{ "1": { "id": 1, "title": "10:04: A Novel", "author": "Ben Lerner", "text": "

Ben Lerner (Leaving the Atocha Station) is known for writing fiction that defies categories; he continues to defy — and fascinate — in this latest novel, 10:04. Bookended by two historic hurricanes that threatened New York City (Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy) 10:04 projects our narrator into plotlines that feature a dire medical diagnosis as well as the joy of impending fatherhood with a woman who’s a close friend. Lerner’s dazzling writing connects and collapses these and other storylines into a rich and strange novel of ideas.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "fiction", "family matters" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "0865478104", "oclc": "", "seamus": 345106790, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0865478104", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780865478107", "isbn10": "0865478104", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 1, "book": "10:04: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 1, "book": "10:04: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " '10:04': A Strange, Spectacular Novel Connecting Several Plotlines ", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/03/345107284/10-04-a-strange-spectacular-novel-connecting-several-plotlines" } ] }, "2": { "id": 2, "title": "100 Sideways Miles", "author": "Andrew Smith", "text": "

If you’re a young boy and a dead horse falls off a bridge, kills your mother, and leaves you with deep scars — and you’re prone to epileptic seizures — you’d come to expect the unexpected. Still, it doesn’t mean you have to like it. In the shadow of his best friend, the popular and athletic Cade, and forever tied to his fictional namesake in his father’s best-selling sci-fi novel, Finn has trouble figuring out who he’s supposed to be. Then he meets a new girl and for the first time writes his own story. Hilarious and heartbreaking, you’ll be rooting for Finn all the way.

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "love & romance", "it’s all geek to me", "young adult", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "1442444959", "oclc": 858246256, "seamus": 361448296, "bookshop": 9781442444959, "cover": "1442444959", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442444959", "isbn10": "1442444959", "links": [] }, "3": { "id": 3, "title": "2 A.M. At The Cat's Pajamas", "author": "Marie-Helene Bertino", "text": "

If this enchanting first novel — which takes place over the course of one eventful day, the eve of Christmas Eve — were displayed as a Venn diagram, the place where the large cast of meticulously drawn characters overlaps is at a legendary Philadelphia jazz club called The Cat’s Pajamas, and the person who connects them all is 9-year-old Madeleine Altimari, whose dearest wish is to be a jazz singer — when we first meet her she’s smoking a cigarette and teaching herself to shimmy. Inventive, gorgeously written and unforgettable, this is a novel that fans of character-driven fiction will treasure.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "seriously great writing", "fiction", "for music lovers", "no biz like show biz" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "0804140235", "oclc": 863197778, "seamus": 329618767, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0804140235", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780804140232", "isbn10": "0804140235", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 3, "book": "2 A.M. At The Cat's Pajamas", "source": "NPR", "text": "It's 2 A.M.: Do You Know Where Your Fifth-Grader Is?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/05/329614129/its-2-a-m-do-you-know-where-your-fifth-grader-is" } ] }, "4": { "id": 4, "title": "A Bollywood Affair", "author": "Sonali Dev", "text": "

When a Bollywood director learns his brother is still legally bound to the child bride he was forced to marry at age 4, he tracks her down in America, determined to procure a divorce. But an accident confuses their relationship, and he finds himself loath to tell her the truth of his identity, especially as he finds himself falling for her. Both romantically intense and emotionally buoyant, with compelling glimpses into the social and cultural complexities of modern India. A stunning debut.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "family matters", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Bobbi Dumas" ], "isbn": "1617730130", "oclc": 835373961, "seamus": 360191729, "bookshop": 9781617730139, "cover": "1617730130", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781617730139", "isbn10": "1617730130", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 4, "book": "A Bollywood Affair", "source": "NPR", "text": "Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/426731847/happy-ever-after-100-swoon-worthy-romances" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 4, "book": "A Bollywood Affair", "source": "NPR", "text": "Halloween Makes Us Think Of ... Diversity In Romance!", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/31/358118715/halloween-makes-us-think-of-diversity-in-romance" } ] }, "5": { "id": 5, "title": "A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing", "author": "Eimear McBride", "text": "

There’s nothing easy about Eimear McBride’s raw, brutally intense first novel, from its fractured sentences to its shattering story of the young unnamed narrator’s attempt to drown mental anguish with physical pain. This cri de coeur of a girl who is raped by her uncle while growing up with a punitively religious mother and a learning disabled brother who dies of brain cancer certainly isn’t cheerful, and it’s not for everyone. But it’s a devastating, ferociously original debut that pulls you into its vortex.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "family matters", "fiction", "tales from around the world", "let’s talk about sex" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "1566893682", "oclc": 870292819, "seamus": 344774261, "bookshop": 9781566893688, "cover": "1566893682", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781566893688", "isbn10": "1566893682", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 5, "book": "A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing", "source": "NPR", "text": "Challenging, Shattering 'Girl' Is No Half-Formed Thing", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/10/344772459/challenging-shattering-girl-is-no-half-formed-thing" } ] }, "6": { "id": 6, "title": "A Long Way Home: A Memoir", "author": "Saroo Brierley", "text": "

At around 5 years old, Saroo Brierley found himself in Kolkata, India, alone, lost and more than 1,000 miles from his family. He lived on the streets until he was taken into an orphanage and ultimately adopted by an Australian couple. Years later, with nothing but his memories to guide him, Brierley began searching for his childhood home on Google Earth — and you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens next. Brierley’s memoir recalls Charles Dickens and folk tales about lost children. The simplicity of his language lets the unbelievable facts shine through.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "family matters", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Anya Kamenetz" ], "isbn": "0399169288", "oclc": 861478652, "seamus": 323360831, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0399169288", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780399169281", "isbn10": "0399169288", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 6, "book": "A Long Way Home: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "With Memories And Online Maps, A Man Finds His 'Way Home'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/22/323355643/with-memories-and-online-maps-a-man-finds-his-way-home" } ] }, "7": { "id": 7, "title": "A Painter's Progress: A Portrait Of Lucian Freud", "author": "David Dawson", "text": "

David Dawson, Lucian Freud’s devoted assistant, friend and frequent model for the last 20 years and an artist in his own right, has produced a beautiful tome filled with spellbinding, intimate photographs of the artist, many at work in his squalid, paint-encrusted studio. Particularly fascinating are the portraits juxtaposing Freud’s subjects with his paintings of them, eloquently revealing how they were transformed by his art. We see David Hockney sitting, hands folded, beside his fleshier close-up on the easel, while whippet-thin Freud, in characteristic knotted scarf and untied boots, is caught frozen in the doorway clutching a fistful of brushes, as if at the scene of a crime. Fans of this intense painter — who died in 2011 after a lifetime of stripping his sitters bare, often in every sense — won’t want to miss this.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "for art lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0385354088", "oclc": 868199526, "seamus": 358111013, "bookshop": 9780385354080, "cover": "0385354088", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385354080", "isbn10": "0385354088", "links": [] }, "8": { "id": 8, "title": "A Snicker Of Magic", "author": "Natalie Lloyd", "text": "

Always on the move because of her mother’s wandering ways, 12-year-old Felicity lands in Midnight Gulch, where her mother was born. The Southern town was once full of magic, but a curse put an end to that. Yet hints of magic remain, including Felicity’s ability to see words that reveal people’s true thoughts and desires. But in this lovely and quirky novel, the words she needs to understand most are her own. If Felicity can break the spell to rescue Midnight Gulch and heal her mother’s broken heart, she just may find a place to call “home.” (For ages 8 to 12)

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "family matters", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "kids’ books", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "0545552702", "oclc": 856579483, "seamus": 361455670, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0545552702", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780545552707", "isbn10": "0545552702", "links": [] }, "9": { "id": 9, "title": "Afterparty", "author": "Daryl Gregory", "text": "

They say that all technology is truly driven by its black market applications, and this is never more true than in Afterparty, where any kid with a chemjet printer and an internet connection can print his own smart drugs and get freaky. Gregory’s near-future world is a fascinating look at a society where the brain has become the final battlefield of faith, pleasure and commerce, and he puts together a ripping story that’s essentially one long chase sequence as his characters fight to stop the distribution of a new party drug that might just mean the end of the world.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "science!", "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0765336928", "oclc": 844728118, "seamus": 305937410, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0765336928", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780765336927", "isbn10": "0765336928", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 9, "book": "Afterparty", "source": "NPR", "text": "Better (?) Living Through Chemistry In 'Afterparty'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/23/302901352/better-living-through-chemistry-in-afterparty" } ] }, "10": { "id": 10, "title": "Ah-Ha To Zig-Zag: 31 Objects From Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum", "author": "Maira Kalman", "text": "

Maira Kalman’s whimsical, sublimely silly alphabet book celebrates the newly renovated Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum by featuring 31 of her favorite objects from the collection — a quirky companion volume to My Favorite Things, her selection for adults. Flagged items include a medieval Egyptian cap and a 19th century English glazed earthenware poodle. Just don’t look for the dog under D or P. Nope, you’ll find it under E — for “the cutest dog on Earth…(Except for your dog),” with all the e’s printed in red. And don’t look for the letter O in its usual place because — “Oops! We left out O. Oh well. We all make mistakes.” Expect giggles.

", "tags": [ "eye-opening reads", "kids’ books", "funny stuff", "for art lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0847843777", "oclc": 871508740, "seamus": 358117555, "bookshop": 9780847843770, "cover": "0847843777", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780847843770", "isbn10": "0847843777", "links": [] }, "11": { "id": 11, "title": "All Our Names", "author": "Dinaw Mengestu", "text": "

In All Our Names, Dinaw Mengestu explores the nature of loneliness and love, violence and identity. The story is told by two narrators: Isaac is a young man who flees revolution in Uganda to seek refuge in America; and Helen is a white woman, a social worker assigned to his case, who has never left the Midwest. It’s the 1970s and the taboo against mixed-race couples is still powerful, but the two fall into a passionate and secretive affair. Other kinds of secrets emerge as Isaac’s story unfolds and Helen begins to understand that he has left his real identity, and much more, back in Uganda. There is nothing simple about their affair; it is born out of loneliness and complicated by prejudice and war. But it is a love that, in the end, saves these characters and redeems them.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "tales from around the world", "staff picks", "fiction", "the states we’re in", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Lynn Neary" ], "isbn": "0385349987", "oclc": "", "seamus": 287314745, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385349987", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385349987", "isbn10": "0385349987", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 11, "book": "All Our Names", "source": "NPR", "text": "Dinaw Mengestu Embraces The Vastness Of Love And War", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/03/298779757/dinaw-mengestu-embraces-the-vastness-of-love-and-war" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 11, "book": "All Our Names", "source": "NPR", "text": "From Uganda To The Midwest, 'All Our Names' Draws Portraits Of Love", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/08/287317671/from-uganda-to-the-midwest-all-our-names-draws-portraits-of-love" } ] }, "12": { "id": 12, "title": "All The Light We Cannot See: A Novel", "author": "Anthony Doerr", "text": "

The stories of blind, French teenager Marie-Laure LeBlanc and German orphan Werner Pfennig move across the convulsing landscape of the last half of World War II and come together, eventually, in a walled Breton town just before D-Day. All the Light We Cannot See has received rapturous reviews, and none of them exaggerate when they describe Anthony Doerr’s novel with words like “haunting,” “beautifully written” and “gorgeous.” It is all that and more. Doerr’s characters stayed with me long after I closed the cover of this luminous book.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "staff picks", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "fiction", "historical fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Karen Grigsby Bates" ], "isbn": "1476746583", "oclc": 852226410, "seamus": 310459692, "bookshop": 9781476746586, "cover": "1476746583", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476746586", "isbn10": "1476746583", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 12, "book": "All The Light We Cannot See: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 12, "book": "All The Light We Cannot See: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 12, "book": "All The Light We Cannot See: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 12, "book": "All The Light We Cannot See: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "World War II In A New 'Light': Empathy Found In Surprising Places", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/25/314566791/world-war-ii-in-a-new-light-empathy-found-in-surprising-places" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 12, "book": "All The Light We Cannot See: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Fractured Tale Of Time, War And A Really Big Diamond", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/10/310459898/a-fractured-tale-of-time-war-and-a-really-big-diamond" } ] }, "13": { "id": 13, "title": "All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid", "author": "Matt Bai", "text": "

Twenty-four-hour cable; infinite news sources online; tweets and YouTube. It’s hard to remember a time when the political cycle was slower and more deliberate, and when the voter wasn’t exposed to every single twitch of the candidate. When did it all change? According to Matt Bai, it changed with Gary Hart in 1987. You think you know it all: Donna Rice, Monkey Business, Hart taunting the press. You don’t. The combustible mix of new technology and politics was birthed in this presidential campaign, and there was no turning back.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "nonfiction", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Madhulika Sikka" ], "isbn": "0307273385", "oclc": 868199439, "seamus": 361470779, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307273385", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307273383", "isbn10": "0307273385", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 13, "book": "All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'All The Truth Is Out' Examines How Political Journalism Went Tabloid", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/30/352754280/all-the-truth-is-out-examines-how-political-journalism-went-tabloid" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 13, "book": "All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid", "source": "NPR", "text": "Book Review: 'All The Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/29/352538381/book-review-all-the-truth-is-out-the-week-politics-went-tabloid" } ] }, "14": { "id": 14, "title": "An Unnecessary Woman", "author": "Rabih Alameddine", "text": "

An Unnecessary Woman is a story about Beirut, but not the Beirut you see in headlines. Told in the voice of a reclusive older woman, it unfolds within the confines of her small apartment. Her family has forgotten her, she is childless and divorced, and all around her are books that she slowly translates into Arabic. It is a quiet book about a lost woman in a loud, violent city. We see the Lebanese civil war through her memories. It’s also a book about literature, and a portrait of a woman living in a volatile time, who shuts out reality and loses herself in the written word until she reaches a breaking point.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "historical fiction", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "seriously great writing", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Rebecca Hersher" ], "isbn": "0802122949", "oclc": "", "seamus": 269451526, "bookshop": 9780802122940, "cover": "0802122949", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780802122940", "isbn10": "0802122949", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 14, "book": "An Unnecessary Woman", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 14, "book": "An Unnecessary Woman", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Widow's Quiet Life Leaves Room For Sex, Guns And Literature", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/04/268951211/a-widows-quiet-life-leaves-room-for-sex-guns-and-literature" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 14, "book": "An Unnecessary Woman", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Unnecessary Woman' Lives On The Margins, Enveloped In Books", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/02/269468129/unnecessary-woman-lives-on-the-margins-enveloped-in-books" } ] }, "15": { "id": 15, "title": "An Untamed State", "author": "Roxane Gay", "text": "

Roxane Gay’s first novel grabs you: “Once upon a time … I was kidnapped by a gang of fearless yet terrified young men. … They held me captive for 13 days. They wanted to break me.” Gay never lets up, describing with force and passion a story that happens to women in cities around the world, making it visceral and real. A young lawyer, kidnapped in Port-au-Prince and held for ransom, returns to her husband and baby son changed, but the intervention of her kind, tender mother-in-law is a healing gift. Powerful work from an original new voice: We’re listening.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "family matters", "tales from around the world", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "0802122515", "oclc": 858602704, "seamus": 328228932, "bookshop": 9780802122513, "cover": "0802122515", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780802122513", "isbn10": "0802122515", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 15, "book": "An Untamed State", "source": "NPR", "text": "Roxane Gay: 'Bad Feminist,' Real Person", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/03/328228837/roxane-gay-bad-feminist-real-person" } ] }, "16": { "id": 16, "title": "Ancient Oceans Of Central Kentucky", "author": "David Connerley Nahm", "text": "

The story of a Kentucky woman coming to terms with her haunted childhood and the disappearance of her little brother, David Connerley Nahm’s debut is unconventional, impressionistic and suffused with deeply poetic language. It’s not sufficient to call Nahm’s novel a book about memory and loss, although he explores those themes gracefully and insightfully. This is a heartbreaking story about real people enduring unspeakable pain, two siblings who “were rippling reflections of one another” — one who’s gone, and one who almost is.

", "tags": [ "rather short", "the dark side", "fiction", "family matters" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1937512207", "oclc": 859046607, "seamus": 341622299, "bookshop": 9781937512200, "cover": "1937512207", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781937512200", "isbn10": "1937512207", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 16, "book": "Ancient Oceans Of Central Kentucky", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Depths Of Memory And Pain In 'Ancient Oceans'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/20/339609587/the-depths-of-memory-and-pain-in-ancient-oceans" } ] }, "17": { "id": 17, "title": "Ancillary Sword", "author": "Anne Leckie", "text": "

Anne Leckie’s debut, Ancillary Justice, provided vast distances, sentient spaceships and a galactic empire in crisis. Against this grand backdrop there was a thoughtful examination of loyalty and the fragmentation of identity. Set in the same world of Imperial Radch, her second book finds the protagonist Breq tasked with the protection of the sibling of a friend she fatally betrayed. Once part of the shared consciousness of a mighty warship and all its troops, Breq is now a soldier, reduced to a single body and mind — confined and mortal. Through her, the reader is urged to examine just what it is that makes us truly human.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "seriously great writing", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "0316246654", "oclc": 870199577, "seamus": 354048210, "bookshop": 9780316246651, "cover": "0316246654", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316246651", "isbn10": "0316246654", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 17, "book": "Ancillary Sword", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Ancillary Sword' Examines Life On The Fringes Of A Galactic Empire", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/07/353265333/ancillary-sword-examines-life-on-the-fringes-of-a-galactic-empire" } ] }, "18": { "id": 18, "title": "Another Man's War: The Story Of A Burma Boy In Britain's Forgotten Army", "author": "Barnaby Phillips", "text": "

Another Man’s War is riveting. It’s an extraordinary story, well-researched and beautifully told — but not about the World War II you might know. Barnaby Phillips writes about humanity and compassion from the perspective of a Nigerian soldier whose forgotten colonial unit fought for the British Empire in then-Burma. Sixteen-year-old Isaac Fadoyebo is one of the “Burma Boys” who found themselves battling determined Japanese soldiers far away from home. Wounded and left for dead in the jungle, Isaac and Sierra Leonean David Kargbo survive only thanks to the goodness of a local villager, Shuyiman, and his family. Phillips delves deep into relationships, identity and much more in this stunning book. I couldn’t put it down.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "staff picks", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Ofeibea Quist-Arcton" ], "isbn": "1780745222", "oclc": "", "seamus": 361469238, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1780745222", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781780745220", "isbn10": "1780745222", "links": [] }, "19": { "id": 19, "title": "Apples Of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, And Little-Known Wonders", "author": "Rowan Jacobsen", "text": "

Apples of Uncommon Character is a who’s who of apples — 123 “portraits” of different varieties, described and photographed in loving detail. Rowan Jacobson explains how only a handful of apples — of the thousands once available in the 19th century — ever made it to modern supermarkets. He laments the bright but tasteless Red Delicious is a “disaster” that American consumers brought upon themselves. Now, a renaissance is underway as heirloom apple enthusiasts race to save rare varieties before they die out. Jacobson offers resources, recipes, facts and tips to delight any apple geek — and his 300-page Facebook-of-fruit is full of creative descriptions, such as, “Like the Incredible Hulk, Mutsu is huge, green, and strangely lovable.”

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "cookbooks & food", "eye-opening reads", "it’s all geek to me", "for history lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Beth Novey" ], "isbn": "1620402270", "oclc": 866859851, "seamus": 342207159, "bookshop": 9781620402276, "cover": "1620402270", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781620402276", "isbn10": "1620402270", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 19, "book": "Apples Of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, And Little-Known Wonders", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 19, "book": "Apples Of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, And Little-Known Wonders", "source": "NPR", "text": "Keeping Heirloom Apples Alive Is 'Like A Chain Letter' Over Many Centuries", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/19/349626755/keeping-heirloom-apples-alive-is-like-a-chain-letter-over-many-centuries" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 19, "book": "Apples Of Uncommon Character: Heirlooms, Modern Classics, And Little-Known Wonders", "source": "NPR", "text": "There's Much More To Apples Than Meets The Eye", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/02/342195514/theres-much-more-to-apples-than-meets-the-eye" } ] }, "20": { "id": 20, "title": "Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation; Authority; Acceptance", "author": "Jeff VanderMeer", "text": "

If the guys who wrote Lost had brought H.P. Lovecraft into the room as a script doctor in the first season, the Southern Reach trilogy is what they would’ve come up with. Haunted landscapes, a mysterious lighthouse, sea monsters, wormholes, insane government agents — Jeff VanderMeer’s three slim volumes have it all. And while it parades itself as a kind of straight-up horror/mystery tale, the Southern Reach trilogy plumbs some deep territory regarding what is real, what is true and how the things we see are not always the things that are there before us.

", "tags": [ "the dark side", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "rather long", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0374261172", "oclc": "", "seamus": 361472308, "bookshop": 9780374261177, "cover": "0374261172", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374261177", "isbn10": "0374261172", "links": [] }, "21": { "id": 21, "title": "Aviary Wonders Inc. Spring Catalog And Instruction Manual", "author": "Kate Samworth", "text": "

This might be the weirdest picture book published this year. Its premise is that in the future (2031 to be exact) birds will be extinct. Or at least, birds as we know them. It begins, “Whether you are looking for a companion, want to make something beautiful, or just want to listen to birdsong, we’ll supply everything you need to build your own bird.” The next 30 pages are an illustrated catalog of wings, legs, tails, combs, and feathers. In the back are “Assembly Instructions” (“Step 2: Attaching The Beak.”) The illustrations are serious art — full-color paintings that would look at home in a museum. At its heart the book is a warning about habitat destruction, but mostly, it will make you laugh, and children with a sense of whimsy will be delighted to imagine building a bird. (For ages 9 to 12)

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "kids’ books", "for art lovers", "funny stuff", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Rebecca Hersher" ], "isbn": "0547978995", "oclc": 848267598, "seamus": 363866992, "bookshop": 9780547978994, "cover": "0547978995", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780547978994", "isbn10": "0547978995", "links": [] }, "22": { "id": 22, "title": "Bad Feminist: Essays", "author": "Roxane Gay", "text": "

It’s no surprise that Roxane Gay — author, essayist and sharp observer of everything in pop culture we’re supposed to be too cool to like — has written such a winning book. Now in its ninth printing, this best-selling collection of essays manages to be both a cultural biography and a deeply personal story of identity. At its best, the book offers Gay’s distinctive voice as both shield and a weapon against social norms just begging for examination. Perfectly imperfect, Gay is an unforgettable voice, coming at just the right time.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "book club ideas", "short stories, essays & poetry", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Genevieve Valentine" ], "isbn": "0062282719", "oclc": 861210005, "seamus": 337171367, "bookshop": 9780062282712, "cover": "0062282719", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062282712", "isbn10": "0062282719", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 22, "book": "Bad Feminist: Essays", "source": "NPR", "text": "Roxane Gay On Acknowledging — And Owning — Her 'Bad' Feminism", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/03/337126684/roxane-gay-on-acknowledging-and-owning-her-bad-feminism" } ] }, "23": { "id": 23, "title": "Baking Chez Moi: Recipes From My Paris Home To Your Home Anywhere", "author": "Dorie Greenspan", "text": "

I rate cookbooks on their IQ — Irresistibility Quotient — and Dorie Greenspan’s latest scores on the Mensa level. Greenspan says the French leave more elaborate patisseries to professionals; she’s filled her new book with the less complicated confections they bake at home. Two simple loaf cakes, one with chopped apples and the other with marbled dark and white chocolate, were both keepers. And you’ve got to love a cookbook that urges you to “cajole the batter into the corner of the pan.” Next up: the French counterpart of the classic American chocolate-wafers-and-whipped-cream icebox cake — made with store-bought Petit Beurre cookies dunked in espresso and layered with an easy mocha buttercream. Ooh la la!

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0547724241", "oclc": 867078412, "seamus": 357901128, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0547724241", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780547724249", "isbn10": "0547724241", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 23, "book": "Baking Chez Moi: Recipes From My Paris Home To Your Home Anywhere", "source": "NPR", "text": "Yule Have To Try This Gingerbread Buche De Noel", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/22/371279552/yule-have-to-try-this-gingerbread-buche-de-noel" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 23, "book": "Baking Chez Moi: Recipes From My Paris Home To Your Home Anywhere", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 23, "book": "Baking Chez Moi: Recipes From My Paris Home To Your Home Anywhere", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Boozy Parisian Pineapple That Tastes Like The Holidays", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/28/366327332/a-boozy-parisian-pineapple-that-tastes-like-the-holidays" } ] }, "24": { "id": 24, "title": "Bark: Stories", "author": "Lorrie Moore", "text": "

Lorrie Moore wields her trademark sardonic wordplay and offbeat apercus to capture the bitter disappointments of romantic relationships in her first story collection in 15 years. Seesawing between facetiousness and earnestness, her bite is right up there with her bark in these eight tales, which include clever, modern twists on two classics by Henry James and Vladimir Nabokov and a caustically funny but ultimately plangent portrait of a lonely, cynical single mom at a wedding.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "family matters", "book club ideas", "fiction", "the dark side", "funny stuff", "rather short" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0307740862", "oclc": "", "seamus": 282065921, "bookshop": 9780307740861, "cover": "0307740862", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307740861", "isbn10": "0307740862", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 24, "book": "Bark: Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "These Stories Consider Solitude, With Echoes Of Emily Dickinson", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/26/282607412/these-stories-consider-solitude-with-echoes-of-emily-dickinson" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 24, "book": "Bark: Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "Lorrie Moore's New 'Bark' Is Half Of A Good Book", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/26/282065464/lorrie-moores-new-bark-is-half-of-a-good-book" } ] }, "25": { "id": 25, "title": "Beethoven: Anguish And Triumph", "author": "Jan Swafford", "text": "

A precocious kid leaves his alcoholic father to find fame in the big city. He succeeds. But as his star rises his body falls, leaving him weak, deaf and suicidal. And still he triumphs. No, it’s not an A&E miniseries; it’s Jan Swafford’s extraordinary story of Ludwig van Beethoven. The biography, Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph, is a clear-eyed view of the famed composer’s improbable life, the social and political context that framed it, and, of course, his amazing music. In the end, the book transcends the dark-skinned kid from Bonn, Germany, and sings of the resilient human spirit.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "rather long", "biography & memoir", "for music lovers", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Tom Huizenga" ], "isbn": "061805474X", "oclc": 854944856, "seamus": 336658757, "bookshop": 9780618054749, "cover": "061805474X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780618054749", "isbn10": "061805474X", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 25, "book": "Beethoven: Anguish And Triumph", "source": "NPR", "text": "Ask Us Anything About Beethoven", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2014/08/05/337857557/ask-us-anything-about-beethoven" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 25, "book": "Beethoven: Anguish And Triumph", "source": "NPR", "text": "Beethoven's 'Eroica,' A Bizarre Revelation Of Personality", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/03/336656578/beethovens-eroica-a-bizarre-revelation-of-personality" } ] }, "26": { "id": 26, "title": "Being Mortal: Medicine And What Matters In The End", "author": "Atul Gawande", "text": "

Anyone who’s had to care for an aging parent knows the difficulty of deciding when it’s time to consider a nursing home or hospice. In *Being Mortal,*the ever thoughtful surgeon and author Atul Gawande asks us to think about what it really means to age gracefully and die with dignity when modern medicine can do so much to extend life. And challenges us to examine the real costs of prolonged medical treatment when the evidence is mounting that we are not necessarily improving life at the end.

", "tags": [ "science!", "family matters", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "staff picks", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Carline Watson" ], "isbn": "0805095152", "oclc": 879416935, "seamus": 356626162, "bookshop": 9780805095159, "cover": "0805095152", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805095159", "isbn10": "0805095152", "links": [] }, "27": { "id": 27, "title": "Belzhar", "author": "Meg Wolitzer", "text": "

This young adult novel tells the story of a group of teenagers at a special school for kids who have endured traumatic experiences. Their English teacher assigns them to write in journals, and as they fill the pages, each student is transported back to a time just before the awful event happened. Wolitzer writes teenagers in a way that feels authentic, at turns wildly emotional and deeply introspective. It’s a fast-paced, affecting story with a nice twist at the end.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "young adult", "love & romance", "fiction", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Sarah Handel" ], "isbn": "0525423052", "oclc": 870919596, "seamus": 291891772, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0525423052", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780525423058", "isbn10": "0525423052", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 27, "book": "Belzhar", "source": "NPR", "text": "Meg Wolitzer: Catnip For 'A Certain Kind Of Reader'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/02/05/383887933/meg-wolitzer-catnip-for-a-certain-kind-of-reader" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 27, "book": "Belzhar", "source": "NPR", "text": "Book News: Meg Wolitzer To Publish A YA Novel Inspired By Sylvia Plath", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/03/20/291782617/book-news-meg-wolitzer-to-publish-a-ya-novel-inspired-by-sylvia-plath" } ] }, "28": { "id": 28, "title": "Bitter Eden: A Novel", "author": "Tatamkhulu Afrika", "text": "

Tatamkhulu Afrika’s autobiographical novel based on his experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Set primarily in in Italy and Germany amid the claustrophobic intimacy of all-male war camps, the novel follows three prisoners as they struggle — and often fail — to make sense of their desire for one another. The intricacies of their impossible relationships reflect the broader struggles of masculinity.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "historical fiction", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "let’s talk about sex", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Saeed Jones" ], "isbn": "1250043662", "oclc": 849210415, "seamus": 362020378, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1250043662", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781250043665", "isbn10": "1250043662", "links": [] }, "29": { "id": 29, "title": "Blood Will Out: The True Story Of A Murder, A Mystery, And A Masquerade", "author": "Walter Kirn", "text": "

When journalist Walter Kirn discovers that his friend of 15 years, a man he knew as Clark Rockefeller (wealthy, powerfully connected and, yes, one of the Rockefellers), is really a fraud, a sociopath and a murderer, he can’t fathom how he could have been duped so easily. Kirn’s dogged investigation into Rockefeller’s trail of deceit is the stuff of true crime thrillers, but Blood Will Out’s blunt force impact comes when Kirn reflects on his own moral failings and bravely reveals what might have caused him to get it all so wrong.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "the dark side", "mysteries & thrillers", "nonfiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jeff Rogers" ], "isbn": "0871404516", "oclc": 864808727, "seamus": 285869478, "bookshop": 9780871404510, "cover": "0871404516", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780871404510", "isbn10": "0871404516", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 29, "book": "Blood Will Out: The True Story Of A Murder, A Mystery, And A Masquerade", "source": "NPR", "text": "When You Befriend A Killer, You Can't Not Write About It", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/13/284100112/when-you-befriend-a-killer-you-cant-not-write-about-it" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 29, "book": "Blood Will Out: The True Story Of A Murder, A Mystery, And A Masquerade", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Blood Will Out' Reveals Secrets Of A Murderous Master Manipulator", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/10/288580904/blood-will-out-reveals-secrets-of-a-murderous-master-manipulator" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 29, "book": "Blood Will Out: The True Story Of A Murder, A Mystery, And A Masquerade", "source": "NPR", "text": "Meet The Murdering, Kidnapping Imposter Who Fooled Walter Kirn", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/08/287275780/meet-the-murdering-kidnapping-imposter-who-fooled-walter-kirn" } ] }, "30": { "id": 30, "title": "Bolaño, A Biography In Conversations", "author": "Monica Maristain", "text": "

Much has been written about the late writer Roberto Bolaño; over the past decade, interest in his work has reached levels Bolaño himself may not have imagined. Or perhaps he had. Bolaño: A Biography in Conversations does much to add to our culture’s obsession with celebrity and the myths that surround writers in particular. Journalist Monica Maristain interviewed friends and associates of Bolaño in an attempt to offer more insight (and idiosyncratic detail) about his storied life. While, given its multiple voices and perspectives, it may not be the definitive Bolaño biography, it’s a fun and enveloping read for the already initiated.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "1612193471", "oclc": 864700632, "seamus": 362024940, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1612193471", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781612193472", "isbn10": "1612193471", "links": [] }, "31": { "id": 31, "title": "Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel", "author": "Helen Oyeyemi", "text": "

