Best Books of 2014

We compiled 18 lists* to bring you the best books of 2014.

10 Votes

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

(Audio, eBook, eAudio)

9 Votes

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

(Large Print, Audio, eBook, eAudio)

8 Votes

Euphoria by Lily King

(eAudio)

Lila By Marilynne Robinson

(Large Print, Audio, eBook, eAudio)

The Paying Guests by Sara Waters

(eBook, eAudio)

Redeployment by Phil Klay

(eBook, eAudio)

7 Votes

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

(Large Print)

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

(Large Print, eBook, eAudio)

6 Votes

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu

(Large Print, eBook, Playaway)

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

(Large Print, Audio, eBook, eAudio)

Family Life by Akhil Sharma

A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante

(eBook)

The Martian by Andy Weir

(Large Print, Audio, eBook)

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

5 Votes

Bark: Stories by Lorrie Moore

(eBook, eAudio)

The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt

The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez

(Large Print, eBook, eAudio, Spanish)

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

(Large Print)

Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín

4 Votes

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and Other Stories by Hilary Mantel

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

Deep Down Dark by Hector Tobar

To Rise Again At a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris

(eBook)

3 Votes

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman

(eBook, eAudio)

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

(Audio, eBook, eAudio)

Song of the Shank by Jeffery Renard Allen

(Playaway)

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

(Audio, eBook, eAudio)

On Immunity by Eula Biss

(Audio)

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs

(eBook)

Capital in the Twenty First Century by Thomas Picketty

Little Failure by Gary Shtenygart

(Audio, eBook, eAudio)

My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead

(eBook)

A printable version of the entire list can be found here.

* Amazon, Brainpickings, Bookbub, Bookpage, Bustle, Buzzfeed, Flavorwire, Hudson Booksellers, Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Real Simple, Salon, Slate, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal.

Lessons From the Dead: Funeral Practices and Forensic Science

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.
~Mark Twain

We first heard of Caitlin Doughty through her webseries "Ask a Mortician", which answers questions about pet death, Viking funerals, traditional or natural burials, and more - everything about a mortician's trade you might be curious about, but afraid to ask, presented in a fashion that might just make you laugh out loud. Her new book, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, is a New York Times Bestseller. As Doughty says, "Accepting your own mortality is like eating your vegetables: You may not want to do it, but it's good for you."*

We've written on abcreads before about mortality, but we thought now might be a good time to revisit the topic. For the mystery buffs, we've included a section about forensic science.

Funeral Practices

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Lessons From the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

Freezing People Is (Not) Easy: My Adventures in Cryonics by Bob Nelson, with Kenneth Bly and Sally Magaña, PhD

Forensic Science

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek, MD and T.J. Mitchell

Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell

Silent Witnesses: The Often Gruesome But Always Fascinating History of Forensic Science by Nigel McCrery

Murder on the Home Front: A True Story of Morgues, Murderers, and Mysteries During the London Blitz by Molly Lefebure

The Poisoner's Handbook: Killer Chemistry [DVD]

Bosnia's Million Bones: Solving the World's Greatest Forensic Puzzle by Christian Jennings.

The Inheritor's Powder: A Tale of Arsenic, Murder, and the New Forensic Science by Sandra Hempel

Links

11 fascinating funeral traditions from around the globe [TEDBlog]

12 Strange Funerals and Funeral Traditions [Mental Floss]

What Do Forensic Scientists Do? [American Academy of Forensic Sciences]

Occupational Outlook Handbook: Forensic Science Technicians [U.S. Department of Labor]

The CSI Effect [The New Yorker]

A Cheerful Mortician Tackles the Lighter Side of Death [NPR]*

Featured Author: Stella Rimington

Stella Rimington's Liz Carlyle series is a notable entry in the spy thriller subgenre.  Firstly, her heroine is a female MI5 intelligence officer - not too many female spies getting their own series! Secondly, the author is unequivocally qualified to write these novels as the former Director-General of M15. Rimington worked her way up to this this position, beginning her tenure with the security service in 1967 and working in all three branches, counter espionage, counter subversion, and counter terrorism, before being promoted to Deputy Director-General in 1990 and then to Director-General shortly thereafter.  She was the first female to become Director-General and the first Director-General to be publicly identified, with her picture published in a 1993 booklet called The Security Service. This booklet was part of a campaign Rimington herself "oversaw...to improve the openness of the Service and increase public transparency" [Wikipedia].

