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The New York Times list of 100 notable books of 2014 is available:

And here is the 10 best list picked by the editors of the New York Times Book Review --

A 2014 best book list (novels, memoirs, and history) appeared today in the Telegraph - interesting to see the differences --

Thanks, Linda!

The 10 Best Books of 2014

"The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review."

FICTION

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE by Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $27.

DEPT. OF SPECULATION by Jenny Offill, Alfred A. Knopf, $22.95.

EUPHORIA, by Lily King, Atlantic Monthly Press, $25.

FAMILY LIFE by Akhil Sharma, W. W. Norton & Company, $23.95.

REDEPLOYMENT by Phil Klay, The Penguin Press, $26.95. (National Book Award Winner)


NONFICTION

CAN’T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT? by Roz Chast, Bloomsbury, $28.

ON IMMUNITY: An Inoculation by Eula Biss, Graywolf Press, $24.

PENELOPE FITZGERALD: A Life by Hermione Lee, Alfred A. Knopf, $35.

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert, Henry Holt & Company, $28.

THIRTEEN DAYS IN SEPTEMBER: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David by Lawrence Wright, Alfred A. Knopf, $27.95.



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All The Light We Cannot See looks especially intriguing to me. I have see it a local bookstore a couple times and picked it up thinking should I should I but put it down. Next time I will buy it. Thanks for the list.

Edgarf wrote: "All The Light We Cannot See looks especially intriguing to me. I have see it a local bookstore a couple times and picked it up thinking should I should I but put it down. Next time I will buy it...."

Edgar -- AtLWCS was the other reader's choice on this board in November -- at the same time as we were discussing KotS. If you do read it, I hope you'll retrieve the thread and add to it. I am sorry to say that I felt that discussion somehow fell short of what the book has to offer. My writing instructor felt it was extremely well written. We were both routing for Doerr to receive the National Book Award. (However, I will say, while Redeployment as selection may have been motivated by current historic conditions and is a very tough book to read, imho Klay is a deserving winner. Others say Station Eleven (Mandel), an NBA finalist not on this list of five from the NYT, is also excellent, although it hasn't quite made my TBR yet.)

AtLWCS discussion thread: /topic/group...

Euphoria was one of the best books I read in 2014.

Casceil wrote: "Euphoria was one of the best books I read in 2014."

Glad to hear that, Casceil. The reviews have led me to be concerned about distortions in the fictionalization of the protagonist's life, so I am unsure of the perspective from which to read it. Still, it is half-way on my TBR -- one of my friends wants to read it, so she may convince me for the conversation!

Not fiction, but I found Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China (Evan Osnos), not on the NYT top ten, but NBA Nonfiction winner, to be worthwhile, too. I listened to much of The Sixth Extinction (Elizabeth Kolbert) and, while there were parts of no interest in hearing (e.g., death in the bat cave), I was grateful for exposure to the overall sweep of ideas.

I'm quite burned out with the whole judging of the best-of-the-best nonsense -- as if the taste of avocados is more worthy than the feeling of velvet or sand burrs to one's fingers -- but I do appreciate that it brings notable books to notice.

Lacewing wrote: "I'm quite burned out with the whole judging of the best-of-the-best nonsense -- as if the taste of avocados is more worthy than the feeling of velvet or sand burrs to one's fingers -- but I do appr..."

[Smile.] Just some sieves to help select (but not to select) what to read among the plethora of wonderful choices being published today. And still absolutely no guarantee -- I may prefer Jersey tomatoes to your avocado. (Actually that's not true -- guacamole is a fav.) Must be hard for authors with wonderful works that are not selected at least somewhere, however. Prizes can provide direct compensation as well as boost sales.

Lily: you, me, sympatico. But you must try Roma to-ma-toes with your guac: best dipped with thin, crispy corn chips.

Totally borderline.

Then again there used to be big, fat, fruitalicious beef-steak 'maters in Mississippi. Damm. And real butter beans.

Given tongue enough and teeth, ain't all of lit a lovely feast?

Lily wrote: "Edgarf wrote: "All The Light We Cannot See looks especially intriguing to me. I have see it a local bookstore a couple times and picked it up thinking should I should I but put it down. Next time..."

Thanks for pointing that out to me Lily. I do admit to getting a bit myopic at times only focusing on what I am reading at the moment so I completely missed or at least forgotten that All The Light We Cannot See was being discussed in November. Middlemarch has me occupied at the moment so I have not been participating in contemporary novel discussions this month. I hope I can get in on How to Be Both in January. As for All The Light We Cannot See I may end up buying it in an audio format on CD. I was planning a to do a long road trip this year for my vacation, but it got struck down for health reasons this year. Hopefully I can do the road trip in the spring and All The Light We Cannot See seems like a good candidate for what to listen to on the drive.

Edgarf wrote: "...Hopefully I can do the road trip in the spring and All the Light We Cannot See seems like a good candidate for what to listen to on the drive...."

It probably is. I didn't try the audio version. It has many short chapters, so can lend itself to interruptions -- to focus on traffic, make stops, et al, as well as just move from one topic to the next. Hope you get to make your trip. (Audio can be expensive; does your library system allow long enough borrowing times to be feasible? I find I can usually renew (online, too) since the ability to obtain inter-library loans tends to take the pressure off holds.)

P.S. Still hope you'll come back and post after you have listened. If I'm around yet, I'll look for your comments!

In this week's NY Times, the three daily book reviewers list their top 10 of the books they reviewed for the paper -- .