BEST OF 2014: 100 RECOMMENDED BOOKS
pages; $24.95). Antopol’s impressive first story collection is about the weight of family history, the obstacles that the past can impose on the present, and the fraught meaning of home.
An Unnecessary Woman, by Rabih Alameddine (Grove; 291 pages; $25). Alameddine has conjured a beguiling narrator in his engaging novel, a Beirut woman who is, like her city, hard to read, hard to take, hard to know and, ultimately, passionately complex.
An Untamed State, by Roxane Gay (Grove/Black Cat; 370 pages; $16 paperback). The story of a wealthy Haitian American woman who is kidnapped outside the gates of her family’s mansion, Gay’s novel tackles complicated issues of race, class, gender, identity and inequality with remarkable clarity and insight.
The Visionist, by Rachel Urquhart (Little, Brown; 345 pages; $26). Urquhart’s shatteringly original debut transports readers to a fierce bastion of belief, a 19th century Shaker enclave, when young Shaker girls across the country are experiencing incredible mystical visions.
The White Van, by Patrick Hoffman (Atlantic Monthly Press; 241 pages; $24). Russian mobsters, dirty cops and a young drug addict all clash over stolen cash in Hoffman’s exhilarating crime debut, set against the teeming backdrop of San Francisco’s underbelly.
The Year She Left Us, by Kathryn Ma (Harper; 326 pages; $25.99). Ma’s first novel is a deft, raw reimagining of how Chinese American families are American.
Your Face in Mine, by Jess Row (Riverhead; 372 pages; $27.95). Row’s daring and refreshing debut novel centers on a white widower who undergoes “racial reassignment surgery.”
The Zone of Interest, by Martin Amis (Knopf; 306 pages; $26.95). Amis’ latest novel is one of recent literature’s most somber and reverent memorials to the victims of Nazi terror.
NONFICTION
Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, by Evan Osnos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 403 pages; $27). Osnos, a writer for the New Yorker who spent eight years reporting from China, has written an illuminating and nuanced book about contemporary China. Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George
H.W. Bush, by Geoff Dyer (Pantheon; 190 pages; $24.95). In his generous, illuminating and very funny book, Dyer, a proverbial fish out of water, takes to the high seas for two weeks, recounting his experiences in what he calls “carrierworld.”
Bad Feminist: Essays, by Roxane Gay (Harper Perennial; 320 pages; $15.99 paperback). In her expansive collection, Gay weaves together razor-sharp pop cultural analysis and criticism with a voice that is intimate. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande (Metropolitan; 282 pages; $26). Gawande’s
latest book is a needed call to action, a cautionary tale of what can go wrong, and often does, when a society fails to engage in a sustained discussion about aging and dying. The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolu
tion, by Jonathan Eig (Norton; 388 pages; $27.95). Aside from being a fascinating look into the evolution of medical practices, funding and ethics, Eig’s book is an intricate portrait of how completely women’s lives are woven into our culture in disturbing and contradictory ways. Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade, by Walter Kirn (Liveright; 255 pages; $25.95). Kirn’s superb, suspenseful memoir takes a hard look at his 15-year friendship with “Clark Rockefeller,” who turns out to be a sociopathic murderer. The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature, by Ben Tarnoff (The Penguin Press; 319 pages; $27.95). Tarnoff”s stylish and fast-paced literary history details a little circle of unconventional writers and intellectuals who turned the city into a cultural haven during the Civil War. The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Ener-
gy Revolution and Changed
the World, by Russell Gold (Simon & Schuster; 366 pages; $26). Gold has reported on fracking for the Wall Street Journal for more than a decade, and his authoritative and fairly balanced guide is the best all-around book yet on fracking. Bulletproof Vest: The Ballad of an Outlaw and His Daughter, by Maria Venegas (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 305 pages; $26). Venegas’ captivating memoir is both a search for the truth about her father and an exploration of the travails of an immigrant family in modern America. The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI, by Betty Medsger (Knopf; 596 pages; $29.95). Medsger’s book is an outstanding account that solves one of the greatest crimes in FBI history in more ways than one. Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast (Bloomsbury; 228 pages; $28). The New Yorker cartoonist’s searing and hilarious graphic memoir captures the stress that results when grown children are left taking care of their parents. A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life, by Allyson Hobbs (Harvard University Press; 382 pages; $29.95). Hobbs’ book is a collage of a fascinating yet
elusive phenomenon. The Crusades of Cesar Cha
vez: A Biography, by Miriam Pawel (Bloomsbury; 560 pages; $35). Pawel’s book is the first comprehensive biography of the rise and messy decline of the United Farm Workers Union, and the man who struck the sparks that launched an epic social movement. A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention, by Matt Richtel (Morrow; 403 pages; $28.99). Richtel presents an arresting tale of the trials of a distracted driver who, while texting, hit another car, causing an accident that killed two scientists.
E.E. Cummings: A Life, by Susan Cheever (Pantheon; 213 pages; $26.95). Cheever has produced an absorbing rehearsal of a vibrant life that was representative of its time and place in no way more than its refusal to be representative. The Empathy Exams: Essays, by Leslie Jamison (Graywolf; 238 pages; $15 paperback). Jamison, a rising star in the essay world, writes consistently with passion and panache; her sentences are elegantly formed, her voice on the page intimate and insistent.
