Here’s our final podcast of 2014, looking back over the books we’ve read and enjoyed this year. Some of the books are older, some were published in 2014, some we’ve mentioned earlier in the year, but all have been books that we can recommend! Kate has cheated unrepentently but only because there were so many books she couldn’t omit – we’ve both had a great year of reading.
[ca_audio url_mp3=”http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Adventureswithwordspod/~3/awDtAbRQ9Uk/3886128419.mp3″ url_ogg=”” align=”center”]
Here are our choices (Rob’s picks in bold, Kate’s picks underlined):
- Best re-read – Sherlock Holmes; The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
- Best SFF – Ready Player One by Ernest Cline; Our Lady of the Streets by Tom Pollock, Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Station Eleven by Emily Mandel
- Best mystery/thriller – Under the Skin by Michel Faber; The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brook
- Best historical – The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox; A Month In The Country by J L Carr, Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley
- The Simon Savidge Best Nazi Novel Award – The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, J by Howard Jacobson
- Best comic novel – The Circle by Dave Eggers; Lobsters by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
- Most un-put-down-able – The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark; The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
- Best non-fiction – Jim Henson by Brian J Jones; Nature Cure by Richard Mabey, This Book Is Gay by James Dawson
- Best sense of place – The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
- Most manipulative – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clark
- Most emotional/moving – A Month in the Country by JL Carr; Heart Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne
- Best in translation: The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen
- Best book-of-the-film – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
- Favourite lead character – Rosemary and Fern from We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, Wydrin from The Copper Promise by Jen Williams
- Best villain – Jeff Bezos from The Everything Store by Brad Stone, the Unstoppable Soldiers from Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
- Most unusual/surprising – The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick
- Authors who’ve passed away – Graham Joyce
- Book of the Year – Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (with honourable mentions for How To Be Both by Ali Smith, Trouble by Non Pratt and The Black North by Nigel McDowell)
Join in the discussion on the podcast! We always love to hear your feedback or questions.
Send us an email, ask us a question on Goodreads or record us a voice message using the box on the right hand side! The best will be used on the podcast!
Subscribe to podcast in iTunes – Subscribe to podcast via RSS – Download MP3 – Listen on Stitcher
Our podcast is brought to you by Audible. Try Audible free for 30 days and receive one free audiobook download. Your Audible download can be enjoyed on all iPods, iPhones, Android and mobile devices. Listen anytime, anywhere. Start listening today and discover a great alternative to that same old playlist! Try Audible for 30 days and download any Audible audiobook for free!
Episode 122. An Adventures With Words production.