Fairy tales get reworked and re-imagined all the time, but the treatment Snow White gets in Helen Oyeyemi’s novel Boy, Snow, Bird is more like a deconstruction of the tale than a mere retelling. Boy is a white woman who realizes her husband is an African-American who has been passing for white only after she gives birth to a black child, Bird. “Passing” in this way is a truly magical ability, but it comes at a price. To explain would mean spoilers, and there are some fantastic yet plausible revelations in this story you’ll want to discover on your own.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "family matters", "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Arun Rath" ], "isbn": "1594631395", "oclc": 852251423, "seamus": 285294550, "bookshop": 9781594631399, "cover": "1594631395", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594631399", "isbn10": "1594631395", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 31, "book": "Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Boy, Snow, Bird' Takes A Closer Look Into The Fairy Tale Mirror", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/09/287335293/boy-snow-bird-takes-a-closer-look-into-the-fairy-tale-mirror" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 31, "book": "Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Professionally Haunted Life Of Helen Oyeyemi", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/07/282065410/the-professionally-haunted-life-of-helen-oyeyemi" } ] }, "32": { "id": 32, "title": "Bright Shards Of Someplace Else", "author": "Monica McFawn", "text": "

Monica McFawn’s first collection of short stories, winner of this year’s Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, displays her idiosyncratic voice, her flair for distinctive characters and her empathetic power. In these 11 stories, McFawn ranges from fantastic to satiric to poignant. Embedded in her tales of ordinary people — a new employee forced to fire an incompetent co-worker; an actor on his way home after a performance full of improvisations; a mathematical theoretician working for a company that sells butterflies to be released at weddings and other events — are carefully observed human details and momentous surprises.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "0820346878", "oclc": "", "seamus": 345555037, "bookshop": 9780820346878, "cover": "0820346878", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780820346878", "isbn10": "0820346878", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 32, "book": "Bright Shards Of Someplace Else", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Stories In 'Bright Shards' Glimmer With Empathetic Power", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/03/345555492/the-stories-in-bright-shards-glimmer-with-empathetic-power" } ] }, "33": { "id": 33, "title": "Broken Monsters", "author": "Lauren Beukes", "text": "

Fiercely smart, caustically creative, defiantly feminist, Lauren Beukes has pioneered a new genre: the technothriller set amid crumbling cities. Broken Monsters is a grim mystery that lives at the intersection of cold electronic gadgets and the blood-hot desires of the human beings who wield them. The novel is set in Detroit, where Detective Gabriella Versado is assigned to find out who killed a boy and then attached the top half of his body to the bottom half of a deer. Here, as in her brilliant 2013 novel, The Shining Girls, Beukes writes like a combination of Agatha Christie and Don DeLillo. You’re drawn in by the whodunit and then cold-cocked by the succinct, electrifying prose.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "let’s talk about sex", "seriously great writing", "rather long", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Julia Keller" ], "isbn": "0316216828", "oclc": 870199583, "seamus": 343209409, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0316216828", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316216821", "isbn10": "0316216828", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 33, "book": "Broken Monsters", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Broken Monsters' Hits Horror Out Of The Park", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/17/343149636/broken-monsters-hits-horror-out-of-the-park" } ] }, "34": { "id": 34, "title": "Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard On You? A Memoir", "author": "George Clinton", "text": "

You had to expect that Parliament-Funkadelic producer-visionary George Clinton would give his memoir a title just as jovial, provocative and kaleidoscope-colorful as his 50-year musical oeuvre (not to mention his trademark rainbow hairstyle). This page-turner gives us real insight into the roots of Clintonian genius: He innovated a new amalgam of funk, rock, metal and pop in the 1960s and ‘70s by bringing together his love for Motown, Jimi Hendrix, mambo, science fiction, Aristotelian philosophy and subversive political humor. The memoir’s last third sobers us up: While hip-hop samplers help extend Clinton’s legacy, the musician finds himself more often in court, fighting copyright infringement, than in the studio. The book is ultimately a parable of a postwar hippie’s creativity hemmed in not by sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll but by the gravity of a cynical and twisted music business.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "for music lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason King" ], "isbn": "1476751072", "oclc": 873006486, "seamus": 359877390, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1476751072", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476751078", "isbn10": "1476751072", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 34, "book": "Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard On You? A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "George Clinton's Musical Life, From The Barbershop To Hip-Hop", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/07/359877300/george-clintons-musical-life-from-the-barbershop-to-hip-hop" } ] }, "35": { "id": 35, "title": "Brown Girl Dreaming", "author": "Jacqueline Woodson", "text": "

Earlier this year, when I spent a day with Jacqueline Woodson for a story, I saw that the realness she brings to her writing is also present in person, allowing her to captivate grade-school students with her stories about life and her lessons about acceptance. In this book, she uses free verse to tell the story of growing up in a segregated South. It’s for children as much as it is for adults; the themes — of aching for home, searching for family support and discovering one’s voice — will resonate with everyone. It’s beautiful and, most important, accessible.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "short stories, essays & poetry", "young adult", "identity & culture", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Kat Chow" ], "isbn": "0399252517", "oclc": 870919395, "seamus": 348998578, "bookshop": 9780399252518, "cover": "0399252517", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780399252518", "isbn10": "0399252517", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 35, "book": "Brown Girl Dreaming", "source": "NPR", "text": "Jacqueline Woodson On Growing Up, Coming Out And Saying Hi To Strangers", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/12/10/369736205/jacqueline-woodson-on-growing-up-coming-out-and-saying-hi-to-strangers" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 35, "book": "Brown Girl Dreaming", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 35, "book": "Brown Girl Dreaming", "source": "NPR", "text": "Jacqueline Woodson On Being A 'Brown Girl' Who Dreams", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/09/18/348992638/jacqueline-woodson-on-being-a-brown-girl-who-dreams" } ] }, "36": { "id": 36, "title": "California: A Novel", "author": "Edan Lepucki", "text": "

I read Edan Lepucki’s suspenseful debut novel in two days, but that wasn’t without trepidation. “You’ve covered a lot of natural disasters lately,” I said to myself. “So why are you reading about a post-apocalyptic American West in your spare time?” But the book was too good to give up. Set in the near future, it follows a husband and wife who are forced to flee a crumbling LA after the “big one” hits. The only problem: Melting glaciers have flooded the Pacific Northwest, and the Rockies are devastated by wildfires. So where do they end up? You’ll have to read it to believe it. But maybe wait until the dark, winter months are through before you set out on this page turner.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "family matters", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "the dark side", "the states we’re in", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Kirk Siegler" ], "isbn": "0316250813", "oclc": 862790946, "seamus": 329533457, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0316250813", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316250818", "isbn10": "0316250813", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 36, "book": "California: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Post-Apocalyptic World Falls Flat In 'California'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/07/329529037/post-apocalyptic-world-falls-flat-in-california" } ] }, "37": { "id": 37, "title": "Can't And Won't: Stories", "author": "Lydia Davis", "text": "

Lydia Davis’ stories are like those clown cars you see in the circus stuffed impossibly full of people. Actually, it’s hardly fair to call them short stories. Haiku-like, they seem to call for some other word, like this one, about a vacation: “He could be my husband. / But he is not my husband. / He is her husband. / And so he takes her picture (not mine) as she stands in her flowered beach outfit in front of the old fortress.” In tiny snippets of language, Davis manages to pack every essential element of a good read: characters, history, action, plot and feeling.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "short stories, essays & poetry", "fiction", "seriously great writing" ], "reviewers": [ "Rose Friedman" ], "isbn": "0374118582", "oclc": 846545526, "seamus": 299051242, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374118582", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374118587", "isbn10": "0374118582", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 37, "book": "Can't And Won't: Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "Little Stories That Delight Like The Best Sleight Of Hand", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/13/300518298/little-stories-that-delight-like-the-best-sleight-of-hand" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 37, "book": "Can't And Won't: Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "Lydia Davis' New Collection Has Stories Shorter Than This Headline", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/06/299053017/lydia-davis-new-collection-has-stories-shorter-than-this-headline" } ] }, "38": { "id": 38, "title": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "author": "Roz Chast", "text": "

Who would have expected that the most profound meditation yet written on the trials of caring for aging parents would arrive in the form of a graphic book? Chast’s memoir is a masterpiece, describing the exhaustion and absurdity, the anger and heartbreak of this cosmic Life Switcheroo that so many of us boomer-generation readers are experiencing. From the sad looniness of having to clean out her failing parents’ Brooklyn apartment (whose closets are stuffed with toasters — still in their boxes! — and old bank books) to the desperate anxieties over the astronomical costs of end-of-life care, Chast captures the totality of the “adult child of elderly parents” experience. Brava!

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "seriously great writing", "comics & graphic novels", "the dark side", "funny stuff", "biography & memoir", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "1608198065", "oclc": 860395376, "seamus": 309736901, "bookshop": 9781608198061, "cover": "1608198065", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781608198061", "isbn10": "1608198065", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "We Did It For The LOLs: 100 Favorite Funny Books", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752044550/we-did-it-for-the-lols-100-favorite-funny-books" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "We Did It For The LOLs: 100 Favorite Funny Books", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752044550/we-did-it-for-the-lols-100-favorite-funny-books" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Cartoonist's Funny, Heartbreaking Take On Caring For Aging Parents", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/08/310725572/a-cartoonists-funny-heartbreaking-take-on-caring-for-aging-parents" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 38, "book": "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "Why Bring Up Death When We Could Talk About 'Something More Pleasant'?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/05/309742981/why-bring-up-death-when-we-could-talk-about-something-more-pleasant" } ] }, "39": { "id": 39, "title": "Caribbean Potluck: Modern Recipes From Our Family Kitchen", "author": "Suzanne Rousseau and Michelle Rousseau", "text": "

When I’m looking for a way to get food on the All Things Considered menu, I’m looking for great stories — about meals whipped up with a sister, or recipes that take me far away from my sad desk lunch of lentils — or just stories that teach me something new about what I put in my mouth every day. Caribbean Potluck from Suzanne and Michelle Rousseau satisfies all three. Plus there’s a recipe for Whole Roast Snapper With Lime And Mojito oil. A whole snapper can be hard to find, but the Rousseau sisters make the search worth it. After all, as Suzanne told NPR’s Audie Cornish, “Our food can be extremely sexy. It can be extremely healthy. It can be easily done.”

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world", "family matters" ], "reviewers": [ "Theo Balcomb" ], "isbn": "1909487090", "oclc": 858845696, "seamus": 320488876, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1909487090", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781909487093", "isbn10": "1909487090", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 39, "book": "Caribbean Potluck: Modern Recipes From Our Family Kitchen", "source": "NPR", "text": "Don't Be A Jerk. There's A Lot More To Island Cooking", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/10/320482216/dont-be-a-jerk-theres-a-lot-more-to-island-cooking" } ] }, "40": { "id": 40, "title": "Check The Technique: More Liner Notes For Hip-Hop Junkies", "author": "Brian Coleman", "text": "

Rappers are the descendants of West African griots who held villages in awe with their artful storytelling. But what inspired them? What environments were they created in? Music fans love a good “making of” (see: VH1’s Behind the Music), but hip-hop history — like the making of Raekwon’s classic debut album, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx — lies tucked away in the artists’, producers’ and labels’ minds. Music journalist Brian Coleman, with a second volume of Check the Technique, is out to tell the stories of the storytellers in their own words, giving hip-hop heads the background to the making of the albums we hold so dear.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "rather long", "for music lovers", "it’s all geek to me", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Cedric Shine" ], "isbn": "0990307603", "oclc": "", "seamus": 361475626, "bookshop": 9780990307600, "cover": "0990307603", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780990307600", "isbn10": "0990307603", "links": [] }, "41": { "id": 41, "title": "Citizen: An American Lyric", "author": "Claudia Rankine", "text": "

Though Claudia Rankine’s poetry, by turns lyrical and narrative, is always stunning in its ability to speak to the present American moment, Citizen feels especially necessary. A finalist for the National Book Award, this collection examines everyday encounters with racism in the second person, forcing the reader — regardless of identity — to engage a narrative haunted by the deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and Renisha McBride.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "seriously great writing", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Saeed Jones" ], "isbn": "1555976905", "oclc": 870663869, "seamus": 354586072, "bookshop": 9781555976903, "cover": "1555976905", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781555976903", "isbn10": "1555976905", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 41, "book": "Citizen: An American Lyric", "source": "NPR", "text": "Black Bodies In White Words, Or: Why We Need Claudia Rankine", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/03/04/387533984/black-bodies-in-white-words-or-why-we-need-claudia-rankine" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 41, "book": "Citizen: An American Lyric", "source": "NPR", "text": "In 'Citizen,' Poet Strips Bare The Realities Of Everyday Racism", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/01/03/374574142/in-citizen-poet-strips-bare-the-realities-of-everyday-racism" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 41, "book": "Citizen: An American Lyric", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 41, "book": "Citizen: An American Lyric", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" } ] }, "42": { "id": 42, "title": "Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, And The Battle That Defined A Generation", "author": "Blake J. Harris", "text": "

Granted, a 600-page history of the early video game industry isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Blake J. Harris does for Nintendo and Sega what Doris Kearns Goodwin did for Abraham Lincoln — gives them the thoughtful, enlightening and exhaustively researched biography they deserve, cementing their histories in the modern cultural conversation.

", "tags": [ "for history lovers", "it’s all geek to me", "rather long", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0062276697", "oclc": 857966921, "seamus": 361471728, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0062276697", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062276698", "isbn10": "0062276697", "links": [] }, "43": { "id": 43, "title": "Cooking Light Global Kitchen: The World's Most Delicious Food Made Easy", "author": "David Joachim", "text": "

There’s a reason you’ll recognize many of the international foods in this book — they’re the ones that made it to this country and became American favorites: pizza, pad thai, chicken tikka masala, moussaka, bulgogi, baklava. Veteran cookbook author David Joachim has translated them all into culinary adventures you can take at home. Take note, though — because they’re ostensibly Cooking Light recipes, the calorie counts, and in turn, the portion sizes, are austere. And they’re too good not to have seconds. If it says “Serves 4,” invite just one very, very good friend to share with you.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "0848739981", "oclc": 852828089, "seamus": 363578801, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0848739981", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780848739980", "isbn10": "0848739981", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 43, "book": "Cooking Light Global Kitchen: The World's Most Delicious Food Made Easy", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" } ] }, "44": { "id": 44, "title": "Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)", "author": "Christian Rudder", "text": "

One of the founders of OKCupid pored over tons of data collected on the dating site and came up with this book. I loved sharing his observations about how different groups typically use words or phrases: One never misspells words, another is totally into campfires and yet another is likely to have an interest in some form of bachata. There is truth here, elusive though its applicability may be. Mostly it’s just great for bar discussions.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "it’s all geek to me", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "let’s talk about sex", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Philipp Goedicke" ], "isbn": "0385347375", "oclc": 873762265, "seamus": 346038100, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385347375", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385347372", "isbn10": "0385347375", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 44, "book": "Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)", "source": "NPR", "text": "Online Dating Stats Reveal A 'Dataclysm' Of Telling Trends", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/06/345884282/online-dating-stats-reveal-a-dataclysm-of-telling-trends" } ] }, "45": { "id": 45, "title": "Dear Committee Members: A Novel", "author": "Julie Schumacher", "text": "

Among my favorite novels are David Lodge’s Small World, Richard Russo’s Straight Man and James Hynes’ The Lecturer’s Tale: all academic satires. I also greatly enjoy epistolary novels like Steve Kluger’s Last Days of Summer; Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, and 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (arguably, not a novel). And when I discover an epistolary academic satire — a collection of letters of recommendation from Jason Fitger, a literature and creative writing professor at a second-rate college — I feel as though I’ve hit the reading jackpot.

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "fiction", "rather short" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "0385538138", "oclc": "", "seamus": 339834109, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385538138", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385538138", "isbn10": "0385538138", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 45, "book": "Dear Committee Members: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "We Did It For The LOLs: 100 Favorite Funny Books", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752044550/we-did-it-for-the-lols-100-favorite-funny-books" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 45, "book": "Dear Committee Members: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 45, "book": "Dear Committee Members: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Frustrated Professor Sounds Off To 'Committee Members'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/19/341644866/a-frustrated-professor-sounds-off-to-committee-members" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 45, "book": "Dear Committee Members: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "In A Funny New Novel, A Weary Professor Writes To 'Dear Committee Members'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/12/339833454/in-a-funny-new-novel-a-weary-professor-writes-to-dear-committee-members" } ] }, "46": { "id": 46, "title": "Debbie Doesn't Do It Anymore: A Novel", "author": "Walter Mosley", "text": "

I’m a Walter Mosley fan — I have several signed copies of his books, mostly from his Easy Rawlins detective series — but Debbie Doesn’t Do It Anymore isn’t crime fiction. Or, at least it doesn’t seem that way at first. You see, Debbie Dare is a porn star. The book begins with a vividly described scene of what is, for many people, a pretty private moment — just not for Debbie. There is a crime in this book — several, in fact — and there’s also self-discovery, recrimination, retribution, reunions and sex — all kinds and many flavors of sex. If you’re at all curious about the inner workings of the porn industry, or if you’ve ever dreamed of doing a life makeover, give this novel a read.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "let’s talk about sex", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Tanya Ballard Brown" ], "isbn": "0385526180", "oclc": 849740864, "seamus": 365505491, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385526180", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385526180", "isbn10": "0385526180", "links": [] }, "47": { "id": 47, "title": "Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free", "author": "Héctor Tobar", "text": "

It was a miracle watched around the world on live TV. On Oct. 13, 2010, 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 days inside the San Jose mine were raised to the surface of the earth — resurrected — through a freshly drilled escape tunnel into which a capsule was lowered and raised by a giant crane. Before they escaped, all 33 men agreed to share the proceeds of any book or movie made about them. The movie is in the works. The book, written by Héctor Tobar and which came out in October, is called Deep Down Dark. As extreme adventure tales go, this one is a doozy — the equal, if the geographical inverse, of Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer’s 1997 blockbuster about the Mount Everest climbing disaster.

", "tags": [ "eye-opening reads", "nonfiction", "tales from around the world", "book club ideas" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "0374280606", "oclc": 869263677, "seamus": 359836972, "bookshop": 9780374280604, "cover": "0374280606", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374280604", "isbn10": "0374280606", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 47, "book": "Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free", "source": "NPR", "text": "Book Club: Hector Tobar Answers Your Questions About 'Deep Down Dark'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/01/20/377462181/book-club-hector-tobar-answers-your-questions-about-deep-down-dark" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 47, "book": "Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 47, "book": "Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free", "source": "NPR", "text": "Join The Morning Edition Book Club: We're Reading 'Deep Down Dark'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/11/369409338/join-the-morning-edition-book-club-were-reading-deep-down-dark" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 47, "book": "Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories Of 33 Men Buried In A Chilean Mine, And The Miracle That Set Them Free", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Incredible Story Of Chilean Miners Rescued From The 'Deep Down Dark'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/29/359839104/the-incredible-story-of-chilean-miners-rescued-from-the-deep-down-dark" } ] }, "48": { "id": 48, "title": "Definitely Maybe", "author": "Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, translated by Antonina W. Bouis", "text": "

Definitely Maybe, originally published in the 1970’s as A Billion Years Before the End of the World, is a gem of the dystopian order. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky — brothers and celebrated Russian geniuses — take us into the mind of Dmitri Malianov, an astrophysicist simply trying to get his work done while his family is away on holiday. As he tries to make headway on his experiments, however, Malianov keeps getting distracted. Soon, he becomes a suspect in a terrible crime and is threatened with prison. Definitely Maybe, further proof that knowledge can be a dangerous game, is a work of towering wit and intelligence.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "tales from around the world", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "1612192815", "oclc": 826809772, "seamus": 268427256, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1612192815", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781612192819", "isbn10": "1612192815", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 48, "book": "Definitely Maybe", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Little Knowledge Is 'Definitely Maybe' A Dangerous Thing", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/04/267156831/a-little-knowledge-is-definitely-maybe-a-dangerous-thing" } ] }, "49": { "id": 49, "title": "Delancey: A Man, A Woman, A Restaurant, A Marriage", "author": "Molly Wizenberg", "text": "

Molly Wizenberg’s second book is the story of opening a restaurant with her husband, and she pulls no punches about the difficulties of entrepreneurship and making dreams real. She’s also very frank about her unhappiness with their new venture, until she finds a way to carve out a place for herself. It’s the kind of book I want to hug — a cozy, quick read about reinvention, marriage and, of course, food.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "cookbooks & food", "love & romance", "family matters", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Sarah Handel" ], "isbn": "1451655096", "oclc": 852226346, "seamus": 358358757, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1451655096", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781451655094", "isbn10": "1451655096", "links": [] }, "50": { "id": 50, "title": "Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt For The World's Rarest 78rpm Records", "author": "Amanda Petrusich", "text": "

The 78 rpm record is “not a medium that invites dabbling,” Amanda Petrusich writes. No kidding. It’s hard to even find a turntable that will play the antique, 10-inch pieces of shellac, let alone lay your hands upon the discs. So when Petrusich finds herself in the Milwaukee River, hunting for 78s downstream from a demolished record pressing plant, you get a sense of both the stubbornness and the scraping desperation of the obsessive hunters of 78s she profiles in her book. Petrusich is an outsider — a young woman among (mostly) older men who admits in the book’s prologue that her job as a music critic in the 21st century made collecting physical records feel like a pose. But she’s an amazingly sympathetic writer with an eye for the detail that makes both her eccentric collectors and the objects they fetishize step out of caricature into idiosyncratic truth.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "it’s all geek to me", "seriously great writing", "for music lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jacob Ganz" ], "isbn": "1451667051", "oclc": 863695550, "seamus": 330727600, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1451667051", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781451667059", "isbn10": "1451667051", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 50, "book": "Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt For The World's Rarest 78rpm Records", "source": "NPR", "text": "Music Journalist Chronicles The 'Wild Obsessive Hunt' For Rare 78 RPM Records", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/08/11/426758835/music-journalist-chronicles-the-wild-obsessive-hunt-for-rare-78-rpm-records" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 50, "book": "Do Not Sell At Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt For The World's Rarest 78rpm Records", "source": "NPR", "text": "History In The Groove: Q&A With Author (And 78 Collector) Amanda Petrusich", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/12/330727467/history-in-the-groove-q-a-with-author-and-78-collector-amanda-petrusich" } ] }, "51": { "id": 51, "title": "Do Or Die: A Reluctant Heroes Novel", "author": "Suzanne Brockmann", "text": "

When the government coerces former Navy SEAL Ian Dunn into planning a complicated rescue of two kidnapped children to avoid an explosive international incident, it puts everyone around him in danger — including Phoebe Kruger, the unsuspecting attorney who’s been assigned to help him negotiate terms. Ian has powerful allies and enemies, but it’s hard to tell who’s who when he’s forced into a mission that draws unwanted attention from every direction. Brockmann’s thrilling novel brilliantly combines an elaborate plot, nonstop action, taut sexual and emotional tension, humor and poignancy.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "let’s talk about sex", "mysteries & thrillers", "family matters", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Bobbi Dumas" ], "isbn": "0345543815", "oclc": 868037349, "seamus": 361480863, "bookshop": 9780345543813, "cover": "0345543815", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780345543813", "isbn10": "0345543815", "links": [] }, "52": { "id": 52, "title": "Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism And Wrecked The Middle Class", "author": "Ian Haney López", "text": "

It’s a bracing premise: Indirect messages centered on stereotypes about minorities have persuaded middle-class and poor white people to support a government controlled by wealthy elites. While obvious racism is repudiated today, public life is filled with covert messages about who uses welfare more or who commits more crime, calibrated to reach white voters. Ian Haney López traces stereotypes of black criminality to the end of slavery, when Southern states used criminal convictions to lease black convicts out as forced labor. But his most depressing thesis is simple: Many who believe these messages are not hate-filled bigots but decent people, simply misled by the dog whistle.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "nonfiction", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "identity & culture", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Eric Deggans" ], "isbn": "0199964270", "oclc": 852488242, "seamus": 358318685, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0199964270", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780199964277", "isbn10": "0199964270", "links": [] }, "53": { "id": 53, "title": "Draw!", "author": "Raúl Colón", "text": "

The conceit of this beautiful, wordless picture book is simple — a little boy is drawing in his bedroom and imagines himself on safari, interacting with the animals he has only seen in books. The way Colón captures how it feels to be engulfed and transported by your artistic endeavor, the way he evokes the perfect endlessness of solitary afternoons spent working hard on what you love best — that’s anything but simple. His warm-toned, dreamy illustrations invite you into the story, and the special details — like who the protagonist shares his sandwiches with — reward repeated readings. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "for art lovers", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1442494921", "oclc": 863801639, "seamus": 364771196, "bookshop": 9781442494923, "cover": "1442494921", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442494923", "isbn10": "1442494921", "links": [] }, "54": { "id": 54, "title": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "author": "Robert M. Gates", "text": "

When this book was first published, a cacophonous kerfuffle erupted over its criticism of President Obama. Lines were pulled out to suggest that Robert M. Gates — the only defense secretary ever asked to stay on by the next president — had turned on the boss. But at its core, Duty is so much more than just a report card on the current administration. It’s a heartfelt — and sometimes heartbreaking — account of a challenging time in American history. Gates does indulge in a bit of score-settling — Vice President Biden probably won’t be buying extra copies of Duty to use as stocking stuffers this Christmas. Yet what shines forth is Gates’ fundamental decency, his respect for military bigwigs as well as common soldiers, and his love for his country.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "nonfiction", "eye-opening reads", "rather long", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Julia Keller" ], "isbn": "0307959473", "oclc": 857234147, "seamus": 265213040, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307959473", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307959478", "isbn10": "0307959473", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Gates Says He Wept Each Evening Over Troops' Deaths", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/01/13/262062882/gates-says-he-wept-each-evening-over-troops-deaths" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Transcript: Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' Interview With NPR", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/11/261711869/transcript-former-defense-secretary-robert-gates-interview-with-npr" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Gates: Obama Made Solid Decisions, But Was Swayed By Factious Staff", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/01/13/261419660/gates-obama-made-solid-decisions-but-was-swayed-by-factious-staff" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Gates 'Immediately' Became Emotionally Attached To Troops", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/13/262033657/gates-immediately-became-emotionally-attached-to-american-troops" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Congress Gets A Beating In Gates Memoir, Too", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/12/261925067/congress-gets-a-beating-in-gates-memoir-too" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Gates Memoir Tests Civilian-Military Rules Of Engagement", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/11/261557838/gates-memoir-tests-civilian-military-rules-of-engagement" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 54, "book": "Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Digging Into 'Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/10/261386134/digging-into-duty-memoirs-of-a-secretary-at-war" } ] }, "55": { "id": 55, "title": "El Deafo", "author": "Cece Bell", "text": "

It’s been a banner year for children’s graphic novel memoirs — and the best of the bunch is Cece Bell’s El Deafo. Profoundly deaf after a bout with meningitis, Cece starts first grade with the help of a new hearing device, a Phonic Ear, which is big and clunky and strapped to her chest. The Phonic Ear makes her different, sure, but it also transmits her teacher’s voice directly to her hearing aid, which makes her feel like a superhero: El Deafo! Cece has a tough time connecting with her peers — this is, of course, difficult whether you’re hard of hearing or not. The book portrays some heart-wrenching struggles, but what’s notable is Cece’s authentic positivity throughout the experience. The book is wonderfully detailed about the emotional and practical challenges she faces, and it’s also laugh-out-loud funny at times. (A lip-reading Cece mistakes a student telling her “my grandma may die” for “my grandma makes pies.”) The art is charming — all the characters have bunny faces and ears — and despite its length, it’s a book that a variety of ages can enjoy.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "comics & graphic novels", "eye-opening reads", "family matters", "kids’ books", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "1419712179", "oclc": 870199731, "seamus": 358148191, "bookshop": 9781419712173, "cover": "1419712179", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781419712173", "isbn10": "1419712179", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 55, "book": "El Deafo", "source": "NPR", "text": "Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/533862948/lets-get-graphic-100-favorite-comics-and-graphic-novels" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 55, "book": "El Deafo", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'El Deafo': How A Girl Turned Her Disability Into A Superpower", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/14/369599042/el-deafo-how-a-girl-turned-her-disability-into-a-superpower" } ] }, "56": { "id": 56, "title": "Electric City: A Novel", "author": "Elizabeth Rosner", "text": "

“In a company town, everything wore The Company insignia. ‘Live better electrically!’ the slogan said. Everyone believed it.” Elizabeth Rosner’s poetic and nuanced historical novel centers on Thomas Edison’s power company in upstate New York. She weaves together stories of mathematical genius Charles Steinmetz, who came via Ellis Island in 1888 and was known as the man who caught lightning in a bottle, and Native Americans along the Hudson and Mohawk rivers who watched the changes. And she tops that with a complex love triangle in a new generation, disrupted by the social upheaval of the 1960s.

", "tags": [ "historical fiction", "science!", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "1619023466", "oclc": 871211527, "seamus": 359410682, "bookshop": 9781619023468, "cover": "1619023466", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781619023468", "isbn10": "1619023466", "links": [] }, "57": { "id": 57, "title": "Emeralds Included: A Jana Bibi Adventure", "author": "Betsy Woodman", "text": "

In Betsy Woodman’s first Jana Bibi book, the Indo-Scottish violin teacher hires the town bagpiper to scare off wild monkeys from the home she inherited in the imaginary Indian town of Hamara Nagar. In Emeralds Included, the series’ third book, Jana has another problem: Her stodgy son, Jack, and his fiance are coming for a visit and Jana is determined to fix up the wonky house before they arrive. She somehow manages to get it all done — and during the visit learns that Jack is much more endearing than she thought. Woodman’s character development is so good that by the end, the memorable townspeople of Hamara Nagar felt more like good friends than characters from a book.

", "tags": [ "tales from around the world", "staff picks", "family matters", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Suraya Mohamed" ], "isbn": "0805093583", "oclc": 857966905, "seamus": 361468959, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0805093583", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805093582", "isbn10": "0805093583", "links": [] }, "58": { "id": 58, "title": "Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China", "author": "Jung Chang", "text": "

Empress Cixi — a low-ranking consort who became regent for her son and ruled for four decades — is often perceived as a viciously insular ruler who brought down the Qing dynasty, China’s last emperors. Jung Chang is out to change that, with a biography that takes on elements of the best political thrillers. Chang’s sympathy for Cixi is strongly in evidence in this fascinating story, and her ability to assemble context unobtrusively in the background makes her exhaustive research seem effortless. Cixi is one of those necessary biographies that illuminate an era, as well as recounting a life.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Genevieve Valentine" ], "isbn": "0307456706", "oclc": 841899090, "seamus": 364686966, "bookshop": 9780307456700, "cover": "0307456706", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307456700", "isbn10": "0307456706", "links": [] }, "59": { "id": 59, "title": "Euphoria", "author": "Lily King", "text": "

Lily King’s fourth novel (after the award-winning Father of the Rain) was inspired by a moment in 1933 when the lives of three young anthropologists — Margaret Mead and her second and third husbands, Reo Fortune and Gregory Bateson — intersected along the Sepik River in New Guinea. Using this as a point of departure, and changing the actual story line drastically, King weaves together a tragic love triangle and an exhilarating description of three rivals working to shape a new social science discipline. Atmospheric and sensual, with startling images throughout, Euphoria is an intellectually stimulating tour de force.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "historical fiction", "fiction", "love & romance", "science!" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "0802122558", "oclc": 858894776, "seamus": 318884671, "bookshop": 9780802122551, "cover": "0802122558", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780802122551", "isbn10": "0802122558", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 59, "book": "Euphoria", "source": "NPR", "text": "Suspense Along The Sepik With The Young Scientists Of 'Euphoria'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/05/314615182/suspense-along-the-sepik-with-the-young-scientists-of-euphoria" } ] }, "60": { "id": 60, "title": "Every Day Is For The Thief: Fiction", "author": "Teju Cole", "text": "

Teju Cole is the master of the meandering nonfiction novel. The story is set in Lagos and narrated by a young man whose name we are never told. It is both a celebration of one of the world’s most vibrant cities and a lament over what can be one of the most frustrating and difficult places to live. It is also a story of family breakup and an uneasy homecoming — the narrator has been away for 15 years and must relearn how to navigate a place that was once home. Never an easy read, Cole is nonetheless always hugely rewarding.