Liz Carlyle is a young, hip 34-year-old intelligence officer navigating life as an agent-runner in the counter-espionage division and in a male-dominated agency. Liz's missions delve into murky plots involving Afghani terrorists, the IRA, attempted assassinations of  Russian diplomats, Middle East peace talks, Somali pirates and beyond, all told in the thorough, densely plotted manner of John le Carré. Read Liz Carlyle's team file on Stella Rimington's website!

Read titles from this series (in order of publication) in the library catalog:

At Risk

Secret Asset

Illegal Action

Dead Line

Rip Tide

The Geneva Trap

Close Call

Also consider watching the British TV show MI-5, several seasons of which are in the library catalog.

Readalikes

Blowback by Valerie Plame

Castro's Daughter by David Hagberg

The Cutout by Francine Mathews

The Athena Project by Brad Thor

Bloodmoney by David Ignatius

Death Echo by Elizabeth Lowell

A Gentleman's Game by Greg Rucka
 

Best Young Adult Books of 2014

2014 has ended, and people have started making their top ten lists for a variety of topics: the top ten best books they've read this year, the top ten best songs of the year, and the top ten worst songs of the year, just to name a few. One of my favorite lists is the End of the Year Book Survey, hosted by Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner. While I'm not going to do her survey, I've been thinking a lot about the best books I read in 2014, and that's what this post is about. The best books I read last year aren't limited to books that were published in 2014, though most of them did come out last year. My list also doesn't include books that I had re-read in 2014.

It's not easy to say what makes a book so amazing that it's one of the best books you've read. Looking at my Goodreads account, I gave 38 books five star ratings last year, but I realized that I don't actually remember a whole lot about most of those books. A handful of them did stand out, though, and those are the books I've picked as the best books I read.

Prisoner of Night and Fog, by Anne Blankman. Prisoner of Night and Fog is terrifying, but not in the typical sense. It's not a horror story; it's historical fiction. But because it's about a girl whose family is close friends with Adolf Hitler, it's terrifying, particularly when that girl realizes what Hitler's beliefs truly are.

Love Letters to the Dead, by Ava Dellaira. Dellaira is from Albuquerque, and the book is set in Albuquerque. I loved every word of it, and because of the connection to Albuquerque, I recommended it to everyone I possibly could.

Of Metal and Wishes, by Sarah Fine. I like retellings, and going into the book, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I definitely didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. What I loved the most was the combination of a Phantom of the Opera retelling set in a meat-packing industry, inspired by The Jungle. It sounds like a strange combination, but the setting lent itself perfectly to the story.

Blood of My Blood, by Barry Lyga. I knew I was going to love it, since it's the last book in the I Hunt Killers trilogy, which is one of my favorite trilogies. What I wasn't expecting was for Lyga to take the story where he did, and even though it was disturbing, it also had a wow-factor that worked perfectly.

I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson. Nelson's first book, The Sky is Everywhere, was published in 2010. I wasn't sure if Nelson would publish another book, but then I heard about I'll Give You the Sun, and I knew I had to read it. Four years is a long time to wait for an author's second book, but in this case, the wait was well-worth it. I'll Give You the Sun was so much more than I thought it would be. It was family and heartbreak and romance and love and self-discovery. It was beautiful and sad and hopeful. I'll Give You the Sun is the type of book that you will be fully immersed in, from beginning to end.

The Beginning of Everything, by Robyn Schneider. I read it while I was on vacation, and after I finished it, it took me a good day before I could even start another book. The Beginning of Everything has one of the best opening chapters I've read. The book made me rethink so many things and gave me a new perspective on my life.

Dreams of Gods and Monsters, by Laini Taylor. It might be a cliche to call this book a stunning conclusion to a trilogy, but really, it was. The more I read, the less I wanted it to end, because I knew the ending was going to break my heart.

What were the best books you read this year? Let us know in the comments!

Proust Questionnaire

A page from a confession album

Happy New Year! It's that time of year when everyone takes stock of their lives and resolves to make changes, right? So, a perfect time of year to talk about a personality quiz, or, at least, personal confessions.

