Every year brings a crop of new books, some of which soon disappear without trace, whilst others become classics and are enjoyed by generations of readers. The year 2014 introduced many great books in all genres. Some of the writers of these books are established and readers are well acquainted with their previous works, whilst some are newcomers who have proven their worth through their debut work. Some of these books have been bought by tens of millions of people worldwide and has given a much-needed boost to the book publishing industry. Sunday Plus has compiled a selection of top-notch titles of some genres.
Fiction
Let Me Be Frank With You is a brilliant new work that returns Richard Ford to the hallowed territory that sealed his reputation as an American master: the world of Frank Bascombe. In this novel he reinvents Bascombe in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In four richly luminous narratives, Bascombe (and Ford) attempts to reconcile, interpret and console a world undone by calamity. It is a moving and wondrous and extremely funny odyssey through the America we live in at this moment. Ford is here again working with the maturity and brilliance of a writer at the absolute height of his powers.
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay is third Neapolitan novel by Elena Ferrante. Elena and Lila, the two girls whom readers first met in My Brilliant Friend, have become women. Lila married at sixteen and has a young son; she has left her husband and the comforts her marriage brought and now works as a common labourer. Elena has left the neighbourhood, earned her college degree, and published a successful novel, all of which has opened the doors to a world of learned interlocutors and richly furnished salons. Both women have attempted are pushing against the walls of a prison that would have seen them living a life of misery, ignorance and submission. They are afloat on the great sea of opportunities that opened up during the nineteen-seventies. Yet they are still very much bound to each other by a strong, unbreakable bond.
In Redeployment, Phil Klay takes readers to the frontlines of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, asking us to understand what happened there, and what happened to the soldiers who returned. Interwoven with themes of brutality and faith, guilt and fear, helplessness and survival, the characters in these stories struggle to make meaning out of chaos.
The Bees by Laline Paull is another fabulous novel. This is a daring dystopian story set in a beehive. Flora 717, a lowly sanitation bee, is born with unusual features and abilities that allow her to move fluidly between the strict hierarchies of her hive. Through this ability, she witnesses the brutality and beauty that the various castes of bees exhibit to keep the hive productive, all in service and loyalty to the queen. But when Flora discovers she is fertile and can produce an offspring, she must betray her instincts to worship the queen bee and follow an untrodden path that leads her away from her kin. Paull’s plot brings to mind films like the 1998 hit Antz, but her deft storytelling and her nod to scientific literature allow the story to avoid the cutesy trappings that sometimes characterize novels featuring nonhuman characters.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer is both a suspenseful global thriller and an emotionally truthful novel about the struggle to change the world in- and outside your head.
In Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Haruki Murakami gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.
Eimear McBride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing is simply a brilliant book—entirely emotionally raw and at the same time technically astounding. Her prose is as haunting and moving as music, and the love story at the heart of the novel—between a sister and brother—as true and wrenching as any in literature. This is a book about everything: family, faith, sex, home, transcendence, violence, and love. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Dinaw Mengestu’s All Our Names is a haunting story about an African man who leaves a home in tumult, finds love in the Midwestern U.S., only to be burdened by what he left behind. This novel emphatically confirms the promise of Mengestu’s earlier work: He is a masterful storyteller.
Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See is a novel to live in, learn from, and feel bereft over when the last page is turned. In this touching and beautifully constructed novel, a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy find their lives intersecting in the midst of the German occupation of France during World War II.
In Starting Over Elizabeth Spencer returns to the deep emotional fault lines and unseen fractures that lie just beneath the veneer of happy family life.
Comics & Graphic Novels
Graphic novels are narrative stories told using illustrations which usually appear in the comic format. The history of these novels can be traced centuries back and are finally gaining popularity in Pakistan. Often these novels are non-fiction.
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast is an amazing portrait of two lives at their end and an only child coping as best she can, the novel shows the full range of Roz Chast’s talent as cartoonist and storyteller.
Batman: A Visual History by Matthew K. Manning follows the DC Comics Super Hero from his 1939 beginnings as a crime-fighting vigilante to his present status as a worldwide cultural icon approaching his 75th anniversary. The book celebrates Batman's greatest stories and the writers and artists that created them.
Seconds is a graphic novel by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The novel tells the story of Katie, owner of a prospering restaurant named Seconds, who obtains the ability to fix her past mistakes by writing them down in a notebook, eating a mushroom, and falling asleep. Abusing the power to make her life perfect, Katie ends up creating more problems for herself.
In The Harlem Hellfighters, bestselling author Max Brooks and acclaimed illustrator Caanan White bring this history to life. From the enlistment lines in Harlem to the training camp at Spartanburg, South Carolina, to the trenches in France, they tell the heroic story of the 369th in an action-packed and powerful tale of honour and heart.
History
Killing Patton by Bill O'Reilly is about General George S. Patton, Jr. Who died under mysterious circumstances in the months following the end of World War II. For almost seventy years, there has been suspicion that his death was not an accident--and may very well have been an act of assassination. Killing Patton takes readers inside the final year of the war and recounts the events surrounding Patton’s tragic demise, naming names of the many powerful individuals who wanted him silenced.
