An Unnecessary Wo...
Best Books of 2014
The best books of the year, as chosen by The Wall Street Journal from more than 1,000 books reviewed, alongside a master list of the most-cited books on the best-of lists released so far this season.
Your Friend’s Reading List
We've loaded your friend's reading list here. These books were part of The Wall Street Journal's Best Books of 2014 compilation.
Best Fiction
Among the year’s best novels were Atticus Lish’s tour de force Preparation for the Next Life and Lila, Marilynne Robinson’s third trip to Gilead, Iowa.
Best Non-Fiction
The year’s top Non-Fiction books include Nina Teicholz’s dietary expose, The Big Fat Surprise, and Daniel Levitin’s guide to living in the information age, The Organized Mind.
Best Mystery
Among the year's best mysteries are Patrick Hoffman's The White Van, about a 27-year-old Northern California hustler, and Emma Healey's Elizabeth Is Missing, about an 82-year-old woman who often forgets things.
Best Children
This year's best children's novels include Michael Escoffier's comedy caper, Take Away the A, and Shaun Tan's sublimely weird Rules of Summer.
Best Fiction
The Journal reviewed ten best-of lists to discover the most-cited books. Among the year's best novels, author Sarah Water's suspenseful tale The Paying Guests came out on top, appearing on six lists.
Best Non-Fiction
Among the lists the Journal reviewed, Elizabeth Kolbert's study of the planet's ongoing mass extinction, The Sixth Extinction, was the most-cited non-fiction book of the year.
Best Mystery and Thriller
Of the year's best mysteries, these five were tied with two mentions each, including Tana French's The Secret Place, the latest entry in the Dublin Murder Squad series.
Best Young Adult
Both Lauren Oliver's novel Panic and E. Lockhart's suspenseful We Were Liars came out on top among the year's best young adult novels.
Picks From Notable People
The WSJ asked 50 of its friends — from Lena Dunham and Kaci Hickox to Phil Klay and Robert Shiller — to name their favorite books of 2014.
Next: Best of the Rest
See a master list of the most-cited books on the best-of lists released so far this year.
By Anna Russell and Stuart A. Thompson
Last updated Dec. 12, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. | Published Dec. 4, 2014 at 12:00 p.m.
Notes: Books on the compilation list were sourced from The Washginton Post, The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Amazon, Goodreads, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Barnes & Noble. If lists were not sorted by category, the Journal assigned a category for each book. In some cases, a publication would include the same book several times; these were counted only once per list. In the event of a tie, Journal editors selected the winner.