Personality quizzes seem to be ubiquitous these days - at least, we can't seem to log into Facebook without seeing that someone's found out "What Is Your '70s Anthem?" or "How Spiritual Are You As a Human Being?" or "What Color Should You Die Your Hair According to Your Personality?" - but they are hardly a new idea. According to Wikipedia, personality testing was developed in the 1920s and "intended to ease the process of personnel selection".  Probably the most famous personality test of this type is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. But questionnaires that asked people for "confessions" or "confidences" have been around much longer than that!

Remember autograph albums, wherein one collected signatures of family, friends, and the famous? Well, in late 19th century Britain, "confession albums" were popular - only, instead of having blank pages to fill, their pages were filled with a series of questions which you answered.  Those same kinds of questions are still around in the form of the "Proust Questionnaire", which is often used for celebrity interviews.

We first discovered the Proust Questionnaire in the pages of Vanity Fair magazine, where a version of it appears monthly. It poses questions to celebrities - including John Malkovich, David Hockney, Donatella Versace, Danielle Steel, and Terry Gross - such as:

• What is your chief characteristic?
• What is your main fault?
• What is your idea of happiness?
• Who are your heroes in real life?

Are you intrigued?  Looking to learn more about your personality or see how your answers compare to others'? You can take the Proust Questionnaire yourself - in the "links" section, there is a link to an interactive version - or just peruse some of the library catalog's offerings on personality assessment, listed below.

Who Are You Meant To Be?: A Groundbreaking Step-by-Step Process For Discovering and Fulfilling Your True Potential by Anne Dranitsaris, PhD & Heather Dranitsaris-Hilliard

Better Than Normal: How What Makes You Different Can Make You Exceptional by Dale Archer

Personality Power: Discover Your Unique Profile, and Unlock Your Potential For Breakthrough Success by Shoya Zichy [eBook]

The Complete Personality Assessment: Psychometric Tests to Reveal Your True Potential by Jim Barrett and Hugh Green  [eBook]

Why Him? Why Her?: Finding Real Love By Understanding Your Personality Type by Helen Fisher

How Do You Compare?: 12 Simple Tests to Discover Hidden Truths About Your Personality and Fascinating Facts About Everyone Else! by Andrew N. Williams

Do You Know the Real You?: More Than 66 Ways to Understand Your Personality by Claire Gordon

The Birth Order Book of Love: How The #1 Personality Predictor Can Help You Find "The One" by William Cane

Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career For You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron

What Color Is Your Slipcover?: How Discovering Your Design Personality Can Help You Create the Home of Your Dreams by Denny Daikeler  


Links

Proust Questionnaire [Wikipedia]

Confession Album [Wikipedia]

Interactive Proust Questionnaire [Vanity Fair]

Celebrities' Answers to the Proust Questionnaire [Vanity Fair]

New & Novel: Exhibitions

We love to go to art museums. Do you know you can still see Gods and Heroes: Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts,Paris at the Albuquerque Museum until January 4, 2015? Later in 2015, we are looking forward to Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe! If you like museums too, have you checked out our Museum Discovery Pass Program yet? It ends March 15, 2015, so take advantage of it now!

However, sometimes you don't get out to museums as much as you'd like. You get busy, you don't have the cash, the exhibition you want to see isn't coming to town. One of the coolest things the internet has made available is online museums and virtual tours - you can see a list of some below.  But, also, we have a collection of exhibition catalogues available for checkout in the library catalog! Here are some of our latest acquisitions:

Manuel Carrillo: Mi Querido México by Stuart A. Ashman, curator

Kandinsky: A Retrospective with essays by Angela Lampe and Brady Roberts

Art of the American Frontier: From the Buffalo Bill Center of the West with essays by Stephanie Mayer Heydt, Mindy N. Besaw, Emma I. Hansen

Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door by Elizabeth Siegel with Brett Abbott and Paul Martineau

Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950 by Kerry Brougher, Russell Ferguson and Dario Gamboni

Art and Appetite: American Painting, Culture, and Cuisine edited by Judith A. Barter

Everything Loose Will Land: 1970s Art and Architecture in Los Angeles edited by Sylvia Lavin with Kimberli Meyer