", "tags": [ "eye-opening reads", "tales from around the world", "fiction", "family matters", "rather short" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "0812995783", "oclc": 870211217, "seamus": 291950597, "bookshop": 9780812995787, "cover": "0812995783", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780812995787", "isbn10": "0812995783", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 60, "book": "Every Day Is For The Thief: Fiction", "source": "NPR", "text": "In 'Every Day Is For The Thief,' Cole Chronicles A City's Reality", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/26/292489184/in-every-day-is-for-the-thief-cole-chronicles-a-citys-reality" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 60, "book": "Every Day Is For The Thief: Fiction", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Thief' Delivers An Unfiltered Depiction Of Life In Lagos", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/25/294210863/thief-delivers-an-unfiltered-depiction-of-life-in-lagos" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 60, "book": "Every Day Is For The Thief: Fiction", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Homecoming, Minus The Nostalgia, In Cole's Unsparing 'Thief'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/24/291933966/a-homecoming-minus-the-nostalgia-in-coles-unsparing-thief" } ] }, "61": { "id": 61, "title": "Everything I Never Told You: A Novel", "author": "Celeste Ng", "text": "

Celeste Ng’s compelling debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, is set in 1977, a time when races in America tended to be categorized as “black,” “white” and “other.” The Lee family — Chinese-American father, white mother and mixed-race kids — falls distinctly under “other.” And while existing outside the black/white racial tension might seem nice, it has allowed the Lees to avoid asking difficult questions about who they are and how they fit in to their small Ohio town. When the oldest Lee daughter dies under mysterious circumstances, the standard police questions — was she happy, did she have issues in school, were there family problems, secrets — reveal how little they know about themselves, and each other.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "book club ideas", "family matters", "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Arun Rath" ], "isbn": "159420571X", "oclc": 862149050, "seamus": 321308018, "bookshop": 9781594205712, "cover": "159420571X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594205712", "isbn10": "159420571X", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 61, "book": "Everything I Never Told You: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Everything I Never Told You' Exposed In Biracial Family's Loss", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/06/28/325927002/everything-i-never-told-you-exposed-in-biracial-familys-loss" } ] }, "62": { "id": 62, "title": "F: A Novel", "author": "Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Carol Janeway", "text": "

Long after their father heeds a hypnotist’s advice to make his most secret dreams reality and in the process abruptly deserts his wife and young sons, the three brothers, now grown — and all failures in their various professions (a priest who doesn’t believe in God; a painter who specializes in forging the work of great artists; and a financial wizard who compulsively cheats his clients) — take turns describing their particular road to self-understanding. Or not. This beautifully written, funny, savage, character-driven novel is for readers who don’t demand easy answers (or any answers at all) to hard questions.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "seriously great writing", "family matters", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "0307911810", "oclc": 864789787, "seamus": 341897805, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307911810", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307911810", "isbn10": "0307911810", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 62, "book": "F: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'F' Is For Fraudster In A Family Novel For Our Modern Times", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/20/341895522/f-is-for-fraudster-in-a-family-novel-for-our-modern-times" } ] }, "63": { "id": 63, "title": "Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995-2014", "author": "Alice Munro", "text": "

The citation for Alice Munro’s 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature calls her “the master of the contemporary short story.” Generations to come will relish the 24 celebrated stories in Family Furnishings — and study them for clues to the fine craft and mysterious wizardry that make Munro’s stories work. It’s a fitting companion to her *Selected Stories (1968-1994) * — a superb introduction for those new to her work, and a reminder to longtime fans that Munro is a writer to be cherished.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "short stories, essays & poetry", "book club ideas", "family matters", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "1101874104", "oclc": 870896535, "seamus": 359410543, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1101874104", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781101874103", "isbn10": "1101874104", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 63, "book": "Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995-2014", "source": "NPR", "text": "A New Collection, Well-Furnished With Munro's Best", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/13/363123699/a-new-collection-well-furnished-with-munros-best" } ] }, "64": { "id": 64, "title": "Famous Writers I Have Known: A Novel", "author": "James Magnuson", "text": "

When one of his scams goes seriously amiss, not-very-successful con artist Frankie Abandonato goes on the run from the Mafia. A chance encounter gives him the perfect disguise: pretending to be reclusive novelist V.S. Mohle, who has agreed to teach a course to a hand-picked group of young writers at the University of Texas. Only trouble is, Frankie is neither a writer nor much of a reader. And he has to deal with former literary wunderkind and wealthy philanthropist Rex Schoeninger, who had a very public falling-out with Mohle years ago. Think Donald Westlake, another master of humorous caper novels.

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "0393240886", "oclc": 858940239, "seamus": 361474735, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0393240886", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780393240887", "isbn10": "0393240886", "links": [] }, "65": { "id": 65, "title": "Fatale Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1", "author": "Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips", "text": "

A raven-haired dame with a mysterious power over men flees from a cult in this virtuoso noir tale. Ed Brubaker’s fiendishly addictive story unspools in three different time periods: When the intoxicating Josephine is working her magic in the 1950s, Sean Phillips gets to splash out on classic clothes and vintage spaces. Then, when we’re transported to the ‘70s, he captures the change in atmosphere without missing a beat. Josephine is an irresistible cipher trapped by her own seductive web, and the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired baddies incite real shivers.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "let’s talk about sex", "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "historical fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1607069423", "oclc": 867607747, "seamus": 364686717, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1607069423", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607069423", "isbn10": "1607069423", "links": [] }, "66": { "id": 66, "title": "Firebird", "author": "Misty Copeland and Christopher Myers", "text": "

Ballerina Misty Copeland is having a moment that extends far beyond the stage: Her memoir came out this year, she has blown up on social media and she has published a children’s book, Firebird, named for her signature role. The book is for very young dancers who may not see many people who look like them in the world of ballet. It’s illustrated by Christopher Myers, whose collagelike work is painterly, vivid and emotional. Copeland’s writing and Myers’ art draw you into a beautiful world, rich with color, texture and drama. For all budding young artists who maybe don’t have role models they can relate to, this little book provides some inspiration. (For ages 5 to 8)

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "kids’ books", "for art lovers", "identity & culture", "no biz like show biz" ], "reviewers": [ "Nina Gregory" ], "isbn": "0399166157", "oclc": 870919322, "seamus": 345524622, "bookshop": 9780399166150, "cover": "0399166157", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780399166150", "isbn10": "0399166157", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 66, "book": "Firebird", "source": "NPR", "text": "Misty Copeland On Broadening 'Beauty' And Being Black In Ballet", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/09/09/345297939/misty-copeland-on-broadening-beauty-and-being-black-in-ballet" } ] }, "67": { "id": 67, "title": "Flashlight", "author": "Lizi Boyd", "text": "

Put this book into the hands of the right reader and you may never get it back. Lizi Boyd takes a simple idea — a little boy exploring a dark wood with the spare illumination of a flashlight — and creates a completely engrossing, wordless story. Her intricate illustrations brim with the kind of details that demand to be revisited again and again, from gradually introduced woodland creatures to tiny cutouts on each page that bring elements from one drawing forward into the next. (For ages 2 to 6)

", "tags": [ "kids’ books", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1452118949", "oclc": 855507168, "seamus": 361458251, "bookshop": 9781452118949, "cover": "1452118949", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781452118949", "isbn10": "1452118949", "links": [] }, "68": { "id": 68, "title": "Florence Gordon", "author": "Brian Morton", "text": "

Brian Morton’s superb novel Florence Gordon features a 75-year-old woman — an icon of the second wave women’s movement — as its heroine. She’s a self-described “difficult woman,” in the intimidating Lillian Hellman, Susan Sontag, “Lioness in Winter” mode. When a glowing review of Florence’s latest book appears in the Sunday New York Times, she’s showered with the popular acclaim that has eluded her most of her life. Suddenly, Florence is embarking on her first-ever book tour, dealing brusquely with fawning female fans of a certain age, parrying with some patronizing younger feminists and, along the way, sensing the chill of mortality on her skin.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "book club ideas", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "0544309863", "oclc": "", "seamus": 349037676, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0544309863", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780544309869", "isbn10": "0544309863", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 68, "book": "Florence Gordon", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 68, "book": "Florence Gordon", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Florence Gordon' Isn't Friend Material, But You'll Appreciate Her", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/06/352763474/florence-gordon-isnt-friend-material-but-youll-appreciate-her" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 68, "book": "Florence Gordon", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Feisty Writer Spars With Her Young Protege", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/349036823/a-feisty-writer-spars-with-her-young-protege" } ] }, "69": { "id": 69, "title": "Foreign Gods, Inc.", "author": "Okey Ndibe", "text": "

Ike embarks on an ill-fated journey from New York, where he barely makes a living driving a taxi, to his village in Nigeria. There he tries to steal the clan’s ancestral god, planning to smuggle the statue to a New York dealer for a high price. With deft plotting and sharp characters, this is an exploration of identity and belonging; desire and thwarted ambition. Ike’s homecoming is a disaster and he is a man in whom there is little to admire, but Okey Ndibe imbues him with humanity and pathos that has the reader rooting for him to the bitter, unhappy end.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "tales from around the world", "book club ideas", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "1616954582", "oclc": 853618620, "seamus": 320759109, "bookshop": 9781616954581, "cover": "1616954582", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781616954581", "isbn10": "1616954582", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 69, "book": "Foreign Gods, Inc.", "source": "NPR", "text": "Tales Of City Transit To Read While You Wait For The Bus", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/17/318605159/tales-of-city-transit-to-read-while-you-wait-for-the-bus" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 69, "book": "Foreign Gods, Inc.", "source": "NPR", "text": "Tales Of City Transit To Read While You Wait For The Bus", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/17/318605159/tales-of-city-transit-to-read-while-you-wait-for-the-bus" } ] }, "70": { "id": 70, "title": "Found", "author": "Salina Yoon", "text": "

A young bear finds a lost stuffed bunny and thinks the toy is “the most special thing he has ever seen.” But Bear worries that Bunny’s family might be sad and miss him, so he dutifully posts “found” fliers all over the forest. No one claims Bunny; Bear has grown to love him and hopes to keep him. Then Moose finds “Floppy, my bunny!” and Bear, though heartbroken, hands him over. But Moose has other ideas. The utterly charming illustrations and clever visual details add volumes to this tale of friendship and sharing. (For ages 3 to 6)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "0802735592", "oclc": 849212073, "seamus": 364767794, "bookshop": 9780802735591, "cover": "0802735592", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780802735591", "isbn10": "0802735592", "links": [] }, "71": { "id": 71, "title": "Fourth Of July Creek: A Novel", "author": "Smith Henderson", "text": "

When I was a little kid in the late 1970s, my parents moved our family to rural western Montana, which happens to be the same time and setting for Smith Henderson’s debut novel. Thankfully, Henderson’s Montana is a good deal darker than that of my childhood; his characters and vivid portrayal of the state and all its poverty make for a fascinating read. The plot centers on a social worker who involves himself in the life of a reclusive family just as the father starts to attract the attention of the FBI. The fact that parts of this book are also set in two of my favorite cities — Missoula, Mont., and Austin, Texas — in a sleepier era didn’t hurt either.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "rather long", "family matters", "fiction", "the dark side", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Kirk Siegler" ], "isbn": "0062286447", "oclc": 875387396, "seamus": 358362376, "bookshop": 9780062286444, "cover": "0062286447", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062286444", "isbn10": "0062286447", "links": [] }, "72": { "id": 72, "title": "Fresh From The Farm: A Year Of Recipes And Stories", "author": "Susie Middleton", "text": "

Ever want to quit your job, move to the country and start a farm stand? Susie Middleton, former editor of Fine Cooking magazine, did. Fresh from the Farm is partly the chronicle of an eat-local startup and partly a farm cookbook, liberally strewn with sunlit snapshots of chickens and garden beds in full production. And because Middleton is a flavor fanatic as well as a cook and farmer, her recipes are memorable even if you don’t get to cook with still-warm eggs, or just-picked tomatoes blushing from the vine.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "biography & memoir" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "1600859046", "oclc": 852831858, "seamus": 363580676, "bookshop": 9781600859045, "cover": "1600859046", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781600859045", "isbn10": "1600859046", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 72, "book": "Fresh From The Farm: A Year Of Recipes And Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" } ] }, "73": { "id": 73, "title": "Friendswood: A Novel", "author": "René Steinke", "text": "

Texas is a huge, complicated state, and it’s sometimes a difficult one for authors to get right. Not so for René Steinke, whose Friendswood does a near-perfect job capturing the feel not just of the titular city but of southeast Texas as a whole. Steinke’s chronicle of the residents of a town dealing with — and denying — a recent environmental disaster is disturbing and thought-provoking, and one of the most interesting novels to be set in the Lone Star State in quite a while.

", "tags": [ "family matters", "book club ideas", "fiction", "science!", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1594632510", "oclc": 870919782, "seamus": 358357845, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1594632510", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594632518", "isbn10": "1594632510", "links": [] }, "74": { "id": 74, "title": "Gaston", "author": "Kelly DiPucchio and Christian Robinson", "text": "

Three things happened to me when I read this enchanting picture book about a mixed-up French bulldog raised by a family of prim, proper French poodles: First, I wanted to crumple up the whole world and commission a new one painted by Christian Robinson. Second, I wanted a French bulldog even more than usual, which is saying something, because I already dream of owning one with an intensity usually reserved for diamonds or beachfront property. And third, I wanted to hug the book to my heart and never, ever let it go. I’ve only done the third — for now. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "funny stuff", "love & romance", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1442451025", "oclc": 809454950, "seamus": 361457033, "bookshop": 9781442451025, "cover": "1442451025", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442451025", "isbn10": "1442451025", "links": [] }, "75": { "id": 75, "title": "Geek Sublime: The Beauty Of Code, The Code Of Beauty", "author": "Vikram Chandra", "text": "

Geek Sublime is a primer for those of us unacquainted with HTML, Github and logic gates, elegantly assembled by a masterful novelist with a surprising obsession. “My writing life and my life with computers … seem mirrored, computer twinned,” writes Vikram Chandra. “Both are explorations of process, of the unfolding of connections.” He describes the seductiveness of DOS, his own journeyman coding, and how “hard-core” programmer Steve Wozniak single-handedly set off the personal computer revolution. And he waxes poetic about the algorithmic nature of Sanskrit.

", "tags": [ "it’s all geek to me", "science!", "biography & memoir", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "1555976859", "oclc": 870517918, "seamus": 343178786, "bookshop": 9781555976859, "cover": "1555976859", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781555976859", "isbn10": "1555976859", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 75, "book": "Geek Sublime: The Beauty Of Code, The Code Of Beauty", "source": "NPR", "text": "Two New Books Provide A Double Dose Of 'Sublime' Geekery", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/25/343144169/two-new-books-provide-a-double-dose-of-sublime-geekery" } ] }, "76": { "id": 76, "title": "Girl In Reverse", "author": "Barbara Stuber", "text": "

Adopted as a toddler by an American couple, Lily Firestone is the only Asian student in her Kansas City high school. It’s 1951 and, with the Korean War raging, she has become a target for prejudice disguised as patriotism. When her younger brother discovers a box of Chinese artifacts, Lily’s once-faded memories are jolted as she attempts to unravel the mystery of her “Gone Mom.” Her search for the answers leads to more questions, yet Lily persists, unable to rest until she knows the truth, however painful it may be. This gripping novel is for anyone who has ever felt out of place.

", "tags": [ "family matters", "for history lovers", "the dark side", "young adult", "fiction", "historical fiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "1442497343", "oclc": 854285604, "seamus": 361450446, "bookshop": 9781442497344, "cover": "1442497343", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442497344", "isbn10": "1442497343", "links": [] }, "77": { "id": 77, "title": "Gottland: Mostly True Stories From Half Of Czechoslovakia", "author": "Mariusz Szczygieł, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones", "text": "

This book has amazingly surreal vignettes from one of the many former East bloc countries that were trying to live an enforced lie. From the starlet who was Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ mistress (an affair Hitler himself put an end to) to the man who modeled for a statue of Stalin and then took to drink from being identified as him, these stories are presented with plenty of breathing room for the reader to make inferences. I love that kind of writing.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Philipp Goedicke" ], "isbn": "1612193137", "oclc": 871329525, "seamus": 315275206, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1612193137", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781612193137", "isbn10": "1612193137", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 77, "book": "Gottland: Mostly True Stories From Half Of Czechoslovakia", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Gottland': A Short Book About Stalin's Long Shadow", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/28/314614744/gottland-a-short-book-about-stalins-long-shadow" } ] }, "78": { "id": 78, "title": "Gray Mountain: A Novel", "author": "John Grisham", "text": "

John Grisham’s latest novel is set in a small, poverty-pummeled Appalachian town shadowed by not only the mountains but also the sweeping power of the big coal companies. The prose is undistinguished, yet Gray Mountain resonates because of the force and importance of its story. When Samantha Kofer loses her job with a New York City law firm, she heads south to work for a legal aid clinic. As Samantha quickly learns, the coal companies fight dirty. Despite trite phrases such as “the intern’s heart skipped a beat,” the novel is a solid depiction of scrappy legal Davids going up against ruthless corporate Goliaths.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "book club ideas", "the states we’re in", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Julia Keller" ], "isbn": "038553714X", "oclc": 877911289, "seamus": 359612792, "bookshop": 9780385537148, "cover": "038553714X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385537148", "isbn10": "038553714X", "links": [] }, "79": { "id": 79, "title": "Half A World Away", "author": "Cynthia Kadohata", "text": "

Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata will hit you right in the heart and gut. We meet Jaden, who’s 12, obsessed with electricity and adopted from Romania four years earlier: “When his mother left him, he’d been so out of his mind that he hadn’t even screamed and cried; he’d howled.” Jaden is trying to decide whether he loves his adoptive parents, who are on the verge of adopting another child — a process that Kadohata shows in grim detail. As in her National Book Award-winning novel, The Thing About Luck, Kadohata takes readers to such a particular place — a story like none you’ve read — while hitting universal nerves. Just terrific. (For ages 10 to 14)

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "young adult", "family matters", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Justine Kenin" ], "isbn": "1442412755", "oclc": 857897814, "seamus": 364688109, "bookshop": 9781442412750, "cover": "1442412755", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442412750", "isbn10": "1442412755", "links": [] }, "80": { "id": 80, "title": "Heap House: The Iremonger Trilogy: Book One", "author": "Edward Carey", "text": "

This is a marvelous, brilliant, un-put-down-able book that swings between dark whimsy and harrowing bleakness with dexterity and skill. At the very end of the grimy borough of Filching squats Heap House, home to the Iremonger family, uniquely suited to tending the Heaps — mountains of refuse and salvage so immense that they’ve created their own microclimate. Each Iremonger has a birth object, a seemingly random item to which he must always be near, lest he sicken and fade away. But why can Clodius Iremonger hear the birth objects speaking their own names? Why are those names so strange? And who has stolen Aunt Rosamud’s brass door handle?

", "tags": [ "family matters", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "young adult", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1468309536", "oclc": 871671135, "seamus": 357621836, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1468309536", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781468309539", "isbn10": "1468309536", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 80, "book": "Heap House: The Iremonger Trilogy: Book One", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Heap House' Is A Treasure Of A Trash Tale", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/17/356989525/heap-house-is-a-treasure-of-a-trash-tale" } ] }, "81": { "id": 81, "title": "Here", "author": "Richard McGuire", "text": "

Rarely does a conceptual work seize the emotions like Here. Expanding on his influential 1989 comic, Richard McGuire depicts life in a single place at different points in time — 1989, 1637, even 1,000,000 B.C. While the characters on the main page chat, dance or vacuum, windows appear showing what’s going on decades or centuries distant. The device tugs the reader in two different directions: Every moment seems insignificant compared with the massive sweep of time, and yet the most trivial actions take on an aching poignancy.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "for history lovers", "for art lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "0375406506", "oclc": 870211340, "seamus": 361471122, "bookshop": 9780375406508, "cover": "0375406506", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780375406508", "isbn10": "0375406506", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 81, "book": "Here", "source": "NPR", "text": "Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/533862948/lets-get-graphic-100-favorite-comics-and-graphic-novels" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 81, "book": "Here", "source": "NPR", "text": "Millennia Of History, Beautifully Illustrated 'Here' In One Room", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/07/368446740/millenia-of-history-beautifully-illustrated-here-in-one-room" } ] }, "82": { "id": 82, "title": "Heroes Are My Weakness: A Novel", "author": "Susan Elizabeth Phillips", "text": "

Broke and desperate, ventriloquist puppeteer Annie Hewitt takes sanctuary on a remote Maine island. Though determined to ignore her rich neighbor (Theo Harp, a former teen crush with a dark past, now a successful, reclusive horror writer) she finds herself drawn into the lives around her, including a wounded child who responds to Annie’s friendly puppets. Secrets abound on the island, and as Annie digs through decades of hidden truths, she may release Theo from a life of undeserved guilt and convince him he’s a worthy hero, especially for her. An intriguingly gothic direction for Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "family matters", "let’s talk about sex" ], "reviewers": [ "Bobbi Dumas" ], "isbn": "0062106074", "oclc": 866620959, "seamus": 361480764, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0062106074", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062106070", "isbn10": "0062106074", "links": [] }, "83": { "id": 83, "title": "Hijacking The Runway: How Celebrities Are Stealing The Spotlight From Fashion Designers", "author": "Teri Agins", "text": "

Not so long ago, designers dictated how women would look from season to season. Now, celebrities — and people who think they’re celebrities — are setting the sartorial pace, and designers have taken a back seat to the glitterati. Teri Agins covered the fashion industry for The Wall Street Journal for years and now writes its popular “Ask Teri” column. Her extensive research has given us a fun, gossipy read packed with fashion factoids that both fashionistas and business people will enjoy.

", "tags": [ "eye-opening reads", "staff picks", "for art lovers", "no biz like show biz", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Karen Grigsby Bates" ], "isbn": "1592408141", "oclc": 871192464, "seamus": 361467752, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1592408141", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781592408146", "isbn10": "1592408141", "links": [] }, "84": { "id": 84, "title": "Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, And The Battlefield of AIDS", "author": "Martin Duberman", "text": "

Martin Duberman deftly navigates the biographies of two gay artists — Michael Callen and Essex Hemphill — to illuminate what he describes as the “battlefield of AIDS” during the early years of the epidemic. Callen, a white musician based in New York, and Hemphill, a black poet based in Washington, D.C., were crucial members of their respective communities. Based on countless interviews and letters as well as Callen’s extensive archives, Duberman personalizes history to devastating effect.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "for music lovers", "nonfiction", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Saeed Jones" ], "isbn": "1595589457", "oclc": 862053069, "seamus": 362021072, "bookshop": 9781595589453, "cover": "1595589457", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781595589453", "isbn10": "1595589457", "links": [] }, "85": { "id": 85, "title": "Hooray For Hat!", "author": "Brian Won", "text": "

Hooray for Hat! is practically the Platonic ideal of a picture book. It uses simple, repetitive language to tell a simple story with a simple message: Bringing happiness to others makes you happy, too. Elephant wakes up GRUMPY — until he finds an amazing hat on his doorstep! But can his hat delight his grumpy friends, too? Where a lesser writer might preach, Brian Won manages to simply delight with his elegant story and bright illustrations. On top of that, the book’s many characters and repeated lines invite both (1) the use of funny voices and (2) the shouting-along of familiar phrases; i.e., the two BEST THINGS to include in a read-aloud. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "0544159039", "oclc": 849740784, "seamus": 364770755, "bookshop": 9780544159037, "cover": "0544159039", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780544159037", "isbn10": "0544159039", "links": [] }, "86": { "id": 86, "title": "Horrorstör: A Novel", "author": "Grady Hendrix", "text": "

Ever felt lost and disoriented in a huge imported furniture emporium of Scandinavian design? It’s a little sinister, right? So why did it take so long for someone to set a hilarious horror novel in what’s essentially a haunted Ikea? (It’s called Orsk in the novel.) Horrorstör’s grimly funny pleasures include the novel’s sendups of Ikea catalogs, complete with advertisements for Potemkin armchairs, Müskk beds and Lågniå water glasses. The plot — wage slaves up against corporate indifference and a gruesomely vengeful ghost — is mostly an excuse for such lines as, “There is a dead man on the Frinjk!” But author Grady Hendrix’s wit and trenchant observations about retail culture exceed Horrorstör’s silly concept. The book’s been plucked up for TV by the executive who developed Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

", "tags": [ "the dark side", "staff picks", "funny stuff", "mysteries & thrillers", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Neda Ulaby" ], "isbn": "1594745269", "oclc": 696099173, "seamus": 361470258, "bookshop": 9781594745263, "cover": "1594745269", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594745263", "isbn10": "1594745269", "links": [] }, "87": { "id": 87, "title": "How I Discovered Poetry", "author": "Marilyn Nelson", "text": "

Marilyn Nelson describes her book, How I Discovered Poetry, as a “personal memoir, a portrait of the artist as a young American Negro Girl.” I say it’s a gorgeous introduction to 1950s America, told through poems and snapshots that reveal a writer coming of age. For young readers, it’s the perfect entrance point to this era and to this genre. Many of the poems are accompanied by photos taken by the author’s father, who was an Air Force officer. And as with a photo album there’s a wonderful cumulative effect. “I flee into the arms of poetry. / I take my books to bed. I read so late / Daddy shouts, “Lights OUT!”… I lie in the dark. My head whirls with words.” (For ages 12 and up)

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "young adult", "biography & memoir", "short stories, essays & poetry", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "family matters", "for history lovers", "nonfiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Justine Kenin" ], "isbn": "0803733046", "oclc": 830837453, "seamus": 273040805, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0803733046", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780803733046", "isbn10": "0803733046", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 87, "book": "How I Discovered Poetry", "source": "NPR", "text": "Kate DiCamillo's Picks For Summer Treehouse Reading", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/23/315250144/kate-dicamillos-picks-for-summer-tree-house-reading" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 87, "book": "How I Discovered Poetry", "source": "NPR", "text": "In 'Poetry,' The Story Of An African-American Military Family", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/08/272654805/in-poetry-the-story-of-an-african-american-military-family" } ] }, "88": { "id": 88, "title": "How The World Was: A California Childhood", "author": "Emmanuel Guibert", "text": "

In a follow-up to Alan’s War, his celebrated book about an ordinary man’s experiences in World War II, Emmanuel Guibert illustrates a second installment of Alan Cope’s reminiscences about mid-20th-century life. Once again, Guibert renders the ordinary extraordinary: He depicts youthful scenes that are perfectly familiar, even though they occurred three-quarters of a century ago, such as rolling around the neighborhood on metal skates or playing with local kids in a vacant lot. As in the previous book, Guibert’s silky ink lines and delicately juxtaposed grays make the most quotidian moments feel special.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "biography & memoir", "for history lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1596436646", "oclc": 857967534, "seamus": 339642166, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1596436646", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781596436640", "isbn10": "1596436646", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 88, "book": "How The World Was: A California Childhood", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'How The World Was,' Drawn In Dreamy Lines Of Memory", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/14/339609109/how-the-world-was-drawn-in-dreamy-lines-of-memory" } ] }, "89": { "id": 89, "title": "How To Be A Victorian: A Dawn-To-Dusk Guide To Victorian Life", "author": "Ruth Goodman", "text": "

You’ll never look at a period piece the same way again. Ruth Goodman, a historian who lives her studies, takes the “Dawn to Dusk” approach seriously. Her re-creation of Victorian life begins with stepping out of bed — a vastly different experience depending on your social class — and spreads out into an immersive explanation of social history, whether buying a train ticket or dressing for dinner. Ably encompassing a wide range of class experiences across decades of unimaginably swift social and economic change, Goodman’s book is the cheapest time-travel machine you’ll find this year.

", "tags": [ "for history lovers", "eye-opening reads" ], "reviewers": [ "Genevieve Valentine" ], "isbn": "0871404850", "oclc": 869437946, "seamus": 363770679, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0871404850", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780871404855", "isbn10": "0871404850", "links": [] }, "90": { "id": 90, "title": "How To Be Both: A Novel", "author": "Ali Smith", "text": "

There are two published editions of this odd, bifurcated novel. Depending on which copy you end up with, you’ll either start with the story of the artist Francesco del Cossa, a Renaissance Italian fresco painter, or that of George, short for Georgia, a ‘60s teenager who recently lost her mother. Either way you will have the delightful experience of reading something truly innovative. The stories illuminate each other differently based on the order in which you encounter them. And the writing isn’t outpaced by the inventiveness of the structure — it’s vivid and tender and funny. And what a feat! — a book so tightly constructed that it contains not just two narratives that themselves explore duality, but two wholly different encounters with the book itself.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "historical fiction", "book club ideas", "seriously great writing", "for art lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "0375424105", "oclc": "", "seamus": 358361852, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0375424105", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780375424106", "isbn10": "0375424105", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 90, "book": "How To Be Both: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Playful And Serious? 'How To Be' Is Both", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/06/368446933/playful-and-serious-how-to-be-is-both" } ] }, "91": { "id": 91, "title": "How To Be Happy", "author": "Eleanor Davis", "text": "

Eleanor Davis doesn’t really tell readers how to be happy. Instead, she draws comics full of hilarious surrealism, gut-tugging tropes and eloquent despair. Her characters, on the other hand, do strive for happiness, or at least safety. Many aim to control their emotions with the aid of workshops, technology or even artificial societies. Rich colors and elegant line work elevate their efforts. Members of one inventive crew zip themselves up in a giant bag, protected from the world. Another, wiser character says, “Find the stories that make you stronger.” That’s good advice — and there are many right here.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "short stories, essays & poetry", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "for art lovers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1606997408", "oclc": 858843500, "seamus": 338335734, "bookshop": 9781606997406, "cover": "1606997408", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781606997406", "isbn10": "1606997408", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 91, "book": "How To Be Happy", "source": "NPR", "text": "Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/533862948/lets-get-graphic-100-favorite-comics-and-graphic-novels" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 91, "book": "How To Be Happy", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Beautiful Book, Whether Or Not It Makes You 'Happy'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/09/338063667/a-beautiful-book-whether-or-not-it-makes-you-happy" } ] }, "92": { "id": 92, "title": "How To Build A Girl: A Novel", "author": "Caitlin Moran", "text": "

Halfway through How To Build A Girl I put the book down, sighed, and wondered if I should just barrel through and finish it in one night, or savor it for another day. There’s something about Caitlin Moran’s mixture of noisy fun and social commentary that’s a very happy place for a reader to hang out. The book follows the misadventures of Johanna Morrigan — an awkward, hilarious teen who decides that the path to reinvention will entail becoming a hard-drinking, oft-sexed rock critic. Her adventures are hilarious, and oddly relatable even when they’re sitcom-zany. If anyone knows how to build a girl, it’s Moran — she’s put adolescence on the page in a book that’s humming with authenticity. You’ll wish you were besties.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "book club ideas", "family matters", "for music lovers", "funny stuff", "let’s talk about sex" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "0062335979", "oclc": 868276367, "seamus": 345313914, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0062335979", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062335975", "isbn10": "0062335979", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 92, "book": "How To Build A Girl: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Novelist Caitlin Moran Wryly Shows 'How To Build A Girl'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/29/350891370/novelist-caitlin-moran-wryly-shows-how-to-build-a-girl" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 92, "book": "How To Build A Girl: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Exclusive First Read: Caitlin Moran's 'How To Build A Girl'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/09/343208008/exclusive-first-read-caitlin-morans-how-to-build-a-girl" } ] }, "93": { "id": 93, "title": "I Am China: A Novel", "author": "Xiaolu Guo", "text": "

Xiaolu Guo’s novels are bold expressions of individual will in the face of state control. In each, she explores, through idiosyncratic, quirky characters, the challenges and consequences of exerting identity. In her new book, Iona Kirkpatrick, a translator living a lonely, dissolute life in London, is handed a mysterious bundle of papers by her publisher. The bundle contains the diarylike letters that Kublai Jian, a Chinese dissident rock star in exile, has written to his absent lover, Deng Mu. As Iona translates the letters, she unravels the mystery of Jian — leading to a devastating conclusion.

", "tags": [ "tales from around the world", "fiction", "love & romance", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "0385538715", "oclc": 868147546, "seamus": 343213020, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385538715", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385538718", "isbn10": "0385538715", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 93, "book": "I Am China: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'I Am China' Asks: How Far Should An Artist Go?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/07/343144043/i-am-china-asks-how-far-should-an-artist-go" } ] }, "94": { "id": 94, "title": "I Don't Know Do You", "author": "Roberto Montes", "text": "

New York poet Roberto Montes is still a few years away from 30, but he has already written one of the best, most original poetry books of the year. Montes’ language is almost otherworldly, and his poems are, by turns, disturbing, sexy and sometimes surprisingly funny. It takes a rare talent to make sense (or something like it) of the basic weirdness of human relationships: “My world is a structure I build in such a way that when it falls apart it falls apart gracefully. You helped in the following ways. You were there. You weren’t.”

