Award Winning Books in 2014
01 May 2015
If you prefer to read the best of the best, consider picking up some of these award winning books from 2014 spanning all sorts of different genres!
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt
(Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
Follow Theo Decker, a boy in New York who survives an accident that kills his mother, as he grows up in a confusing world of wealth, artwork, antiques and fate.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
The Flick
Annie Baker
(Pulitzer Prize for Drama)
Full of humor and struggles, The Flick is about three ushers in a Massachusetts theater whose own stories trump the tales told on their 35 millimeter film projecters.
hardcoverpaperback
The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832
Alan Taylor
(Pulitzer Prize for History)
If you’re a fan of American history, Taylor’s detailed recreation of Virginia’s turbulent history is sure to fascinate and inform.
kindlehardcoverpaperbackaudiobook
Margaret Fuller: A New American Life Paperback
Megan Marshall
(Pulitzer Prize for Biography)
Margaret Fuller’s biography is that of an unsung hero in the literary world – she was Thoreau’s first editor, a friend of Emerson, a war correspondent and more as Marshall brings her story to life.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
3 Sections: Poems
Vijay Seshadri
(Pulitzer Prize for Poetry)
The third in Seshadri’s series features poetry, prose and commentary on everyday consciousness.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation
Dan Fagin
(Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction)
Journalist Dan Fagin recounts over sixty years of unfolding, true stories about the dangers of pollution, the causes of cancer and a small town in New Jersey that helped bring light to it all.
kindlehardcoverpaperbackaudiobook
Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China
Evan Osnos
(National Book Award for Nonfiction)
Also an Economist Best Book of 2014, learn more about China’s dramatic transformation with the help of Osnos, a Beijing correspondent for the New York Times.
kindlehardcoverpaperbackaudiobook
Redeployment
Phil Klay
(National Book Award for Fiction, John Leonard National Book Critics Circle Award)
Considered one of the best depictions of war in recent memory, this book brings readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – and to the lives of soldiers who must return to civilian life afterwards.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
Faithful and Virtuous Night: Poems
Louise Glück
(National Book Award for Poetry)
Fans of Glück’s previous Poems 1962-2012 will not be disappointed with this American poet’s latest collection.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
Brown Girl Dreaming
Jacqueline Woodson
(National Book Award for Young People’s Literature)
Also a Newbery Honor Book, Woodson shares her personal story of growing up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970 as a teen raised in South Carolina and New York.
kindlehardcoveraudiobook
The Narrow Road to the Deep North: A novel
Richard Flanagan
(Man Booker Literary Prize)
With over 900 reviews and a 4.5 average star rating on Amazon, it’s clear that the author of Gould’s Book of Fish was successful again with his latest award-winning novel.
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Lila: A Novel
Marilynne Robinson
(National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction)
Revisiting Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead and Orange Prize-winning Home, fans of Robinson’s fiction will not want to miss her latest novel.
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The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
David Brion Davis
(National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction)
From one of the premier historians on the 20th century, Davis’ 2014 book Davis brings his esteemed and prizewinning trilogy about slavery in the West to an end.
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Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir
Roz Chast
(National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography)
Chast’s latest memoir touches on a topic that nearly everyone must go through – adult children handling aging parents in a modern world.
kindlehardcover
Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
John Lahr
(National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography)
Live the life of Tennessee Williams through Lahr’s beautiful narrative showcasing one of the most prominent American playwrights of our time.
kindlehardcoverpaperbackaudiobook
The Essential Ellen Willis
Ellen Willis
(National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism)
This collection brings together essays by Ellen Willis from the 1960s to the 2000s on matters including rock music, pornography, religion, war, drugs and more.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
Citizen: An American Lyric
Claudia Rankine
(National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry)
Rankine’s meditations on race, society and identity rings true – as one reviewer noted, it’s full of “beautiful writing that conveys difficult truths”
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High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society (P.S.)
Carl Hart
(PEN Literary Award)
Hart’s memoir takes on concepts of race, drugs and poverty as he explains his landmark research in neuroscience and how he applies science to his life to help better others’.
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League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth
Mark Fainaru-Wada
(PEN Literary Award)
Award-winning ESPN Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru seek to uncover the truth behind the violent sport of football and its links to brain damage.
kindlehardcoverpaperbackaudiobook
Godforsaken Idaho
Shawn Vestal
(PEN Literary Award)
Vestal takes on Joseph Smith and the very core of Mormonism in this critically acclaimed collection of stories.
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Autobiography of a Corpse
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
(PEN Literary Award)
Translated by Joanne Turnbull, this book contains eleven stories by an author considered to be one of the greatest Russian writers of our century.
kindlepaperback
The King of Little Things
Bil Lepp
(PEN Literary Award)
Fans of beautiful illustrations and amusing stories will love this children’s book for ages 3 and up.
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Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore
Linda Leavell
(PEN Literary Award)
Modernist poet Marianne Moore’s poems about survival get a life of their own in this biography written by Leavell, with support of the Moore estate.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
Critical Mass: Four Decades of Essays, Reviews, Hand Grenades, and Hurrahs
James Wolcott
(PEN Literary Award)
With decades of critical writing under his belt, Wolcott’s collection features essays on American literature, rock and roll, television shows and more.
kindlehardcoverpaperback
Diaries of Exile
Yannis Ritsos
(PEN Literary Award)
Ritsos is known as one of the most important poets of modern Greece and this collection proves it with three pieces written between 1948 and 1950.
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domina Un/blued
Ruth Ellen Kocher
(PEN Literary Award)
Kocher’s fourth volume of poetry explores the slave/dominant relationship in detail.
paperbackFor more, also check out Goodreads’ Best of 2014 list – it’s not as official as other literary prizes, for sure, but there are still plenty of great books to discover!
Megan
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