We Just Can't Resist One More Best Book List for 2014

Each year the editor's at Booklist pick their top choices from the hundreds of books they review that year . . . not an easy feat! Here are their "Top of the List" for 2014:

Non-Fiction

Fiction

Audio

The Human Age by Diane Ackerman: (Non-Fiction)

Explores how human beings have become the dominant force shaping Earth's future by subduing three-quarters of the planet's surface, tinkering with nature, and altering the climate.

"Without denying that the Human Age has triggered global warming and a terrifying mass extinction, Ackerman banks on our ability to address looming crises with creativity and determination in this precisely illuminating, witty, and resplendently expressive guide to the framework for a more positively human and humane future."  - reviewed by Donna Seaman, Booklist, July 2014.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: (Fiction)

A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast.

"A novel to live in, learn from, and feel bereft over when the last page is turned, Doerr’s magnificently drawn story seems at once spacious and tightly composed. . . . Doerr masterfully and knowledgeably re-creates the deprived civilian conditions of war-torn France and the strictly controlled lives of the military occupiers." - reviewed by Brad Hooper, Booklist, April 15, 2014.

The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin; read by Meryl Streep (Audio)

A provocative imagining of the later years of the mother of Jesus finds her living a solitary existence in Ephesus years after her son's crucifixion and struggling with guilt, anger, and feelings that her son is not the son of God and that his sacrifice was not for a worthy cause.

"Tóibín’s tale of one woman’s almost unfathomable sorrow is masterfully told with a grasp of lyrical, affecting language seemingly intended for the audio format. . . . The choice of Streep for the narration is brilliant, as she brings her much-acclaimed talents to the challenge of what is, for all purposes, a three-hour one-woman show." - reviewed by Brian Odom, Booklist, March 1, 2014.

Amazon Picks the 2014 Best Books in Print

The Editors at Amazon recently released their picks for the "2014 Best Books of the Year: The Top 100 in Print Format." The number one spot goes to Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. 

Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee who are determined that Lydia fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue - in Marilyn’s case that her daughter become a doctor rather than a homemaker, in James’s case that Lydia be popular at school. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together tumbles into chaos, forcing them to confront the long-kept secrets that have been slowly pulling them apart.

"...long-hidden, quietly explosive truths, weighted by issues of race and gender, slowly bubble to the surface of Ng's sensitive, absorbing novel and reverberate long after its final page. Ng's emotionally complex debut novel sucks you in like a strong current and holds you fast until its final secrets surface." (Kirkus Reviews)

Here are the books, in order, that round out Amazon's top 10 Best Books in Print 2014. (Click on the covers to place your holds.):

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: (Historical Fiction)

A blind French girl on the run from the German occupation and a German orphan-turned-Resistance tracker struggle with respective beliefs after meeting on the Brittany coast.

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides: (History)

Recounts the ill-fated nineteenth-century naval expedition to the North Pole under the leadership of George Washington De Long that resulted in the sinking of the USS Jeannette and the crew's epic struggle for survival in the harsh and unforgiving Arctic environment.

The Short and Tragic life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs: (Biography)

Traces a young man's effort to escape the dangers of the streets and his own nature after graduating from Yale, describing his youth in violent 1980s Newark, efforts to navigate two fiercely insular worlds and life-ending drug deals.

Redeployment by Phil Klay: (War Stories/Fiction/Short Stories)

A collection of short stories by a former Marine captain and Iraq veteran focuses on the complexities of life for soldiers on the front lines and after, exploring themes ranging from brutality and faith to guilt and survival in such stories as "After Action Report" and "Money as Weapons System."

Revival by Stephen King: (Suspense/Horror Fiction)

Years after a charismatic minister is banished in the wake of a faith-shattering tragedy, a heroin-addicted rock-and-roll guitarist from the same hometown reconnects with the man and forges a terrible pact.

Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest of Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman: (Non-fiction)

The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world and his powerful, influential family guessing for years. Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story.

The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez: (Fiction)

Moving from Mexico to America when their daughter suffers a near-fatal accident, the Riveras confront cultural barriers, their daughter's difficult recovery and her developing relationship with a Panamanian boy.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty: (Mystery/Suspense)

Follows three mothers, each at a crossroads, and their potential involvement in a riot at a school trivia night that leaves one parent dead in what appears to be a tragic accident, but which evidence shows might have been premeditated.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: (Science Fiction/Time Travel)

The sudden death of a Hollywood actor during a production of "King Lear" marks the beginning of the world's dissolution in a story told at various past and future times from the perspectives of the actor and four of his associates.

To see the full list of Amazon's "2014 Best Books of the Year: The Top 100 in Print Format," click here.