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "seriously great writing" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "0988732874", "oclc": 869852637, "seamus": 365509029, "bookshop": 9780988732872, "cover": "0988732874", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780988732872", "isbn10": "0988732874", "links": [] }, "95": { "id": 95, "title": "I'll Give You The Sun", "author": "Jandy Nelson", "text": "

This book is many things at once, all of them engrossing. It’s a book where teenagers think in almost indulgently poetic language while still sounding genuinely adolescent. It’s two separate but equally intoxicating love stories. It’s the story of Noah at 13, falling for the magic boy next door. And it’s the story of his twin sister, Jude, three years later, haunted by her mom’s spiteful ghost and barely speaking with the twin who used to feel like half of her own self. And, most of all, it’s the mystery of what happened to tear Noah and Jude apart, and what — if anything — can bring them back together again.

", "tags": [ "family matters", "let’s talk about sex", "love & romance", "fiction", "seriously great writing", "young adult" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "0803734964", "oclc": 870248734, "seamus": 361456766, "bookshop": 9780803734968, "cover": "0803734964", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780803734968", "isbn10": "0803734964", "links": [] }, "96": { "id": 96, "title": "Icon", "author": "Amy Scholder (editor)", "text": "

Editor Amy Scholder had two questions for her contributors when she started assembling these meditations on a spectrum of famous women. “Who do you think about (maybe a little too often), who challenges, inspires, or outrages you? Who are you obsessed with?” Her writers answer in provocative, deep and revelatory ways. Author Mary Gaitskill’s essay on sex superstar Linda Lovelace becomes a profound inquiry into the nature of victimhood and truth-telling, and the self-described “trans-fabulous performance-activist” Justin Vivian Bond tells of growing up besotted with the Estee Lauder cosmetics model Karen Graham. Other writers — novelist Rick Moody, historian Hanne Blank, musician Johanna Fateman — explore how the presence of a famous person in one’s mind can torment, transform and inspire. Together, these essays defeat the vapidity of celebrity worship and raise the question: Who obsesses you?

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "love & romance", "short stories, essays & poetry", "nonfiction", "for art lovers", "for music lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Ann Powers" ], "isbn": "155861866X", "oclc": 871789552, "seamus": 361475119, "bookshop": 9781558618664, "cover": "155861866X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781558618664", "isbn10": "155861866X", "links": [] }, "97": { "id": 97, "title": "In The Light Of What We Know: A Novel", "author": "Zia Haider Rahman", "text": "

This dazzling first novel by British-Bangladeshi author Zia Haider Rahman follows two old friends, one a child of Pakistani privilege, the other born into poverty in Bangladesh. Both work in finance and meet in London after a long separation; and both of their lives are disintegrating in different ways. As the book tells their stories, it addresses exile, love, mathematics, religion, the war in Afghanistan and the financial crash of 2008. Don’t be put off by the length of the book (more than 500 pages) or its breadth — the writing shimmers.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "rather long", "seriously great writing", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Mark Katkov" ], "isbn": "0374175624", "oclc": 846545376, "seamus": 359361961, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374175624", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374175627", "isbn10": "0374175624", "links": [] }, "98": { "id": 98, "title": "In The Wolf's Mouth: A Novel", "author": "Adam Foulds", "text": "

Will Walker is a young Englishman who has gone to war with the noblest of intentions. Ray Marfione is an Italian-American whose war will take him to the land of his ancestry. Adam Foulds’ third novel is set in North Africa and Sicily during World War II as the Allies attempt to liberate Italy. Neither of the two protagonists is well-suited to the horrors of combat, and through them Foulds explores, with wisdom and delicate control, the messy, lasting consequences of the conflict. With prose that is distinct and diligently crafted, this an intimate soldiers’ tale of the inescapable brutality of war.

", "tags": [ "historical fiction", "fiction", "seriously great writing", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "0374175829", "oclc": 858672585, "seamus": 362024633, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374175829", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374175825", "isbn10": "0374175829", "links": [] }, "99": { "id": 99, "title": "J Dilla's Donuts", "author": "Jordan Ferguson", "text": "

Music producer J Dilla had a way of stretching a sample that wrought sorrow from joy, noise from melody and the other way around. In this entry to the “33 1/3” series, in which authors pick apart one album in one short book, Jordan Ferguson digs deep into Dilla’s beat sources for Donuts and builds resonant, biographical context for the album’s moments. Donuts, after all, would be Dilla’s last record, a 2006 masterpiece written from the producer’s hospital bed that wrangles with his imminent mortality. And Ferguson illustrates it with ache and celebration.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "for music lovers", "it’s all geek to me", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lars Gotrich" ], "isbn": "1623561833", "oclc": 857981913, "seamus": 361468122, "bookshop": 9781623561833, "cover": "1623561833", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781623561833", "isbn10": "1623561833", "links": [] }, "100": { "id": 100, "title": "Josephine: The Dazzling Life Of Josephine Baker", "author": "Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson", "text": "

It would be nearly impossible to write a bad biography of Josephine Baker, civil rights activist and superstar. Glamorous dancer, spy, sparkplug and owner of a pet leopard named Chiquita — not even the driest prose could make these facts seem dull. But to create words and pictures that match her electric crackle — that’s a challenge. Patricia Hruby Powell’s vivid, rhythmic poetry and Christian Robinson’s arrestingly bold acrylic paintings accomplish something special by simply doing justice to Baker’s remarkable journey from segregated St. Louis to performing in Paris. Your kids will be dancing around in banana skirts after reading this one. (For ages 7 to 10)

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "for art lovers", "for history lovers", "for music lovers", "kids’ books", "seriously great writing", "nonfiction", "no biz like show biz", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1452103143", "oclc": 808627968, "seamus": 364768933, "bookshop": 9781452103143, "cover": "1452103143", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781452103143", "isbn10": "1452103143", "links": [] }, "101": { "id": 101, "title": "Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction And Fantasy Stories", "author": "Alisa Krasnostein and Julia Rios (editors)", "text": "

This anthology is perfect for teens who are interested in science fiction and fantasy — but who don’t want just stories about white, straight, able-bodied rich kids and their vampire problems. And who also don’t want to read diversity narratives that are all about how being not white, not straight, not able-bodied, and not rich are the problem. The characters’ differences don’t drive the conflicts in Kaleidoscope; instead, they inform the way each person deals with meeting gods or legendary creatures, gaining superhero-level powers, and gazing into the future and all its challenges.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "young adult", "short stories, essays & poetry", "identity & culture", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "1922101117", "oclc": "", "seamus": 365516548, "bookshop": 9781922101112, "cover": "1922101117", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781922101112", "isbn10": "1922101117", "links": [] }, "102": { "id": 102, "title": "Kinda Like Brothers", "author": "Coe Booth", "text": "

Eleven-year-old Jarrett deals with a constant flow of foster babies shuffling in and out of his home. His mom is a foster parent and the book begins with a toddler and her 12-year-old brother coming for a much-longer-than-usual stay. Coe Booth perfectly captures the two boys in their backstabbing antics, their arguments over girls and, eventually, their transition from strangers to enemies to “kinda like brothers.” Before Booth was a writer, she was a caseworker with Child Protective Services in New York. She told NPR: “I was always wondering: What would it be like for those kids to have these new kids come and leave and come and leave and not want to attach to them?” (For ages 8 to 12)

", "tags": [ "kids’ books", "family matters", "staff picks" ], "reviewers": [ "Priska Neely" ], "isbn": "0545224969", "oclc": "", "seamus": 342162682, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0545224969", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780545224963", "isbn10": "0545224969", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 102, "book": "Kinda Like Brothers", "source": "NPR", "text": "In A Foster Home, Two Boys Become 'Kinda Like Brothers'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/24/342162424/in-a-foster-home-two-boys-become-kinda-like-brothers" } ] }, "103": { "id": 103, "title": "Land Of Love And Drowning: A Novel", "author": "Tiphanie Yanique", "text": "

Yanique spins a series of seductive tales covering six decades and three generations living in the Virgin Islands in her first novel, which draws upon her own family history. The cast includes legendary ship’s captain Owen Arthur Bradshaw of St. Thomas; his wife, Antoinette, who comes from a coral island known as “the drowned land”; and his mistress, Rebekah, whose child sets in motion a primordial curse. “Men who spend their lives on water understand that magic is real,” Yanique writes, as she invokes her own mystical tale.

", "tags": [ "historical fiction", "family matters", "book club ideas", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "1594488339", "oclc": 861673656, "seamus": 335021716, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1594488339", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594488337", "isbn10": "1594488339", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 103, "book": "Land Of Love And Drowning: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Love And Drowning' In The U.S. Virgin Islands", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/27/335020807/love-and-drowning-in-the-u-s-virgin-islands" } ] }, "104": { "id": 104, "title": "Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book", "author": "Richard Ford", "text": "

It’s been eight years since The Lay of the Land was published — the novel Richard Ford said would be the last in his Frank Bascombe trilogy. Luckily, Ford had second thoughts. Frank is now a 68-year-old retired real estate broker. The four stories herein all take place in the early winter of 2012, soon after Superstorm Sandy slammed into the Jersey Shore. The cover of Let Me Be Frank With You features a photo of the Seaside Heights roller coaster that was washed out into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s the most iconic image of Sandy’s wrath, and it’s also an iconic image for Ford’s achievement throughout his Frank Bascombe books — books that chart the whole wild roller coaster ride of life.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "fiction", "book club ideas" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "0061692069", "oclc": 870564130, "seamus": 360454867, "bookshop": 9780061692062, "cover": "0061692069", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780061692062", "isbn10": "0061692069", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 104, "book": "Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 104, "book": "Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book", "source": "NPR", "text": "Author Richard Ford Says 'Let Me Be Frank' About Aging And Dying", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/12/363521353/author-richard-ford-says-let-me-be-frank-about-aging-and-dying" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 104, "book": "Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book", "source": "NPR", "text": "Superstorm Sandy Inspires Bleak, Poetic Landscapes In 'Let Me Be Frank'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/10/362035329/superstorm-sandy-inspires-bleak-poetic-landscapes-in-let-me-be-frank" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 104, "book": "Let Me Be Frank With You: A Frank Bascombe Book", "source": "NPR", "text": "Frankly, Bascombe's Return Has Some Problems", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/06/360189334/frankly-bascombes-return-has-some-problems" } ] }, "105": { "id": 105, "title": "Life Drawing: A Novel", "author": "Robin Black", "text": "

This isn’t a love story; it’s the story of a marriage that’s no longer easy. Five years ago, Gus (short for Augusta) had an affair. Her husband, Owen, knows about it and hasn’t moved on. The couple moves to a farmhouse in the country hoping to escape their past, but once there Gus finds she can’t avoid her betrayal and Owen can’t shake his resentment. “It wasn’t our solitude that had shut down so much of our history,” Gus says. “It was our history that had produced our solitude.” Eventually, a new neighbor moves in next door, disrupting that solitude and transforming Life Drawing from an honest portrait of a marriage into a thriller.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "family matters", "love & romance", "fiction", "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Natalie Friedman Winston" ], "isbn": "1400068568", "oclc": 849509763, "seamus": 330694210, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1400068568", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781400068562", "isbn10": "1400068568", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 105, "book": "Life Drawing: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Marriage In Crisis Is The Model For This 'Drawing'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/12/330686206/a-marriage-in-crisis-is-the-model-for-this-drawing" } ] }, "106": { "id": 106, "title": "Lightspeed: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue", "author": "Christie Yant (editor)", "text": "

This anthology-size special issue of Lightspeed magazine was edited and written entirely by women — and the original fiction, reprints, essays, articles and interviews included here are a master class in all the ways women are writing — and have written — some of the best science fiction available. Within these pages you’ll find a wide range of speculative explorations: purist-pleasing “hard” science fiction, near future, dystopia, space opera, plus stories that mix horror and SF, mystery and steampunk, and even Jane Austen-style Regency sensibility with far-future tech.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "1499508344", "oclc": "", "seamus": 364771171, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1499508344", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781499508345", "isbn10": "1499508344", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 106, "book": "Lightspeed: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue", "source": "NPR", "text": "Women Are Destroying Science Fiction! (That's OK; They Created It)", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/28/322544552/women-are-destroying-science-fiction-thats-ok-they-created-it" } ] }, "107": { "id": 107, "title": "Lila: A Novel", "author": "Marilynne Robinson", "text": "

Marilynne Robinson first introduced readers to Lila as a minor character in the novel Gilead. In this book, Robinson fills out the details of Lila’s life. She is the wife of John Ames, a minister whose family has a long history in his hometown of Gilead, Iowa. Lila by contrast has no roots: She was abused as a child, then rescued by a woman who brought her up as part of a makeshift family of migrant workers. As an adult, Lila finds herself alone and adrift when she happens into Gilead and meets the reverend. Lila questions Ames about faith and salvation. He is both challenged and attracted by her unflinching honesty. She is touched by his tenderness. Robinson, a writer known for the spare beauty of her prose and a finely honed moral sensibility, has created an unlikely but moving love story that is filled with unexpected moments of grace.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "love & romance", "staff picks", "fiction", "book club ideas", "family matters" ], "reviewers": [ "Lynn Neary" ], "isbn": "0374187614", "oclc": 863100259, "seamus": 354345931, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374187614", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374187613", "isbn10": "0374187614", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 107, "book": "Lila: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 107, "book": "Lila: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 107, "book": "Lila: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "In 'Lila,' A Nomad Finds Solace And Love In The Arms Of A Preacher", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/08/354307365/in-lila-a-nomad-finds-solace-and-love-in-the-arms-of-a-preacher" } ] }, "108": { "id": 108, "title": "Lion, Lion", "author": "Miriam Busch and Larry Day", "text": "

A little boy is looking for Lion. Lion is looking for lunch. There’s only one outcome that seems likely when the two meet in Miriam Busch and Larry Day’s book — an inappropriately gruesome one. But never fear! This little boy has backup: snapping turtles, hedgehogs, skunks, hummingbirds and a sneaky plan. And there’s a Lion inside this lion that you might not see coming. A killer combination of twisty wordplay, kid-perfect watercolors and characters that demand funny voices, Lion Lion is a read aloud sure to leave your audience delighted and you just a little hoarse. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "0062271040", "oclc": 867715953, "seamus": 361459449, "bookshop": 9780062271044, "cover": "0062271040", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062271044", "isbn10": "0062271040", "links": [] }, "109": { "id": 109, "title": "Little Failure: A Memoir", "author": "Gary Shteyngart", "text": "

Gary Shteyngart is a memoirist not out for revenge but for truth, and his quest takes him to various interesting places in this lively and forthcoming book. An only child who immigrated to Queens from Leningrad with his parents in 1979, he not only gives the reader an intimate look at his own self but also puts his parents under the very strong memoirist’s magnifying lens. The results can be uncomfortable, to say the least, but are always compelling. This is a mature book in all the important ways: evenhanded toward the parents who raised him, and not trying to score points or twist the knife but just trying to understand.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "book club ideas", "family matters", "funny stuff", "seriously great writing", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Meg Wolitzer" ], "isbn": "0679643753", "oclc": 841557764, "seamus": 257552328, "bookshop": 9780679643753, "cover": "0679643753", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780679643753", "isbn10": "0679643753", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 109, "book": "Little Failure: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'You Can't Be This Furry' And Other Life Lessons From Gary Shteyngart", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/07/260445299/you-cant-be-this-furry-and-other-life-lessons-from-gary-shteyngart" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 109, "book": "Little Failure: A Memoir", "source": "NPR", "text": "Gary Shteyngart's 'Little Failure' Is An Unambivalent Success", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2013/12/27/257551858/gary-shteyngarts-little-failure-is-an-unambivalent-success" } ] }, "110": { "id": 110, "title": "Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream", "author": "Josh O'Neill, Andrew Carl and Chris Stevens (editors)", "text": "

Little Nemo in Slumberland creator Winsor McCay might blush to see the awe-inspiring tribute his successors have assembled. On massive, 16-inch-by-21-inch pages (the same size as those on which McCay drew his seminal newspaper cartoon), some of the most exciting artists working in comics have created wildly diverse interpretations of Nemo and his exploits. Some contributors update Nemo; others subvert his Edwardian-era cheeriness; many simply send him on new adventures, re-creating McCay’s style with startling facility. They’re not very dreamlike, but these comics, like McCay’s, are more enjoyable than the sweetest slumber.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "rather short", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "for art lovers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "0989907694", "oclc": "", "seamus": 358119966, "bookshop": 9780989907699, "cover": "0989907694", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780989907699", "isbn10": "0989907694", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 110, "book": "Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Battle For Dreamland, Revisited In 'Nemo'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/28/358118414/the-battle-for-dreamland-revisited-in-nemo" } ] }, "111": { "id": 111, "title": "Loitering: New And Collected Essays", "author": "Charles D'Ambrosio", "text": "

Charles D’Ambrosio’s essay collection Orphans became a cult classic not long after its 2004 release by a small Portland, Ore., press. Tin House has reissued the long-out-of-print book this year, with a new title, introduction and a few more essays. D’Ambrosio is one of his generation’s most talented writers, and this collection — featuring essays about housing developments, mental illness, Native American whaling and much more — is his masterpiece.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "seriously great writing", "eye-opening reads", "short stories, essays & poetry", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1935639870", "oclc": 871211584, "seamus": 358353738, "bookshop": 9781935639879, "cover": "1935639870", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781935639879", "isbn10": "1935639870", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 111, "book": "Loitering: New And Collected Essays", "source": "NPR", "text": "Spend Some Time 'Loitering,' And Feel Less Alone", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/15/363123726/spend-some-time-loitering-and-feel-less-alone" } ] }, "112": { "id": 112, "title": "Lost Lake", "author": "Sarah Addison Allen", "text": "

Recently widowed Kate and her 8-year-old daughter escape the machinations of her politician mother-in-law by fleeing to her Great Aunt Eby’s declining resort, Lost Lake. Eby is ready to sell the property, much to the chagrin of a handful of loyal regulars, but Kate’s visit reunites her with her preteen summer love, Wes — and changes everything. Populated with a quirky cast of characters, most of whom have haunted pasts, Lost Lake is Sarah Addison Allen’s most emotionally complex book to date, but it maintains her signature ability to weave enchantment seamlessly into an already rich storyline.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "let’s talk about sex", "family matters", "fiction", "book club ideas" ], "reviewers": [ "Bobbi Dumas" ], "isbn": "125001980X", "oclc": 846545602, "seamus": 323714251, "bookshop": "", "cover": "125001980X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781250019806", "isbn10": "125001980X", "links": [] }, "113": { "id": 113, "title": "Lovers At The Chameleon Club, Paris 1932: A Novel", "author": "Francine Prose", "text": "

This novel was inspired by a photograph of a lesbian couple taken at a Paris nightclub just before World War II. One of the women pictured is Violette Morris, a cross-dressing athlete and race car driver who became a Nazi spy and torturer. Morris is Lou Villars in Francine Prose’s novel, which tells Lou’s story from several perspectives, including the photographer’s. When her racing license is taken away because of how she dresses, Lou becomes easy prey for the manipulations of Adolf Hitler. It doesn’t end well for Lou, who winds up in the hands of the French Resistance. Prose’s book is a strange ride through the glittery, shallow world of Paris in the shadow of war. It’s also a cautionary tale that probes both the roots of evil and the nature of gender.

", "tags": [ "for history lovers", "staff picks", "historical fiction", "fiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Lynn Neary" ], "isbn": "0061713783", "oclc": 857966839, "seamus": 305664314, "bookshop": 9780061713781, "cover": "0061713783", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780061713781", "isbn10": "0061713783", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 113, "book": "Lovers At The Chameleon Club, Paris 1932: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Chameleon' Has Cabaret, Spies And A Plot Fit For Lifetime", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/21/314492164/chameleon-has-cabaret-spies-and-a-plot-fit-for-lifetime" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 113, "book": "Lovers At The Chameleon Club, Paris 1932: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Chameleon Club' Takes On Too Many Colors", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/22/302901276/chameleon-club-takes-on-too-many-colors" } ] }, "114": { "id": 114, "title": "Malaria, Poems", "author": "Cameron Conaway", "text": "

When a collection like Malaria, Poems comes along, the world must take notice. In the spirit of social consciousness, Cameron Conaway does the work of calling our attention to a disease that kills over 627,000 people a year. Call it the poetry of awareness: Through beautifully realized and scientifically sound lyrics, Conaway educates us on subjects ranging from the Anopheles mosquito, which transmits the disease, to the gray market in false remedies. The work, while deeply cerebral, manages to get to the heart of the issue with intense power.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "eye-opening reads", "tales from around the world", "science!" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "1611861446", "oclc": 877365684, "seamus": 360469964, "bookshop": 9781611861440, "cover": "1611861446", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781611861440", "isbn10": "1611861446", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 114, "book": "Malaria, Poems", "source": "NPR", "text": "If You Think You'll Never See A Poem About Malaria, You're Wrong", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/06/360469321/if-you-think-youll-never-see-a-poem-about-malaria-youre-wrong" } ] }, "115": { "id": 115, "title": "Man Alive: A True Story Of Violence, Forgiveness And Becoming A Man", "author": "Thomas Page McBee", "text": "

Well aware that memory and identity rarely follow a linear path, Thomas Page McBee attempts to answer the question, “What does it really mean to be a man?” Weaving past and present to do so, the book’s journey connects violence, masculinity and forgiveness. McBee has an intelligent heart, and it beats in every sentence of this gorgeous book.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "family matters", "rather short", "identity & culture", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Saeed Jones" ], "isbn": "0872866246", "oclc": 870289138, "seamus": 362018877, "bookshop": 9780872866249, "cover": "0872866246", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780872866249", "isbn10": "0872866246", "links": [] }, "116": { "id": 116, "title": "Mastering My Mistakes In The Kitchen: Learning To Cook With 65 Great Chefs And Over 100 Delicious Recipes", "author": "Dana Cowin", "text": "

If you’ve ever cooked from a collection of recipes from different sources, you know how frustratingly inconsistent they can be. But do not underestimate the power of a firm editorial hand! In this (rather oddly titled) book, Food & Wine editor Dana Cowin adapts dishes from dozens of the country’s best-known restaurant names, soliciting pro tips and snapping a selfie or two. The end result is gorgeous, simple recipes that even a rank beginner can manage. Plus, you get to see some of your favorite celebrity chefs hamming it up in Cowin’s kitchen.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "0062305905", "oclc": 870564136, "seamus": 363580327, "bookshop": 9780062305909, "cover": "0062305905", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062305909", "isbn10": "0062305905", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 116, "book": "Mastering My Mistakes In The Kitchen: Learning To Cook With 65 Great Chefs And Over 100 Delicious Recipes", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" } ] }, "117": { "id": 117, "title": "McSweeney's Issue 46: Thirteen Crime Stories From Latin America", "author": "Daniel Galera (editor)", "text": "

This is the first-ever all-Latin American issue of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, featuring 13 stories by some of today’s most exciting voices. In the hands of Alejandro Zambra, Juan Pablo Villalobos and others, we have crime fiction at its strangest and most artfully complex. There’s an urgency that permeates each offering, and while there are death and bloodshed throughout the pages — as is characteristic of the genre — there are also wisdom and beauty, and an understanding of what it takes to make the ugliest things, somehow, palatable and a joy to read.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "tales from around the world", "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "1938073851", "oclc": 852223521, "seamus": 307973682, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1938073851", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781938073854", "isbn10": "1938073851", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 117, "book": "McSweeney's Issue 46: Thirteen Crime Stories From Latin America", "source": "NPR", "text": "McSweeney's New Latin American Crime Fiction Is Caliente", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/30/307745910/mcsweeneys-new-latin-american-crime-fiction-is-caliente" } ] }, "118": { "id": 118, "title": "Mexico: The Cookbook", "author": "Margarita Carrillo Arronte", "text": "

Mexican chef and food activist Margarita Carrillo is an enthusiastic and comprehensive guide to her country’s cuisine in Mexico: The Cookbook — which looks daunting at nearly 700 pages — but the purposefully simple recipes provide a stress-free introduction to Mexico’s vast culinary history. While the food has evolved through the centuries, Carrillo says, “you can eat the same tortilla that Moctezuma ate 500 years ago.”

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world", "staff picks", "rather long" ], "reviewers": [ "Maria Godoy" ], "isbn": "0714867527", "oclc": 879583649, "seamus": 364157199, "bookshop": 9780714867526, "cover": "0714867527", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780714867526", "isbn10": "0714867527", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 118, "book": "Mexico: The Cookbook", "source": "NPR", "text": "Mexican Chef Serves Up An Authoritative Guide To Her Country's Cuisine", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/12/01/363375295/mexican-chef-serves-up-an-authoritative-guide-to-her-countrys-cuisine" } ] }, "119": { "id": 119, "title": "My Beautiful Enemy", "author": "Sherry Thomas", "text": "

Chinese heroine Catherine Blade and English hero Leighton Atwood, two star-crossed lovers who originally met in disguise and were torn apart by differing political loyalties, run into each other years later in London. She is chasing a powerful enemy, and he is engaged to be married — but once again they find their personal and political goals muddled and their mutual attraction irresistible. Romance star Thomas effortlessly blends historical romance essentials with breathtaking elements of mystical martial arts heroism and sets the dual timelines — 1883 and 1891 — in imperial China and Victorian London. A unique, fascinating, culturally textured romance.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "let’s talk about sex", "historical fiction", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Bobbi Dumas" ], "isbn": "0425268896", "oclc": 869438140, "seamus": 360192370, "bookshop": 9780425268896, "cover": "0425268896", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780425268896", "isbn10": "0425268896", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 119, "book": "My Beautiful Enemy", "source": "NPR", "text": "Halloween Makes Us Think Of ... Diversity In Romance!", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/31/358118715/halloween-makes-us-think-of-diversity-in-romance" } ] }, "120": { "id": 120, "title": "My Perfect Pantry: 150 Easy Recipes From 50 Essential Ingredients", "author": "Geoffrey Zakarian, Amy Stevenson and Margaret Zakarian", "text": "

The thing about chef books is that usually chefs have a lot of things you don’t — for example, squads of prep cooks, access to specialty ingredients, and hours of time to do nothing but cook. Geoffrey Zakarian has them too, but in this book he doesn’t use them. He sticks with the stuff everybody has — canned beans, pasta, vinegar, jam — and turns them into food everybody wants. In other words: Now there’s no excuse.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "0385345666", "oclc": 871199809, "seamus": 363579706, "bookshop": 9780385345668, "cover": "0385345666", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385345668", "isbn10": "0385345666", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 120, "book": "My Perfect Pantry: 150 Easy Recipes From 50 Essential Ingredients", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" } ] }, "121": { "id": 121, "title": "My Pet Book", "author": "Bob Staake", "text": "

What’s a perfect pet? For the little boy in Bob Staake’s charming, rhyming picture book brightly illustrated in his rounded, cartoonish style, it’s “a frisky red hardcover” that doesn’t shed or drink from toilet bowls, and “didn’t even poop.” All’s well until the maid (the book’s one odd move) cleans up the house and gives the beloved book to charity. Fortunately this paean to bound books in an age increasingly dominated by screens ends well: “And now the boy and his pet book / Had their very own tale to tell.” (For ages 3 to 7)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0385373120", "oclc": 854994458, "seamus": 358118814, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385373120", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385373128", "isbn10": "0385373120", "links": [] }, "122": { "id": 122, "title": "Nazis In The Metro", "author": "Didier Daeninckx", "text": "

One of France’s most revered crime writers, Didier Daeninckx delivers an arresting, fast-paced detective story with Nazis in the Metro. After the novelist André Sloga is attacked and left to die alone in a basement, private eye Gabriel Lecouvreur decides to take on the case. Everyone considers it a robbery gone wrong, but Lecouvreur thinks the attack may have been politically motivated. And although Sloga is in the hospital and in no condition to speak, he does repeat one phrase, over and over again: “Max, the bank, the loudspeaker on the square.” This one will keep you guessing.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "tales from around the world", "fiction", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "1612192963", "oclc": 842880681, "seamus": 362027252, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1612192963", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781612192963", "isbn10": "1612192963", "links": [] }, "123": { "id": 123, "title": "Night Heron", "author": "Adam Brookes", "text": "

At last, an espionage thriller set in China that works. With Night Heron, former BBC China correspondent Adam Brookes has produced a masterful debut novel. It has all the hallmarks of a great page-turner, but with a richness of detail that feels authentic. There are a prisoner escape, an unwitting conduit between the prisoner and the British Secret Intelligence Service, and competition between British and U.S. spy agencies that doesn’t feel obligatory. The richly textured picture of modern Beijing is a bonus. You will be captivated by it all. This is the must-read thriller of the year.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Madhulika Sikka" ], "isbn": "0316399833", "oclc": 857879444, "seamus": 318254908, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0316399833", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316399838", "isbn10": "0316399833", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 123, "book": "Night Heron", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Former Prisoner Out Of Step With Modern China In 'Night Heron'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/21/323997161/a-former-prisoner-out-of-step-with-modern-china-in-night-heron" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 123, "book": "Night Heron", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Night Heron' And 'The Director' Provide A Double Shot Of Intrigue", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/04/314615099/night-heron-and-the-director-provide-a-double-shot-of-intrigue" } ] }, "124": { "id": 124, "title": "Ninja!", "author": "Arree Chung", "text": "

Armed with his sticky ninja (dishwashing) gloves, unbreakable ninja (jump) rope and bouncy ninja (pingpong) paddle, Ninja Maxwell is ready and able to tackle all obstacles in his path and accomplish his ninja goal (getting milk and cookies). Arree Chung’s dynamic layouts — evidence of his background in video game design — make the action in this book feel positively cinematic, while the contrast he creates between Maxwell’s ninja narration and the reality of his mundane surroundings leaves each page dense with visual jokes that both adults and kids will adore. But beware! This is one you’ll have to read over and over — and the Ninja Way might be contagious. (For ages 4 to 7)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "funny stuff", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "0805099115", "oclc": 858896868, "seamus": 364768535, "bookshop": 9780805099119, "cover": "0805099115", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805099119", "isbn10": "0805099115", "links": [] }, "125": { "id": 125, "title": "Nora Webster: A Novel", "author": "Colm Tóibín", "text": "

Colm Tóibín’s quietly moving quasi-autobiographical novel, set at the beginning of the 1970s in his hometown of Enniscorthy, Ireland, charts his titular character’s brave, incremental steps toward forging a new life for herself after the premature death of her husband, a beloved local schoolteacher. Left with paltry finances, two daughters away at school and two pre-adolescent sons still at home, Nora is forced to return to the dull office job from which marriage liberated her. As always, Tóibín’s tone is subdued, but there’s solace for the reader, as Nora discovers new sources of contentment and strength, including a deepening involvement with classical music.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "seriously great writing", "book club ideas", "family matters", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "1439138338", "oclc": 873006253, "seamus": 354855319, "bookshop": 9781439138335, "cover": "1439138338", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781439138335", "isbn10": "1439138338", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 125, "book": "Nora Webster: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Slow Simmer Of Grief And Strength In 'Nora Webster'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/11/354592020/a-slow-simmer-of-grief-and-strength-in-nora-webster" } ] }, "126": { "id": 126, "title": "Nothing More To Lose", "author": "Najwan Darwish, translated by Kareem James Abu-Zeid", "text": "

Deftly translated by Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Najwan Darwish’s Nothing More to Lose is a passionate collection of short poems written between 2000 and 2014, uniting a wide range of subjects with a heartbreaking love for people, places and poetry. Traveling from Brazil to Palestine, Darwish explores matters of family, tragedy and identity in a marvelously flexible voice suited to both celebrations and laments.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "short stories, essays & poetry", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1590177304", "oclc": 867024550, "seamus": 307754962, "bookshop": 9781590177303, "cover": "1590177304", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781590177303", "isbn10": "1590177304", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 126, "book": "Nothing More To Lose", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Nothing More To Lose' Forges A Connection To Palestine", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/29/307745945/nothing-more-to-lose-forges-a-connection-to-palestine" } ] }, "127": { "id": 127, "title": "On Such A Full Sea: A Novel", "author": "Chang-rae Lee", "text": "

