BOOKSELLER TOP TENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (part 1)

It's time! You know the drill. These are our ten favorite books of the year. No rules other than it must have been read in 2014. Some booksellers have applied a number ranking, and others have not. Here we go!

Robert at Lake Forest Park
Robert gets top billing this year. Because his list is the most informative. Also, he's in charge, so it only seemed right.

• Neverhome by Laird Hunt - An exquisitely spare and powerful novel with an unforgettable main character.
• The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs - My heart still aches thinking about Robert Peace. The author takes you deep into this young man’s world in a way that reminded me of the journalistic power of Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers.
• 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write by Sarah Ruhl - Here reknowned playwright dives right into the heart of the creative process. I've reread many of these short pieces a few times already.
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld - This novel probably lived with me the longest after I finished it. Such a smart and masterfully executed structure. Maybe my favorite novel of the year.
• American Innovations by Rivka Galchen - How this didn’t end up on the National Book Award Longlist for Fiction, I’ll never understand. Galchen is the American heir to Borges.
• Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle - I can’t think of a better recommendation for this book than Austin Grossman’s “like Darnielle set out to adapt an old Iron Maiden t-shirt as a literary novel and succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.” 
• Tennessee Williams by John Lahr - The sections of this book that center around the creation and production of Williams’ plays are amazing. The access Lahr had to the voices of the people who were there at the time make this book a true landmark of American Theater history.
• Marshlands by Matthew Olshan - I love when novels refuse to tell the story you think they are going to. This novel set in the Iraq marshlands does that beautifully.
• Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn - What a ride! Besides being and incredibly gripping story about a bizarre con-man, this book is a fascinating look inside the mind of a writer. Kirn's own culpability about being duped and what that says about writers and the human psyche is the real engine that drives this book.
• We are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas - This is an immersive very moving book about family and love that will probably make you tear up more than once. In the end, however, it is a story of hope.

Deborah at Lake Forest Park
Behold. The Queen of Mystery. What I mean is that she's the Queen of Mystery Books...not that she's necessarily mysterious. Though, come to think of it, she is.

1.  The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
2.  The Wolf by Mo Hayder
3.  Blackhouse by Peter May
4.  The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen
5.  Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
6.  To Dwell in Darkness by Deborah Crombie
7.  The Accident by Chris Pavone
8.  Blue Labyrinth by Preston and Child
9.  I am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
10.  Forgotten Girls by Sara Blaedel

 

Mark B. at Ravenna
I love this list! Fiction! Non-fiction! Male and female authors! Plus a couple of books that I also loved this year. Mark's got good taste.

• Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin 
• Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn 
• The Dinner by Herman Koch 
• Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross 
• Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun
• Against Football by Steve Almond 
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld 
• Neverhome by Laird Hunt 
• Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty 

Patti J. at Lake Forest Park
Patti's list is a great list for all of you out there seeking fantastic kid's books. From itty, bitty babies to angsty teens, Patti's got you covered!

• Seattle Seahawks ABC by Brad Epstein
• Percy Jackson's Greek Gods by Rick Riordan
• Red Knit Cap Girl and the Reading Tree by Naoko Stoop
• Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
• The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer Holm
• Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chirs Grabenstein
• Dash by Kirby Larson
• Incommunicado by Randall Platt
• The Book With No Pictures by BJ Novak

Wes at Lake Forest Park
Wes is a first timer on our Top Ten Lists. He says about making his list, "I feel like a preteen filling out a Tiger Beat questionnaire." He's not wrong.

• Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet
• There Must Be Some Mistake by Frederick Barthelme
• The Unspeakable by Meghan Daum
• A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
• All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
• Love Me Back by Merritt Tierce
• Last Last Chance by Fiona Maazel
• Falling in Place by Ann Beattie
• Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe by Philip Gefter
• The Essential Ellen Willis by (wait for it...) Ellen Willis

Erin B. at Ravenna
This person obviously has the best taste. Just kidding, it's me.

• Dancer from the Dance by Andrew Holleran 
• The Short and Tragic Life or Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs 
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 
• The Charioteer by Mary Renault 
• The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander 
• The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy 
• The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath
• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin 
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld 
• The Infatuations by Javier Marias

Erin K. at Lake Forest Park
Another Erin with fabulous taste. Obviously it comes with the name. Love this list.

• The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck 
• History by Elsa Morante 
• Gretel and the Dark by Eliza Granville 
• All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld 
• The Horned Man by James Lasdun 
• Natural Histories by Guadalupe Nettel 
• The Snows of Yesteryear by Gregor von Rezzori 
• Silences, Or a Woman's Life by Marie Chaix 
• The Sea by John Banville 
• Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

Ray at Lake Forest Park
His name isn't Erin, but it's still a pretty great collection of books. I personally can't wait to read Shirley.

• Dead Mountain:The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar
• I Remember You: A Ghost Story by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
• The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
• Shirley: A Novel by Susan Scarf Merrell
• Love Me Back by Nerrutt Tierce
• Stupid Children by Lenore Zion
• Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh
• The Troop by Nick Cutter
• Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks
• Where the Moon Isn't by Nathan Filer

Andrew at Ravenna
YAY! Andrew's back! And he's brought his fabulous reading taste with him!

• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 
• The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss 
• Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan 
• The Likeness by Tana French 
• The Black Company by Glen Cook 
• Last Night at The Lobster by Stewart O'nan 
• The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg 
• Stoner by John Williams 
• Tenth of December by George Saunders 
• Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Emily M. at Ravenna
It's one of our Ravenna Children's  Wizards. Emily always has the perfect recommendations for the middle reader crowd.

• Perfectly Messed Up Story by Patrick McDonnell 
• Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadhota 
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 
• Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell 
• Pure Cure by Sharyn Winters 
• 100 Days of Real Food by Lisa Leake 
• Little Elliott Big City by Mike Curato 
• A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip Stead 
• Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd-Jones 
• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery 

This is just the beginning! Stay tuned for more top ten lists!