The only thing I love more than reading is talking about books. I love hearing other people's book recommendations. I don't enjoy going into the library or the bookstore totally blind (sometimes it works magically, other times it's a disaster). And I don't want you guys to have to do that either. Here are my five favourite books of 2014.

1. The Art of Fielding - At the most basic level, this is a story about baseball, which I happen to love. But don't get it twisted: you can hate the game or be someone who couldn't give a shit about any sports and this is still an amazing book. It is just gorgeously written. I was bummed when it ended. Do yourself a favour and read this book.

2. A House in the Sky - I got this book for Christmas last year and devoured it. If you aren't familiar with Amanda Lindhout's story, brace yourself because it's crazy. She talks about such a painful and scary time in a matter-of-fact way. All I could think while reading this was how incredibly brave she was and how utterly useless I'd be in such a situation.

3. Freedom - This was a long read and every bit of it was powerful. The characters are juicy and the storylines are gripping, even during the 'slow' parts.

4. The Secret History - We actually had this book at home on our bookshelf, and neither of us had ever read it. At the time, I'd been waiting for The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt at our library foreverrrrrr and then realized we had a book by the same author that I'd been ignoring because the cover looked boring. This book was creepy and kept me hooked. It's a unique kind of mystery - we know a crime has been committed from the very beginning of the book, and the story goes on to tell us how and why it happened. Reading this actually made me look forward to long bus rides.

5. Unbroken - Another non-fiction story and now a movie, which I'm looking forward to seeing. Again, reading this, I was like, how can people actually hold it together through such crazy circumstances? I'm not usually huge on historical or wartime stories but this was an exception.

So far in 2015 I've read Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (loved it) and am almost done Yes Please by Amy Poehler (one part made me laugh out loud on the bus this morning). I need to alternate creepy and funny books. I can't do Gillian Flynns back-to-back or I start to feel a little evil. And too much light stuff is only OK in the summer. Next up is Sharp Things, followed by Not That Kind of Girl. What are you reading?