What Makes a “Best” Book?
Sometimes it seems like I live in a perpetual future tense. It may still be summer according to the calendar, but here at Hudson Booksellers, we are nearing the home stretch for selecting our Best Books of the Year. The display will land in stores around Thanksgiving. I read many of the books I’ll be nominating for that list over a year ago. As a bookseller, I almost exclusively read future releases; I don’t want to miss the opportunity to support a deserving title when it will make a difference. And there’s never enough time to get to all of them.
It’s a dilemma. If I save a favorite author’s new book for later because I know their work as entertaining but not groundbreaking, then I never get to it. Without classics in the mix, I fear that I lose perspective about what makes a work truly brilliant, to have the potential to stand the test of time. When I go back and read Steinbeck, or Moby Dick, or Faulkner, my literary world shifts on its axis a bit. Without the luxury of uninterrupted time, discussion groups and provided context, do I avoid or abandon more challenging work that would be more powerful in the long run?
What makes a “best” book anyway? Hudson’s list each year includes many types of "bests": popular phenomenon that deserve credit for infiltrating the public consciousness; titles that feel like they are creating their own genre; artists at the pinnacle of their craft; authors that raise important questions. We want to be entertained, improved, impressed by the books we read. For me, that requires a compelling and original blend of style, subject, and story. That might sound obvious, but when they line up in remarkable ways, it takes my breath away.
I’ve read segments of hundreds of books published this year. There are dozens more that I’d really like to get to, not to mention the stack of 2015 titles I’m working on. And how many of 2014 have escaped my notice? What are your favorite books published this year so far?
Here are some of the books I’ve enjoyed/am enjoying this year, and a few I’m still trying to get to. To find out which make our Best of the Year, you’ll have to stay tuned!
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
"From the acclaimed author of The Book of Night Women comes one of the year’s most anticipated novels, a lyrical, masterfully written epic that explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the late 1970s."
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
"All the Light We Cannot See is a gorgeously written novel about beauty, love, courage, and history. Two teenagers – a blind girl in Paris, an orphan boy in Germany – are coming-of-age with the coming of war."
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine
"One of the Middle East’s most celebrated voices, Rabih Alameddine follows his international bestseller, The Hakawati, with an enchanting story of a book-loving, obsessive, seventy-two-year-old “unnecessary” woman."
"The must-have Pevear and Volokhonsky translation of one of the greatest Russian novels ever written, soon to be a film adapted by Tom Stoppard and starring Kiera Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Johnson, and Emily Watson"
Another Great Day at Sea by Geoff Dyer
"From a writer “whose genre-jumping refusal to be pinned down [makes him] an exemplar of our era” (NPR), a new book that confirms his power to astound readers."
Bacchae by Euripides – new translation by Robin Robertson
"A bold new translation of Euripides' shockingly modern classic work, from Forward Prize-winning poet Robin Robertson, with a new preface by bestselling and award-winning writer, critic, and translator Daniel Mendelsohn."
But Enough About You by Christopher Buckley
"In his first book of essays since his 1997 bestseller, "Wry Martinis," Buckley delivers a rare combination of big ideas and truly fun writing."
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
"Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, the most important novel of the Native American Renaissance, is among the most most widely taught and studied novels in higher education today. In it, Silko recounts a young man's search for consolation in his tribe's history and traditions, and his resulting voyage of self-discovery and discovery of the world."
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
"Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages."
Cowboys and Indies by Gareth Murphy
"From the invention of the earliest known sound-recording device in 1850s Paris to the CD crash and digital boom today, author and industry insider Gareth Murphy takes readers on an immensely entertaining and encyclopedic ride through the many cataclysmic musical, cultural, and technological changes that shaped a century and a half of the industry."
De Potter’s Grand Tour by Joanna Scott
"A gripping novel about a seemingly charmed marriage and a mysterious disappearance at sea."
"While on assignment in Greece, journalist James Nestor witnessed something that confounded him: a man diving 300 feet below the ocean's surface on a single breath of air and returning four minutes later, unharmed and smiling."
Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar
"When the San José mine collapsed outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. The entire world watched what transpired above-ground during the grueling and protracted rescue, but the saga of the miners' experiences below the Earth's surface—and the lives that led them there—has never been heard until now."
"From New England Book Award winner Lily King comes a breathtaking novel about three young anthropologists of the ‘30’s caught in a passionate love triangle that threatens their bonds, their careers, and, ultimately, their lives."
"In Eyrie,Winton crafts the story of Tom Keely, a man struggling to accomplish good in an utterly fallen world. Once an ambitious, altruistic environmentalist, Keely now finds himself broke, embroiled in scandal, and struggling to piece together some semblance of a life."