Epilogue: A Memoir, by Will Boast (Liveright; 281 pages;
$25.95). The power of Boast’s memoir comes in his brave and candid recounting of his losses — and how this accumulated grief reshapes the author and his beliefs of what can make up a family. Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, by William Deresiewicz (Free Press; 245 pages; $26). In his biting critique, Deresiewicz argues that our system of elite education can be overhauled or, barring that, young adults can choose to opt out of it. Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local — and Helped Save an American Town, by Beth Macy (Little, Brown; 451 pages; $28). Macy’s remarkable work probes every corner of its topic and values every subject who has something to say. Flash Boys: A Wall Street
Revolt, by Michael Lewis (Norton; 274 pages; $27.95). Lewis’ entertaining book deconstructs the byzantine world of Wall Street’s high-frequency stock trading, the algorithmdriven transactions considered a boon to smooth and inexpensive markets by some, an exploitative labyrinth by others.
Gandhi Before India, by Ramachandra Guha (Knopf; 673 pages; $35). In his well-told account, Guha covers Gandhi’s early years in India, England and South Africa. He combines the gift of a storyteller and the discipline of an academic. Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity, by Robert Beachy (Knopf; 305 pages; $27.95). Beachy’s book is a very good, detailed, scholarly work of history by an excellent researcher who has clearly done his homework — and then some.
Geek Sublime: The Beauty
of Code, the Code of Beauty, by Vikram Chandra (Graywolf; 236 pages; $16 paperback). Chandra makes dazzling connections between technology and art in this marvelous book. Gone Feral: Tracking My
Dad Through the Wild, by Novella Carpenter (The Penguin Press; 212 pages; $26.95). In her riveting memoir, Carpenter goes on a mission to reconcile the romantic image she has conjured of her absent father with the troubled man he truly is. The History of Rock ’n’ Roll in Ten Songs, by Greil Marcus (Yale University Press; 307 pages; $28). In this short, wonderfully alive book, Marcus wants to reawaken in his readers the capacity for surprise. The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle, by Francisco Goldman (Grove; 337 pages; $26). Goldman’s elegantly written memoir is as much a love letter to Mexico City as it is to his late wife. The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan, by Rick Perlstein (Simon & Schuster; 856 pages; $37.50). Perlstein’s latest invaluable book about the modern conservative movement is a comprehensive deconstruction of Reagan’s appeal.
Little Failure: A Memoir, by
Gary Shteyngart (Random
House; 349 pages; $27). Shteyngart records his flight from the Soviet Union in the same brisk and wisecracking style of his novels, working out traumas for the delectation of readers. The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses, by Kevin Birmingham (The Penguin Press; 403 pages; $29.95). For its lively entwining of social history, legal intrigue, literary appreciation and collective biography, “The Most Dangerous Book” will remain a landmark among Joyce studies for many years to come.
My Life in Middlemarch, by Rebecca Mead (Crown; 293 pages; $25). Mead’s book offers both reasons to open the Victorian novel, for first-timers, and grist for fans. No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the
U.S. Surveillance State, by Glenn Greenwald (Metropolitan; 259 pages; $27). Greenwald’s book is a smart, impassioned indictment of what he calls “fear-driven, obsequious journalism” and an examination of the savvy of a cyberenthusiast who initially couldn’t get Greenwald’s attention. Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy, by Francis Fukuyama (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 752 pages; $35). A
learned and lucid sequel to “The Origins of Political Order, ” “Political Order and Political Decay” explains how effective political institutions developed — or didn’t — in dozens of countries. The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe, by David I. Kertzer (The Penguin Press; 549 pages; $32). Kertzer’s captivating study lays out the uneasy bond between Pope Pius XI and Il Duce. Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space, by Lynn Sherr (Simon & Schuster; 400 pages; $28). Thanks to this inspirational account of Ride’s life, we can more fully honor this hero as a human being. The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Em
battled Profession, by Dana Goldstein (Doubleday; 349 pages; $26.95). Goldstein’s nuanced book is an engaging cultural history of public schools and teachers, tracing the many influences that have shaped the profession over the past two centuries. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, by Naomi Klein (Simon & Schuster; 566 pages; $30). Klein’s latest book may be the manifesto that the climate movement — and the planet — needs right now.
The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking, by Olivia Laing (Picador; 340 pages; $26). Laing visits the territories of alcoholic authors John Berryman, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams and renders the stopovers into a haunting account of the drink’s various depredations. Unremarried Widow: A
Memoir, by Artis Henderson (Simon & Schuster; 240 pages; $25). What makes this a singular account — and not only a horrific one — is the honesty with which Henderson conveys her ambivalence about her marriage to a soldier. Unstill Life: A Daughter’s Memoir of Art and Love in the Age of Abstraction, by Gabrielle Selz (Norton; 351 pages; $26.95). Selz’s candid evocation of her father’s long life explores the bittersweet intersection of modern art and modern family, and the collateral damage of the sexual revolution.
Updike, by Adam Begley (Harper; 558 pages; $29.99). John Updike couldn’t have hoped for a biography more respectful — or more critically attuned to his work — than this one.