The list below is a personal one based on the random 120 books I read in 2013. It was a good reading year and it is hard to pick the best since I remember the last books better than the first and I have read 6 more in 2014 which can't be included in this list - otherwise Americans in Paris by Charles Glass would have to be on the list and probably Old Man River by John Schneider.
Westerns
Among westerns the best I read in 2014 was Badlands by Richard Wheeler. I loved two of the original Hopalong Cassidy novels written by Louie L'Amour - Trouble Shooter and The Rustlers of West Fork. And I continue to love the series that was begun by Robert Parker featuring Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch which have been continued by Robert Knott continued the series in Iron Horse and I am pleased.
Sports
It was a good year for sports books - The Art of Fielding by Harbach, The Ghost Horse by Layden and The Old Ball Game by Deford were all books of great writing and excellent stories. The first is the only fiction.
Science
The Age of Edison by Freeberg was an excellent look the shift from gas to electric. It is hard to think of how the simple lightbulb could cause a nation to create a massive network of lines and connections, of interconnected electric services. The bulb was great, but what could have succeeded if the electricity could not be delivered to the homes. The second excellent book was the Emperor of all Maladies by Mukherjee that traces both the discovery and the treatments for cancer - it was frightening as well as enlightening.
Mystery and Thrillers
I am not much for the thrillers. For example I find Reacher to be boring - he narrates the story, not much suspense about the fact that he will succeed. It is just testosterone writing and it does entertain a lot. This year I discovered Lehane and his Live by Night was excellent - his development of both place and person deepens the story telling. C J Box has entertained me for years and Breaking Point and Highway were both well written. Highway is frightening in many ways - the biggest image that stays with the reader is the number of worlds within the worlds exist and not just gangs and gangsters or terrorists and anarchists. Inferno by Dan Brown was an amazingly quick read. I guess I would have to get it a high grade based on the fact that it did not let me go until I finished. Krueger's mysteries in Minnesota continue to entertain and Trickster Point continued the entertainment. However, I am getting near the end of reading this series - Cork O'Connor is a wonderful character, but it is getting to be too far beyond acceptance that the mysteries and danger continues to be so personal. A Fistful of Dollars by Spencer Quinn continues to provide me with laughs from my favorite dog detective, but like Krueger and other series it starts to get too familiar and I will be interested in the next book and whether it will be the last I read. On the other hand I read The Valley of Fear by Doyle again for the ??? time and it is still the writing of the master. There is no better.
Biography and memoir
Let Me Finish by Roger Angell is a wonderful memoir by one of the great baseball writers, The Man From Clear Lake by Christoferson is the biography of Gaylord Nelson - father of Earth Day and the greatest environmental Senator we have had. Grant and Twain and Grant and Sherman continue to explore the complex life of this iconic General and president. The Thunderbolt Kid by Bryson is the funniest of memoirs and The Wizard explores one of our greatest inventors and electrical innovators - Tesla and puts him much higher on my list of great thinkers, scientists, inventors. Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher follows the life of Curtis and his amazing photographic adventures to record the American Indian in place and culture. Home to the Wilderness is an old memoir by Sally Carrighar and we forget how influential her words were in speaking to our environmental Conscience. But number one would be On a Farther Shore by Souder - the biography of Rachal Carson.
History
The Hour of Peril by Stashower was a surprise. First I never heard of this plot to assassinate Lincoln, but second because it was spell binding and even knowing that Lincoln would not be assassinated it was still a tense read. The Children's Blizzard was a tragic weather event in the Dakota's and all of us who know what winter really is can not help be be caught up in this narrative. In the Footsteps of Little Crow is essential to MN history as well as the history of the western Indian Wars while A Chain of Thunder is a fictional story of Vicksburg that really captures the tragedy of this encounter. I loved all the details of the New Madrid Earthquake in A Chain of Thunder and Bataan the March of Death leaves you feeling frustrated with the cruelty of humankind and the strength of humankind and the fruitlessness of wars.
Adventure
A Father's Odyssey by Hitchcock - running daily marathons from MN to Atlanta was moving and emphasizes the cause of single parents, but the writing was not as compelling as the less well motivated Paris To the Pyrenees that chronicled one of lessor known pilgrimages across France. The couple was fun, but not people I would want to walk with. It was my favorite book in this category this year. I read three books on walking the Appalachian Trail and AWOL on the Appalachian Trail was my favorite. Canoeing the Congo was good but I really wanted more about the canoeing. What may surprise is that Lost and Found on the Pacific Crest Trail which was a best seller was not one I particularly liked.
Environmental
Toms River by Fagin is a classic already. Covering the chemical plant that takes over a town by offering jobs and then holds the town hostage while it ravages the rivers, ground water, and air is too familiar. It is playing out now in the battle over the Sulfide Mining near the Boundary Waters. Jobs, money is the cry, but devastation and finally financial ruin is the reality. Shadows on the Gulf by Jacobson and The Great Deluge by Brinckley are outstanding looks at the issues at the end of the Mississippi. I just wish Brinkley would be a little less wordy. American Canopy by Rutkin, Mycophilia by Bone, and The Town that Food Saved by Hewitt were also entertaining and enlightening books this year.
Novels
Andrew's Brain by Doctorow is a fascinating trip looking out from someone else's brain and a brain that is a little warped too. Paris by Rutherford is a history of the most intriguing city in the world and my favorite novel of the year while Songlines by Chatwin was an intriguing look at the musical trails that guide the Aborigines across Australia and The Man in the Basement by Mosely was the strangest set up for a novel this year - a guilt ridden white man seeks to be locked up in the basement of a black man - imagine the complications this can have.
Poetry
Only two books of Poetry this year - Tin Flag by my favorite poet and humerous - Louis Jenkins and a peaceful combination of poetry and photos - Conversations by Clem and Elizabeth Nagel.
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