There’s been a lot of traffic in dystopias recently, but when a great literary novelist takes on the genre, it’s worth paying close attention. Chang-rae Lee’s On Such A Full Sea is a desolate vision of the future, which begins in the former Baltimore, now known as B-mor. A young woman named Fan sets off in search of her vanished lover, across a highly stratified society, strange and immoral. Lee’s writing is gorgeous and the literary device of a kind of Greek chorus — the community voice of B-Mor — feels fresh, but also timeless. Like most dystopias, the book is an allegory, but it never seems obvious or on-the-nose — it’s more like a fable, simple and cautionary — an important critique of a world we’ll hope we don’t see.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "book club ideas", "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "1594486107", "oclc": 837179779, "seamus": 255829157, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1594486107", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594486104", "isbn10": "1594486107", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 127, "book": "On Such A Full Sea: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Chang-rae Lee Stretches For Dystopic Drama, But Doesn't Quite Reach", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/14/262386113/chang-rae-lee-stretches-for-dystopic-drama-but-doesnt-quite-reach" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 127, "book": "On Such A Full Sea: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Story Of Pluck And Courage In An Unforgiving Future", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/09/255855361/an-innocent-alone-in-an-unforgiving-world" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 127, "book": "On Such A Full Sea: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'On Such A Full Sea': A Fable From A Fractured Future", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/05/259400880/on-such-a-full-sea-a-fable-from-a-fractured-future" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 127, "book": "On Such A Full Sea: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Exclusive First Read: Chang-rae Lee's 'On Such A Full Sea'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2013/12/24/232206171/exclusive-first-read-chang-rae-lees-on-such-a-full-sea" } ] }, "128": { "id": 128, "title": "One Kick: A Novel", "author": "Chelsea Cain", "text": "

I tried reading Heartsick, the first of Chelsea Cain’s thrillers featuring Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell, but it was way too scary for me; I never tried another in the series. So I had no reason to even start One Kick. But begin it I did, and then found that I couldn’t put it down. After suffering from five years of sexual and emotional abuse by her kidnapper, Kick Lannigan was rescued at age 11; now, 10 years later, she’s determined to rescue other kidnapped children. This page-turner has a terrific heroine, a satisfyingly twisty plot and a boffo ending.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "1476749787", "oclc": 864366374, "seamus": 361473034, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1476749787", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476749785", "isbn10": "1476749787", "links": [] }, "129": { "id": 129, "title": "Orfeo: A Novel", "author": "Richard Powers", "text": "

Richard Powers hits lots of high notes in this exuberantly intellectual road novel about a 70-year-old avant-garde composer obsessed with creating transcendent music via a far-fetched homegrown genetic engineering experiment aimed at instilling notes into bacterial cells. In paranoid, post-Sept. 11 America, Powers’ eccentric protagonist runs afoul of the law. Dubbed the “Biohacker Bach,” he goes on the lam, hopping on a “carousel of catastrophe” as he visits key turning points from his past.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "seriously great writing", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "family matters", "for music lovers", "it’s all geek to me", "science!" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0393349845", "oclc": 869770781, "seamus": 262484467, "bookshop": 9780393349849, "cover": "0393349845", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780393349849", "isbn10": "0393349845", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 129, "book": "Orfeo: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Music And Chemistry Are An Explosive Combination In 'Orfeo'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/22/262483207/music-and-chemistry-are-an-explosive-combination-in-orfeo" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 129, "book": "Orfeo: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Strange Composition: Classical Music Meets Bioterror In 'Orfeo'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/17/263139649/a-strange-composition-classical-music-meets-bioterror-in-orfeo" } ] }, "130": { "id": 130, "title": "Our Secret Life In The Movies", "author": "Michael McGriff and J.M. Tyree", "text": "

While teaching in Stanford’s writing program and rooming together, Michael McGriff and J.M. Tyree cooked up the idea of binge-watching the entire Criterion collection of classic movies and writing stories inspired by them. Their nonlinear flash collaboration bounces between points of view, offering two stories per film. Our Secret Life in the Movies is made up of 30 of these “double takes” about growing up in the late 1980s, a time of Space Age toasters, doomed astronauts and the specter of nuclear annihilation. From its start in the early 1970s, riffing off Carlos Saura’s Cria Cuervos to its final homage to Andrei Tarkovsky, this collection is genius.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "seriously great writing", "fiction", "for history lovers", "for art lovers", "it’s all geek to me" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "0989275965", "oclc": "", "seamus": 359412019, "bookshop": 9780989275965, "cover": "0989275965", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780989275965", "isbn10": "0989275965", "links": [] }, "131": { "id": 131, "title": "Ovenly: Sweet And Salty Recipes From New York's Most Creative Bakery", "author": "Erin Patinkin and Agatha Kulaga", "text": "

If I only had a dollar for every cookbook that’s come out from a Brooklyn bakery in the past five years! Here we have what at first looks like yet another compilation of sweets and treats — but with flavors just odd enough to seduce and intrigue. The muffins are blueberry cornflake, or feta, basil and scallion; the tarts are caramel bacon, or sour cherry almond. Everything’s made with ingredients you can easily find at the supermarket — and yet I’ll bet you wouldn’t have thought to combine them before.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "0373892950", "oclc": 869266373, "seamus": 363580431, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0373892950", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780373892952", "isbn10": "0373892950", "links": [] }, "132": { "id": 132, "title": "Overwhelmed: Work, Love, And Play When No One Has The Time", "author": "Brigid Schulte", "text": "

Are you crazy busy? Stressed out? Then you’ll love Brigid Schulte’s deep dive into how our days have been shredded into “time confetti.” (Full disclosure: I know Schulte through her husband, my colleague Tom Bowman.) She finds one researcher who uses Christmas cards to pinpoint when busyness became a badge of honor, and another who insists that American women have loads of unappreciated leisure time — 30 hours a week, in fact. My favorite scene is a focus group lamenting harried lives and lack of leisure — in Fargo, N.D. It’s all enough to make you cry, but Schulte’s perspective on our modern-day malaise will also make you laugh out loud.

", "tags": [ "eye-opening reads", "staff picks", "book club ideas", "family matters", "nonfiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Jennifer Ludden" ], "isbn": "0374228442", "oclc": 846545914, "seamus": 288594562, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374228442", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374228446", "isbn10": "0374228442", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 132, "book": "Overwhelmed: Work, Love, And Play When No One Has The Time", "source": "NPR", "text": "3 Things Everyone Should Know Before Growing Up", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2014/06/30/326935808/three-psychological-findings-i-wish-i-d-known-in-high-school" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 132, "book": "Overwhelmed: Work, Love, And Play When No One Has The Time", "source": "NPR", "text": "For Working Moms, Key To Balance May Lie In Elusive Leisure Time", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/11/289018821/for-working-moms-key-to-balance-may-lie-in-elusive-leisure-time" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 132, "book": "Overwhelmed: Work, Love, And Play When No One Has The Time", "source": "NPR", "text": "Not Enough Hours In The Day? We All Feel A Little 'Overwhelmed'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/11/288596888/not-enough-hours-in-the-day-we-all-feel-a-little-overwhelmed" } ] }, "133": { "id": 133, "title": "Panic In A Suitcase: A Novel", "author": "Yelena Akhtiorskaya", "text": "

Akhtiorskaya’s debut novel is set in Brooklyn, but you won’t find any kombucha-clutching hipsters here. Her novel follows the members of the Nasmertov family, recently arrived from Odessa, Ukraine, as they adjust to life in a new country. Akhtiorskaya’s patient, understated prose is absolutely remarkable — she’s a deeply perceptive writer, and her observations about the family’s experience as immigrants to America are sharp and sometimes heartbreaking.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "family matters", "funny stuff", "fiction", "identity & culture", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1594632146", "oclc": 861479103, "seamus": 333583273, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1594632146", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594632143", "isbn10": "1594632146", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 133, "book": "Panic In A Suitcase: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "This 'Suitcase' Is Packed With Sharp, Funny, Tragic Tales", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/31/332666498/this-suitcase-is-packed-with-sharp-funny-tragic-tales" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 133, "book": "Panic In A Suitcase: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Panic In A Suitcase' Puts A Fresh Spin On A Coming-To-America Story", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/24/334891996/panic-in-a-suitcase-puts-a-fresh-spin-on-a-coming-to-america-story" } ] }, "134": { "id": 134, "title": "Perfidia: A Novel", "author": "James Ellroy", "text": "

James Ellroy is back in 1940s Los Angeles with Perfidia, the first book in a new series. It covers just a few weeks around the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when all of America (and LA in particular) is descending into madness and xenophobic fury. The plot revolves around the ritual murder of a Japanese family, but the big draw for Ellroy fans is the opportunity to see some of his already famous characters (like Dudley Smith, most notably) in the hotblooded viciousness of their youth. It’s a beautiful, violent, epic novel about a dark time in America that’s too often made glossy and bright in our memories.

", "tags": [ "rather long", "historical fiction", "mysteries & thrillers", "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "for history lovers", "fiction", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0307956997", "oclc": 866615100, "seamus": 343414727, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307956997", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307956996", "isbn10": "0307956997", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 134, "book": "Perfidia: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A 'Lasciviously LA' Lunch With Crime Novelist James Ellroy", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/14/347428663/a-lasciviously-la-lunch-with-crime-novelist-james-ellroy" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 134, "book": "Perfidia: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "James Ellroy's 'Perfidia' Is A Brutal, Beautiful Police Procedural", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/08/343414349/james-ellroys-perfidia-is-a-brutal-beautiful-police-procedural" } ] }, "135": { "id": 135, "title": "Philip Larkin: Life, Art And Love", "author": "James Booth", "text": "

Whether the new biography of poet Philip Larkin is for you will depend on two things: whether you adore the poetry (you do? Let’s be friends!), and if you’re interested in hearing more about the softer side of Larkin. The other side is well-known — there is plenty of evidence to suggest Larkin was a real jerk: a bigot, a misogynist, a drunk. This biography is by James Booth, who knew him for almost two decades and accentuates Larkin’s kinder attributes. Even as a die-hard fan of the poetry, I don’t know enough to weigh in on who he really was — and in many ways, Booth may seem like an apologist — but there’s still pleasure in the argument itself, and in the many detailed critical passages. Is Booth’s funnier, affectionate Larkin the real man? Maybe, maybe not — but no matter who he was, he’s still the man who wrote An Arundel Tomb. “What will survive of us is love.”

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "short stories, essays & poetry", "for art lovers", "rather long", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "1620407817", "oclc": 870098040, "seamus": 358368711, "bookshop": 9781620407813, "cover": "1620407817", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781620407813", "isbn10": "1620407817", "links": [] }, "136": { "id": 136, "title": "Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking From London's Ottolenghi", "author": "Yotam Ottolenghi", "text": "

The great chef Yotam Ottolenghi, who had such a phenomenal success with the vegetarian cookbook Plenty (as well as the nonvegetarian Jerusalem), now brings us Plenty More, which once again is all vegetables, all the time. With recipes for dishes like Squash With Labneh And Pickled Walnut Salsa, and Green Beans With Freekeh And Tahini, you may find yourself incidentally getting a crash course in ingredients you never heard of, and then spending a lot of time running around trying to find them. But the end results are worth it, and as an added inducement to read this book, the photographs will put you in a hungry stupor.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Meg Wolitzer" ], "isbn": "1607746212", "oclc": 869262391, "seamus": 356947760, "bookshop": 9781607746218, "cover": "1607746212", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607746218", "isbn10": "1607746212", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 136, "book": "Plenty More: Vibrant Vegetable Cooking From London's Ottolenghi", "source": "NPR", "text": "Chef Ottolenghi Makes The Case For 'Plenty More' Vegetables", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/19/356947700/chef-ottolenghi-makes-the-case-for-plenty-more-vegetables" } ] }, "137": { "id": 137, "title": "Poking A Dead Frog: Conversations With Today’s Top Comedy Writers", "author": "Mike Sacks", "text": "

If you enjoy podcasts like Marc Maron’s WTF and J.R. Havlan’s Writer’s Bloc, or if you just enjoy being serious about comedy, then this book is for you. It’s filled with intelligent conversations about what comedy writers do but also about how hopeless it is to be one — so if you’re not doing it to fill some deep emotional void, run away. Each interview and essay in here says (shocker): Write what you find funny. Even if you’re not interested in a comedy writing career, at least you’ll get great suggestions for your Netflix queue.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "funny stuff", "rather long", "short stories, essays & poetry", "no biz like show biz" ], "reviewers": [ "Philipp Goedicke" ], "isbn": "0143123785", "oclc": 861673741, "seamus": 364769837, "bookshop": 9780143123781, "cover": "0143123785", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780143123781", "isbn10": "0143123785", "links": [] }, "138": { "id": 138, "title": "Prelude To Bruise", "author": "Saeed Jones", "text": "

This is a glittering collection of poems that move across the page with the fierce grace of a corseted dancer. Saeed Jones’ sharp rhythms and powerful images are choreographed to perfection, telling the story of Boy, a queer African-American growing up in the South, and his experiences with family, gender and desire. Smoke, booze, music and sex are all stitched together into a fabulously controlled performance.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "short stories, essays & poetry", "rather short", "family matters", "let’s talk about sex", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1566893747", "oclc": 870289266, "seamus": 344582995, "bookshop": 9781566893749, "cover": "1566893747", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781566893749", "isbn10": "1566893747", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 138, "book": "Prelude To Bruise", "source": "NPR", "text": "Brilliant, Unsparing 'Prelude' Will Leave A Bruise", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/03/344582858/brilliant-unsparing-prelude-will-leave-a-bruise" } ] }, "139": { "id": 139, "title": "Pretty Deadly Volume 1", "author": "Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Ríos", "text": "

The Western genre is a veritable myth factory, and writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Emma Ríos are making the most of it. The first volume of their Pretty Deadly series layers the detached life-and-death surrealism of Greek legends over the sweeping landscapes and grittily human towns of our shared cinematic memory. The art alternates scratchy chaos and arresting tableaux, and the crisscrossing stories, built on other stories and folded within yet more stories, become a dream-logic commentary on the West’s construction of its own mythology.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "book club ideas", "the dark side", "rather short", "for art lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Genevieve Valentine" ], "isbn": "1607069628", "oclc": 870984773, "seamus": 365508747, "bookshop": 9781607069621, "cover": "1607069628", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607069621", "isbn10": "1607069628", "links": [] }, "140": { "id": 140, "title": "Quest", "author": "Aaron Becker", "text": "

I am almost loath to tell anyone about this magic book. If too many people notice it, Hollywood is bound to come knocking and turn this transporting, elegant story — a wordless picture book that’s Harold and the Purple Crayon raised to the power of The Lord of the Rings — into something airless, bombastic and murderously trite. But to read this book once is to want to personally distribute one to every bored kid you’ve ever seen, Hollywood be damned. “Here,” you’d say. “Flip through right now and spend the rest of your day trying to climb right into the pages. I’ll wait.” (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "kids’ books", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "0763665959", "oclc": 869771154, "seamus": "", "bookshop": 9780763665951, "cover": "0763665959", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780763665951", "isbn10": "0763665959", "links": [] }, "141": { "id": 141, "title": "Rat Queens Vol. 1: Sass And Sorcery", "author": "Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch", "text": "

By the far-reaching tentacles of N’Rygoth! Look up “rowdy” in the dictionary and you’ll probably find portraits of Hannah, Dee, Violet and Betty, the butt-kicking, name-taking (OK, also drug-taking) band of mercenary fighters known as the Rat Queens. This medievalesque swords’n’sorcery sendup has a massive following among women — and for good reason: The Rat Queens are the very best kind of strong female characters. Their flaws are believable, their friendships are solid (if liberally peppered with expletives) and they can rid your town of trolls — for a hefty price, of course.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "rather short", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "staff picks", "funny stuff", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Petra Mayer" ], "isbn": "1607069458", "oclc": 872984924, "seamus": 364688979, "bookshop": 9781607069454, "cover": "1607069458", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607069454", "isbn10": "1607069458", "links": [] }, "142": { "id": 142, "title": "Red Or Dead: A Novel", "author": "David Peace", "text": "

You don’t have to be a fan of the world’s most popular sport to enjoy David Peace’s “fictional biography” of soccer coach — uh, “football manager” — Bill Shankly, whose tenure at Liverpool Football Club was one of the most successful in British history. Peace’s novel has echoes of James Joyce, but it really resists any comparisons — sprawling, ambitious and heartbreaking, it’s one of the best sports novels in recent years.

", "tags": [ "for history lovers", "fiction", "tales from around the world", "historical fiction", "for sports lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1612193684", "oclc": 879648841, "seamus": 358356221, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1612193684", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781612193687", "isbn10": "1612193684", "links": [] }, "143": { "id": 143, "title": "Redeployment", "author": "Phil Klay", "text": "

Phil Klay, a former Marine who served in Iraq, delivers perhaps the finest literary account of this generation’s wars. In one story, soldiers shoot dogs — not for fun, but because they feel they have to. In another, a soldier who “collected remains” in Iraq tells his stories differently back home depending on whether he’s talking to men (“funny, with lots of gore”) or women (“sad, with a thousand-yard stare”). The book’s 12 narratives bristle with the horrors of war, its effects on ordinary people and the challenges of coming back home with the scars of battle.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "short stories, essays & poetry", "tales from around the world", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Nishant Dahiya" ], "isbn": "1594204993", "oclc": 852221707, "seamus": 286369664, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1594204993", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594204999", "isbn10": "1594204993", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 143, "book": "Redeployment", "source": "NPR", "text": "Soldiers Turned Authors Want You To Know: Our Books Don't Speak For All Vets", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2016/08/08/489218057/soldiers-turned-authors-want-you-to-know-our-books-dont-speak-for-all-vets" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 143, "book": "Redeployment", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 143, "book": "Redeployment", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Redeployment' Explores Iraq War's Physical And Psychic Costs", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/26/294811387/redeployment-explores-iraq-wars-physical-and-psychic-costs" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 143, "book": "Redeployment", "source": "NPR", "text": "Reminder From A Marine: Civilians And Veterans Share Ownership Of War", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/06/286378088/reminder-from-a-marine-civilians-and-veterans-share-ownership-of-war" } ] }, "144": { "id": 144, "title": "Rules Of Summer", "author": "Shaun Tan", "text": "

When your big brother sets the rules, no matter how arbitrary they may sound, you’d better follow them — or the consequences could be dire. Lush, surreal paintings of one-eyed robots, odd creatures and uninvited strangers will leave you marveling over the art and searching the details for hidden messages. A simple edict like, “Never leave a red sock on a clothesline” is accompanied by an image of a giant rabbit looming over the brothers huddled together. Though the text is spare, the paintings reveal an astonishing depth of emotion and insight into a child’s fears and imagination. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "kids’ books", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "0545639123", "oclc": 861497356, "seamus": 359420494, "bookshop": 9780545639125, "cover": "0545639123", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780545639125", "isbn10": "0545639123", "links": [] }, "145": { "id": 145, "title": "Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick", "author": "Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky", "text": "

Fresh-faced robbers, lighthearted humor and celebrations of reading aren’t usually found in R-rated comics — as to what is usually found in R-rated comics, that will have to wait for another day — but Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky seem determined to upend every stereotype about carnal entertainment. Sex Criminals bubbles over with joyous energy. Fraction provides a charming concept and brisk storyline, and Zdarsky’s art is luscious and varied. There’s even a cheeky tribute to The Family Circus. You might not want to read Sex Criminals in public, but do read it.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "let’s talk about sex", "love & romance", "mysteries & thrillers", "funny stuff", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1607069466", "oclc": 872984937, "seamus": 359415964, "bookshop": 9781607069461, "cover": "1607069466", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607069461", "isbn10": "1607069466", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 145, "book": "Sex Criminals Volume 1: One Weird Trick", "source": "NPR", "text": "Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/533862948/lets-get-graphic-100-favorite-comics-and-graphic-novels" } ] }, "146": { "id": 146, "title": "Shoe Dog", "author": "Megan McDonald and Katherine Tillotson", "text": "

What happens when you’re a freshly adopted dog, desperate for a permanent home full of belly rubs and nose kisses but afflicted with a tragic, irresistible need to chew not boring old bones or squeaky old toys … but shoes? An age-old battle between ego and superego is what — and one to which many wee beasties (and exasperated parents) might relate. Megan McDonald’s language is infectious — you’ll be personifying your pets with her quotes in no time — and Katherine Tillotson’s chaotic, vibrant scribbles are full of subtle nuance. Just watch how Shoe Dog’s lines change when he becomes well-behaved. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "funny stuff", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1416979328", "oclc": 825196526, "seamus": 361458635, "bookshop": 9781416979326, "cover": "1416979328", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781416979326", "isbn10": "1416979328", "links": [] }, "147": { "id": 147, "title": "Showa 1944-1953: A History Of Japan", "author": "Shigeru Mizuki", "text": "

Shigeru Mizuki endures much in Showa 1944-1953: A History of Japan, the third volume in his autobiographical graphic novel. Stationed in New Guinea at the end of World War II, he’s at the mercy of superiors who lust psychopathically for heroic death (both their subordinates’ and their own). He’s laid low with malaria and even loses an arm, then faces the privations of the postwar period. Mizuki has plenty of bitterness, but the overarching mood is one of gratitude. He owes his survival, he says, to “some magical thread of destiny.”

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "biography & memoir", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1770461620", "oclc": 867897649, "seamus": 361471219, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1770461620", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781770461628", "isbn10": "1770461620", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 147, "book": "Showa 1944-1953: A History Of Japan", "source": "NPR", "text": "An Artist Draws His Journey Away From War And Death, With Gratitude", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/12/363123600/an-artist-draws-his-journey-away-from-war-and-death-with-gratitude" } ] }, "148": { "id": 148, "title": "Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes From The Thai Home Kitchen", "author": "Leela Punyaratabandhu", "text": "

Often I find that “simple Thai” cookbooks are either not so simple or not so Thai. But blogger Leela Punyaratabandhu (shesimmers.com) has a way of marrying convenience with high flavor. Store-bought curry pastes mingle with fresh aromatics like Kaffir lime and lemongrass, and substitutions are welcome. Once in a while, there will be a real stumper — fingerroot or young green peppercorns — in the mix. But mostly, these dishes are fragrant winners that can be sourced and cooked even on a school night.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "1607745232", "oclc": 863100334, "seamus": 319221785, "bookshop": 9781607745235, "cover": "1607745232", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607745235", "isbn10": "1607745232", "links": [] }, "149": { "id": 149, "title": "Sisters", "author": "Raina Telgemeier", "text": "

Raina is convinced that being a big sister will be awesome … until she actually becomes one. During a road trip to Colorado, flashbacks reveal a contentious sibling relationship with her younger sister, Amara, spiked with misunderstandings, fights and rivalry. As family dynamics unfold in this bright and energetic graphic novel, unspoken truths are revealed and the complexity of life is underscored but never preached. Though this is a follow-up to Smile, Sisters, can stand alone with its humor, wit and deep insights. (For ages 8 to 12)

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "family matters", "comics & graphic novels", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "0545540607", "oclc": 838195744, "seamus": 359420787, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0545540607", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780545540605", "isbn10": "0545540607", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 149, "book": "Sisters", "source": "NPR", "text": "On Making Friends With Raina Telgemeier", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2019/08/26/753508422/on-making-friends-with-raina-telgemeier" } ] }, "150": { "id": 150, "title": "Soldier Girls: The Battles Of Three Women At Home And At War", "author": "Helen Thorpe", "text": "

Michelle Fischer, Desma Brooks and Debbie Helton all joined the Indiana National Guard prior to Sept. 11. Although they signed up for different reasons, came from very different backgrounds, and were born in different decades, their lives intersected over the next 12 years, both stateside and on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Illuminating and thought-provoking — these are three women you won’t soon forget.

", "tags": [ "nonfiction", "eye-opening reads", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "1451668104", "oclc": 862348018, "seamus": 338841053, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1451668104", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781451668100", "isbn10": "1451668104", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 150, "book": "Soldier Girls: The Battles Of Three Women At Home And At War", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sept. 11 Changed Everything: Following 3 Women In The National Guard", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/10/338833483/sept-11-changed-everything-following-three-women-in-the-national-guard" } ] }, "151": { "id": 151, "title": "Some Dead Genius", "author": "Lenny Kleinfeld", "text": "

Actually, the best tag for this book is “Funny Stuff From The Dark Side For Art Lovers.” This is a Chicago noir: smart, edgy and profane (very profane) yet with the endearing quality of a major city that embraces the Cubs. Author Lenny Kleinfeld brings together a smart cop, a sleazy art dealer, outlandish artists and a hilariously stupid knuckle-breaker (and the capo who hates him) in a rollicking caper that you constantly think you’ve got figured out until you don’t. This book is fun. Loads of fun.

", "tags": [ "the dark side", "staff picks", "for art lovers", "funny stuff", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Smokey Baer" ], "isbn": "1496034368", "oclc": "", "seamus": 358562428, "bookshop": 9781496034366, "cover": "1496034368", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781496034366", "isbn10": "1496034368", "links": [] }, "152": { "id": 152, "title": "Some Luck: A Novel", "author": "Jane Smiley", "text": "

Some Luck is the first book in a trilogy that will follow an Iowa farm family over 100 years. The story begins in 1920 when Walter and Rosanna Langdon are just setting out on their own. Eventually, they will have five children. The oldest, Frank, takes center stage early on, but author Jane Smiley gives all the Langdons their moment in the spotlight — so much so that you may wonder at first why she spends so much time on the details of each character’s life. But as members of the family enter adulthood and some of them move away from the farm, you realize that Smiley is creating a rich universe rooted in the intimate details of family life and set against the all-encompassing sweep of history.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "staff picks", "family matters", "for history lovers", "historical fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lynn Neary" ], "isbn": "0307700313", "oclc": 867000969, "seamus": 353540454, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307700313", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307700315", "isbn10": "0307700313", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 152, "book": "Some Luck: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "For Her First Trilogy, Jane Smiley Returns To Iowa, 'Where The Roots Are'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/05/353528012/for-her-first-trilogy-jane-smiley-returns-to-iowa-where-the-roots-are" } ] }, "153": { "id": 153, "title": "Station Eleven: A Novel", "author": "Emily St. John Mandel", "text": "

This book isn’t exactly a feel-good romp, but for a post-apocalyptic novel, Station Eleven comes remarkably close. It follows a theater group traveling through the Great Lakes region years after a pandemic has wiped out most of humanity. Emily St. John Mandel delivers a beautifully observed walk through her book’s 21st century world, as seen by characters who are grappling with what they’ve lost and what remains. While I was reading it, I kept putting the book down, looking around me, and thinking, “Everything is a miracle.” And also: “Survival is insufficient.”

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "for art lovers", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "the dark side", "no biz like show biz", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Matt Thompson" ], "isbn": "0385353308", "oclc": 866615101, "seamus": 353195471, "bookshop": 9780385353304, "cover": "0385353308", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385353304", "isbn10": "0385353308", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 153, "book": "Station Eleven: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Survival Is Insufficient: 'Station Eleven' Preserves Art After The Apocalypse", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/06/20/415782006/survival-is-insufficient-station-eleven-preserves-art-after-the-apocalypse" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 153, "book": "Station Eleven: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 153, "book": "Station Eleven: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Get To Know The Finalists For The 2014 National Book Award", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/354568850/get-to-know-the-finalists-for-the-2014-national-book-award" } ] }, "154": { "id": 154, "title": "Stone Mattress: Nine Tales", "author": "Margaret Atwood", "text": "

This isn’t one of those collections that go to great lengths to show you their writer’s range. We already know that Margaret Atwood can do many, many things very well. But here, she often focuses on the side of her writing self that might be called “wicked,” both in the nature of some of her characters and in the pleasing slyness and cleverness that inform the whole book. The character Verna in the title story is a serial husband-killer who goes on a cruise of the Arctic, where she sets her deadly designs on someone from long in her past. As usual, you want to follow Atwood anywhere.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "short stories, essays & poetry", "book club ideas", "funny stuff", "seriously great writing", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Meg Wolitzer" ], "isbn": "0385539126", "oclc": 866931119, "seamus": 347480041, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385539126", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385539128", "isbn10": "0385539126", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 154, "book": "Stone Mattress: Nine Tales", "source": "NPR", "text": "Margaret Atwood's 'Stone Mattress' Is Full Of Sharp And Jabbing Truths", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/24/348709868/margaret-atwoods-stone-mattress-is-full-of-sharp-and-jabbing-truths" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 154, "book": "Stone Mattress: Nine Tales", "source": "NPR", "text": "In Margaret Atwood's Latest, The Past Is Powerfully Present", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/13/347426878/in-margaret-atwoods-latest-the-past-is-powerfully-present" } ] }, "155": { "id": 155, "title": "Strike!: The Farm Workers' Fight For Their Rights", "author": "Larry Dane Brimner", "text": "

Deceit, politics, bravery, courage, heroes and villains are all the makings of a great novel. However, this isn’t a work of fiction but the true story of the creation of the United Farm Workers. While most people may have heard of Mexican-American activist Cesar Chavez, lesser-known is the plight of a group of Filipino-American farmworkers who set off one of the longest and most effective strikes in the history of the United States. This meticulously researched narrative captures the atmosphere and intensity of the times with compelling text, photos and sidebars and brings the struggles of these brave men and women to life. (For ages 10 and up)

", "tags": [ "for history lovers", "kids’ books", "nonfiction", "eye-opening reads" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "1590789970", "oclc": 875521480, "seamus": 364765155, "bookshop": 9781590789971, "cover": "1590789970", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781590789971", "isbn10": "1590789970", "links": [] }, "156": { "id": 156, "title": "Thank You, Octopus", "author": "Darren Farrell", "text": "

Thank You, Octopus is a wonderfully wacky tale about a mischievous octopus helping his charge get ready for bed. When the boy grumbles, the octopus tries to tempt him with a warm bath. “Thank you, Octopus,” the boy says — until he realizes the bath tub is full of egg salad: “Gross! No thank you, Octopus.” It has some of the same naughty, talk-back-to-the-book fun of <a href= “http://www.npr.org/books/titles/320708999/dont-let-the-pigeon-drive-the-bus “target="_blank">Don’t Let The Pigeons Drive the Bus! another modern-day toddler classic, and it’s funny enough for adults to enjoy rereading again and again. The illustrations are insanely detailed and I especially appreciated the New York Harbor setting. (For ages 3 to 5)

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Anya Kamenetz" ], "isbn": "0803734387", "oclc": 855491710, "seamus": 364769535, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0803734387", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780803734388", "isbn10": "0803734387", "links": [] }, "157": { "id": 157, "title": "The Adventures Of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend", "author": "Dan Santat", "text": "

Beekle, an adorable marshmallow-like fellow sporting an orange paper crown, lives on a magical island. Here, he patiently waits his turn for a child to “imagine” him into his or her life. But when no one does, lonely Beekle dares to venture across the ocean to a big city in search of a special friend. Warm, whimsical artwork beautifully conveys his sadness, innocence and ultimate joy as it draws you in — and Beekle’s heartfelt story keeps you turning the pages. A testament to hope and the power of imagination, you will welcome Beekle into your world — as does the child of his dreams. (For ages 3 to 6)

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "family matters", "kids’ books", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "0316199982", "oclc": 843955798, "seamus": 364714484, "bookshop": 9780316199988, "cover": "0316199982", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316199988", "isbn10": "0316199982", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 157, "book": "The Adventures Of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Adventures Of Beekle' Wins Caldecott; Newbery Goes To 'The Crossover'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/02/02/383316163/adventures-of-beekle-wins-caldecott-newbery-goes-to-the-crossover" } ] }, "158": { "id": 158, "title": "The American Mission", "author": "Matthew Palmer", "text": "

Matthew Palmer’s The American Mission is a can’t-put-it-down thriller. The novel kicks off in an arid, bloodstained refugee camp in Sudan’s southern Darfur region, but spends most of its time in the unruly Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, big money colludes with big power to go after a valuable mineral in the lush interior. Held in the balance is a village that happens to sit on a rich vein of that valuable mineral. Marie is one of the village leaders — a beautiful chieftain’s daughter who uses mad survival skills as well as her engineering degree to try to save her people. Meanwhile, protagonist and U.S. Foreign Service officer Alex Baines juggles his growing interest in Marie with a career-saving mission that puts them at odds with each other. Palmer’s 20 years in the U.S. Foreign Service helps infuse this book with authenticity. A great beach read.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "tales from around the world", "the dark side", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction", "love & romance" ], "reviewers": [ "Didrik Schanche" ], "isbn": "0399165703", "oclc": 859168596, "seamus": 361476274, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0399165703", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780399165702", "isbn10": "0399165703", "links": [] }, "159": { "id": 159, "title": "The Apex Book Of World SF 3", "author": "Lavie Tidhar (editor)", "text": "

This ongoing anthology series allows English-language readers the opportunity to explore speculative visions of the future, past and present from writers around the world — including those who don’t publish in English. This year’s volume is another fantastic collection of stories, though this time around, editor Lavie Tidhar cast his net wider to include more of the many flavors of speculative fiction beyond simple science fiction. That extra facet of diversity means that not every story will suit, but working out which are your favorites is that much more exciting.

