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The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year 2014

The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year 2014 names 38 books across 2 categories. 22 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

Fiction

  1. 10:04 by Ben Lernersource (opens in a new tab)
  2. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon Jamessource (opens in a new tab)
  3. A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBridesource (opens in a new tab)
  4. All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toewssource (opens in a new tab)
  5. All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestusource (opens in a new tab)
  6. An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddinesource (opens in a new tab)
  7. An Untamed State by Roxane Gaysource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Can't and Won't by Lydia Davissource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumachersource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offillsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. Euphoria by Lily Kingsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moransource (opens in a new tab)
  13. Man V. Nature by Diane Cooksource (opens in a new tab)
  14. Revival by Stephen Kingsource (opens in a new tab)
  15. The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedtsource (opens in a new tab)
  16. The Devil I Know by Claire Kilroysource (opens in a new tab)
  17. The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacobsource (opens in a new tab)
  18. Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrantesource (opens in a new tab)
  19. Wolf in White Van by John Darniellesource (opens in a new tab)

Nonfiction

  1. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gaysource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chastsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Kordasource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevensonsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion by Harold Holzersource (opens in a new tab)
  6. On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller by Richard Norton Smithsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America by Annie Jacobsensource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Soldier Girls: The Battles of Three Women at Home and Abroad by Helen Thorpesource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahrsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamisonsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World by Greg Grandinsource (opens in a new tab)
  12. The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan by Rick Perlsteinsource (opens in a new tab)
  13. The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century by David Reynoldssource (opens in a new tab)
  14. The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941-1942 by Nigel Hamiltonsource (opens in a new tab)
  15. The Most Dangerous Man in America: The Making of Douglas MacArthur by Mark Perrysource (opens in a new tab)
  16. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation by David Brion Davissource (opens in a new tab)
  17. The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait by Blake Baileysource (opens in a new tab)
  18. The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas by Anand Giridharadassource (opens in a new tab)
  19. Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film by Glenn Kurtzsource (opens in a new tab)

About the The Boston Globe Best Books of the Year

The Globe's year-end Fiction and Nonfiction critics' picks. Picks from the same year-end package for mystery, poetry, sports, graphic novels, science, New England, children's, middle grade, and young adult books are left out. 2006-2009 lists are the boxed title lists that ran with the year-end fiction and nonfiction essays on boston.com. In 2011 and 2014 each section was the combined picks of two or three critics; books picked by more than one critic appear once. Missing years: no 2010 adult list could be found in the Wayback Machine (only a children's list was archived). No list is ranked. bostonglobe.com robots.txt blocks AI crawlers, so no Globe page was fetched directly: Globe pages were read through Wayback Machine captures, and the 2022-2024 lists were read from the Flourish card embeds the Globe pages load. Secondary sources: yearendlists.com copies of the 2020-2025 lists were used to cross-check counts and to correct three page typos (Walter Mosley, Natasha Trethewey, and the title Loved and Missed). Other page typos were corrected against existing catalog entries (Tenth of December, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Jodi Kantor) and against the publisher listing for Helon Habila's Travelers. The 2016 list files Svetlana Alexievich's Secondhand Time under Fiction, as the Globe did.

Organization: The Boston Globe. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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