Korea: Ein Fotoprojekt = Korea: A Photo Project by Dieter Leistner

Barbara Nessim: An Artful Life edited by David Galloway

Color Rush: American Color Photography from Stieglitz to Sherman by Katherine A. Bussard & Lisa Hostetler

Art and Music in Venice: From the Renaissance to the Baroque edited by Hilliard T. Goldfarb

Brassaï: For the Love of Paris by exhibition curator Agnès de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

Behind Closed Doors: Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492-1898 edited by Richard Ast

The Smithsonian's History of America in 101 Objects by Richard Kurin


Also consider taking a look-see at:

The Great Museums [DVD]

The Barnes Collection [DVD]

Louvre City [DVD]

Herb & Dorothy [DVD]

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry [DVD]

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present [DVD]

Hidden Treasures: What Museums Can't or Won't Show You by Harriet Baskas

The Ideal Museum: An Art Lover's Dream Collection by Phillippe Daverio

Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists by Anthony M. Amore and Tom Mashberg  

Art is Every Day: Activities For the Home, Park, Museum, and City by Eileen S. Prince [eBook]


Online/Virtual Museums (a random sampling)

The Collection Online - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Collections Online - Cleveland Museum of Art

Online Tours - Louvre Museum

Browse the Collection Online - Guggenheim Museum

British Museum - Online Tours

Diego Rivera Web Museum

Museum of Computer Art (MOCA)

Virtual Tour: The Frick Collection

Victoria and Albert Museum: Search the Collections
   

New & Novel: Military Romances

According our literary eResource NoveList, author Lindsay McKenna created the contemporary military romance subgenre in 1983 with her book Captive of Fate (though military heroes featured in Regency romance long before that). What is the appeal of the military romance?  NoveList suggests:

the appeal of  all romances, including military ones, may be described as character and plot driven with an intensifying pace as the relationship and sexual tension grows between the hero and heroine. Their tonal appeal elements vary, however, by time period, topic and setting, but most military romances are blends of romantic suspense with a suspenseful tone of high drama as a mission or rescue is carried out. Others deal with the experience of coming home, with loss or PTSD and obviously have a more bittersweet, emotionally intense or heart wrenching tone.

Author Lisa Marie Rice sums it up: "If you have a man who's stuck with you when bullets are flying, this is a man who will stick with you if you get breast cancer."

Navy SEALs have become popular military romance heroes.  Author Suzanne Brockmann started researching SEALs in 1995 - they are known for "their use of stealth and being able to slip into a location unnoticed; their tight bonds with teammates; the fact that SEALs are alpha males who prefer to take action, they are in topnotch physical shape, highly intelligent and top scholars, intensely motivated and highly driven"* and are typically depicted in romance fiction as

testosterone-laden, commitment phobic, smart, handsome "bad-ass" accomplished lover[s] with six-pack abs who [are] attracted to, protective of, and supportive but not controlling of, smart women heroine...giv[ing] the reader the literary satisfaction of watching a gigantic redwood fall.*

Are you a fan of military romances? We have some titles for you! Here are some of the newest books from the catalog in this compelling subgenre:

Breaking Danger: A Ghost Ops Novel by Lisa Marie Rice

Free Fall by Catherine Mann

Hell For Leather by Julie Ann Walker

Light Up the Night by M. L. Buchman

Breaking Point by Lindsay McKenna

Dangerous Games by Lora Leigh

Return to Glory by Sara Arden

Bad Nights by Rebecca York

Feeling Hot by Elle Kennedy 

Headed for Trouble by Suzanne Brockmann

Navy Husband by Debbie Macomber [eBook]

A Hero To Come Home To by Marilyn Pappano

Killing Time by Cindy Gerard

The Officer and the Secret by Jeanette Murray

Her Perfect Mate by Paige Tyler

Back to You by Jessica Scott


Link

There Are More SEALs in Romance Fiction Than in the U.S. Navy: The Appeal of Military Romances [NoveList]*

Six Reasons to Love Military Romances [Huffington Post]

Popular Military Romance Books [Goodreads]

The Ultimate List of Military Hero Romance Books [Maryse's Book Blog]
organized by military branch