The best book I read in 2014 was... [add yours]

[chicaguapa]

1 month to go and I already know that this will be the best book I read this year. I absolutely loved it. It's £2.99 for the Kindle version and you'll want to read it again as soon as you finish.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

I hope you enjoy it magimedi!

The Goldfinch. Hands down.

Molly - 'Into the Silence' = absolutely amazing. I loved it but can't remember of I read it this year or last year!

The Son - Philipp Meyer, Took me ages though

Also finished the Game Of Thrones saga . That didn't take anywhere near as long.

Oh and currently reading 'Gone Girl'.

Will stick with it but underwhelmed so far.

Yes, The Goldfinch here too
Also loved 'The Unknowns' by Gabriel Roth.

I think you recommended it to me Remus, I was a bit miserable at first about all the dying and it was such a heartbreaking read... and of course #spoiler-alert it doesn't exactly end well with Mallory either.
But it is really one of the best books I've read, glad I persevered and I now recommend it to anyone that will listen. Great book, astonishing research.

I read the Goldfinch last year by the way, loved it!

I've done lots of re-reading this year, and have really enjoyed it.

As far as new books, my favourite has been Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters which I very much enjoyed and will certainly read again. I also read his Such a Long Journey which was almost as good. A Fine Balance is sitting on my to-read shelf and I've asked Father Christmas for his short stories

His works were recommended on another thread here so thank you to whoever it was.

weebarra I've bought The Miniaturist for someone as a Christmas present so I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Molly - it's one of three or four that I recommend to everybody, all the time! Glad you enjoyed it. With books like that I always still find myself wishing that this time there might be a happy ending - even when I know exactly what happened! I must have read 15 or more books about Captain Scott, for example, and every time I hope that this time it will be different!

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland, A Fine Balance is my favourite book ever. I was just saying last night to DH that I wish I hadn't read it, so that I could experience it again for the first time. Magical (and tragic).

The Century series by Ken Follett. Though if I had to pick one out of the trilogy, I'd say Fall of Giants.

Child 44 bt Ton Rob Smith was brilliant, it was first book this year that I couldn't put down. It's so different in that it's a thriller set in Stalinist Russia and it really describes the nightmarish lives people led in these times. I have recommended now to lots of people , loved it.

Middleaged - I am so jealous that you have A Fine Balance to read for the first time.

Such a wonderful book, I have re read it twice.

The Goldfinch.

Closely followed by Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? And Brodeck's Report.

Paying guests for me too but isn't going to make it to my top ten ever. I'm enjoying the bone clocks at the moment. Not been a great reading year for me.

We are all completely besides ourselves

SK- Revival

Sarah Waters- The Paying Guests

Michael Faber -Under the Skin

The Golem and the Jinni

The Glassblower

Hey away the film of Child 44 is out next spring. With Tom Hardy in main role.

My 2014 top 5 so far:

1. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell
2. Mr Mac and Me, Esther Freud
3. The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee
4. Nora Webster, Colm Toibin
5. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami

I read The Goldfinch last year and loved it.

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. Haven't even finished reading it yet but it is excellent, no wonder it is a classic. I thoroughly recommend.

For me, it's a draw between The Goldfinch and The Luminaries, both beautifully written, complex, epic books.

U2 - I convinced DH, DB, & DSIL to see the movie Under The Skin. Scarlett Johansson as an alien - what can go wrong? Hand on heart, it was the single worst film I have ever had the misfortune of sitting through. Dull and practically devoid of any meaningful plot. They will never let me choose a movie again, ever.

I'm reading Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal And The White right now, so I know that the man can write but really, is the book really that good? And if so, what was the film based on, I wonder.

i saw beautiful forevers at the national theatre the other week - was ok

i liked non fic - the do no harm one about brain surgery
Hans and Rudolf about ww2 was ace too
the nearly always prefect people about Scandinavia was great
and Red love about berlin
Handsome Brute ( everyone loves that)

other books i liked was the Harriet Lane one
Beaitiful Ruins
Black diamonds
Elizabeth is missing
Heft
the minaturist
The Elizabeth gilbert new one
Alex by pierre lamaitre

but the best book of this year for me has been

drum roll

The INterestings

if you like Donna tart you will like this

www.amazon.co.uk/Interestings-Meg-Wolitzer/dp/0099584093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417645311&sr=1-1&keywords=the+interestings

the shittest book? that new David nichol one SO SO CRAp

For me it was The Goldfinch. I also enjoyed a thriller called Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham - it wasn't a new book but it was recommended to me and it was a great holiday read.

I love anything by Margaret Forster and am currently enjoying her latest 'My life in houses'.

Some great recommendations on this thread to add to my list, thanks.

hated the ape book and the beside ourselves one - uber shit