|
|
|
|
BookBrowse Highlights
| December 11, 2014
|
|
|
|
|
Hello
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.
Last week we revealed our 4 overall Award Winners. In this issue we bring you the full Top 20. The Top 10 Fiction, Top 5 Nonfiction & Top 5 YA.
And don't miss our giveaway to win copies of Sleep in Peace Tonight by James MacManus, a tale of courage, loyalty, and love set in Blitz-era London.
Thanks for reading!
Davina, BookBrowse Editor
|
|
|
 Fiction Top 10
 1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
2014 Best Fiction Award. 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.
2. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
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.
3. The Long Way Home: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, #10 by Louise Penny
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.
 4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
2014 Best Debut Award. Published by Atria Books 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.
5. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel
by Gabrielle Zevin
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.
6. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
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.
7. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
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.
8. The Book of Strange New Things: A Novel
by Michel Faber
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.
9. The Narrow Road to the Deep North
by Richard Flanagan
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.
10. The Secret Place: A Dublin Murder Squad Novel
by Tana French
Published by Viking
The sensational new novel from "one of the most talented crime writers alive" (The Washington Post)
|
|
|
Nonfiction Top 5
1. In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
2014 Best Nonfiction Award. 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.
2. The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
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.
3. A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal by Ben Macintyre
Published by Crown
Master storyteller Ben Macintyre's most ambitious work to date brings to life the twentieth century's greatest spy story.
4. For the Benefit of Those Who See: Dispatches from the World of the Blind by Rosemary Mahoney
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.
5. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott
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.
|
|
|
Young Adult Top 5
1. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
2014 Best Nonfiction Award. 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.
2. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
Published by S&S 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."
3. We Were Liars by E Lockhart
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.
4. Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
Published by Feiwel & Friends
Hearts will break and spirits will soar for this powerful story, brilliantly told.
5. Noggin by John C. Whaley
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.
|
|
 Win This Book
 Sleep in Peace Tonight by James MacManusPublished Oct 2014, 368 pages
Enter the Giveaway
From the Jacket It's January 1941, and the Blitz is devastating England. Food supplies are low, Tube stations in London have become bomb shelters, and U-boats have hampered any hope of easy victory. Though the United States maintains its isolationist position, Churchill knows that England is finished without the aid of its powerful ally. Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's most trusted adviser, is sent to London as his emissary, and there he falls under the spell of Churchill's commanding rhetoric - and legendary drinking habits. As he experiences life in a country under attack, Hopkins questions the United States' silence in the war. But back home FDR is paranoid about the isolationist lobby, and even Hopkins is having trouble convincing him to support the war. As Hopkins grapples with his mission and personal loyalties, he also revels in secret clubs with newsman Edward R. Murrow and has an affair with his younger driver. Except Hopkins doesn't know that his driver is a British intelligence agent. She craves wartime action and will go to any length to prove she should be on the front line. This is London under fire, and it's only when the night descends and the bombs fall that people's inner darkness comes to light. In Sleep in Peace Tonight, a tale of courage, loyalty, and love, and the sacrifices one will make in the name of each, James MacManus brings to life not only Blitz-era London and the tortuous politics of the White House but also the poignant characters and personalities that shaped the course of world history. Reviews "Evoking Herman Wouk's pop-lit classic The Winds of War, this hypnotically entertaining tale gets the smoky, whiskey-fueled mood just right, all the while seamlessly melding the history and the star-crossed romance." - Booklist 5 people will each win a hardcover copy of Sleep in Peace Tonight. This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only, unless you are a BookBrowse member, in which case you are eligible to win wherever you might live. Enter the giveaway Past Winners |
|
 About BookBrowse
Get to know BookBrowse through our 4-part introductory series:
Back issues of this newsletterYou might also be interested in the content of our About section, including how we got started, profiles of our editorial staff and reviewers, and answers to frequently asked questions. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