Far Tortuga by Peter Matthiessen
"An adventure story and a deeply considered meditation upon the sea itself."
"Flash Boys is about a small group of Wall Street guys who figure out that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders and that, post financial crisis, the markets have become not more free but less, and more controlled by the big Wall Street banks."
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
"After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times."
"Summer of 1876: San Francisco is in the fierce grip of a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. Through the window of a railroad saloon, a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead."
"One of Europe’s most preeminent investigative journalists travels to the Czech Republic—the Czech half of the former Czechoslovakia, the land that brought us Kafka—to explore the surreal fictions and the extraordinary reality of its twentieth century."
"A spellbinding story of love amid the devastation of the Spanish Civil War."
In Paradise by Peter Matthiessen
"Peter Matthiessen was a literary legend, the author of more than thirty acclaimed books. In this, his final novel, he confronts the legacy of evil, and our unquenchable desire to wrest good from it."
In the Kingdom of Ice by Hampton Sides
"New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides returns with a white-knuckle tale of polar exploration and survival in the Gilded Age."
Internal Medicine by Terrance Holt
"Out of the crucible of medical training, award-winning writer Terrence Holt shapes this stunning account of residency, the years-long ordeal in which doctors are made."
Kill My Mother by Jules Feiffer
"Adding to a legendary career that includes a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, Obie Awards, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Cartoonist Society and the Writers Guild of America, Jules Feiffer now presents his first noir graphic novel. Kill My Mother is a loving homage to the pulp-inspired films and comic strips of his youth."
"A thrilling page-turner that also happens to be the biography of one of Russia’s most controversial figures."
Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
"From the first chapter of Little Failure, I was hooked. As you’d expect from Gary Shteyngart, it’s hysterical and smart. I love his fiction, but this powerful memoir is his best book yet. Not only could Shteyngart be a character in one of his own novels, with an immigrant saga both as universal and specific as the best fiction (and as entertaining), but Little Failure has a depth of emotion and honesty driven by its intensely personal nature which elevates it to the level of a classic."
Living With a Wild God by Barbara Ehrenreich
"In LIVING WITH A WILD GOD, Ehrenreich reconstructs her childhood mission, bringing an older woman's wry and erudite perspective to a young girl's impassioned obsession with the questions that, at one point or another, torment us all."
"In Love Life, Rob Lowe demonstrates just how he’s managed to have such staying power in a challenging industry."
"Disappointed by their families, Iris, the hopeful star and Eva the sidekick, journey through 1940s America in search of fame and fortune."
"During the height of racism in the south, a special action "wrecking crew" is formed directly from the Klan organization called the Double Eagles. Many people have been tortured and died under the hands of these half dozen vets who have had firsthand experience at killing. With the belief that a civil war is necessary to shatter the plastic surface of the American Dream, bloodshed becomes imperative. Viola, a young attractive black woman whose younger brother is involved in the Civil Rights movement, is a prominent nurse working for Dr. Lucas. The obsessed activist becomes a target and pawn for a much more complex plan of destruction and assassination by the Double Eagles. As time passes, Dr. Lucas and Viola's professional relationship progresses into a romantic one. As the mounting tension of prejudice sweeps the southern states, the two find themselves in grave danger with nowhere to turn. Their actions put them over the line of neutrality among the conflict of races and completely in danger from the KKK."
New Life, No Instructions by Gail Caldwell
"New Life, No Instructions is about the surprising way life can begin again, at any age."
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
"For readers of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, poignant, and extremely frank collection of personal essays confirms Lena Dunham—the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO’s Girls—as one of the brightest and most original writers working today."
"In Overwhelmed, Schulte, a staff writer for The Washington Post, asks: Are our brains, our partners, our culture, and our bosses making it impossible for us to experience anything but “contaminated time”?"
Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks
"In the mid-1950s, America was flush with prosperity and saw an unbroken line of progress clear to the horizon, while the West was still very much wild. In this ambitious, incandescent debut, Malcolm Brooks animates that time and untamed landscape, in a tale of the modern and the ancient, of love and fate, and of heritage threatened by progress."
Quesadillas by Juan Pablo Villalobos
"Both profoundly moving and wildly funny, Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos’s Quesadillas is a satiric masterpiece, chock-full of inseminated cows, Polish immigrants, religious pilgrims, alien spacecraft, psychedelic watermelons, and many, many "your mama" insults."
"The epic, unforgettable story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her—this beautiful and devastating debut heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction."
Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman
"The mysterious disappearance of Michael Rockefeller in remote New Guinea in 1961 has kept the world, and even Michael's powerful, influential family, guessing for years. Now, Carl Hoffman uncovers startling new evidence that finally tells the full, astonishing story."
"Thrilling, suspenseful, and spectacularly imaginative, The Bees and its dazzling young heroine will forever change the way you look at the world outside your window."
The Betrayers by David Mezmozgis
"In prose that is elegant, sly, precise, and devastating in its awareness of the human heart, David Bezmozgis has rendered a story for the ages, an inquest into the nature of fate and consequence, love and forgiveness."
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
"Following a terrible fight with her mother over her boyfriend, fifteen-year-old Holly Sykes slams the door on her family and old life."
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
"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.
"It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea."
The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer
"Sophie Kohl is living her worst nightmare. Minutes after she confesses to her husband, a mid-level diplomat at the American embassy in Hungary, that she had an affair while they were in Cairo, he is shot in the head and killed."
The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
"Beginning with her experience as a medical actor who was paid to act out symptoms for medical students to diagnose, Leslie Jamison’s visceral and revealing essays ask essential questions about our basic understanding of others..."
"A death row inmate, a fallen priest, and the Lady. These nameless characters are central to this dark, enthralling, magical story."
The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld by Justin Hocking
"The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld is a memoir/appreciation of Moby Dick/exploration of obsession/lots more. It reads like really good conversations with a friend. One who is literary and concerned with substance, but never stuffy, who is revealing and sincere, but not presumptuous or cloying. He has great stories: about surfing Rockaway Beach, or about his aunt and uncle’s life at sea, or most touchingly, a little “snow gecko” late in the book.Floodgates is discursive as all get out, in an overt nod to one of Moby Dick’s most particular traits. I do love a good book that resists categorization, and this ode to Melville’s white whale, as well as Hocking’s own rebirth from darkness into light, is a real pleasure."
The History of Rock n Roll in Ten Songs by Greil Marcus
"Unlike all previous versions of rock 'n' roll history, this book omits almost every iconic performer and ignores the storied events and turning points that everyone knows. Instead, in a daring stroke, Greil Marcus selects ten songs recorded between 1956 and 2008, then proceeds to dramatize how each embodies rock 'n' roll as a thing in itself, in the story it tells, inhabits, and acts out--a new language, something new under the sun."
The Human Age by Diane Ackerman
"Ackerman is justly celebrated for her unique insight into the natural world and our place in it. In this landmark book, she confronts the unprecedented reality that one prodigiously intelligent and meddlesome creature, Homo sapiens, is now the dominant force shaping the future of planet Earth."
The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai
"The acclaimed author of The Borrower returns with a dazzlingly original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield."
The Interior Circuit by Francisco Goldman
"Coming off the most successful book of a decorated career--"Say Her Name"--"The Interior Circuit" is Francisco Goldman's timely and provocative journey into the heart of Mexico City."
The Invention of Exile by Vanessa Manko
"Austin Voronkov is many things. He is an engineer, an inventor, an immigrant from Russia to Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1913, where he gets a job at a rifle factory. At the house where he rents a room, he falls in love with a woman named Julia, who becomes his wife and the mother of his three children. When Austin is wrongly accused of attending anarchist gatherings his limited grasp of English condemns him to his fate as a deportee, retreating with his new bride to his home in Russia, where he and his young family become embroiled in the Civil War and must flee once again, to Mexico."
The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant (2015)
"From the best-selling author of "The Tiger" and "The Golden Spruce," this debut novel is a gripping survival story of a young man trapped, perhaps fatally, during a border crossing. Hector is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers' money for a mechanic and have not returned. Those left behind have no choice but to wait."
The Master and Margarita (again) by Mikhail Bulgakov
"An audacious revision of the stories of Faust and Pontius Pilate, The Master and Margarita is recognized as one of the essential classics of modern Russian literature. The novel's vision of Soviet life in the 1930s is so ferociously accurate that it could not be published during its author's lifetime and appeared only in a censored edition in the 1960s."
The Noble Hustle by Colson Whitehead
"The Noble Hustle is Pulitzer finalist Colson Whitehead’s hilarious memoir of his search for meaning at high stakes poker tables, which the author describes as “Eat, Pray, Love for depressed shut-ins.”
The Other Language by Francesca Marciano
"The acclaimed author of Rules of the Wild gives us a lively, poignant, brilliantly observed new collection of stories: explorations of the power of change—in relationships, geographies, and across cultures—to reveal unexpected aspects of ourselves."
