{"id":895,"date":"2014-05-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T20:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:23:17","slug":"public-picks-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Picks 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past year.\u00a0As in last year\u2019s\u00a0Picks<\/a>, we aimed for a list that combines the best of the best with\u00a0more idiosyncratic works that you may have missed.<\/p>\n

With admiring nods to widely praised works like\u00a0Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie\u2019s\u00a0Americanah<\/i>\u00a0and the second volume of Karl Ove Knausgaard\u2019s\u00a0My Struggle<\/i>,\u00a0Sheri Fink\u2019s\u00a0Five Days at Memorial<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Thomas Piketty<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Capital in the Twenty-First Century<\/i>, to\u00a0Oscar-winning films like\u00a0Twelve Years a Slave<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0The Great Beauty<\/i>, then, here are our picks:\u00a0a dozen titles each in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, and art and media that appeared in the US between May 1, 2013, and April 30, 2014, joined this year by a\u00a0top 10 list of graphic works from the same period. We hope you\u2019ll find many new favorites among them.<\/p>\n

\n

FICTION<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\u2022 C\u00e9sar Aira, The Hare<\/i>, translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor (New Directions)
\n\u2022 Margaret Atwood, MaddAddam<\/i> (Nan A. Talese)
\n\u2022 J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus<\/i> (Viking)
\n\u2022 Elena Ferrante, The Story of a New Name<\/i>, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein (Europa)
\n\u2022 Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves<\/i> (Marian Wood \/ Putnam)
\n\u2022 Gaute Heivoll, Before I Burn<\/i>, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Graywolf)
\n\u2022 Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge<\/i> (The Penguin Press)
\n\u2022 Eric Lundgren, The Facades<\/i> (Overlook)
\n\u2022 Lorrie Moore, Bark<\/i> (Knopf)
\n\u2022 Minae Mizumura, A True Novel<\/i>, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters Carpenter (Other Press)
\n\u2022 Josep Pla, The Gray Notebook<\/i>, translated from the Catalan by Peter Bush (New York Review Books Classics)
\n\u2022 Helen Oyeyemi, Boy, Snow, Bird\u00a0<\/i>(Riverhead)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NONFICTION<\/b><\/div>\n

\u2022 Sasha Abramsky, The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives<\/i> (Nation Books)
\n\u2022 Hilton Als, White Girls<\/i> (McSweeney\u2019s)
\n\u2022 David Finkel, Thank You for Your Service<\/i> (Sarah Crichton \/ Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
\n\u2022 Estelle B. Freedman, Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation<\/i> (Harvard University Press)
\n\u2022 Alice Goffman, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City<\/i> (University of Chicago Press)
\n\u2022 Greg Grandin, Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World<\/i> (Metropolitan Books)
\n\u2022 Douglas Kahn, Earth Sound Signal: Energies and Earth Magnitude in the Arts <\/i>(University of California Press)
\n\u2022 J\u00fcrgen Osterhammel, The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century<\/i>, translated from the German by Patrick Camiller (Princeton University Press)
\n\u2022 Pierre Rosanvallon, The Society of Equals<\/i>, translated from the French by Arthur Goldhammer (Harvard University Press)
\n\u2022 Fred Turner, The Democratic Surround: Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties<\/i> (University of Chicago Press)
\n\u2022 Camilo Jos\u00e9 Vergara, Harlem: The Unmaking of a Ghetto <\/i>(University of Chicago Press)
\n\u2022 Jesmyn Ward, Men We Reaped <\/i>(Bloomsbury)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ART & MEDIA<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\u2022 Haifaa al-Mansour (director), Wadjda<\/i>\u00a0(Razor Film)
\n\u2022 Tim Carroll (director),\u00a0Twelfth Night<\/i>, with Mark Rylance (Belasco Theatre, New York, November 10, 2013\u2013February 16, 2014)
\n\u2022 Asghar Farhadi (director), The Past <\/i>(Memento Films and France 3 Cin\u00e9ma)
\n\u2022 Wayne Lawrence, Orchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera <\/i>(Prestel)
\n\u2022 Xavier Legrand (director),\u00a0Just Before Losing Everything<\/i>\u00a0(K.G. Productions, Canal+, and Centre National du Cin\u00e9ma et de L\u2019image Anim\u00e9e)
\n\u2022 John Maloof and Charlie Siskel (directors), Finding Vivian Maier <\/i>(Ravine Pictures)
\n\u2022 Carol Mavor, Blue Mythologies: Reflections on a Colour <\/i>(Reaktion)
\n\u2022 Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, and Anonymous (directors), The Act of Killing<\/i> (Final Cut for Real)
\n\u2022 Michael Rock et al., Multiple Signatures: On Designers, Authors, Readers and Users <\/i>(Rizzoli)
\n\u2022 Valerie Steele and Fred Dennis (curators), \u201cA Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk\u201d (The Museum at FIT, New York, September 13, 2013\u2013January 4, 2014)
\n\u2022 Alexander Vreeland (editor), Diana Vreeland Memos: The <\/i>Vogue Years<\/i> (Rizzoli)
\n\u2022 Cynthia Young (editor),\u00a0Capa in Color<\/i>\u00a0(Prestel)\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

