Number One Books of 2014
Now that most of the adult best books lists have appeared (still to come in January, the various ALA lists and Booklist‘s picks), we can put them all together for a “Best of the Bests (So Far).”
If you’re itching to get your favorite books recognized, tweet them using the hashtag #libfaves14.
Based on the various top ten lists — NYT Book Review, Entertainment Weekly (list not online; titles on this downloadable spreadsheet, Ent. Wkly Top Ten Best Books), Time magazine, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and the Amazon editors (who rank their entire list of 100 titles — imagine those discussions) — plus other best books picks, we’ve come up with a ranked list (please don’t question us on our method; it combines art and science) of the top 55 titles of the year, 2014-Best-Books-Ranked, allowing us to announce the #1 book of the year.
First, a review of those publications who had the guts to declare #1 titles.
Number One Picks, By Publication:
Entertaiment Weekly — #1 Book of the Year
Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven, (RH/Knopf; BOT), OverDrive Sample
Tana French, The Secret Place (Penguin/Viking; BOT)), OverDrive Sample
Helen Thorpe, Soldier Girls, (S&S/Scribner; Dreamscape Audio), OverDrive Sample
We Were Liars, E. Lockhart, (RH/Delacorte; Listening Library), OverDrive Sample
Amazon Editors, #1 Book of the Year
Celeste Ng, Everything I Never Told You, (Penguin Press; Blackstone Audio), OverDrive Sample
LibraryReads #1 Favorite of Favorites
Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, (Workman/Algonquin Books; Highbridge Audio), OverDrive Sample
As a result of weighing all the lists, we are able to declare the …
Overall Number One Book of the Year:
Phil Klay, Redeployment, (Penguin Press; Penguin Audio), OverDrive Sample