So last January I made a couple of New Year's resolutions. I didn't come through on the jeans (to be honest, I chickened out in the face of flat felled seams and rivets). But I did manage the resolution I really wanted to stick to, reading more. So in no particular order, here's my favorites this year:

1. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams. I'm a sucker for sci-fi. I inhale mystery novels. So long story short, Dirky Gently is a detective I can get seriously get behind. Caveat: don't read this on a crowded flight like I did, because your maniacal laughing will be impossible to contain. Sorry, seat mates.

2. The Last Gentleman, by Walker Percy: Armed with a telescope and an insatiable curiosity, Will Barrett is on a hunt for life's meaning. Beautiful prose, wonderful scenes of Southern life and the most gut-wrenching final chapter I've ever read, The Last Gentleman is a keeper.

3. American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang: One of the best graphic novels I've read in a long time. I loved the blending of past and present, fact and fantasy. So very good and well worth the read, regardless of age.

4. The Greengage Summer, by Rumer Godden: A tale of five children fending for themselves in rural France, this one is brilliantly vivid with a pitch-perfect narrator.

5. Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Works: Hopkin's way with the English language is completely unparalleled and his later poetry is especially mesmerizing.

And here's the rest of what I read in 2014. Which begs the question: what should I read in 2015?