As the New York Times Sunday Book Review posted their top choices for 2014’s best books of the year, the Spy took to the streets of Chestertown to ask our neighbors for their choice for best read of the year. Here are our results. Feel free to add your choice in our Comment section!
Alex Castro, Artist and Architect
The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac by Graham Farmelo
Chris Cerino, Mayor of Chestertown
Kent County By Water by Chris Cerino
James Dissette, Editor
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Adam Goodheart, Author and Professor
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
Leslie Raimond, Kent County Council for the Arts
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Kate Gallagher, Shore Health System
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Jay Griswold, Interim President, Washington College
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Erin Heckles, Twigs and Teacups
Stink: The Ultimate Thumb Wrestling Smackdown (read to 1st Graders)
Tom Horton, Environmental Writer
Life on the Brink: Environmentalists Confront Overpopulation by Philip Cafaro and Eileen Crist
Meredith Davies Hadaway, Poet
All the Light We Cannot See
Bob Kramer, Blogger
Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Brenda Lyons, Twigs and Teacups
Breath of God by Jeffrey Small
Eugenia Marshall, Tea and Teacups
Dancing With Life by Phillip Moffet
Tom Martin, The Bookplate Bookstore
The Good Spy by Kai Bird
Carla Massoni, Massoni Gallery
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
Donald McColl, College Professor
Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the making of Christianity in the West by Peter Brown
Marilee Schumman, Artist
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura
Dave Wheelan, Publisher
Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee
Fletcher Hall says
I agree with Mr. Griswold. “Boys in the Boat” is a great book.
I also liked “Unbroken” very much. Good life lessons there.
Fletcher R. Hall WC’63
Journalist
Mary Wood says
Two novels I’ve particularly enjoyed:
Gutenberg’s Apprentice by Alix Christie
The Girl in the Blue Beret by Bobbi Ann Mason
charlotte hawes says
So far I can endorse Life After Life, The Sixth Extinction and Penelope Fitzgerald, all fine reads. All the life We Cannot See is on my Desk. And plenty more as the year rolls on. Can I add The Gold Finch and Nora Webster?
Susan Brush Harr says
Quiet : The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking
By Susan Cain