"Peter Heller has a simply gorgeous writing style. Factoring in his keen instinct for plot, ambitious subjects, compelling characters and expansive settings, he’s definitely on my Top 10 list! The Painter’s swift current carries the reader through countless beautiful passages exemplifying the transcendent nature of art. It’s another good reason to get on the Heller bandwagon."
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
"From the bestselling author of The Little Stranger and Fingersmith, an enthralling novel about a widow and her daughter who take a young couple into their home in 1920s London."
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
"An untested young princess must claim her throne, learn to become a queen, and combat a malevolent sorceress in an epic battle between light and darkness in this spectacular debut--the first novel in a trilogy."
The Republic of Imagination by Azar Nafisi
"Ten years ago, Azar Nafisi electrified readers with her million-copy bestseller, Reading Lolita in Tehran, which told the story of how, against the backdrop of morality squads and executions, she taught The Great Gatsby and other classics to her eager students in Iran. In this exhilarating followup, Nafisi has written the book her fans have been waiting for: an impassioned, beguiling, and utterly original tribute to the vital importance of fiction in a democratic society. What Reading Lolita in Tehran was for Iran, The Republic of Imagination is for America."
The Sea Inside by Philip Hoare
"In colorful prose and lively line drawings, Hoare sets out to rediscover the sea and its islands, birds, and beasts. Starting at his home on the shores of Britain’s Southampton Water and moving in ever widening circles—like the migration patterns of whales—Hoare explores London, the Isle of Wight, the Azores, Sri Lanka, Tasmania, and New Zealand."
The Secret Rooms by Catherine Bailey
"For fans of Downton Abbey, this New York Times bestseller is the enthralling true story of family secrets and aristocratic intrigue in the days before WWI."
The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go
"A QUEST NOVEL and a historical tour de force, The Steady Running of the Hour unravels a tale of passion, legacy, and courage reaching across the twentieth century."
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
"I am skeptical when it comes to books about books. And yet, I confess to really enjoying The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. There’s a reason that it has garnered the most recommendations in the history of Indiebound! It does the best job I’ve seen of portraying the peculiar and magical world of bookselling that you and I are fortunate enough to belong to. Throughout, it includes fun and intelligent commentary on classic and contemporary fiction. But even though the bookselling is realistic, the novel is definitely not mundane. There’s a major theft, an abandoned child, the unexplained death of her mother, a philandering husband, and true romance, all set on the picturesque Martha’s Vineyard-esque Alice Island, accessible only by ferry. So while those in the book industry will get a special thrill fromA.J. Fikry, it’s a great book to recommend to anybody who enjoys a good read."
"The Trace is a masterful, poetic novel about a journey through Mexico taken by a couple recovering from a world shattered. Driving through the Chihuahua Desert, they retrace the route of nineteenth-century American writer Ambrose Bierce (who disappeared during the Mexican Revolution) and try to piece together their lives after a devastating incident involving their adolescent son."
The Untold by Courtney Collins
"With shades of Water for Elephants and True Grit, a stunning debut novel set in the Australian outback about a female horse thief, her bid for freedom, and the two men trying to capture her."
Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan
"Once again, as she did in Loving Frank, Nancy Horan writes a compelling story of love, marriage, and adventure. This book is the fascinating account of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, his passion for writing, and his obsessive love for the older woman Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. Their life together has many twists due to his ill health and Fanny's determination to keep him alive---and writing. They literally roamed the world, always seeking the perfect climate for "Louis" to have a chance to write the stories that spilled from his mind, stories the world will long remember."
War of the Whales by Joshua Horwitz
""War of the Whales" is the gripping tale of a crusading attorney who stumbles on one of the US Navy's best-kept secrets: a submarine detection system that floods entire ocean basins with high-intensity sound--and drives whales onto beaches."
Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim
"Award-winning novelist Suki Kim's haunting memoir of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's elite during the last six months of Kim Jong Il's reign — a moving and incalculably rare glimpse of life in the world's most unknowable country, and at the privileged young men she calls 'soldiers and slaves.'"
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
"I highly recommend Wolf in White Van. Fans of last year's Of Dice and Men will find a lot to love here."
"John Darnielle has written a dark Freaks and Geeks with heart. Your understanding of main character Sean Phillips' motives will change from page to page crafting an experience as rich as one of Sean's RPGs."
"Anna Brundage is a rock star. She is tall and sexy, with a powerhouse voice and an unforgettable mane of red hair. She came out of nowhere, an immediate indie sensation. And then, life happened."
"In Amy Poehler's highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), like when to be funny and when to be serious. Powered by Amy's charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and sign up for our newletter!
FANTASTIC list, Sara! Love the many Grove titles, let's work on finding some other gems in 2015!