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens.
Hampton Sides returns with a tale of polar exploration in In the Kingdom of Ice. In the last few decades of the 19th century, the world looked very different from the way it does now. Parts of the map were unfilled--chief among those spaces was the North Pole, which many believed contained warm currents that might provide safe passage. Enter James Gordon Bennett, the wealthy and eccentric owner of the New York Herald. Bennett--who was responsible for sending Stanley in search of Livingstone--wanted to produce another thrill for his readers, so he funded a naval expedition to reach the pole. Captained by George Washington De Long, the U.S.S. Jeannette shipped out in 1879 toward glory and parts unknown. The Jeannette became encased in ice, but the adventure was only just beginning.
Evan Osnos’s Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China is a vibrant, colourful, and revelatory inner history of China during a moment of profound transformation
A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre is written with heart-pounding suspense and keen psychological insight, and based on personal papers and never-before-seen British intelligence files, A Spy Among Friends is Ben Macintyre’s best book yet, a high-water mark in Cold War history telling.
Thirteen Days in September by Lawrence Wright is a gripping day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David conference, when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to sign the first peace treaty in the modern Middle East, one which endures to this day. In Thirteen Days in September, Wright gives us a resonant work of history and reportage that provides both a timely revisiting of this important diplomatic triumph and an inside look at how peace is made.
Biographies & Memoirs
Some notable creative talents have been given the biographical treatment. In leading biographies of the year one is of David Foster Wallace. He was the leading literary light of his era, a man who not only captivated readers with his prose but also mesmerised them with his brilliant mind. His untimely death by suicide at the age of forty-six in 2008 has become more than the quintessential writer for his time—he has become a symbol of sincerity and honesty in an inauthentic age.
In Napoleon: A Life, an award-winning historian, Andrew Roberts travelled to fifty-three of Napoleon’s sixty battle sites, discovered crucial new documents in archives, and even made the long trip by boat to St. Helena. He is as acute in his understanding of politics as he is of military history. Here at last is a biography worthy of its subject: magisterial, insightful, and beautifully written, by one of our foremost historians.
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs is a heartfelt, and riveting biography of the short life of a talented young African-American man who escapes the slums of Newark for Yale University only to succumb to the dangers of the streets—and of one’s own nature—when he returns home.
The Invisible Front: Love and Loss in an Era of Endless War by Yochi Dreazen is an unforgettable story of a military family that lost two sons—one to suicide and one in combat—and channelled their grief into fighting the armed forces’ suicide epidemic.
Nonfiction
Why We Lost by Daniel Bolger is a high-ranking general’s gripping insider account of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how it all went wrong.
Christian Rudder’s Dataclysm: Who We Are is an audacious, irreverent investigation of human behaviour. For centuries, we’ve relied on polling or small-scale lab experiments to study human behaviour. Today, a new approach is possible. As we live more of our lives online, researchers can finally observe us directly, in vast numbers, and without filters. Data scientists have become the new demographers. Our personal data has been used to spy on us, hire and fire us, and sell us stuff we don’t need. In Dataclysm, Christian Rudder uses it to show us who we truly are.
From personal loss to phantom diseases, The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison is a bold and brilliant collection, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize.
In How We Learn, award-winning science reporter Benedict Carey sifts through decades of education research and landmark studies to uncover the truth about how our brains absorb and retain information. What he discovers is that, from the moment we are born, we are all learning quickly, efficiently, and automatically; but in our zeal to systematize the process we have ignored valuable, naturally enjoyable learning tools like forgetting, sleeping, and daydreaming. Is a dedicated desk in a quiet room really the best way to study?
Trapped Under the Sea by Neil Swidey is a harrowing story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long tunnel, hundreds of feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job—with deadly results. It reminds us that behind every bridge, tower, and tunnel—behind the infrastructure that makes modern life possible—lies unsung bravery and extraordinary sacrifice.
Nonfiction Children's Books
Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse in Brown Girl Dreaming. Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.
Jenny Broom’s Animalium (Welcome to the Museum) is a series of books set on the "walls" of the printed page, showcasing the world’s finest collections of objects — from natural history to art. Open 365 days a year and unrestricted by the constraints of physical space, each title in this series is organized into galleries that display more than 200 full-colour specimens accompanied by lively, informative text. Offering hours of learning, this first title within the series — Animalium — presents the animal kingdom in glorious detail with illustrations from Katie Scott, an unparalleled new talent.
In 642 Things to Write About by 826 Valencia is young writers will get their creative juices flowing with this collection of smart, funny, and thought-provoking writing exercises. Kids can open to any page to find inspiration, express themselves, and jump-start their literary genius. Collected from the clever minds of 826 Valencia, 642 Things to Write About: Young Writer's Edition is the ultimate playground for imaginative children.
