2014: My year of books and reading.

The advent of winter tends to come as a relief. My working world never really abates, because owning a business means always being on the clock. Writing as much as I do takes time, and that's a constant, but with winter comes more quality time for reading. It's required nourishment for better writing.

At this late date, it is unimaginable that music would not be playing in my head at all times, or that a book (or books) wouldn't be somewhere within arm's reach. I'm willing to read newspapers and magazines on an electronic device, though not a book. Books are meant to be tactile, and I'm closed to persuasion on this count, at least so far.

When I finally settle down to listing the books consumed in 2014, the first reaction is shock, in that it's half the number from 2013. Then it dawned on me that the average length of these books probably is in the range of 400-500 pages. Two of them are in excess of 800 pages. It seems as though I'm reading fewer books, longer books, and not enough novels.

Well, what can I say? 2014 was the centenary of World War I, and once things started rolling down the historical path, they stayed there.

The past year’s completed book list is offered here, somewhat chronologically in reverse, beginning with the most recent. Next up in the queue is Roberto Bolaño's novel 2666, although I'll set it aside for later in the year if my friend Jon and I can decide on a book to read in tandem, like we used to. Also, although the Bookseller isn't yet aware, I'll be ordering Havel: A Life, by Michael Zantovsky.

Works of fiction are marked with *

The Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall, by Mary Elise Sarotte

Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, by Tony Judt (previously read in 2008)

Thinking the Twentieth Century, by Tony Judt with Timothy Snyder

*The Vivisector, by Patrick White

Louisville Beer: Derby City History on Draft, by Kevin Gibson

Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States, by Michael Lind

The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams, by Ben Bradlee Jr.

Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War, by Max Hastings

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, by Christopher Clark

1913: The World Before the Great War, by Charles Emmerson

The World of Yesterday, by Stefan Zwieg