", "tags": [ "tales from around the world", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "short stories, essays & poetry", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "1937009246", "oclc": "", "seamus": 365511880, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1937009246", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781937009243", "isbn10": "1937009246", "links": [] }, "160": { "id": 160, "title": "The Ballad Of A Small Player: A Novel", "author": "Lawrence Osborne", "text": "

The Ballad of a Small Player centers on “Lord Doyle,” an English lawyer who’s on the run with some ill-begotten money and gambling it all away in the casinos of Macau. With echoes of V.S. Naipaul and Graham Greene, author Lawrence Osborne’s portrayal of a man at the end of his rope, in a foreign land, descending into his own private hell and attempting to find salvation are pitch perfect and ultimately captivating.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "tales from around the world", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Nishant Dahiya" ], "isbn": "0804137978", "oclc": 858749553, "seamus": 297739223, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0804137978", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780804137973", "isbn10": "0804137978", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 160, "book": "The Ballad Of A Small Player: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Tawdry Ballad Of A Man, A Casino And A Game Of Chance", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/21/297738807/the-tawdry-ballad-of-a-man-a-casino-and-a-game-of-chance" } ] }, "161": { "id": 161, "title": "The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes For Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches", "author": "Andrea Nguyen", "text": "

So you don’t think you could ever make banh mi, your favorite Vietnamese sandwich? Andrea Nguyen begs to differ. Her highly focused book has everything you need to pull it off: the pickles, the pates, the sauces, even the bread — all written in the meticulous, foolproof style that’s made Nguyen one of my favorite cookbook authors. There are easy variations and alternatives and shortcuts, and a whole lot of droolworthy protein. Would it be easier to just scrape together your pennies and head to the nearest banh mi joint? Possibly. But the point is, now you don’t have to.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "160774533X", "oclc": 860879625, "seamus": 363579383, "bookshop": 9781607745334, "cover": "160774533X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607745334", "isbn10": "160774533X", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 161, "book": "The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes For Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 161, "book": "The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes For Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'The Banh Mi Handbook': A Guide To A Viet-French Sandwich", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/11/29/366611344/the-banh-mi-handbook-a-guide-to-a-viet-french-sandwich" } ] }, "162": { "id": 162, "title": "The Bees: A Novel", "author": "Laline Paull", "text": "

A riveting dystopia set inside a beehive, The Bees tells the story of worker bee Flora 717, from her lowly hatching to her hive-saving heroism to her inadvertent leadership of a revolution against the hive’s Sage priestesses. With lovely prose, fast-rising stakes and a wonderfully effective rendering of a hive’s life cycle, The Bees is a beautiful book.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "0062331159", "oclc": 872272457, "seamus": 309810336, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0062331159", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062331151", "isbn10": "0062331159", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 162, "book": "The Bees: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "From Flower To Factory, These Bees Are No Bumblers", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/06/308265030/from-flower-to-factory-these-bees-are-no-bumblers" } ] }, "163": { "id": 163, "title": "The Blazing World: A Novel", "author": "Siri Hustvedt", "text": "

If you’re a fan of intelligent, complex and gorgeously written fiction (the sort that Iris Murdoch wrote), you won’t want to miss this tale of artist Harriet Burden, who — tired of having her work ignored or belittled by critics — asks three men to show her pieces as their own. Written as a collection of texts from and interviews of a wide cast of characters, including critics, family members and Harriet herself (we read her journals), this novel offers much food for thought and sentence after sentence that you’ll want to savor.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "for art lovers", "seriously great writing", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "1476747237", "oclc": 852226445, "seamus": 289083546, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1476747237", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476747231", "isbn10": "1476747237", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 163, "book": "The Blazing World: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Delicate Arson: 'The Blazing World' Consumes Its Readers", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/15/285740541/a-delicate-arson-the-blazing-world-consumes-its-readers" } ] }, "164": { "id": 164, "title": "The Bone Clocks: A Novel", "author": "David Mitchell", "text": "

We public radio people are generally spoiled by free books. After years of living off the “giveaway pile” at the office, it takes a lot for me to buy a book. But I bought David Mitchell’s latest. In hardcover. And it was totally worth it. The novel, which blends realism and fantasy, traces the life of a woman who gets caught up in a war between two groups of ancient, near-immortals. I read it flying from D.C. to London, and it carried me much further than that — across centuries, continents and genres. I’m not enough of a Mitchell fan to attend his conferences or read critical essays about him; I am enough of a fan to read nearly everything he’s written. And The Bone Clocks ranks among his best.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "seriously great writing", "tales from around the world", "rather long", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Ari Shapiro" ], "isbn": "1400065674", "oclc": 870896536, "seamus": 342194386, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1400065674", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781400065677", "isbn10": "1400065674", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 164, "book": "The Bone Clocks: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Why Not?' David Mitchell On Mixing Fantasy And Reality In 'Bone Clocks'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/31/344566294/why-not-david-mitchell-on-mixing-fantasy-and-reality-in-bone-clocks" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 164, "book": "The Bone Clocks: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Teen Drama? Occult Thriller? Gritty War Epic? 'Bone Clocks' Is All Three", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/28/342193300/teen-drama-occult-thriller-gritty-war-epic-bone-clocks-is-all-three" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 164, "book": "The Bone Clocks: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Exclusive First Read: 'The Bone Clocks' By David Mitchell", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/26/342502957/exclusive-first-read-the-bone-clocks-by-david-mitchell" } ] }, "165": { "id": 165, "title": "The Book Of Strange New Things: A Novel", "author": "Michel Faber", "text": "

Michel Faber writes books you lug around — in your bag, in your head, in your conscience. The author of the giant Victorian novel The Crimson Petal And the White has bounded across genres in his new book, straight into fully realized science fiction. Peter, a Christian pastor, takes a missionary gig — introducing Jesus to the aliens of the planet Oasis. Trouble is, he is separated from his wife, Bea, for the first time and things are not going well on Earth, where he has left her. If you’re feeling bad about the state of the world — and if you’ve heard a newscast, you probably are — you should be warned that parts of this book are bleak, and the future isn’t just dark, it’s lonely. But like all the best books that dare to speculate about new, foreign lands — be they alien, human or animal — this one leaves you with a warmth and gratitude for what we’ve got in our own.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "mysteries & thrillers", "book club ideas", "love & romance", "the dark side", "rather long", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "055341884X", "oclc": 869904660, "seamus": 360141206, "bookshop": "", "cover": "055341884X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780553418842", "isbn10": "055341884X", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 165, "book": "The Book Of Strange New Things: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'The Book Of Strange New Things' Treads Familiar Territory", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/30/360140053/the-book-of-strange-new-things-treads-familiar-territory" } ] }, "166": { "id": 166, "title": "The Book Of Unknown Americans: A Novel", "author": "Cristina Henríquez", "text": "

In The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez captures the immigrant experience with style and grace. A love story at its core, it begins with teenage Maribel and her family, who are happy and contented in Mexico. When Maribel suffers an accident, they decide to uproot to Delaware in search of better opportunities. And there, in a beat-up apartment building, they form close bonds with other families from all over Latin America. We witness their struggles and triumphs as they all seek not only to survive but to find a place in the world. This stunningly beautiful novel will keep you flipping the pages.

", "tags": [ "family matters", "book club ideas", "tales from around the world", "love & romance", "the states we’re in", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "0385350848", "oclc": 849822505, "seamus": 362026746, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385350848", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385350846", "isbn10": "0385350848", "links": [] }, "167": { "id": 167, "title": "The Broken Road: From The Iron Gates To Mount Athos", "author": "Patrick Leigh Fermor", "text": "

This is the very long awaited conclusion to Patrick Leigh Fermor’s unforgettable, three-part travelogue, which describes his adventures during a walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople (a name he romantically preferred to Istanbul) as a young man in the early 1930s. The first volume, published in 1977, astonished readers with its picaresque cast of characters and vast, seemingly effortless erudition about between-wars Europe and the myriad shifting empires that preceded it. The second volume, published in 1986, was equally celebrated, but the end of the tale lay unfinished for decades, as an aging Fermor suffered from writer’s block. Finished posthumously by travel writer Colin Thubron and Fermor biographer Artemis Cooper, The Broken Road describes Fermor’s arrival in Istanbul and his push on to Greece, where he eventually made his home. Occupying a place somewhere between fiction and nonfiction — Fermor was said to have had a prodigious memory, but admitted later that he’d taken some liberties filling in the blanks — the trilogy stands out for its lyrical prose and piercing intelligence, both lightly worn.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Peter Kenyon" ], "isbn": "1590177541", "oclc": 852457622, "seamus": 358351167, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1590177541", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781590177549", "isbn10": "1590177541", "links": [] }, "168": { "id": 168, "title": "The Children Act", "author": "Ian McEwan", "text": "

In his best novel since Saturday, Ian McEwan gives us another compact, propulsive morality tale about a professional in crisis mode. Fifty-nine-year-old Fiona Maye, a family High Court judge, struggles simultaneously with her husband’s determination to swing for a last passionate fling with a much younger woman, and a gnarly case involving the right of a remarkable, not-quite-18-year-old Jehovah’s Witness to refuse a lifesaving blood transfusion on religious grounds. Rational Fiona, upset by her marital rift, is unmoored by an onslaught of bewildering emotions. The Children Act raises intriguing questions about both religious and romantic devotion, legality versus morality, and where professional responsibilities end and personal ones begin.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "seriously great writing", "book club ideas", "love & romance", "eye-opening reads", "family matters", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0385539703", "oclc": 876882599, "seamus": 346067294, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385539703", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385539708", "isbn10": "0385539703", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 168, "book": "The Children Act", "source": "NPR", "text": "Legal Dilemmas Become Human Drama In Ian McEwan's Latest", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/05/346060805/in-the-children-act-the-electrifying-human-dimension-of-a-legal-drama" } ] }, "169": { "id": 169, "title": "The Complete Zap Comix Boxed Set", "author": "R. Crumb, S. Clay Wilson, Gilbert Shelton, Spain Rodriguez, Robert Williams, Victor Moscoso, Paul Mavrides and Rick Griffin", "text": "

Wow! Fantagraphics has assembled a box set of every issue of Zap Comix ever produced, from 1968 to 2004? Including all the covers in full color, candid snapshots from back in the day, fake ads and even a never-before-published issue? That’s not just a piece of history; it’s a hunk of crackling, unquenchable subversion! R. Crumb flings id bombs, and his merry men — Rick Griffin, Paul Mavrides, Victor Moscoso, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Shelton, Robert Williams and S. Clay Wilson — contribute bursts of surreal hilarity. Never has a library-worthy volume been so incendiary.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "rather long", "for history lovers", "funny stuff" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1606997874", "oclc": 870098546, "seamus": 361470899, "bookshop": 9781606997871, "cover": "1606997874", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781606997871", "isbn10": "1606997874", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 169, "book": "The Complete Zap Comix Boxed Set", "source": "NPR", "text": "Nothing Was Ever The Same: 10 Comics That Changed The Game", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/10/536286138/nothing-was-ever-the-same-10-comics-that-changed-the-game" } ] }, "170": { "id": 170, "title": "The Dead Lake", "author": "Hamid Ismailov", "text": "

This year I discovered Peirene Press, a London publisher who sends me a work of translated European fiction every four months in exchange for an annual subscription. The first book sent was Hamid Ismailov’s melancholy tale of nuclear testing and an environment so damaged that it can no longer nourish life. The story begins on a train journey, and from the first page this lyrical love song to Kazakhstan and its people is deeply affecting — journeys on horseback across the steppes; long, cold winter nights. It is a book that makes the reader want to sing her own praise song in gratitude for the journeys translation allows us to make.

", "tags": [ "tales from around the world", "fiction", "rather short" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "1908670142", "oclc": 875002672, "seamus": 362023315, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1908670142", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781908670144", "isbn10": "1908670142", "links": [] }, "171": { "id": 171, "title": "The Distance: A Thriller", "author": "Helen Giltrow", "text": "

To me, the best way to describe this novel is to say that while I was reading it I frequently had to remind myself to breathe. Society woman Charlotte Alton has a secret life — as Karla, someone who helps criminals “disappear” into new identities. But when Simon Johanssen, an ex-military sniper turned gun for hire, re-enters her life and asks for her help, danger and complications follow, not least because Simon is the one person who knows Karla’s real identity. To say any more would be a crime: This occasionally violent, page-turning novel gives the term thriller a good name.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "0385536992", "oclc": 858672422, "seamus": 361474318, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385536992", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385536998", "isbn10": "0385536992", "links": [] }, "172": { "id": 172, "title": "The Divide: American Injustice In The Age Of The Wealth Gap", "author": "Matt Taibbi", "text": "

We are becoming three nations — one for the wealthy, one for the poor, one for those caught in between — and Matt Taibbi provides a compelling, depressing road map.

\n

Readers who know Taibbi’s work for *Rolling Stone* may be surprised by the lack of curse words and attitude here. Instead, he methodically explores how wealthy business people are often allowed to break laws with little personal consequence (including more than $26 billion in mortgage fraud), while poor people are relentlessly policed and punished. It’s the tale of how mindless bureaucracy grinds down one class and exalts another, enabled by the politics of the moment and Americans’ near-instinctual worship of society’s winners.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "nonfiction", "eye-opening reads", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Eric Deggans" ], "isbn": "0812993424", "oclc": "", "seamus": 297855664, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0812993424", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780812993424", "isbn10": "0812993424", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 172, "book": "The Divide: American Injustice In The Age Of The Wealth Gap", "source": "NPR", "text": "In Book's Trial Of U.S. Justice System, Wealth Gap Is Exhibit A", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/06/297857886/in-books-trial-of-u-s-justice-system-wealth-gap-is-exhibit-a" } ] }, "173": { "id": 173, "title": "The Empathy Exams: Essays", "author": "Leslie Jamison", "text": "

The Empathy Exams is a trove of treats for those who enjoy a genre I’ll call “travelisophical”: traveling to a strange world and trying to make philosophical sense of it. It has essays on imprisoned marathoners (“What happens when you confine a man whose whole life is motion?”), a contagious skin condition that’s likely imagined (“Doubting Morgellons hasn’t stopped me from being afraid I’ll get it.”), poverty tourism and a delightful jag on sweetness called “In Defense of Saccharin(e).” Thanks to Leslie Jamison’s sharp mind, questions that could be butchered in somebody else’s hands are executed with such rigor that you emerge candle-dipped in an intelligence you do not possess.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "short stories, essays & poetry", "seriously great writing" ], "reviewers": [ "Lulu Miller" ], "isbn": "1555976719", "oclc": 846545823, "seamus": 298329008, "bookshop": 9781555976712, "cover": "1555976719", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781555976712", "isbn10": "1555976719", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 173, "book": "The Empathy Exams: Essays", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Empathy Exams' Is A Virtuosic Manifesto Of Human Pain", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/03/297823566/empathy-exams-is-a-virtuosic-manifesto-of-human-pain" } ] }, "174": { "id": 174, "title": "The Empire Of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, And Deception In The New World", "author": "Greg Grandin", "text": "

In Fordlandia, historian Greg Grandin chronicled Henry Ford’s attempt to establish a utopian version of small-town America in the middle of the Brazilian rain forest. In The Empire of Necessity, Grandin shows readers the hell of the slave trade. His touchstone is the true-life slave revolt on a ship called the Tryal in 1805. (Herman Melville drew almost exclusively upon the story of the Tryal to write his own floating gothic masterpiece of a short novel, Benito Cereno, in 1855.) Grandin tells the harrowing story of the 72 desperate slaves aboard the Tryal to fan out and explore the explosion of the slave trade in the Americas in the early 19th century. The Empire of Necessity is a wonder of power, precision and sheer reading pleasure about human horror and degradation.

", "tags": [ "for history lovers", "eye-opening reads", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "0805094539", "oclc": "", "seamus": 265230035, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0805094539", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805094534", "isbn10": "0805094539", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 174, "book": "The Empire Of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, And Deception In The New World", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 174, "book": "The Empire Of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, And Deception In The New World", "source": "NPR", "text": "On This Spanish Slave Ship, Nothing Was As It Seemed", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/27/265230687/on-this-spanish-slave-ship-nothing-was-as-it-seemed" } ] }, "175": { "id": 175, "title": "The End Of The Sentence", "author": "Maria Dahvana Headley and Kat Howard", "text": "

This novella is as dark and rich as European drinking chocolate, both in the story it tells and in the way it’s written. Malcolm Mays tries to escape the horror of his life by moving to a house in rural Oregon, only to fall into a new horror when letters begin to arrive from Dusha Chuchonnyhoof, who claims to be the owner. Dusha is due to return — after 117 years — and that’s only one part of the unsettling unreality at the heart of this story. Kat Howard and Maria Dahvana Headley’s separate styles blend beautifully here, as do myth and folklore, in this intricate and elegantly forged plot.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "the dark side", "rather short", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "1596066792", "oclc": 878502396, "seamus": 363608792, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1596066792", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781596066793", "isbn10": "1596066792", "links": [] }, "176": { "id": 176, "title": "The Farm", "author": "Tom Rob Smith", "text": "

This is easily the novel I talked about the most this year and most adamantly pressed into other people’s hands. British author Tom Rob Smith is a thriller writer, but of the literary, fiercely smart variety. Here, he found inspiration in real life — his life. In 2009, Smith received a startling phone call from his father in Sweden, where his parents had retired to a small, remote farm. His father said he had put his wife, Smith’s mother, in a psychiatric hospital. Smith’s mother called soon after, saying that his father was lying and was involved in a criminal conspiracy. She would fly back to London to tell her son everything. Which parent to believe? He had no cause to doubt either, and his mother had never shown any sign of mental illness before. From this beginning, Smith spins a novel of doubt and secrets set in a bleak yet beautiful Swedish landscape.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "the dark side", "family matters", "family matters", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Shannon Rhoades" ], "isbn": "0446550736", "oclc": "", "seamus": 319552227, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0446550736", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780446550734", "isbn10": "0446550736", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 176, "book": "The Farm", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'The Farm' Is A Terrifying Break From Reality — Or Is It?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/09/319542618/the-farm-is-a-terrifying-break-from-reality-or-is-it" } ] }, "177": { "id": 177, "title": "The Farmer And The Clown", "author": "Marla Frazee", "text": "

Accidentally ejected from a circus train, a cheerful child clown is taken in by a solemn old farmer. After washing up, the farmer is surprised to find that without makeup the little lost clown’s face is sad and scared. Wanting to cheer his ward up, the stalwart farmer finds himself entertaining the little clown, forging a heartfelt friendship in the process. But when the train returns for its passenger, the farmer is heartbroken and alone once more. Or is he? The deceptively simple art is brilliant and this wordless picture book has much to say about loneliness and love. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "1442497440", "oclc": 846520358, "seamus": 359420127, "bookshop": 9781442497443, "cover": "1442497440", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442497443", "isbn10": "1442497440", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 177, "book": "The Farmer And The Clown", "source": "NPR", "text": "8 Picture Books You Don't Have To Be A Kid To Love", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/01/31/382125667/8-picture-books-you-dont-have-to-be-a-kid-to-love" } ] }, "178": { "id": 178, "title": "The Fever: A Novel", "author": "Megan Abbott", "text": "

If there were a category for books to make a plane ride fly by, this would surely be a front-runner. The Fever is the third in what I think of as author Megan Abbott’s trilogy (my word, not hers) taking readers inside the mind of that most exotic and confounding creature — the teenage girl. This is not, however, a young adult novel (not that there’s anything wrong with that); this is literary fiction with young adults as the subject. The Fever loosely takes its jumping-off point from real life: the mysterious illness that struck girls in Le Roy, N.Y., causing them to twitch and spasm uncontrollably. Combining vaccination anxieties, teenage jealousies and an overall sense of something really bad happening, this is the kind of book you can start on takeoff and not put down until you absolutely have to.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "the dark side", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Shannon Rhoades" ], "isbn": "0316231053", "oclc": 860757048, "seamus": 323214951, "bookshop": 9780316231053, "cover": "0316231053", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316231053", "isbn10": "0316231053", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 178, "book": "The Fever: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "In 'Fever,' Town's Teen Tic Epidemic Gets A Chilling Novelization", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/20/323214513/in-fever-towns-teen-tic-epidemic-gets-a-chilling-novelization" } ] }, "179": { "id": 179, "title": "The Girl Next Door: A Novel", "author": "Ruth Rendell", "text": "

After spotting a few of 84-year-old British novelist Ruth Rendell’s books on my desk, a co-worker recently asked, “You still read her?” as if we are supposed to give up reading our favorite authors simply because they’re prolific. And Rendell is certainly prolific. If my count is correct, this is her 65th book. On the surface, it’s a mystery about the present-day discovery of a long-buried tin box with the skeletal remains of two hands inside (one belonging to a man, the other to a woman). As with so much of Rendell’s work, what matters is the psychological tangle underneath the surface. In this case, it’s a group of men and women who, as children, played together in the fields of a London neighborhood where the tin was buried during World War II. But the crime isn’t the star here; it’s the childhood friends who are pulled back together decades later, and the tremendous capacity for growth and change some of them show even well into their “golden years.”

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "the dark side", "tales from around the world", "for history lovers", "historical fiction", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Shannon Rhoades" ], "isbn": "1476784329", "oclc": 873006658, "seamus": 361468833, "bookshop": 9781476784328, "cover": "1476784329", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476784328", "isbn10": "1476784329", "links": [] }, "180": { "id": 180, "title": "The Girl Who Saved The King Of Sweden: A Novel", "author": "Jonas Jonasson, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles", "text": "

I work in nonfiction, so I’m always looking for a fun tale to escape with, especially on that long flight home after a tough assignment. Jonas Jonasson had me from the beginning of this book with his main character, Nombeko. She has all the wit and ingenuity of another famous Swedish character — Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander — but thankfully for the King of Sweden, a good deal less rage and resentment. The story begins in apartheid South Africa and ends on a potato farm in modern-day Sweden. Along the way, Jonasson delivers well-developed characters and satire that’s spot-on. The book is hilarious and even heartbreaking, but always quirky and entertaining. I couldn’t put it down, let alone save some of it for my next plane ride.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "tales from around the world", "funny stuff" ], "reviewers": [ "Kirk Siegler" ], "isbn": "0062329127", "oclc": "", "seamus": 358361619, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0062329127", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062329127", "isbn10": "0062329127", "links": [] }, "181": { "id": 181, "title": "The Girls At The Kingfisher Club: A Novel", "author": "Genevieve Valentine", "text": "

Genevieve Valentine sets the fairy tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in jazz-era New York City, bringing its fashions, music and speakeasies to life in glorious detail. Jo, nicknamed “The General” by her 11 younger sisters, makes life bearable for her siblings by teaching them to dance and leading them on midnight excursions into the city’s secret underground dance halls, brashly defying their father’s tyrannical rules. This beautiful novel is one of the most satisfying fairy tale retellings out there.

", "tags": [ "historical fiction", "seriously great writing", "family matters", "love & romance", "historical fiction", "for music lovers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1476739080", "oclc": 851754497, "seamus": 318240622, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1476739080", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476739083", "isbn10": "1476739080", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 181, "book": "The Girls At The Kingfisher Club: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Kingfisher' Girls Will Dance Their Way Into Your Heart", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/03/314615084/kingfisher-girls-will-dance-their-way-into-your-heart" } ] }, "182": { "id": 182, "title": "The Good Spy: The Life And Death Of Robert Ames", "author": "Kai Bird", "text": "

This is spy craft, ladies and gentlemen; not a James Bond action movie or a John le Carré psychological thriller. This is spy craft practiced by a gentleman you’ve never heard of and never would have, had things gone well. Intelligent, religious and fiercely patriotic, Robert Ames was the kind of person you want working for the CIA; the kind of person you hope is working for the CIA. The Good Spy, Kai Bird’s biography of Ames, is absolutely steeped in the reality of being a spy. Read this book to learn who’s trying to protect you in a world full of threat.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Smokey Baer" ], "isbn": "0307889750", "oclc": 857214566, "seamus": 358561556, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307889750", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307889751", "isbn10": "0307889750", "links": [] }, "183": { "id": 183, "title": "The Haight: Love, Rock, And Revolution", "author": "Jim Marshall and Joel Selvin", "text": "

Photographer Jim Marshall was a short man with a huge profile in the music industry (and, full disclosure, a friend). Before his death in 2010, he’d spent five decades photographing anyone who was anyone in rock, pop and jazz. But as a San Franciscan, he also documented the counterculture revolution that flourished in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan are among those who show up in this chronicle of the neighborhood’s glory days, assembled from the huge photo archive Marshall left behind. Writer Joel Selvin puts readers in the middle of everything with a detailed history of what the Haight looked, sounded and, yeah, smelled like in the era whose apex was the Summer of Love.

", "tags": [ "for art lovers", "for history lovers", "staff picks", "for music lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Karen Grigsby Bates" ], "isbn": "1608873633", "oclc": 875644992, "seamus": 361466234, "bookshop": 9781608873630, "cover": "1608873633", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781608873630", "isbn10": "1608873633", "links": [] }, "184": { "id": 184, "title": "The Hawley Book Of The Dead: A Novel", "author": "Chrysler Szarlan", "text": "

There’s magic and then there’s magic. Revelation “Reve” Dyer walks a fine line between the two as part of a Las Vegas couple that performs to packed houses on the Strip. But her family’s world is turned upside down when a sabotaged prop leads to the death of her husband. As details slowly tease out, our narrator flees with her family to a small Massachusetts town with its own story to tell. Like generations of her family’s women before her, Reve struggles to balance living in a normal world while facing the dangers that accompany her mysterious, magical inheritance. Author Chrysler Szarlan hooked me with realism, but I stayed for the magic!

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "family matters", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "the dark side", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Stacey Abbott" ], "isbn": "0345545028", "oclc": 867078036, "seamus": 359361707, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0345545028", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780345545022", "isbn10": "0345545028", "links": [] }, "185": { "id": 185, "title": "The Hilltop: A Novel", "author": "Assaf Gavron, translated by Steven Cohen", "text": "

Americans may not recognize the portrait of Israel in Assaf Gavron’s most recent novel, but Israelis sure will. It’s set in an illegal Jewish settlement on the West Bank. The residents are a cross section of Israeli society who joined the settlement for any number of reasons: religious, ideological or simply in search of anonymity. The book deals with Israel’s overarching conflicts — Jew versus Jew, Jew versus Palestinian — and presents them with a nuanced complexity that feels very real. It’s a funny and ultimately melancholy read.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "rather long", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Mark Katkov" ], "isbn": "1476760438", "oclc": 873006463, "seamus": 359362174, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1476760438", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476760438", "isbn10": "1476760438", "links": [] }, "186": { "id": 186, "title": "The History Of Rock 'N' Roll In Ten Songs", "author": "Greil Marcus", "text": "

No writer puts you inside the experience of music the way Greil Marcus does. His descriptions of songs, especially, unfold like thrillers or romantic rhapsodies, sucking you in and revealing aspects of each beat or vocal trill that you’d never have noticed on your own. As the most esteemed music writer of his generation, Marcus has made a career of challenging conventional wisdom on everything from Elvis to punk to Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes. Here, he re-imagines the very idea of rock history as a series of associations rather than chronological events. You may have never thought to connect Joy Division’s “<a href= “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dBt3mJtgJc” target="_blank">Transmission” to Buddy Holly’s “ Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” or Christian Marclay’s video- and sound-installation Guitar Drag to the Teddy Bears’ “<a href= “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCnUsInBQws” target="_blank">To Know Him Is To Love Him,” but you’ll think of music differently because Marcus did. It’s so much fun to let him drag your brain onto the dance floor.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "for music lovers", "for history lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Ann Powers" ], "isbn": "0300187378", "oclc": 865543986, "seamus": 343676579, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0300187378", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780300187373", "isbn10": "0300187378", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 186, "book": "The History Of Rock 'N' Roll In Ten Songs", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Other Rock History", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/30/343676703/the-other-rock-history" } ] }, "187": { "id": 187, "title": "The Homesick Texan's Family Table: Lone Star Cooking From My Kitchen To Yours", "author": "Lisa Fain", "text": "

When I gave my mother a copy of the first Homesick Texan cookbook, she turned up her homesick Texan nose. See, author Lisa Fain is from the Houston area and Mom’s from El Paso. As far as my mother is concerned, Houston might as well be New Orleans. But a few weeks later, Mom fessed up: “The recipes are fantastic.” Fain’s new cookbook — like her first — is based on her hugely popular blog and relies on her spectacular photography and personable authorial presence for much of its charm. (And, Mom will have you know, it attends to the state’s many cuisines.) The recipes in it are inventive, inviting, unpretentious and easy to follow: turkey enchiladas with sweet potato-chipotle sauce, black-eyed pea and Mexican chorizo soup, and jalapeno fried chicken, which calls for brining the bird with jalapenos for a long chili finish. Exactly the ticket for winter.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "staff picks" ], "reviewers": [ "Neda Ulaby" ], "isbn": "1607745046", "oclc": 865543803, "seamus": 361470653, "bookshop": 9781607745044, "cover": "1607745046", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607745044", "isbn10": "1607745046", "links": [] }, "188": { "id": 188, "title": "The Inheritance Trilogy", "author": "N.K. Jemisin", "text": "

N.K. Jemisin’s epic fantasy series has just been reissued in a handy omnibus edition — so there’s no better time to visit the fractured, fractious Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, where the ruthless Arameri family rules from its glowing white sky palace, built by enslaved gods. So many fantasy writers fall into the one-planet-one-culture trap, but not Jemisin, who creates a fabulously diverse array of peoples and lands, shot through with magic, loss, sex and heartbreak. Best of all, this omnibus includes a brand-new novella, The Awakened Kingdom, set in the same world as the previous three books.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "rather long", "seriously great writing", "family matters", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Petra Mayer" ], "isbn": "9780316334006", "oclc": 876350384, "seamus": 362030001, "bookshop": 9780316334006, "cover": "9780316334006", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316334006", "isbn10": "0316334006", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 188, "book": "The Inheritance Trilogy", "source": "NPR", "text": "Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/07/29/426731847/happy-ever-after-100-swoon-worthy-romances" } ] }, "189": { "id": 189, "title": "The Invisible Bridge: The Fall Of Nixon And The Rise Of Reagan", "author": "Rick Perlstein", "text": "

The third, and best, in a series of books about the modern American conservative movement, The Invisible Bridge is something like a national biography, a deep exploration of both the politics and the culture of the late 20th century. Perlstein is smart and convincing, and his writing is marked by skepticism, caustic wit and a unique voice. This book covers three years in 800 pages, but somehow, you don’t want it to end. It’s one of the most remarkable literary achievements of the year.

