The end of the year is a perfect time to take stock, to reflect on the many great books we made time for and to add many other remarkable recommendations to our ever-expanding "to read" lists.
This is where BookBrowse's annual Best of the Year awards come in. As opposed to most other award programs which encourage vote stuffing and are more an indication of an author's fan base, our best of year winners are chosen on a weighted scale by our members. No vote-stuffing, no simple yes or no vote. These are considered responses; we take our awards program seriously. In this issue, we feature the four overall winners in the Best Fiction, Best Non-Fiction, Best Young Adult, and Best Debut categories; and the runners up. The books are displayed in ratings order - starting with the Top 10 in fiction, followed by the Top 5 in non-fiction and young adult categories.
The dazzling gem, All The Light We Cannot See, wins our Best Book of 2014 in the fiction category; while the gripping adventure story, In the Kingdom of Ice takes it home for best non-fiction. The quirky A Man Called Ove wins best debut while Jandy Nelson's altogether brilliant I'll Give You the Sun wins in the young adult category.
FICTION TOP 10
1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Hardcover May 2014. 448 pages. Published by Scribner.
A stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Winner of the 2014 BookBrowse Award for Fiction.
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2. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Hardcover Jan 2014. 384 pages. Published by Viking.
This exquisitely written novel is a triumph of storytelling that looks with unswerving eyes at a devastating wound in American history, through women whose struggles for liberation, empowerment, and expression will leave no reader unmoved.
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3. The Long Way Home: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, #10 by Louise Penny
Hardcover Aug 2014. 384 pages. Published by St. Martin's Minotaur.
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. Until his neighbor seeks him out, when her artist husband fails to come home.
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4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Hardcover Jul 2014. 352 pages. Published by Atria Books.
Winner of the BookBrowse 2014 Best Debut Award
In this bestselling and delightfully quirky debut novel from Sweden, a grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. Winner of the 2014 BookBrowse Debut Novel Award.
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5. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel by Gabrielle Zevin
Paperback Dec 2014. 288 pages. Published by Algonquin Books.
As surprising as it is moving,
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.
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6. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Hardcover Sep 2014. 352 pages. Published by Knopf.
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse,
Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
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7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Hardcover Jun 2014. 304 pages. Published by Penguin Press.
A profoundly moving story of family, history, and the meaning of home,
Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait.
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8. The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel by Michel Faber
Hardcover Oct 2014. 480 pages. Published by Hogarth Books.
A monumental, genre-defying novel over ten years in the making, Michel Faber's
The Book of Strange New Things is a masterwork from a writer in full command of his many talents.
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9. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Hardcover Aug 2014. 352 pages. Published by Knopf.
Moving deftly from a Japanese POW camp to contemporary Australia, this savagely beautiful novel tells a story of love, death, and family, exploring the many forms of good and evil, war and truth, guilt and transcendence.
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10. The Secret Place: A Dublin Murder Squad Novel by Tana French
Hardcover Sep 2014. 464 pages. Published by Viking.
The sensational new novel from "one of the most talented crime writers alive" (The Washington Post)
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NON-FICTION TOP 5
1. In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
Hardcover Aug 2014. 480 pages. Published by Doubleday.
New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides returns with a white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and survival in the Gilded Age. Winner of the 2014 BookBrowse Award for Nonfiction.
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2. The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
Hardcover Jun 2014. 448 pages. Published by St. Martin's Press.
They were the Princess Dianas of their day - perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century.
The Romanov Sisters captures the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives.
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3. A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre
Hardcover Jul 2014. 384 pages. Published by Crown.
Master storyteller Ben Macintyre's most ambitious work to date brings to life the twentieth century's greatest spy story.
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4. For the Benefit of Those Who See: Dispatches from the World of the Blind by Rosemary Mahoney
Hardcover Jan 2014. 304 pages. Published by Little Brown & Company.
Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school.
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5. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott
Hardcover Sep 2014. 544 pages. Published by Harper.
Karen Abbott tells the stories of four courageous women - a socialite, a farmgirl, an abolitionist, and a widow - who were spies during the Civil War.
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YOUNG ADULTS TOP 5
1. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Hardcover Sep 2014. 384 pages. Published by Dial Books.
A brilliant, luminous story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell. Winner of the BookBrowse 2014 Award for Best Young Adult Novel.
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2. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
Hardcover Sep 2014. 288 pages. Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
Destiny takes a detour in this heartbreakingly hilarious novel from the acclaimed author of Winger, which Kirkus Reviews called "smart" and "wickedly funny."
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3. We Were Liars by E Lockhart
Hardcover May 2014. 240 pages. Published by Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers.
We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
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4. Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
Hardcover Oct 2014. 240 pages. Published by Feiwel & Friends.
Hearts will break and spirits will soar for this powerful story, brilliantly told.
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5. Noggin by John C. Whaley
Hardcover Apr 2014. 352 pages. Published by Atheneum Books.
Travis Coates has a good head...on someone else's shoulders. A touching, hilarious, and wholly original coming-of-age story from John Corey Whaley, author of the Printz and Morris Award–winning
Where Things Come Back.
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