2011 Top Fiction and Nonfiction

It's a daunting challenge to select the best books of the year, but Booklist has done it!  They have chosen Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend as the best adult nonfiction book of 2011; their selection for best adult fiction book of 2011 is The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright.  But regardless of what you're reading and how (print or electronic), we at the Community Library would like to wish you a 2012 filled with wonderful reading material.

Readers' Choice Best Books of 2011

'Best-of' book lists offer readers a chance discover gems they may have missed.  Bookpage offers the top 30 books of 2011,based on votes from over 2,500 readers, all of which are available through your Community Library.  And here they are:

1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
2. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
3. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
4. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
5. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
6. (2-way tie) A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny
8. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
9. Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
10. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
11. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
12. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
13. (3-way tie) The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht, and The Affair by Lee Child
16. Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
17. (2-way tie) Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks & The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian
19. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
20. (4-way tie) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Rin Tin Tin by Susan Orlean, The Greater Journey by David G. McCullough, and The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
24. (3-way tie) A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, and When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
27. (3-way tie) The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon
30. Bossypants by Tina Fey

NYT 10 Best Books of 2011

It's that time of year again!  Everyone with an opinion is busy compiling 'best-of lists' for 2011, and the book world is no exception.  Here is The New York Times's recently released list "10 Best Books of 2011:" 

1. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
3. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
4. Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson
5. The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht
6. Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens
7. The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son by Ian Brown
8. Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
9. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
10. A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman

Do you think the New York Times missed one?  Share your opinions - comment! 

Top Ten Romance of 2011

It's only halfway through September; isn't it a little early to start publishing those year-end "top ten" lists?  Not for the folks over at Booklist, who have assembled this list of the top 10 romance novels of 2011.  Titles available through your Community Library include:  

• Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis. - A budding relationship between a commitment-shy former Special Forces pilot and a gutsy animal rescuer launches a new series set in Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains.
• Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. - Everyone blames Meg for her best friend’s decision to leave Ted at the altar in RITA Award–winning Phillips’ irresistibly lively romantic comedy.
• Cloudy with a Chance of Marriage by Kieran Kramer. - How can Jilly run a respectable bookshop if her neighbor, a Royal Navy captain, keeps throwing wild parties? Kramer’s devilishly clever plot makes for a laugh-out-loud, sweet Regency romance.
• How to Marry a Duke by Vicky Dreiling. - An enchanting Regency romance debut involving a rake and a matchmaker, a tricky dilemma, and witty repartee.
• The Lady of the Storm by Kathryne Kennedy. - Blacksmith Giles is charged with protecting Cecily, who is half elf, in this superb story of suspense, magic, and passion, the second in Kennedy’s thrilling and distinctive Elven Lords series (following The Fire Lord's Lover, available through interloan with other Suffolk County libraries).
• Lord Langley Is Back in Town by Elizabeth Boyle. - Lord Langley has a plan to outmaneuver his enemies, if only Minerva doesn’t decide to kill him herself in RITA Award–winning Boyle’s luscious conclusion to her dazzling Widows of Standon trilogy (following How I Met My Countess and Mad About the Duke).
• Only Mine by Susan Mallery. - Alaska pilot Finn is furious when his twin brothers drop out of college to appear on a reality-television show, True Love or Fool’s Gold, in Mallery’s witty, emotion-packed romance.
• An Unlikely Suitor by Nancy Moser. - Christian fiction.  Italian immigrant and dressmaker Lucy Scarpelli finds herself in an unlikely friendship with a socialite, which leads to forbidden love and danger in Christy Award–winning Moser’s historical tale of resilient, uncompromising women.  

Top 10 Biographies

Have you read any of the past year's top ten biographies as named by Booklist? Are there other biographies you'd include in the top-ten list? Comments are welcome, and don't forget to submit reviews to the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Library's Summer Reading Club; each review for a book that you read during the summer gets you one entry in the raffle of the week.

2011 Top Speculative Fiction

With 2011 about halfway over, what works of speculative fiction have really stood out so far this year? This is the question Booklist attempts to answer in this article from the May 15th issue. Here is a selection of the titles named; all are available right here at your Community Library.

All the Lives He Led by Frederick Pohl.
It’s 2079 and Pompeii has become a theme park. Pohl is a master of everything that goes into a cracking good novel, and for this one, he has clearly boned up on vulcanology to boot.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Diana Bishop is the last of the Bishops, a powerful family of witches, but she has refused her magic ever since her parents died. Essential reading across literary mystery and epic and fantastic romance genres.

Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
This is a militaristic sf story of galactic proportions that also offers characters easy for the reader to believe in.

Pale Demon by Kim Harrison.
The ninth Rachel Morgan novel finds our tough and feisty witch on a mission to get her shunning rescinded; this is an excellent series entry that is guaranteed to satisfy the author’s following.

What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz.
This novel is deliberate, highly supernatural, somber throughout, and motivated by religious dread—one of Koontz’s weightiest performances.