Books read in 2014

Here is a list of all the books I’ve read in 2014 in chronological order. I have given each book a rating, with five stars being the highest (based purely on how much I enjoyed the book). I try to review every book I read, though not necessarily in the order that I finish reading them. Inspired by several bloggers who are attempting to read a ‘century of books’, I thought it would also be interesting to record the publication year of each book I read.

January

1. The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley (1995) ***
2. Coming Up for Air by George Orwell (1939) *****
3. The Secret Life of Wilkie Collins by William M. Clarke (1988) ***
4. A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger (2014) ****
5. Little Man, What Now? by Hans Fallada (1932) *****
6. The Midnight Rose by Lucinda Riley (2014) *****
7. One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore (2013) ****

February

8. Norah by Cynthia G. Neale (2011) ***
9. Frog Music by Emma Donoghue (2014) *****
10. The Renaissance: The Best One-Hour History by Robert Freeman (2013) ****
11. Falls the Shadow by Sharon Penman (1988) *****
12. Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville (2014) ****
13. The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson (1981) ****
14. After Flodden by Rosemary Goring (2013) ***
15. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934) ***
16. A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir (2012) **
17. Dominion by C.J. Sansom (2012) *****
18. Crippen by John Boyne (2004) *****
19. Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie (1959) ****

March

20. Girl on the Golden Coin by Marci Jefferson (2014) **
21. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (2011) ****
22. Can you Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope (1864) *****
23. The Birds & Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier (1952) *****
24. Ghostwritten by Isabel Wolff (2014) *****
25. The Convictions of John Delahunt by Andrew Hughes (2013) *****
26. Empress of the Night by Eva Stachniak (2014) ***
27. The Crimson Ribbon by Katherine Clements (2014) ***
28. These Mortals by Margaret Irwin (1925) ***
29. The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin (2014) *****

April

30. Watch the Wall, My Darling by Jane Aiken Hodge (1966) ****
31. The Collector of Dying Breaths by M.J. Rose (2014) ***
32. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (2013) **
33. The Moon in the Water by Pamela Belle (1983) *****
34. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (1979) *****
35. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer (1934) *****
36. The Summer Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick (2013) *****
37. Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims by Toby Clements (2014) ***
38. Songs of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford (2013) ****
39. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013) ***
40. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1856) ***
41. Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee (1959) ***

May

42. The Gondola Maker by Laura Morelli (2014) ***
43. Insurrection by Robyn Young (2010) *****
44. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (1598/99) ****
45. The May Bride by Suzannah Dunn (2014) ***
46. A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon Bolton (2014) *****
47. The Chains of Fate by Pamela Belle (1984) *****
48. Beatrice and Benedick by Marina Fiorato (2014) ****
49. The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry (2014) ***
50. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (1886) *****
51. Tropical Issue by Dorothy Dunnett (1983) ****
52. The Long Song by Andrea Levy (2010) ****
53. Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman (2014) ***
54. The Orchard of Lost Souls by Nadifa Mohamed (2013) ***
55. Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart (1955) *****
56. The Quick by Lauren Owen (2014) ***

June

57. The Frost of Springtime by Rachel L. Demeter (2014) ***
58. The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne du Maurier (1960) ***
59. The Lost Duchess by Jenny Barden (2013) ****
60. Stoner by John Williams (1965) *****
61. The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas (2011) *****
62. The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (1979) ***
63. Sisters of Treason by Elizabeth Fremantle (2014) ****
64. Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton (1948) *****
65. Roseblood by Paul Doherty (2014) ****
66. The Lost Souls of Angelkov by Linda Holeman (2012) *****

July

67. Dark Aemilia by Sally O’Reilly (2014) ***
68. Ace, King, Knave by Maria McCann (2013) ****
69. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (1999) ****
70. Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon (2014) ***
71. Plague by C.C. Humphreys (2014) ****
72. Secrecy by Rupert Thomson (2013) ***
73. The Italian Girl by Lucinda Riley (1996) ****
74. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851) ****
75. Dissolution by C.J. Sansom (2003) ****
76. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (2012) ***

August

77. Hild by Nicola Griffith (2013) *****
78. The Devil in the Marshalsea by Antonia Hodgson (2014) *****
79. The Separation by Dinah Jefferies (2014) *****
80. The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters by Michelle Lovric (2014) *****
81. The Strangled Queen by Maurice Druon (1955) ****
82. The Marriage Game by Alison Weir (2014) ***
83. Smiler’s Fair by Rebecca Levene (2014) ****
84. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (2013) *****
85. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1869) ****
86. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton (2014) ****
87. Mr Harrison’s Confessions by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851) ****
88. The Streets by Anthony Quinn (2012) **
89. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb (1995) *****

September

90. A Triple Knot by Emma Campion (2014) **
91. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (2012) *****
92. Harvest by Jim Crace (2013) ****
93. The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan (2002) ****
94. Your Beautiful Lies by Louise Douglas (2014) ****
95. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (1970) *****
96. Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie (2014) ***
97. Named of the Dragon by Susanna Kearsley (1998) ****
98. China Dolls by Lisa See (2014) ***
99. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959) ***

October

100. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) *****
101. Hand of Fire by Judith Starkston (2014) *****
102. The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally (2012) **
103. The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy (1924) ****
104. Wolves in Winter by Lisa Hilton (2012) **
105. The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop (2014) ****
106. Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (2012) *****
107. The Misbegotten by Katherine Webb (2013) *****
108. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2013) ****
109. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo (1831) *****
110. A History of Loneliness by John Boyne (2014) *****
111. The White Princess by Philippa Gregory (2013) **
112. The Brethren by Robert Merle (1977) ****
113. Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud (2014) ***

November

114. The Sea Garden by Deborah Lawrenson (2014) ***
115. Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (1996) *****
116. The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson (2006) ****
117. Vlad: The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys (2008) ***
118. The King’s Sister by Anne O’Brien (2014) ****
119. The Lie by Helen Dunmore (2014) ***
120. Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope (1869) *****
121. Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb (1997) ****
122. The Boleyn King by Laura Andersen (2013) **
123. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1605) *****
124. Zemindar by Valerie Fitzgerald (1981) *****
125. The Asylum by John Harwood (2013) ****
126. The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones (2014) ****

December

127. Sanctuary by Robert Edric (2014) ***
128. The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley (2014) *****
129. Winter Siege by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman (2014) ****
130. The Girl Who Couldn’t Read by John Harding (2014) ****
131. England, Arise by Juliet Barker (2014) ****
132. Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley (2001) ***
133. Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb (2014) ***
134. Lady of Hay by Barbara Erskine (1986) ***
135. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (2004) ****