", "tags": [ "rather long", "for history lovers", "seriously great writing", "the states we’re in", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1476782415", "oclc": 869437988, "seamus": 337857347, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1476782415", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476782416", "isbn10": "1476782415", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 189, "book": "The Invisible Bridge: The Fall Of Nixon And The Rise Of Reagan", "source": "NPR", "text": "How Ronald Reagan Used An 'Invisible Bridge' To Win Over Americans", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/05/337917291/how-reagan-used-an-invisible-bridge-to-win-over-americans" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 189, "book": "The Invisible Bridge: The Fall Of Nixon And The Rise Of Reagan", "source": "NPR", "text": "The 'Bridge' From Watergate To Reagan, Masterfully Drawn", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/05/337856950/the-bridge-from-watergate-to-reagan-masterfully-drawn" } ] }, "190": { "id": 190, "title": "The King's Curse", "author": "Philippa Gregory", "text": "

If you, too, have been worried that the great Philippa Gregory was going to run out of angles to tell the story of Henry VIII and the fortunes and reversals of the Tudors — I think you can rest easy. The latest in her thankfully never-ending saga is The King’s Curse, the very sad tale of Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. Frankly, all these books have a similar feel. Henry VIII ascends the throne, hope rises, many girl babies are born, paranoia sets in, heads roll. But no worries; there’s always the knowledge that Elizabeth I will eventually take power in front of a huge screen that says FEMINIST. Added bonuses: This one has a glimpse of young Henry’s early pathological anxiety, and a charismatic main character — Margaret Pole is tenacious and intelligent. Plus, there are a date with an executioner, a moral victory, and more ancillary characters who may get their own books in the future. If there is a king’s curse — I’ve got it bad — I just can’t quit you, Henry T.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "fiction", "historical fiction", "book club ideas", "family matters", "the dark side", "rather long", "for history lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "1451626118", "oclc": 862789124, "seamus": 349489969, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1451626118", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781451626117", "isbn10": "1451626118", "links": [] }, "191": { "id": 191, "title": "The Last Illusion: A Novel", "author": "Porochista Khakpour", "text": "

Every so often, if we’re lucky, we encounter books that challenge us to dream bigger and more vivid dreams. The Last Illusion, which draws from a medieval Persian epic to tell a coming-of-age story set in New York, is one of those books. Zal, the novel’s protagonist, spent the first decade of his life living in a bird cage in rural Iran. The only thing more chaotic than his wild and magical journey into adulthood is New York City itself.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "book club ideas", "tales from around the world", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Saeed Jones" ], "isbn": "1620403048", "oclc": 863632388, "seamus": 362020722, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1620403048", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781620403044", "isbn10": "1620403048", "links": [] }, "192": { "id": 192, "title": "The Loudest Voice In The Room: How The Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News --- And Divided A Country", "author": "Gabriel Sherman", "text": "

Even before tackling a biography of Fox News founder Roger Ailes, New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman broke several scoops about the most secretive organization in cable news. But a book gives Sherman space to blow up the legends and unearth the real story of how a sickly kid from Ohio who once produced The Mike Douglas Show became a political adviser to three presidents and created an outlet whose bare-knuckle approach and conservative politics reflect his own pugnacious style — turning Fox News into the most popular cable TV news channel in the process. So much of how America talks about politics now flows from Fox News’ partisan, crowd-pleasing approach, and Sherman provides a detailed, illuminating history of how Ailes made it all happen.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "rather long", "biography & memoir", "nonfiction", "no biz like show biz", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Eric Deggans" ], "isbn": "0812992857", "oclc": 809411647, "seamus": 263063360, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0812992857", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780812992854", "isbn10": "0812992857", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 192, "book": "The Loudest Voice In The Room: How The Brilliant, Bombastic Roger Ailes Built Fox News --- And Divided A Country", "source": "NPR", "text": "Book Chronicles The Building Of Roger Ailes' Fox News Empire", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/16/263063731/book-chronicles-the-building-of-roger-ailes-fox-news-empire" } ] }, "193": { "id": 193, "title": "The Man With The Compound Eyes: A Novel", "author": "Wu Ming-Yi", "text": "

An amazing, affecting, beautiful book, The Man With The Compound Eyes feels so alien and yet so vibratingly… alive. It’s a story about a boy from a mystical (and possibly imaginary) island, cast out to sea to die. About a young Taiwanese woman contemplating suicide after the loss of her husband and son. About a floating trash island, a tsunami, a drowning house and so much more. While at its heart, it’s an environmental fable, the novel reads like a lyrical ode to loneliness, slow destruction and the fragile bonds that keep us all above water.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "tales from around the world", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0307907961", "oclc": 857214567, "seamus": 314617811, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307907961", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307907967", "isbn10": "0307907961", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 193, "book": "The Man With The Compound Eyes: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "At Home In The Strange Latitudes Of 'Man With The Compound Eyes'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/25/314613703/at-home-in-the-strange-latitudes-of-man-with-the-compound-eyes" } ] }, "194": { "id": 194, "title": "The Map Thief: The Gripping Story Of An Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps", "author": "Michael Blanding", "text": "

I buy one wall calendar every year, and every year it’s the same kind: reproductions of old maps from the Age of Exploration. I love them for their beauty, for the sense of adventure they represent and for the hilarious misunderstandings. (California as an island, for instance.) But I didn’t know much about them until I read The Map Thief. In it, Michael Blanding tells the story of E. Forbes Smiley III, a dealer of rare, antique maps who, when he got in over his head, started stealing — and selling — maps from prominent libraries. Using wonderful reproductions, Blanding teaches the reader about the political, economic and practical uses of mapmaking since the 15th century. It makes the maps seem ever more precious, and Smiley’s crimes more monstrous.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "for art lovers", "for history lovers", "staff picks" ], "reviewers": [ "Ina Jaffe" ], "isbn": "1592408176", "oclc": 861479004, "seamus": 359361477, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1592408176", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781592408177", "isbn10": "1592408176", "links": [] }, "195": { "id": 195, "title": "The Martian: A Novel", "author": "Andy Weir", "text": "

No aliens, no invasion fleets, no superheroes or space marines. The Martian focuses on just one man — astronaut Mark Watney — who becomes one of the first men to walk on Mars and, shortly after, one of the first to be presumed dead on Mars after a freak storm forces the rest of his crew to take off and leave him behind. But Watney isn’t dead, and he spends the balance of the book using his brains to stay alive on the Red Planet. A book about a scientist using actual science to battle the alien elements — what a welcome relief.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "it’s all geek to me", "science!", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0553418025", "oclc": 870981240, "seamus": 280025745, "bookshop": 9780553418026, "cover": "0553418025", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780553418026", "isbn10": "0553418025", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 195, "book": "The Martian: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "No Warp Drives, No Transporters: Science Fiction Authors Get Real", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/12/13/459392474/no-warp-drives-no-transporters-science-fiction-authors-get-real" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 195, "book": "The Martian: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sandstorms, Explosions, Potatoes, Oh My: 'Martian' Takes Its Science Seriously", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/09/27/443192327/sandstorms-explosions-potatoes-oh-my-martian-takes-its-science-seriously" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 195, "book": "The Martian: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Spaceship Battles, Alien Worlds And Robots!", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2014/07/01/326936617/spaceship-battles-alien-worlds-and-robots" } ] }, "196": { "id": 196, "title": "The Memory Garden", "author": "Mary Rickert", "text": "

The Memory Garden is a quiet, meditative book about friendship, parenthood, aging and the grace and magic to be found in gardens. Nan is an old woman unexpectedly raising a young girl, Bay, who was born with a caul over her head; this means Bay has the power to heal, sees ghosts and can’t ever drown. Soon Bay’s healing powers are put to the test as Nan entertains two estranged childhood friends and the mystery that drove them apart unfolds petal by petal. Reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic, this is a lovely, uplifting book of women, friendship, sadness and healing.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "family matters", "book club ideas", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1402297122", "oclc": 859179850, "seamus": 312211553, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1402297122", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781402297120", "isbn10": "1402297122", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 196, "book": "The Memory Garden", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'The Memory Garden' Grows With Grace And Tenderness", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/14/312190592/the-memory-garden-grows-with-grace-and-tenderness" } ] }, "197": { "id": 197, "title": "The Misadventures Of The Family Fletcher", "author": "Dana Alison Levy", "text": "

Dana Alison Levy accomplishes something special with this funny, warm book: She tells an enchantingly timeless story about a family that could only exist today. The Fletchers’ hilarious high jinks could have charmed readers in 1852, but Levy’s choice to center such stories on two dads raising their four multiracial sons is a refreshingly novel one. To stress the makeup of the family, however, is to do a disservice to the book’s primary appeal — the Fletchers’ perfectly ingratiating idiosyncrasies and the way all six of them climb directly into your heart. (For ages 9 to 12)

", "tags": [ "family matters", "funny stuff", "kids’ books", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "0385376529", "oclc": 855209260, "seamus": 361456684, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385376529", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385376525", "isbn10": "0385376529", "links": [] }, "198": { "id": 198, "title": "The Moor's Account: A Novel", "author": "Laila Lalami", "text": "

Forgotten history is the bedrock of The Moor’s Account, which imagines the life of the first African explorer of the Americas, a Moroccan slave who survived the disastrous Narváez expedition of 1528. Author Laila Lalami uses historical record to frame the life of Mustafa al-Zamori, who sells himself into slavery and finds himself caught up in world-changing events. The novel, structured like an Arabic travelogue, is told in dreamlike prose that builds in a grim, leisurely parallel, as what Mustafa knows and what we know come ever closer to a dreadful vanishing point.

", "tags": [ "historical fiction", "book club ideas", "tales from around the world", "for history lovers", "the states we’re in", "identity & culture", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Genevieve Valentine" ], "isbn": "0307911667", "oclc": 864676623, "seamus": 345553475, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0307911667", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780307911667", "isbn10": "0307911667", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 198, "book": "The Moor's Account: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Fact Meets Fiction In Tale Of A Slave, Explorer And Survivor", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/07/345548759/fact-meets-fiction-in-tale-of-a-slave-explorer-and-survivor" } ] }, "199": { "id": 199, "title": "The Narrow Road To The Deep North: A Novel", "author": "Richard Flanagan", "text": "

It took Richard Flanagan 12 years to write The Narrow Road to the Deep North — and it shows. The book has some of the most beautiful writing and plotting I’ve ever read. During World War II, Australian doctor Dorrigo Evans finds himself leading a few hundred inmates in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in then-Burma, building what would come to be known as the Death Railway. The details of the camp — the various diseases, the wasting away of prisoners — are often graphic, and because of that all the more real. But it’s the charting of Evan’s full life — his great love, his marriage, his infidelities — and of the side characters, including the Japanese, that makes this book so powerful.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "historical fiction", "fiction", "for history lovers", "tales from around the world", "the dark side", "family matters" ], "reviewers": [ "Nishant Dahiya" ], "isbn": "0385352859", "oclc": 864700580, "seamus": 340675780, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385352859", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385352857", "isbn10": "0385352859", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 199, "book": "The Narrow Road To The Deep North: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Tumultuous Journey Along This 'Narrow Road'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/08/17/340672327/a-tumultuous-journey-along-this-narrow-road" } ] }, "200": { "id": 200, "title": "The New Greenmarket Cookbook: Recipes And Tips From Today’s Finest Chefs — And The Stories Behind The Farms That Inspire Them", "author": "Gabrielle Langholtz", "text": "

I’ve been cherry-picking appealingly fresh recipes from this book, organized by season, since it came out in the spring. Winners include an unusual limy Spicy Sweet Potato Salad and Mark Bittman’s beautiful-to-behold Green Tomato Upside-Down Cake. Roasted Bluefish With Pickled Peaches, Sweet Corn, and Opal Basil will have to wait until next summer, but Bill Telepan’s Carrot Pancakes With Maple Pears can help fill the void. An added bonus are miniprofiles of some of the farmers who bring their produce to market in New York City every week, helping to cultivate the farm-to-table mania that has spread across the country in the past few decades like — well, an invasive plant, but a good one.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "0738216895", "oclc": 853310562, "seamus": 357902835, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0738216895", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780738216898", "isbn10": "0738216895", "links": [] }, "201": { "id": 201, "title": "The Night Gardener", "author": "Jonathan Auxier", "text": "

When Irish orphans Molly and her little brother, Kip, find employment at a rundown English manor house in the desolate countryside, something, or someone, is set on destroying them. As servants to a once-rich family, the siblings are struggling to survive but hindered by a mysterious giant tree that encroaches on the house and into the lives of its inhabitants. Molly’s dreams and heart’s desire soon turn to horror as she must engage her bravery, wit and storytelling prowess to battle an evil ghostly presence. This totally absorbing tale reads like a classic and is not to be missed. (For ages 10 and up)

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "family matters", "kids’ books", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "1419711442", "oclc": "", "seamus": 359420681, "bookshop": 9781419711442, "cover": "1419711442", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781419711442", "isbn10": "1419711442", "links": [] }, "202": { "id": 202, "title": "The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, And Death", "author": "Colson Whitehead", "text": "

You do not have to know anything about poker or even care about it to immerse yourself in Colson Whitehead’s memoir, The Noble Hustle. In 2011, Grantland gave him the assignment to compete in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, and write about it. Whitehead was a casual player, and he writes in depth about his preparation for the game and his progress, but the true delight of this book is his cool hilarity. It’s not really a spoiler to say that Whitehead doesn’t get rich — but neither is this a book about learning life through poker. It’s more like being inside a particularly interesting brain experiencing a specific and odd thing. I’d read a book by Whitehead about car repair — his turn of phrase is so delicious that you’ll have to restrain yourself from interrupting whoever’s nearby to read them great line after great line.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "it’s all geek to me", "seriously great writing", "funny stuff", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "0385537050", "oclc": 855905169, "seamus": 305668158, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385537050", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385537056", "isbn10": "0385537050", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 202, "book": "The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, And Death", "source": "NPR", "text": "From Poker Amateur To World Series Competitor In 'The Noble Hustle'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/07/310412859/from-poker-amateur-to-world-series-competitor-in-the-noble-hustle" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 202, "book": "The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, And Death", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'The Noble Hustle': In Vegas And In Life, We Play The Cards We're Dealt", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/03/308751363/the-noble-hustle-in-vegas-and-in-life-we-play-the-cards-were-dealt" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 202, "book": "The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, And Death", "source": "NPR", "text": "Exclusive First Read: Colson Whitehead's 'The Noble Hustle'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/04/22/299072740/exclusive-first-read-colson-whiteheads-the-noble-hustle" } ] }, "203": { "id": 203, "title": "The Odd One Out", "author": "Britta Teckentrup", "text": "

This wonderful children’s book is full of challenges to find the “odd one out” — the one penguin sheltering a fledgling, the scared tortoise who has hidden his head, the bird who caught the worm. Reading the story and finding all the odd animals could take quite a while, but the illustrations are so beautiful you won’t mind taking your time with each page. (For ages 2 to 5)

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Sarah Handel" ], "isbn": "0763671274", "oclc": 852457567, "seamus": "", "bookshop": "", "cover": "0763671274", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780763671273", "isbn10": "0763671274", "links": [] }, "204": { "id": 204, "title": "The Paying Guests", "author": "Sarah Waters", "text": "

I spent a good couple months reading The Paying Guests in 2014 — not because the book is long, but because I couldn’t let go of the pleasure of reading it. The bare bones: Post World War I, a newly impoverished Frances Wray and her mother are forced to take in boarders, the young couple Leonard and Lilian Barber. The Barbers are several rungs down the social ladder from the Wrays, but post-war British society is changing — everything from family life to the place of women — and every relationship in the house is affected. When a romance develops between two of the characters (I won’t give away which two), the plot explodes. This book reads like a Daphne Du Maurier psychological thriller with the heat turned way up. And when I say heat, I mean it. I’ll never think of a scullery without blushing again.

", "tags": [ "rather long", "book club ideas", "family matters", "for history lovers", "let’s talk about sex", "love & romance", "fiction", "historical fiction", "staff picks" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "1594633118", "oclc": 870919758, "seamus": 347419182, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1594633118", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594633119", "isbn10": "1594633118", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 204, "book": "The Paying Guests", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 204, "book": "The Paying Guests", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Historic Backdrop Frames Forbidden Love In 'The Paying Guests'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/347418535/a-historic-backdrop-frames-forbidden-love-in-the-paying-guests" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 204, "book": "The Paying Guests", "source": "NPR", "text": "After WWI, A Mother And Daughter Must Take In 'Paying Guests'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/348514539/after-wwi-a-mother-and-daughter-must-take-in-paying-guests" } ] }, "205": { "id": 205, "title": "The People's Platform: Taking Back Power And Culture In The Digital Age", "author": "Astra Taylor", "text": "

Debates about culture and technology are often couched in terms of either/or: Is streaming good or bad for musicians? Are social media good or bad for activism? Does online journalism leave us more or less informed? The People’s Platform takes on a weightier question: At the end of the day, whose interests is our wired world best equipped to serve? With devastating real-world examples and a sober sense of humor, Astra Taylor illustrates how the tool that promised access and influence to a generation of regular folks has left many of the old hierarchies intact — and asks how we can do better.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "it’s all geek to me", "nonfiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Daoud Tyler-Ameen" ], "isbn": "0805093567", "oclc": 761850064, "seamus": 361475968, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0805093567", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805093568", "isbn10": "0805093567", "links": [] }, "206": { "id": 206, "title": "The Peripheral: A Novel", "author": "William Gibson", "text": "

There was a time when Gibson’s visions of the future were the coolest on the market. And while he might’ve traded in the chrome and mirror shades for drones, video games, John Deere hats and the grinding poverty of young, rural military veterans in The Peripheral, his eye is no less sharp and his predictions no less chillingly plausible. Plus, this one’s got time travel in it (kinda), and a mysterious apocalypse looming on the horizon, haunting both sides of the temporal continuum.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "seriously great writing", "mysteries & thrillers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0399158448", "oclc": 870919306, "seamus": 360208554, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0399158448", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780399158445", "isbn10": "0399158448", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 206, "book": "The Peripheral: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "William Gibson Skypes The Future In 'The Peripheral'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/01/358118728/william-gibson-skypes-the-future-in-the-peripheral" } ] }, "207": { "id": 207, "title": "The Ploughmen: A Novel", "author": "Kim Zupan", "text": "

Valentine Millimaki is a reticent, insomniac sheriff’s deputy in Montana; John Gload is the jailed remorseless murderer Millimaki has been assigned to keep an eye on. Kim Zupan’s debut novel is an unsettling meditation on the nature of good and evil, beautifully executed and dark as pitch. Zupan is an unsparing writer, but also a generous, deeply compassionate one, and the relationship between Millimaki and Gload is one of the most troubling, truest ones in recent American fiction.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "0805099514", "oclc": 852763569, "seamus": 345559229, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0805099514", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805099515", "isbn10": "0805099514", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 207, "book": "The Ploughmen: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "In A Desolate Montana, 'The Ploughmen' Unearths Dark Truths", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/30/345558458/in-a-desolate-montana-the-ploughmen-unearths-dark-truths" } ] }, "208": { "id": 208, "title": "The Republic Of Imagination: America In Three Books", "author": "Azar Nafisi", "text": "

Sure, you’re just looking for a book to read while you’re waiting for dinner to cook — but here’s a brief reminder courtesy of Iranian-American author Azar Nafisi: Reading fiction is an act of bravery, citizenship and imagination. The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books feels like a sort of companion to Nafisi’s best-selling memoir,* Reading Lolita In Tehran,* about teaching literature in post-revolutionary Iran. That book illuminated the importance of literature in a theocracy. This one is an impassioned call to reading in a democracy. Using Mark Twain’s * The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,* Sinclair Lewis’ Babbitt and Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Nafisi argues that Americans, so gifted and lucky to live in a democracy, have begun to take reading for granted and marginalize the books that made us great. Not as long as she’s around — Nafisi has a gift for making literary criticism fun; reading the book is like auditing the class of the most passionate professor in the department.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "for art lovers", "the states we’re in", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "0670026069", "oclc": 870919634, "seamus": 357625258, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0670026069", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780670026067", "isbn10": "0670026069", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 208, "book": "The Republic Of Imagination: America In Three Books", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Republic Of Imagination' Sings The Praises Of Literature", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/23/357625110/republic-of-imagination-sings-the-praises-of-literature" } ] }, "209": { "id": 209, "title": "The Rise & Fall Of Great Powers: A Novel", "author": "Tom Rachman", "text": "

Something’s not quite right from the very beginning of this book. That’s where we meet Tooly Zylberberg, a bookshop owner trying to piece together her very complicated, global past. There’s what she remembers and then there’s what the people around her tell her, mixed in with large doses of deceptions and dark motivations. As he did in his last book, The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman creates this whole world of complicated, flawed and endearing characters who keep you wanting more.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Amita Parashar" ], "isbn": "0679643656", "oclc": 858940211, "seamus": 320653775, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0679643656", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780679643654", "isbn10": "0679643656", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 209, "book": "The Rise & Fall Of Great Powers: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Rise And Fall' Carries On Vagabond Adventure Tale Tradition", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/10/320650697/rise-and-fall-carries-on-vagabond-adventure-tale-tradition" } ] }, "210": { "id": 210, "title": "The Seasons Of Trouble: Life Amid The Ruins Of Sri Lanka's Civil War", "author": "Rohini Mohan", "text": "

In 2009, the Sri Lankan government finally declared an end to the island nation’s brutal, decades-long civil war. The Seasons of Trouble is a gripping and profoundly moving account of that war’s aftermath. It’s the story of two Tamil families displaced and upended by the violent ethnic conflict between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils. First-time author Rohini Mohan has produced an astonishing feat of reportage here, one that is richly detailed and gracefully written. Prior to reading, I knew next to nothing about this lush, remote corner of the world. Now I find myself breathlessly tracking the progress of an U.N. war crimes investigation into the events of that dark period.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "tales from around the world", "family matters", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Charles Mahtesian" ], "isbn": "1781686009", "oclc": 885547194, "seamus": 368485150, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1781686009", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781781686003", "isbn10": "1781686009", "links": [] }, "211": { "id": 211, "title": "The Secret History Of Wonder Woman", "author": "Jill Lepore", "text": "

Wonder Woman has always been as divisive as she is popular. Even as millions of girls followed her adventures, Wonder Woman’s progressive politics panicked conservative sorts, like the psychiatrist who testified to the Senate about the comic’s terrifying vision that “Women in these stories are placed on equal footing with men.” In her Secret History, Jill Lepore deftly sketches the Amazon superhero’s life — her creators, the increasing influence of comics, and the social upheaval she reflects — in wry and enthusiastic prose. It’s an engaging history of an iconic character and how culture has changed her (and changed around her).

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "eye-opening reads", "book club ideas", "family matters", "let’s talk about sex", "biography & memoir", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Genevieve Valentine" ], "isbn": "0385354045", "oclc": 874835576, "seamus": 357623853, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385354045", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385354042", "isbn10": "0385354045", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 211, "book": "The Secret History Of Wonder Woman", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Man Behind Wonder Woman Was Inspired By Both Suffragists And Centerfolds", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/07/10/421464118/the-man-behind-wonder-woman-was-inspired-by-both-suffragists-and-centerfolds" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 211, "book": "The Secret History Of Wonder Woman", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Man Behind Wonder Woman Was Inspired By Both Suffragists And Centerfolds", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/27/359078315/the-man-behind-wonder-woman-was-inspired-by-both-suffragists-and-centerfolds" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 211, "book": "The Secret History Of Wonder Woman", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Freaky, Fabulous, Feminist 'Secret History' Of Wonder Woman", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/10/17/356989560/the-freaky-fabulous-feminist-secret-history-of-wonder-woman" } ] }, "212": { "id": 212, "title": "The Secret Place: A Novel", "author": "Tana French", "text": "

The Secret Place, Tana French’s fifth Dublin Murder Squad novel, pries open the world of teenagers at a girls’ prep school, and the homicidal stew of hormones that lurks within could chill the toughest detective’s blood. Detective Stephen Moran turns up at St. Kilda’s School outside Dublin in search of answers to a cold case. One of the students has contacted Moran with teasing information about the death of Chris Harper, a Casanova from a nearby boys’ school whose corpse was discovered on the grounds of St. Kilda’s the previous year. French is sensitive to the look and manner of mean girls and the subtle tortures they so deftly inflict on their victims.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "rather long", "fiction", "tales from around the world", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Maureen Corrigan" ], "isbn": "0670026328", "oclc": 870919635, "seamus": 347622232, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0670026328", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780670026326", "isbn10": "0670026328", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 212, "book": "The Secret Place: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books Of 2014", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/15/370338890/sometimes-you-cant-pick-just-10-maureen-corrigans-favorite-books-of-2014" } ] }, "213": { "id": 213, "title": "The Shadow Hero", "author": "Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew", "text": "

With warm, funny storytelling and fantastic art, Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew team up to give a character from the Golden Age of comics a worthy origin story. Hank Chu’s happy life is turned upside down when his mother has an encounter with the Anchor of Justice, a popular superhero. She becomes determined to make a superhero of her son by any means necessary — until tragedy strikes their family. To protect his loved ones, Hank invites an ancient turtle spirit to live in his shadow. It’s up to Hank, calling himself The Green Turtle, to take down Ten Grand, the mysterious crime boss who runs Chinatown.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "rather short", "funny stuff", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1596436972", "oclc": 857967535, "seamus": 331454394, "bookshop": 9781596436978, "cover": "1596436972", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781596436978", "isbn10": "1596436972", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 213, "book": "The Shadow Hero", "source": "NPR", "text": "Can I Get A Do-Over? Shadow Selves And Second Chances", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/24/331732685/can-i-get-a-do-over-shadow-selves-and-second-chances" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 213, "book": "The Shadow Hero", "source": "NPR", "text": "Was The Green Turtle The First Asian-American Superhero?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/07/15/330121290/was-the-green-turtle-the-first-asian-american-superhero" } ] }, "214": { "id": 214, "title": "The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark For The Ivy League", "author": "Jeff Hobbs", "text": "

Every year there is one nonfiction book that makes me shake up my steady diet of fiction. In 2014, it was this detailed and moving portrait of a most complicated young man, who was found murdered in a basement near Newark, N.J. Robert Peace grew up poor outside Newark. He sold marijuana, but he was also a brilliant Yale University graduate who majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. Peace’s friend and Yale roommate of four years, writer Jeff Hobbs, makes a complete investigation — from birth to death — of all that made up Peace’s life. Reading the book, you become witness to tremendous potential lost, and you’ll think about race, education and poverty in ways that perhaps you hadn’t before. It can make for excruciating reading at times — excruciating, yet essential.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "nonfiction", "eye-opening reads", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Shannon Rhoades" ], "isbn": "147673190X", "oclc": 872653974, "seamus": 350577292, "bookshop": 9781476731902, "cover": "147673190X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781476731902", "isbn10": "147673190X", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 214, "book": "The Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark For The Ivy League", "source": "NPR", "text": "Remembering The 'Short And Tragic Life Of Robert Peace'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/23/350577398/remembering-the-short-and-tragic-life-of-robert-peace" } ] }, "215": { "id": 215, "title": "The Silkworm", "author": "Robert Galbraith", "text": "

Galbraith’s style is straightforward, well-executed and deeply satisfying crime writing. This is the second novel featuring Cormoran Strike, the troubled ex-soldier/war-hero turned private detective. It’s a dark and bloody tale, but Galbraith’s wicked, knowing characterization of British publishing types makes it disturbingly funny, too. The murder being investigated in The Silkworm is that of an author who is universally disliked. In fact, there are few likable characters here, and it’s Galbraith’s great skill that they remain compelling, despite their nastiness. I haven’t felt this thrilled by a detective since Kinsey Millhone in Sue Grafton’s alphabet mysteries.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "rather long", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Ellah Allfrey" ], "isbn": "0316206873", "oclc": 870782382, "seamus": 325781009, "bookshop": 9780316206877, "cover": "0316206873", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316206877", "isbn10": "0316206873", "links": [] }, "216": { "id": 216, "title": "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History", "author": "Elizabeth Kolbert", "text": "

Elizabeth Kolbert writes, “If extinction is a morbid topic, mass extinction is, well, massively so.” Especially when we’re to blame for the latest mass extinction. Kolbert brings that morbid subject to life by taking us on an around-the-world journey. In Scotland, Peru, Italy, the Great Barrier Reef and more, she profiles the rise and fall of species both present and ancient. By the end, the hubris of Homo sapiens emerges as particularly shortsighted: We may be the first species to actively kill ourselves off. You’re dying to read this now, aren’t you? Do.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "it’s all geek to me", "nonfiction", "the dark side", "tales from around the world", "science!" ], "reviewers": [ "Alison MacAdam" ], "isbn": "0805092994", "oclc": 853618709, "seamus": 275259548, "bookshop": 9780805092998, "cover": "0805092994", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780805092998", "isbn10": "0805092994", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 216, "book": "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History", "source": "NPR", "text": "In The World's 'Sixth Extinction,' Are Humans The Asteroid?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/12/275885377/in-the-worlds-sixth-extinction-are-humans-the-asteroid" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 216, "book": "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Earth's 'Sixth Extinction' May Be One Of Our Own Making", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/11/275404707/the-earths-sixth-extinction-may-be-one-of-our-own-making" } ] }, "217": { "id": 217, "title": "The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food", "author": "Charles Phan", "text": "

Charles Phan’s latest has a few of those recipes that are the gold standard for any adventurous cook — things like Roasted Mushroom And Yuba Salad, that despite mercifully short instruction lists will still send you to the back of your local Chinese market to search unmarked plastic bags for an ingredient you’ve never seen or heard of. Nonchefs will also enjoy Phan’s gently self-effacing stories of the restaurant business — one dish, the Hainan Chicken, barely sells, but Phan is determined to keep it on the menu because he thinks it’s the “purest [way] to enjoy a chicken’s natural flavor and texture.” (Which, by the way, is “rubbery.”)

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world", "staff picks" ], "reviewers": [ "Rose Friedman" ], "isbn": "1607740540", "oclc": 868199590, "seamus": 364687867, "bookshop": 9781607740544, "cover": "1607740540", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607740544", "isbn10": "1607740540", "links": [] }, "218": { "id": 218, "title": "The Soda Fountain: Floats, Sundaes, Egg Creams & More — Stories And Flavors Of An American Original", "author": "Gia Giasullo and Peter Freeman", "text": "

Did you know that the 15-year-old Duke Ellington worked at a soda fountain? That in soda slang, canned milk was an “armored cow,” and seltzer water, “balloon juice”? Sparkling bits of trivia, great photography, and recipes filled with retro syrups and straight-up fizz fill The Soda Fountain from cover to cover. Gia Giasullo and Peter Freeman, proprietors of the nostalgic Brooklyn Farmacy, will whisk you back to an era of marble countertops and bow-tied soda jerks and leave you smiling — with a snootful of bubbles.

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "for history lovers", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "1607744848", "oclc": 870335323, "seamus": 319214553, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1607744848", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781607744849", "isbn10": "1607744848", "links": [] }, "219": { "id": 219, "title": "The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait", "author": "Blake Bailey", "text": "

Show me a family and I’ll show you a mess. Families are made up of people, and people are volatile, selfish and stubborn. They’re also creative and resilient and lovable. And so for all of the sadness and chaos recorded in Blake Bailey’s memoir about a troubled brother and a fractured family, the book is lit from within by the steady, mellow light of acceptance and forgiveness. Bailey, the author of major biographies of John Cheever and Richard Yates, doesn’t gloss over his own screw-ups as he recounts his brother’s prolonged slide toward tragedy. This memoir is an eloquent reminder that no matter where you go or what you do in your life, you never really leave home.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "family matters", "seriously great writing", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Julia Keller" ], "isbn": "0393239578", "oclc": 866251891, "seamus": 283969781, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0393239578", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780393239577", "isbn10": "0393239578", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 219, "book": "The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait", "source": "NPR", "text": "Cheever Biographer Turns His Eye On His Own Troubled Family", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/03/01/283968305/cheever-biographer-turns-his-eye-on-his-own-troubled-family" } ] }, "220": { "id": 220, "title": "The Three-Body Problem", "author": "Cixin Liu", "text": "

Science fiction is big in China, occupying a “rather unique place in the culture and literature,” according to scholar Xia Jia. Despite this, we in the Western world don’t get to see much Chinese sci fi because of the language barrier. Luckily for us, this new translation of The Three-Body Problem opens up the worlds imagined by one of China’s most popular writers. Cixin Liu makes well-worn genre concepts fresh and exciting again and explores technology, human interaction and metaphysics from a distinctly different perspective. If you love hard science fiction with a bit of thriller thrown in, you need this book.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "science!", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "0765377063", "oclc": "", "seamus": 363123510, "bookshop": 9780765377067, "cover": "0765377063", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780765377067", "isbn10": "0765377063", "links": [] }, "221": { "id": 221, "title": "The Tropic Of Serpents: A Memoir By Lady Trent", "author": "Marie Brennan", "text": "

Marie Brennan expertly weaves together fantasy and science, history and memoir, and adventure and politics with this second book in the very entertaining Lady Trent series. This volume sees our heroine, Isabella, struggling to be taken seriously as a scientist in an alternate Earth that resembles the Victorian era. Isabella’s studies take her to an alternate African continent where her quest to learn more about dragons and sea serpents plays out against a backdrop of colonialism. The Tropic of Serpents offers a nuanced and engaging look at how politics can influence the “pure” pursuit of knowledge.