The Story of Buildings is narrative history of buildings for young readers. It is written by Patrick Dillon and illustrated by Stephen Biesty. The book tells that how people started making buildings, how they learnt to make them stronger, bigger, and more comfortable and why they started to decorate them in different ways. From the pyramid erected so that an Egyptian pharaoh would last forever to the dramatic, machine-like Pompidou Centre designed by two young architects, Patrick Dillon’s stories of remarkable buildings — and the remarkable people who made them — celebrates the ingenuity of human creation. Stephen Biesty’s extraordinarily detailed illustrations take us inside famous buildings throughout history and demonstrate just how these marvellous structures fit together.
We can all be heroes. That’s the inspiring message of I am Albert Einstein, a picture book biography series from historian and author Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Christopher Eliopoulos. Even when he was a kid, Albert Einstein did things his own way. He thought in pictures instead of words, and his special way of thinking helped him understand big ideas like the structure of music and why a compass always points north. Those ideas made him want to keep figuring out the secrets of the universe. Other people thought he was just a dreamer, but because of his curiosity, Einstein grew up to be one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known.
Star Stuff: Carl Sagan and the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Stephanie Roth Sisson is the story of a curious boy who never stopped wondering about stars. When Carl Sagan was a young boy he went to the 1939 World's Fair and his life was changed forever. From that day on he never stopped marvelling at the universe and seeking to understand it better. Star Stuff follows Carl from his days star gazing from the bedroom window of his Brooklyn apartment, through his love of speculative science fiction novels, to his work as an internationally renowned scientist who worked on the Voyager missions exploring the farthest reaches of space. This book introduces the beloved man who brought the mystery of the cosmos into homes across America to a new generation of dreamers and star gazers.
A Child's Introduction to Art: The World's Greatest Paintings and Sculptures is the newest volume in Black Dog's best-selling, award-winning Child's Introduction series explores the fascinating world of art and artists and includes do-it-yourself art projects throughout. The author of this book is Heather Alexander and illustrated by Meredith Hamilton.
What Is the Statue of Liberty? is written by Joan Holub and illustrated by Scott Anderson. In 1876, France decided to give the United States a very big and very special present--the Statue of Liberty. The gift was to commemorate the 100th birthday of the United States, and just packing it was no small feat--350 pieces in 214 crates shipped across the ocean. The story of how the 111-foot-tall lady took her place in the New York Harbour will fascinate young readers.
National Geographic Kids 125 True Stories of Amazing Pets is a page-turner offers 125 heart-warming and hilarious anecdotes, illustrated with full-colour photos of these intriguing animals. Stories include unlikely animal friends, animal heroes, amazing animal tricks, wacky truth-is-stranger-than-fiction stories of animal antics, and more. Plus, loads of animal facts sprinkled throughout the book.
Books By and About Pakistan
A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie deals with many histories. Shamsie begins her novel with a love story, and encompasses a variety of subjects including war, colonialism, nationalism, gender and archaeology without ever being didactic. The novel confirms Shamsie as a very rare and uniquely rewarding writer. She can brilliantly dramatize conflicts of characters and weave intricate and absorbing plots while also crisply fulfilling the newer, and indeed more formidable, obligations of the contemporary novelist: to set individual destinies in the enlarged and uneven arena of our globalized world.
Better to Wink at Life by Kamran Ahmed is about real life happenings. The author describes different incidents and situations which he faced in his routine life. The book is all about seeking pleasures from common happenings in our life. Even the odd and difficult situation of life could bring different results if handled positively. The book is brimmed with multitude of inner-voices, judgmental, rebellious, naughty, satirical, farcical, comical, witty and punned comments and situations of life. It not only amuses its readers but is also a source of inspiration to make our lives worth living. The incidents guide the readers that funny situation, comic happenings and amusing occurrences are means of momentary escape from the grimmer realities of life. A positive attitude during low moments of life can bring normalcy and can lifts our spirits up. The same attitude can also turn our monotonous or offending moments into happy ones. Those people who often complain about their tense relationship with their spouse can make a difference. It is just a matter of understanding and perceiving things differently.
Wounded Tiger: a History of Cricket in Pakistan by Peter Oborne tells how Pakistani cricket team evolved in desperate circumstances. Initially dispersed, unrecognized, underfunded and weak, Pakistan's team grew to become a major force in world cricket. Since the early days of the Raj, cricket has been entwined with national identity and Pakistan's successes helped to define its status in the world. Defiant in defence, irresistible in attack, players such as A H Kardar, Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan awed their contemporaries and inspired their successors. The story of Pakistan cricket is filled with both triumph and tragedy. In recent years, its cricketers have been a prey to problems but Peter Oborne's narrative is also full of hope. He shows how cricket, once largely confined to the great cities of Karachi and Lahore, has won players and followers from all over the country. He tells the dramatic and heart warming story of women's cricket in Pakistan, once in the shadows, now a force in the world. For all its troubles, cricket gives all Pakistanis a chance to excel and express themselves, a sense of identity and a cause for pride in their country. Packed with memories from former players and top administrators, and digging deep into political, social and cultural history, Wounded Tiger is a major study of sport and nationhood.
