After a strenuous amount of consideration and mathematical wizardry (thanks, Ron), the votes are in, they have been tallied, and we have our winner.

Eight books earned a place on the list of finalists, earning at least one vote:

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Birkebeiner: A Story of Motherhood and War by Jeff Foltz

I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

Paddling to Winter by Julie Buckles

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

In the end, of course, there could only be one. So, without further ado, the Men’s Book Group has selected as their 2014 Book of the Year……

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

You can read our review of Boys in the Boat here.

The second and third place books, respectively, were Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken and Kevin Fedarko’s The Emerald Mile.

Thank you all for contributing your thoughts and your votes. But thank you most of all for being part of the Men’s Book Group. It is a pleasure to sit in the company of such a fine group of people simply to discuss books.

Thank you, as well, to Bev and her staff at Redbery Books. They provide ideas, encouragement, and best of all, a wonderful place right in our town where we can find our next great adventure or discovery or friendship among the bookshelves.