprise of the year.  I was looking for something fun and light to read to get my mind off of homework, and instead I got a fantastic story that sucked me in and kept me up late at night.  I've shared it with friends who have had the same reaction.  Isn't it great when a book really grabs you and doesn't let go?  Read this if you want a great chick-lit story that takes chick-lit to a new level.  

3.  Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

This book had my heart just from the cover and the title.  Ruth Reichl, a famous food writer, takes her passion for food into the realm of fiction and delivers a delightful novel about a woman's search for the young girl who befriended James Beard in the 1940's while he was the food librarian at an esteemed cooking magazine in New York City.  Anyone who loves to cook, loves New York, and loves a good, fresh story should pick this one up!  Coming in paperback in May, 2015.

2.  The Homesman Glendon Swarthout

 
I first spotted this novel sitting on the fiction cart in my bookstore's receiving room, waiting to go out.  Just one copy.  I could have missed it any other time; I  like to think that wonderful bookstore magic put me in the right place at the right time to find it.  I quickly picked it up (the original cover has a sod house on the prairie) and ran to my manger, who also loves all things pioneer.  We ordered more in, read it, and began telling everyone we could about this amazing novel, which was first published in the 1990's and has been re-released in conjunction with the movie starring Tommy Lee Jones and Hillary Swank in the title roles of George and Miss Mary Bee Cuddy.  An unforgettable tale of one woman's decision to transport pioneer women who have gone insane on the wide and lonesome Nebraska prairie to a safe house in Iowa.  Powerful, moving, and one book you will want to share with everyone around you.   Once again reminding us of the incredible sacrifices women made in leaving their homes and families to travel West in hopes of a new beginning. 

And the Bookalicious Babe's favorite read of 2014 is.......

1.  The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

 

Rarely does a trilogy wow me from beginning to end.  Deborah Harkness, you are brilliant.  I don't know how you came up with this amazing tale of Diana and Matthew, but I thank the stars you did!  You wrote an amazing tale of vampires, witches,  and daemons and weaved an unforgettable cast of characters into a story that left me (and thousands of others) anxiously awaiting each new novel.  Brilliant, clever, sophisticated, and all neatly concluded in The Book of Life.  This is no teen fantasy, but a well-written, meticulously researched, and cleverly imagined tale of love against all odds, time travel, family, righting wrongs, settling past debts, and most of all, faith.  If you haven't read the All Souls Trilogy, please start now.  A Discovery of Witches, followed by Shadow of Night, then The Book of Life.  While I was sad to read the last of Diana and Matthew's story, I was so satisfied with the conclusion I couldn't be sad for too long.  Who knows?  Maybe another character will have their chance in a future book?

That's my list!  I can't wait to see what 2015 brings me.  Thank you everyone for reading my reviews, commenting, and sharing what you love to read.  It makes my heart glad to know so many people embrace books and reading with as much love as I do.  I can't imagine a world without books, can you?  

Have a wonderful New Year!   

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Bookalicious Babe's Top Ten Books for 2014 Part 2: Who's Number One?