Favorite Reads 2014

I received complimentary copies of most of the books I mention here from the publishers in exchange for honest reviews, which you’ll find in the posts I’ve linked to.

At last! I’ve been anticipating this post since I started book blogging earlier this year. As this blog is all about hope and inspiration, these are the books that most fit that bill for me in 2014 and that I highly recommend to fellow readers. I’ve purposely listed them in an eclectic order. Here we go!

The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet by Charity Tahmaseb

Contemporary Fiction/Young Adult Fiction

If I had to describe all the places this book took me as I read it, it would require a book’s-worth of space for me to make it plain. Here’s a brilliant novel that can do a world of good for any reader around twelve-years-old and up, a story that shows us what happens when you lose your voice as a person. How are you going to get it back? This is the kind of beautiful work I can see myself reading over and over again.

The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron

Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Utterly life-affirming. I’m convinced that Cambron tapped into a place invisible and eternal to write this powerful piece of World War II fiction, as it tapped into something invisible and eternal in me, the place where the hope of glory lives, as I read it, and I doubt I’m the only reader who’s experienced it that way. What a debut for this author! I can’t wait to read the sequel in 2015, which I absolutely intend to.

Harvest of Rubies by Tessa Afshar

Christian Fiction/Biblical Fiction

New-to-me historical fiction by a new-to-me author. This amazing novel brought the heroine’s life as a scribe (at the time, a man’s job) down to earth without at all removing the true feel of the period. (Well, no–I wasn’t around during the time of the ancient Persian empire, but Sarah is so relatable, I might as well have been in Persia right there with her and her heartwarming friends…and challenging husband.)

The Almond Tree by Michelle Cohen Corasanti

Fiction/World Literature

Written by a Jewish American author, here’s a book that’s garnered all kinds of attention and was the first such trip I’d ever taken to Palestine–a political novel, I’m sure, but I wasn’t caught up in the politics of it so much as I was gripped by its humanity. It’s a tragic but optimistic story simply told with the feel of a memoir, a novel I’ve deemed to be fuel for hope and compassion for humankind.

Prelude for a Lord by Camille Elliot

Christian Fiction/Regency Romantic Suspense

What? A lady in Regency England playing the violin, of all instruments during the period? Simply scandalous! I was pleasantly surprised at the mix of action and suspense in this novel of artistry, romance, and questions of faith, and there’s nothing thin or forced in the development of these intriguing characters. Even if my physical ears couldn’t exactly hear Lady Alethea Sutherton’s music, my soul did.

Elderberry Croft: Seasons of the Heart by Becky Doughty

Christian Fiction/Women’s Fiction

An altogether refreshing find for me, a collection of twelve deftly intertwined stories in what I call an Anne-of-Green-Gables-Avonlea-type place. The months progress from a warm, feel-good tone to something appropriately darker as more of Willow’s story is revealed, but not too dark to still, ultimately, feel good. I was absorbed throughout this tough journey of faith, grief, and love.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Nonfiction/Autobiography

I don’t read as many biographies and such as I do novels. Still, I was honored to get an early look at this timely narrative by Stevenson, the Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice that defends the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children in the criminal justice system of the United States. This is an important book for Americans of all races and classes.

Thief of Glory by Sigmund Brouwer

Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Heartrending. Raw. Superb. Another World War II novel and a masterfully written piece of fiction, exposing a side of the war that I’d never visited before through a novel, in the Dutch East Indies, or Indonesia. This book’s back cover copy hardly does it justice, and the age of the woman on the front is more reminiscent of where the novel doesn’t linger than where it does, but those outside factors aside, the novel itself hits its mark profoundly.

Heidi Grows Up by Charles Tritten

Classics/Children’s Books

Okay, so, Heidi doesn’t look like that. She has dark, curly hair according to her original author, Johanna Spyri, if my memory serves me correctly. And this rather YA fiction-looking book cover isn’t, admittedly, the cover of the old copy I procured this year. But this cover does tell us a little more than Tritten would’ve expressed outright to the kiddies, and if someone must write a sequel to another author’s work, I’d say Tritten’s way is the way to do it.

Black Bubblegum by Lewis P. Bryon

Inspirational Poetry

Bryon (not “Byron,” mind you–Bryon) is a multiracial author and spoken word artist whose poetry should be read aloud, if the reader’s reading situation allows. While this is evidently a Christian collection of work from a man of faith, I wouldn’t at all call it syrupy or super-sanitized. Bryon’s words are honest, real, poignant, and they hit you where they hit you. And I dare you not to want to pop in a few pieces of gum to chomp when you read this.

Magnolia Market by Judy Christie

Christian Fiction/Romance

I confess–reading Christie’s novel that precedes this one might have helped me to keep the beginning information on the characters straighter, as I wasn’t aware that this book is a sequel until after I got a copy. But, was my enjoyment of this novel with small-town drama and classism, romance, and humor diminished by that? Not in the least. My being a Seattleite also gives it extra points, but it’s a good novel no matter where you’re from.

Somewhere Safe with Somebody Good by Jan Karon

Christian Fiction

So. With this novel, I’m totally guilty of knowingly jumping into an ongoing series without having read any of the books before it. In this case, the nine books before it. But, alas, I found this novel’s title irresistible. And when I tell you that I immediately felt right at home in Mitford with Father Tim Kavanagh and his supporting cast of neighbors, and I could easily see why Karon is a New York Times bestselling author, I so mean it.

Me & Georgette by D.B. Schaefer

Regency Romance/Time-slip Fiction

I’ve simply never read another novel like it. I mean, Jewish and historical English culture mixed with humor, romance, and time travel? How could Schaefer pull that off? Yet, pull it off she does in an entertaining Regency novel that takes some unusual chances and is all the better for it. I hear tell that fans of Georgette Heyer novels will especially like it, and though I’m not personally familiar with Heyer’s work, I especially liked this novel anyway.