", "tags": [ "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "science!", "it’s all geek to me", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "0765331977", "oclc": 853313576, "seamus": 359408310, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0765331977", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780765331977", "isbn10": "0765331977", "links": [] }, "222": { "id": 222, "title": "The True American: Murder And Mercy In Texas", "author": "Anand Giridharadas", "text": "

Confession: When I started reading this book about a post-Sept. 11 hate crime for NPR’s Tell Me More, I thought, “Sure, it’ll be important, but it probably won’t keep me up at night.” As soon as I got into it, though, I found a fascinating window into two very disparate parts of America, represented by Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a former Bangladeshi air force captain who was shot while working at a Dallas gas station, and Mark Stroman, Bhuiyan’s troubled shooter. Almost obsessively reported, it’ll answer all your questions, while leaving you wondering just how much America is changing.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "eye-opening reads", "nonfiction", "the dark side", "the states we’re in" ], "reviewers": [ "Amita Parashar" ], "isbn": "0393239500", "oclc": 873237912, "seamus": 309752677, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0393239500", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780393239508", "isbn10": "0393239500", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 222, "book": "The True American: Murder And Mercy In Texas", "source": "NPR", "text": "What College Freshmen Are Reading", "url": "https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/07/30/486622777/what-college-freshmen-are-reading" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 222, "book": "The True American: Murder And Mercy In Texas", "source": "NPR", "text": "Post-Sept. 11 Hate Crime Reveals A 'Hurting' America", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/05/309747693/9-11-hate-crime-reveals-rotting-america" } ] }, "223": { "id": 223, "title": "The UnAmericans: Stories", "author": "Molly Antopol", "text": "

These stories reminded me of another era in short fiction, a time when Bernard Malamud and Isaac Bashevis Singer and Grace Paley were writing. The settings include Tel Aviv, Prague and Ukraine, and the characters are sometimes Israeli or Russian. Molly Antopol’s decision to spread out geographically allows her a way to take stock of the delicate connections between people in and out of couples and families. Sometimes the stories resemble miniature novels, rich and eventful and populated, and Antopol has an appealing, surprising tendency to keep going past the spot where you thought she was going to wrap the whole thing up.

", "tags": [ "fiction", "short stories, essays & poetry", "historical fiction", "family matters", "for history lovers", "seriously great writing", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Meg Wolitzer" ], "isbn": "0393241130", "oclc": 864789598, "seamus": 275391362, "bookshop": 9780393241136, "cover": "0393241130", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780393241136", "isbn10": "0393241130", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 223, "book": "The UnAmericans: Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "Like Individual Novels, These Stories Appeal, Satisfy And Delight", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/02/12/275351668/like-individual-novels-these-stories-appeal-satisfy-and-delight" } ] }, "224": { "id": 224, "title": "The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story To Light", "author": "Carlos Santana", "text": "

With its deep insight into the Mexican musician who usually lets his music speak for itself, this book is a Carlos Santana fan’s dream. Here, finally, the guitarist shares details about how he assembles his bands, the genesis of his first four groundbreaking albums and how his multi-Grammy-winning album Supernatural changed his band’s life. But the best part is the chapter where Santana expands on the personal philosophy he often shares with his live audiences: “[I] tell them about the light that they each have inside them, that they are light — luminous is the word I like to use. I ask them to please consider accepting the … greatness of their lives.” And his message seems to be as profound as the universe itself.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "rather long", "for music lovers", "biography & memoir", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Felix Contreras" ], "isbn": "0316244929", "oclc": 871788468, "seamus": 361459810, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0316244929", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316244923", "isbn10": "0316244929", "links": [] }, "225": { "id": 225, "title": "The Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 1", "author": "Stan Sakai", "text": "

Sixteenth-century Japan is never so entertaining as in Stan Sakai’s tales of Miyamoto Usagi, the rabbit ronin. Scheming villains, enigmatic monks, stern masters and fearsome assassins populate these 24 stories. The fact that they’re played by foxes, cats and even a rhino adds a lightheartedness to their adventures without lessening the intensity. Sakai is as adept at illustrating how a samurai sword is made as he is at depicting them in use. This 30th-anniversary compilation packs 632 pages and includes a full-color cover gallery. It’s a great introduction to a classic comic.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "for history lovers", "rather long", "tales from around the world", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "historical fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1616556714", "oclc": 880370205, "seamus": 361471282, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1616556714", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781616556716", "isbn10": "1616556714", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 225, "book": "The Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 1", "source": "NPR", "text": "Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/533862948/lets-get-graphic-100-favorite-comics-and-graphic-novels" } ] }, "226": { "id": 226, "title": "The Witch: And Other Tales Re-Told", "author": "Jean Thompson", "text": "

Fairy tales are like literary Velcro strips, nabbing us early and holding us tight; no matter how old or sophisticated we get, we stay emotionally connected to those simple tales of lost children, snoozing princesses and nasty witches. Except that maybe they’re not so simple, after all. In this collection of eight updated fairy tales, Jean Thompson demonstrates once again that she’s a modern-day Katherine Mansfield, capturing the culture with trenchant wit. These stories are entertaining, but also creepy; just when you think you know where Thompson is going — you look around and nothing is familiar anymore. Thompson is a wizard of the short story, and these tales are magical — and diabolical.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "family matters", "seriously great writing", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Julia Keller" ], "isbn": "0399170588", "oclc": 870919381, "seamus": 362022009, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0399170588", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780399170584", "isbn10": "0399170588", "links": [] }, "227": { "id": 227, "title": "The Wrenchies", "author": "Farel Dalrymple", "text": "

Dangerous children face off against demons in Farel Dalrymple’s nesting doll of a story. In a post-apocalyptic world, the kids known as the Wrenchies rely on jury-rigged technology, drugs and sheer cussedness to fight off bad magic. On another plane, a comic-book-loving kid yearns to belong. But who’s that fascinating guy next door? Dalrymple’s wire-taut drawings gain depth from painstaking watercolor washes. The distinctive way he draws faces — pinched, always ready to scream — is ideally suited to his hard-bitten characters. These kids’ toils make for a fascinating grown-up read.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "the dark side", "young adult", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1596434219", "oclc": "", "seamus": 364770451, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1596434219", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781596434219", "isbn10": "1596434219", "links": [] }, "228": { "id": 228, "title": "The Year She Left Us: A Novel", "author": "Kathryn Ma", "text": "

In a first novel etched with grief and conviction, Kathryn Ma, winner of the 2009 Iowa Short Fiction award, delves into the experiences of an adopted girl — one of the Lost Daughters of China, the “Unhappy Outcome of the One Child Policy.” Rescued from an orphanage in Kunming, raised in San Francisco, Ari is, at 18, dismissive of her adoptive mother, curious about her father, devoted to her grandmother and bedeviled by “abandonment issues.” Ma addresses the complicated questions of what family means with clarity and empathy.

", "tags": [ "family matters", "book club ideas", "fiction", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "0062273345", "oclc": 854541630, "seamus": 359411152, "bookshop": 9780062273345, "cover": "0062273345", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062273345", "isbn10": "0062273345", "links": [] }, "229": { "id": 229, "title": "The Zone Of Interest: A Novel", "author": "Martin Amis", "text": "

I usually stay away from Holocaust fiction — the topic is too easy to manipulate for emotional impact. But Amis’ new novel — set in a satellite camp of the Auschwitz complex — is different, based on extensive research of the period (which he details at the end of the book). Amis offers convincing interior portraits of the camp commandant, his family, other Germans who find themselves part of the genocide and Jewish prisoners. It’s a riveting read.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "for history lovers", "the dark side", "historical fiction", "fiction", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "Mark Katkov" ], "isbn": "0385353499", "oclc": 868037333, "seamus": 349318263, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385353499", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385353496", "isbn10": "0385353499", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 229, "book": "The Zone Of Interest: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Martin Amis' 'Zone Of Interest' Is An Electrically Powerful Holocaust Novel", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/17/349309402/martin-amis-zone-of-interest-is-an-electrically-powerful-holocaust-novel" } ] }, "230": { "id": 230, "title": "Things I've Learned From Dying: A Book About Life", "author": "David R. Dow", "text": "

David Dow, a death row attorney, writes forcefully about three bitter losses that converged into a perfect storm of distress for him: his athletic father-in-law to melanoma, his beloved Doberman to sudden liver failure caused by NSAIDs, and his unsuccessful legal crusade to save the life of a particularly affecting prisoner on Texas’ death row. It’s the convicted man’s heart-rending story that will shake readers most — along with Dow’s scathing indictment of the Texas judiciary system. I’ve urged this powerful book on more friends than any other this year.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "family matters", "nonfiction", "the dark side", "seriously great writing", "book club ideas" ], "reviewers": [ "Heller McAlpin" ], "isbn": "1455575240", "oclc": 863236549, "seamus": 357899949, "bookshop": 9781455575244, "cover": "1455575240", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781455575244", "isbn10": "1455575240", "links": [] }, "231": { "id": 231, "title": "Thirteen Days In September: Carter, Begin, And Sadat At Camp David", "author": "Lawrence Wright", "text": "

Drawing on interviews and archival research, Thirteen Days in September presents an almost minute-by-minute account of one of the last century’s greatest diplomatic achievements — the 1978 Israel-Egypt peace treaty negotiated at Camp David. Wright weaves into the story terrific portraits of President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, along with a history lesson that begins with ancient Egypt and continues to the present-day consequences of the treaty. The book reads like a thriller.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "book club ideas", "eye-opening reads", "for history lovers", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Mark Katkov" ], "isbn": "0385352034", "oclc": 876882554, "seamus": 348727793, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385352034", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385352031", "isbn10": "0385352034", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 231, "book": "Thirteen Days In September: Carter, Begin, And Sadat At Camp David", "source": "NPR", "text": "13 Days Of High Emotion That Led To The Egypt-Israel Peace", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/16/348731640/13-days-of-high-emotion-that-led-to-the-egypt-israel-peace" } ] }, "232": { "id": 232, "title": "Those Who Leave And Those Who Stay", "author": "Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein", "text": "

In August, out of nostalgia for a 2013 visit to Italy, I picked up My Brilliant Friend, the first of Italian novelist Elena Ferrante’s “Neapolitan Novels” about a lifelong friendship between two exceptional girls determined to overcome the circumstances of their tough Naples neighborhood. By the time I’d devoured Book 2, The Story of a New Name, the third novel, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, had just been released in English. (All three are translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein.) In this book, the girls are grown and leading markedly different lives with families of their own. If you’re looking for a cozy, soothing read, forget it: This sharp, perceptive chronicle of a fraught female friendship reads like a thriller. My only comfort in reluctantly turning the last page was learning that a fourth book will be published next fall.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "seriously great writing", "tales from around the world", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Hannah Bloch" ], "isbn": "1609452339", "oclc": "", "seamus": 358562859, "bookshop": 9781609452339, "cover": "1609452339", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781609452339", "isbn10": "1609452339", "links": [] }, "233": { "id": 233, "title": "Three Minutes In Poland: Discovering A Lost World In A 1938 Family Film", "author": "Glenn Kurtz", "text": "

At the center of this beautiful book is three minutes of film footage showing 1938 Nasielsk, a tiny Polish town, from a home movie that Glenn Kurtz found in his grandparents’ closet. There are delighted children, people jumping and waving — just a few moments of normalcy in a town that, a year later, would be devastated when the Nazis marched into Poland. When a young woman recognizes her grandfather Moszek Tuchendler, now Maurice Chandler, as a grinning teenager in footage Kurtz posts online, he begins to reconstruct a vanished world. A combination of luck and hard work reveals the harrowing story of some of the Polish Jews in the town — a community of 3,000, of whom fewer than 100 people survived. It’s an unusual Holocaust tale — a reconstruction of the moment just before the shadow that fell on Europe, and it reminds us that the horror wasn’t just the violence itself, but the loss of a vibrant, joyful, bustling life.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "nonfiction", "for history lovers", "family matters", "tales from around the world", "identity & culture" ], "reviewers": [ "Barrie Hardymon" ], "isbn": "0374276773", "oclc": 869438110, "seamus": 358368258, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374276773", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374276775", "isbn10": "0374276773", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 233, "book": "Three Minutes In Poland: Discovering A Lost World In A 1938 Family Film", "source": "NPR", "text": "Family Film Offers Glimpse Of 'Three Minutes In Poland' Before Holocaust", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/11/16/364051174/family-film-offers-glimpse-of-three-minutes-in-poland-before-holocaust" } ] }, "234": { "id": 234, "title": "Through The Woods", "author": "Emily Carroll", "text": "

Emily Carroll’s collection of original fairy tales and dark fiction is as beautiful as it is terrifying. Masterfully illustrated, the stories are told as much by the art as by the words, and it’s impossible to untangle the one from the other. Every story has some connection to the woods and the strange things that come from or go to them. Dressed in dazzling colors, these stories will trouble your sleeping and waking hours long after you’ve finished the last page.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "the dark side", "short stories, essays & poetry", "rather short", "for art lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Amal El-Mohtar" ], "isbn": "1442465956", "oclc": 857717689, "seamus": 334080307, "bookshop": 9781442465954, "cover": "1442465956", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781442465954", "isbn10": "1442465956", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 234, "book": "Through The Woods", "source": "NPR", "text": "Enter The Crypt, Tomb, Vault, Coffin (And More) Of Horror Comics", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2018/08/20/639258244/enter-the-crypt-tomb-vault-coffin-and-more-of-horror-comics" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 234, "book": "Through The Woods", "source": "NPR", "text": "Click If You Dare: 100 Favorite Horror Stories", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/632779706/click-if-you-dare-100-favorite-horror-stories" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 234, "book": "Through The Woods", "source": "NPR", "text": "Let's Get Graphic: 100 Favorite Comics And Graphic Novels", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/533862948/lets-get-graphic-100-favorite-comics-and-graphic-novels" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 234, "book": "Through The Woods", "source": "NPR", "text": "Do You Dare To Venture Through These Tangled 'Woods'?", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/29/334077605/do-you-dare-to-venture-through-these-tangled-woods" } ] }, "235": { "id": 235, "title": "Thrown", "author": "Kerry Howley", "text": "

Kerry Howley isn’t your typical mixed martial arts fan. The writer became hooked on the sport while working on a graduate degree in Iowa. In her highly original memoir, Thrown, Howley follows two local fighters at very different points in their careers, from their training gyms in Iowa to big events in New Orleans, Las Vegas and New Jersey. Hilarious, sometimes tragic, and philosophical, Howley’s first book is remarkably innovative and self-assured. It’s a sly, unexpected and endlessly promising debut.

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "eye-opening reads", "funny stuff", "it’s all geek to me", "for sports lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "1936747928", "oclc": 871789683, "seamus": 358357651, "bookshop": "", "cover": "1936747928", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781936747924", "isbn10": "1936747928", "links": [] }, "236": { "id": 236, "title": "Tigerman: A Novel", "author": "Nick Harkaway", "text": "

The best post-colonial novel of the year, and also one of the slyest critiques on our comic book and video game culture. Tigerman is the funny, beautiful and sharply paced story of a retiring soldier forced to become a hero for an abandoned boy as his island home gets pulled apart by politics, science and crime. But both the boy and the man are more than they appear, and the way they come together by the end of the book will leave you knowing that Nick Harkaway, the son of spy writer John LeCarré, has the family business well in hand.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "family matters", "book club ideas", "tales from around the world", "fiction", "mysteries & thrillers" ], "reviewers": [ "Jason Sheehan" ], "isbn": "0385352417", "oclc": 864700579, "seamus": 334064411, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0385352417", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385352413", "isbn10": "0385352417", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 236, "book": "Tigerman: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": " 'Tigerman' Will Get Its Claws Into You", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/24/334971240/tigerman-will-get-its-claws-into-you" } ] }, "237": { "id": 237, "title": "Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, And Madness At The Dawn of Hollywood", "author": "William J. Mann", "text": "

It’s a hilariously specialized subgroup of nerds, those of us who dig the intersection of true crime and silent film. But we who enjoy debating the 1921 manslaughter accusations against slapstick comedian Fatty Arbuckle or the relative merits of the Gish sisters are likely to also adore William J. Mann’s investigation into one of Hollywood’s oldest whodunits — the murder of director William Desmond Taylor. To be sure, Mann’s conclusion is hardly groundbreaking, but that’s almost beside the point. The author, a skilled biographer of such screen greats as Katharine Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, brings the early days of the movie industry to sparkling life on the page, whether he’s evoking Los Angeles’ demimonde or explaining how the era’s scandals drove the film industry toward protectionism in the face of morality campaigns.

", "tags": [ "no biz like show biz", "for history lovers", "staff picks", "for art lovers", "rather long", "the dark side", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Neda Ulaby" ], "isbn": "0062242164", "oclc": 869267293, "seamus": 361470563, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0062242164", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780062242167", "isbn10": "0062242164", "links": [] }, "238": { "id": 238, "title": "To Rise Again At A Decent Hour: A Novel", "author": "Joshua Ferris", "text": "

Paul O’Rourke is a dentist with a healthy (well, actually pretty unhealthy) sense of pessimism and despair. When he discovers that he’s being impersonated online, he tries to track down the impostors, with bizarrely mixed results. A story of faith and its opposite — whatever that may be — Joshua Ferris’ third book, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, is possibly the funniest, weirdest American novel of the year.

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "seriously great writing", "book club ideas", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Michael Schaub" ], "isbn": "0316033979", "oclc": 857879408, "seamus": 322926282, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0316033979", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316033978", "isbn10": "0316033979", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 238, "book": "To Rise Again At A Decent Hour: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Dentist Confronts The Gaping Maw Of Life In 'To Rise Again'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/26/325529167/a-dentist-confronts-the-gaping-maw-of-life-in-to-rise-again" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 238, "book": "To Rise Again At A Decent Hour: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Joshua Ferris Takes On Atheism In 'To Rise Again'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/17/322742970/joshua-ferris-takes-on-atheism-in-to-rise-again" } ] }, "239": { "id": 239, "title": "Unexpected Stories", "author": "Octavia E. Butler", "text": "

This e-book collection contains only two short stories but offers a much appreciated look at Octavia Butler as a young writer, still developing her rich style and genre sensibilities. “A Necessary Being,” found among her papers in the Huntington Library collection, and “Childfinder,” accepted to a famously unreleased anthology, were both written in the ‘70s at the beginning of her career — and both showcase Butler’s ability to create a whole world and well-rounded characters out of very few words. It’s a must-read, not just for Butler fans but for all lovers of speculative fiction.

", "tags": [ "short stories, essays & poetry", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "K. Tempest Bradford" ], "isbn": "9781497601376", "oclc": "", "seamus": 327722224, "bookshop": "", "cover": "9781497601376", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781497601376", "isbn10": "1497601371", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 239, "book": "Unexpected Stories", "source": "NPR", "text": "An 'Unexpected' Treat For Octavia E. Butler Fans", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/07/10/320746103/an-unexpected-treat-for-octavia-e-butler-fans" } ] }, "240": { "id": 240, "title": "Us Conductors: A Novel", "author": "Sean Michaels", "text": "

There was enough intrigue in the real life of Russian musician and inventor Lev Sergeyvich Termen to make a fictionalization of his adventures seem superfluous. Hustled off to America by his government, the inventor of the theremin (an early electronic instrument that seems to pull sound out of thin air) meets legendary musicians, performs at Carnegie Hall, falls in love with a violinist and is pressed into service as a spy. On his wonderful music blog Said The Gramophone, Sean Michaels has made the maxim “writing about music is like dancing about architecture” seem like a beautiful fantasy rather than an admonition. Here, in his debut novel, he focuses on the small moments that bring this man of ideas and ambition to vibrating life.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "for history lovers", "love & romance", "seriously great writing", "for music lovers", "rather long", "fiction", "historical fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jacob Ganz" ], "isbn": "1935639811", "oclc": 859192091, "seamus": 361466866, "bookshop": 9781935639817, "cover": "1935639811", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781935639817", "isbn10": "1935639811", "links": [] }, "241": { "id": 241, "title": "Valour And Vanity", "author": "Mary Robinette Kowal", "text": "

Mary Robinette Kowal’s wonderful Glamourist series gets even better in this fourth volume: Jane and Vincent, the married “glamuralists” (muralists who use magic) at the center of the series, are on their way to Murano, Italy, when they’re caught in an elaborate fraud scheme. Without friends or resources, Jane and Vincent live under suspicion for months, until a chance encounter with their swindlers allows them to concoct a plan of their own. Valour and Vanity is a fun heist, driven by smart plotting, compelling magical and historical details, and a keen eye toward human strength and frailty.

", "tags": [ "love & romance", "for history lovers", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "historical fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Bobbi Dumas" ], "isbn": "076533416X", "oclc": 869805136, "seamus": 323714928, "bookshop": "", "cover": "076533416X", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780765334169", "isbn10": "076533416X", "links": [] }, "242": { "id": 242, "title": "Virgil Thomson: Music Chronicles 1940-1954", "author": "Virgil Thomson and Tim Page (editor)", "text": "

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) was in a select category of composers — including Robert Schumann and Hector Berlioz — who wrote as well with words as with notes. Thomson’s phrasing was original, irreverent, intriguing to a broad audience and spot on. One of his reviews begins: “Even through the mud and sugar of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, it was clear in Carnegie Hall last night that Karl Krueger is a virtuoso conductor.” There’s more quantity than quality in music criticism now, so it’s bracing to read someone authoritative, curious, unbound by genre and able to tell general readers what old and new music sounded like and why they should care.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "for art lovers", "for music lovers", "nonfiction", "seriously great writing", "rather long" ], "reviewers": [ "Mark Mobley" ], "isbn": "1598533096", "oclc": 871671174, "seamus": 361476807, "bookshop": 9781598533095, "cover": "1598533096", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781598533095", "isbn10": "1598533096", "links": [] }, "243": { "id": 243, "title": "Viva Frida", "author": "Yuyi Morales and Tim O'Meara", "text": "

In Viva Frida, Yuyi Morales combines fewer than 20 words with tactile, beautiful illustrations to create something astonishing: a book simple enough for very small children to understand, but complex enough to evoke the work and life of Frida Kahlo. Morales’ lush illustrations, a unique combination of digital painting and meticulously photographed models of clay and felt, communicate the incredible richness of Kahlo’s artistic vision and demonstrate the depth of apparently simple sentences like: “I dream. Sueño?” Complete with an illuminating and personal author’s note, Viva Frida is a wonderful way to introduce kids to an incredible artist. (For ages 4 to 8)

", "tags": [ "biography & memoir", "for art lovers", "kids’ books", "tales from around the world", "nonfiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1596436034", "oclc": 863632630, "seamus": 364769409, "bookshop": 9781596436039, "cover": "1596436034", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781596436039", "isbn10": "1596436034", "links": [] }, "244": { "id": 244, "title": "Walt Before Skeezix", "author": "Frank King", "text": "

Fire up your flivvers and tea carts, birds — Walt Before Skeezix is here! Collecting some of Gasoline Alley creator Frank King’s very first strips, it’s a true road trip to the past. King’s work provides a glimpse of both early comics history and the first years of the automobile. Between the adorable language, the insights into the birth of car culture and the plain fun of reading comics from that era, this volume will delight history buffs. King’s love for ordinary people in all their ordinariness makes every page glow.

", "tags": [ "comics & graphic novels", "for art lovers", "for history lovers", "rather long" ], "reviewers": [ "Etelka Lehoczky" ], "isbn": "1770461418", "oclc": 851897203, "seamus": 320353237, "bookshop": 9781770461413, "cover": "1770461418", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781770461413", "isbn10": "1770461418", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 244, "book": "Walt Before Skeezix", "source": "NPR", "text": "A Charming Road Trip To The Past In 'Walt Before Skeezix'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/06/10/318216879/a-charming-road-trip-to-the-past-in-walt-before-skeezix" } ] }, "245": { "id": 245, "title": "We Were Liars", "author": "E. Lockhart", "text": "

All her life, beautiful and privileged Cadence Sinclair Eastman has spent idyllic summers on her family’s private island. But during her 15th summer, a mysterious accident that she cannot remember befell her, causing pain both physical and emotional. Now 17, Cadence returns to the island and struggles to piece together what has happened. Instead of simple answers, secrets and lies are revealed, denied and questioned. An engaging page-turner, this book lures you in and won’t let go — right up to the shocking end.

", "tags": [ "mysteries & thrillers", "the dark side", "family matters", "young adult", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Lisa Yee" ], "isbn": "0385741262", "oclc": "", "seamus": 359420418, "bookshop": 9780385741262, "cover": "0385741262", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780385741262", "isbn10": "0385741262", "links": [] }, "246": { "id": 246, "title": "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", "author": "David Shafer", "text": "

This smartly written, often funny and scarily realistic technothriller, which takes place in a future that’s well within sight of where we are today, features three 30-somethings who somewhat reluctantly join together to try to foil the plans of a powerful international cabal bent on privatizing the information we ever so trustingly hand over via credit card, Facebook, Twitter and every online move we make. Not just for the paranoids among us: This is a perfect read for fans of Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, anything by William Gibson, Dave Eggers’ The Circle and Don DeLillo’s White Noise.

", "tags": [ "book club ideas", "it’s all geek to me", "mysteries & thrillers", "funny stuff", "sci fi, fantasy & speculative fiction", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Nancy Pearl" ], "isbn": "0316252638", "oclc": 864092896, "seamus": 359565493, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0316252638", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780316252638", "isbn10": "0316252638", "links": [] }, "247": { "id": 247, "title": "With My Dog-Eyes: A Novel", "author": "Hilda Hilst", "text": "

In With My Dog-Eyes, we witness Hilda Hilst at the peak of her brilliance. The late poet turned novelist — in just under 100 pages — tells the story of Amós Kéres, an expert in pure mathematics who is losing his grasp on reality. He jumbles his sentences and appears aloof during class. Everyone recognizes that he is deeply troubled. Eventually, Amós denounces them all and leaves home in search of answers, but what he learns only adds to the depth of his madness. Told through poetic and disjointed prose, With My Dog-Eyes is a dark and truly singular work.

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "rather short", "tales from around the world", "the dark side" ], "reviewers": [ "Juan Vidal" ], "isbn": "1612193455", "oclc": 871337884, "seamus": 310149438, "bookshop": 9781612193458, "cover": "1612193455", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781612193458", "isbn10": "1612193455", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 247, "book": "With My Dog-Eyes: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "Avant-Garde Madness, Seen Through 'My Dog-Eyes'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/05/08/308264880/avant-garde-madness-seen-through-my-dog-eyes" } ] }, "248": { "id": 248, "title": "Wolf In White Van: A Novel", "author": "John Darnielle", "text": "

In his taut, haunting novel, John Darnielle goes deep into the consciousness of a damaged kid turned isolated adult who builds a game that changes lives, by design and by accident. The protagonist, Sean Phillips, is unforgettable — brilliant, innocent, self-corrupted and a master of his imagined realm who, because of injuries he sustained as a teen, can’t drink out of a regular beer can. Darnielle lets Phillips tell his own story in remembrances that surface like points on an interactive map; the book’s structure is hypnotic and its plot feels epic, though not many encounters actually take place. One of indie rock’s great balladeers, Darnielle uses his gift for imagining whole lives in three-minute songs to open up a rich and hidden sphere that shows us much about adolescence, the imagination and the fluctuating nature of destiny.

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "seriously great writing", "the dark side", "it’s all geek to me", "fiction", "for music lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Ann Powers" ], "isbn": "0374292086", "oclc": 869263719, "seamus": 343222135, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0374292086", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780374292089", "isbn10": "0374292086", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 248, "book": "Wolf In White Van: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "John Darnielle: Master Of Reality", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2015/01/22/379089003/john-darnielle-master-of-reality" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 248, "book": "Wolf In White Van: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "As A Lyricist And Novelist, The Mountain Goats' Lead Man Writes About Pain ", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/17/348736199/as-a-lyricist-and-novelist-the-mountain-goats-lead-man-writes-about-pain" }, { "year": 2014, "id": 248, "book": "Wolf In White Van: A Novel", "source": "NPR", "text": "The Monstrous And The Beautiful Dance In 'White Van'", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/09/16/343149562/the-monstrous-and-the-beautiful-dance-in-white-van" } ] }, "249": { "id": 249, "title": "Wonderland: A Novel", "author": "Stacey D'Erasmo", "text": "

Life onstage is tough enough for indie rockers without being out of sight for seven years. Anna Brundage is up against tough odds on a European comeback tour at 44. Why do it? In this intense and sensual novel, Stacey D’Erasmo captures the allure of performance, when Anna passes “through the eye of the needle to wonderland — to the broken, the illogical, the roads that double back on themselves, the weird, the uncanny, the in-between,” and the ever present question, “What next?”

", "tags": [ "seriously great writing", "for music lovers", "fiction" ], "reviewers": [ "Jane Ciabattari" ], "isbn": "0544074815", "oclc": 847537368, "seamus": 359409996, "bookshop": "", "cover": "0544074815", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9780544074811", "isbn10": "0544074815", "links": [] }, "250": { "id": 250, "title": "Words Will Break Cement: The Passion Of Pussy Riot", "author": "Masha Gessen", "text": "

If, like me, you thought of Pussy Riot as a lousy novelty punk group with a somewhat inchoate message and singularly bad luck, you’ll put down this book feeling completely ashamed of yourself. Simply put, this is the best, most urgent book I’ve read about art this year. Through rigorous research and furiously fine storytelling, Masha Gessen places the band’s founding members unflinchingly into context, revealing the worlds they move between (of Russian activists, intellectuals and prisoners) and reminding us that art really can change the world — if you’re an artist with the guts to try.

", "tags": [ "for art lovers", "eye-opening reads", "tales from around the world", "staff picks", "nonfiction", "for music lovers" ], "reviewers": [ "Neda Ulaby" ], "isbn": "1594632197", "oclc": 852222065, "seamus": 260746970, "bookshop": 9781594632198, "cover": "1594632197", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781594632198", "isbn10": "1594632197", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 250, "book": "Words Will Break Cement: The Passion Of Pussy Riot", "source": "NPR", "text": "The 'Pussy Riot' Arrests, And The Crackdown That Followed", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/01/08/260746432/the-pussy-riot-arrests-and-the-crackdown-that-followed" } ] }, "251": { "id": 251, "title": "World Spice At Home: New Flavors For 75 Favorite Dishes", "author": "Amanda Bevill and Julie Kramis Hearne", "text": "

Ah, the quandary of spices! Bought on an impulse, doomed to a dark, dusty corner of a cabinet for decades. (Honestly, when’s the last time you saw the caraway?) But Seattle-based World Spice Merchants offers a promise of redemption: a smart book packed with spice tales of origin and recipes good enough to throw open those musty cabinet doors every night. And even individual spice mixes get starring roles in several recipes apiece. Never again will you stand in the kitchen holding a half-used jar of dukkah, asking yourself, “What the devil do I do with this now?”

", "tags": [ "cookbooks & food", "tales from around the world" ], "reviewers": [ "T. Susan Chang" ], "isbn": "1570619077", "oclc": 868199569, "seamus": 363579169, "bookshop": 9781570619076, "cover": "1570619077", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781570619076", "isbn10": "1570619077", "links": [ { "year": 2014, "id": 251, "book": "World Spice At Home: New Flavors For 75 Favorite Dishes", "source": "NPR", "text": "Best Cookbooks Of 2014 Offer Tastes And Tales From Around The Globe", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2014/12/10/368776421/best-cookbooks-of-2014-offer-tastes-and-tales-from-around-the-globe" } ] }, "252": { "id": 252, "title": "You Are (Not) Small", "author": "Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant", "text": "

Everyone on the Internet knows this simple truth: It’s much easier to see what makes someone else abnormal than it is to figure out what might make you abnormal in the eyes of another. While this myopia may bring nothing but grief to Facebook walls, in the hands of Anna Kang and Christopher Weyant, it’s a splendid joke. If gray bear and all his friends are the same size, they can’t be small — brown bear must be big. But brown bear isn’t big! He’s just the same as all his friends — it’s the gray bears who are small. How the pair untie this Gordian knot will give kids and parents alike a bad case of the knowing giggles. (For ages 2 to 6)

", "tags": [ "funny stuff", "kids’ books" ], "reviewers": [ "Margaret Willison" ], "isbn": "1477847723", "oclc": 871063011, "seamus": 361455377, "bookshop": 9781477847725, "cover": "1477847723", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781477847725", "isbn10": "1477847723", "links": [] }, "253": { "id": 253, "title": "Your Illustrated Guide To Becoming One With The Universe", "author": "Yumi Sakugawa", "text": "

I’ve never considered myself to be anywhere near to becoming one with the universe, but Yumi Sakugawa has me convinced that there’s hope. Her drawings are, in general, sparse yet evocative of feelings — and *Your Illustrated Guide To Becoming One With The Universe * is no different. (You will certainly feel all the feels.) It’s instructional, it’s kind and it’s a wonderful book in which to bury your head. “Connect your heart to an antenna that picks up invisible frequencies from the universe,” Sakugawa writes. “What are some secret messages you have been missing this entire time?”

", "tags": [ "staff picks", "comics & graphic novels", "science!", "eye-opening reads" ], "reviewers": [ "Kat Chow" ], "isbn": "1440582637", "oclc": "", "seamus": 358353706, "bookshop": 9781440582639, "cover": "1440582637", "year": 2014, "isbn13": "9781440582639", "isbn10": "1440582637", "links": [] } }