GRAPHIC<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\u2022 Isabel Greenberg, The Encyclopedia of Early Earth<\/i> (Little, Brown)
\n\u2022 Rutu Modan, The Property<\/i>, translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen (Drawn & Quarterly)
\n\u2022 John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, March: Book One<\/i> <\/i>(Top Shelf)
\n\u2022 Ulli Lust, Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life<\/i>, translated from the German by Kim Thompson (Fantagraphics)
\n\u2022 Danica Novgorodoff, The Undertaking of Lilly Chen<\/i> (First Second)
\n\u2022 Frederik Peeters, Pachyderme<\/i>, translated from the French by Edward Gauvin (SelfMadeHero)
\n\u2022 Ed Piskor, Hip Hop Family Tree: Book One<\/i> (Fantagraphics)
\n\u2022 Joe Sacco, The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme<\/i> (W. W. Norton)
\n\u2022 Dash Shaw, New School<\/i> (Fantagraphics)
\n\u2022 Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints<\/i> <\/i>(First Second)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past year.\u00a0As in last year\u2019s\u00a0Picks, we aimed for a list that combines the best of the best with\u00a0more idiosyncratic works that you may have missed. With admiring nods to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2497],"tags":[15,147,17,36,179,20,33,150,196,23,47],"pbpartner":[],"section":[],"pbseries":[],"class_list":["post-895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-art","tag-comics","tag-fiction","tag-film","tag-graphic","tag-literature","tag-nonfiction","tag-novel","tag-public-picks","tag-translation","tag-visual-culture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPublic Picks 2014 - Public Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Public Picks 2014 - Public Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-17T02:23:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kehan Jiang\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kehan Jiang\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/542ffda816803f9201ec940c4dd3831e\"},\"headline\":\"Public Picks 2014\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-17T02:23:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":736,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Art\",\"Comics\",\"Fiction\",\"Film\",\"Graphic\",\"Literature\",\"Nonfiction\",\"Novel\",\"Public Picks\",\"Translation\",\"Visual Culture\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/\",\"name\":\"Public Picks 2014 - Public Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-17T02:23:17+00:00\",\"description\":\"Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/public-picks-2014\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Public Picks 2014\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Public Books\",\"description\":\"a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Public Books\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/pb_logo_2x.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/08\\\/pb_logo_2x.jpg\",\"width\":212,\"height\":362,\"caption\":\"Public Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/pages\\\/Public-Books\\\/201143656634392\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/public_books\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.publicbooks.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/542ffda816803f9201ec940c4dd3831e\",\"name\":\"Kehan Jiang\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Public Picks 2014 - Public Books","description":"Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Public Picks 2014 - Public Books","og_description":"Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past","og_url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/","og_site_name":"Public Books","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392","article_published_time":"2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-17T02:23:17+00:00","author":"Kehan Jiang","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/"},"author":{"name":"Kehan Jiang","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/person\/542ffda816803f9201ec940c4dd3831e"},"headline":"Public Picks 2014","datePublished":"2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-17T02:23:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/"},"wordCount":736,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["Art","Comics","Fiction","Film","Graphic","Literature","Nonfiction","Novel","Public Picks","Translation","Visual Culture"],"articleSection":["Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/","name":"Public Picks 2014 - Public Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-05-15T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-17T02:23:17+00:00","description":"Welcome to the second annual edition of Public Picks, a selection of the books and art that most interested and excited our editorial staff over the past","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/public-picks-2014\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Public Picks 2014"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/","name":"Public Books","description":"a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#organization","name":"Public Books","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/pb_logo_2x.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/pb_logo_2x.jpg","width":212,"height":362,"caption":"Public Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Public-Books\/201143656634392","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/public_books\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/#\/schema\/person\/542ffda816803f9201ec940c4dd3831e","name":"Kehan Jiang"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64158,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895\/revisions\/64158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"pbpartner","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pbpartner?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=895"},{"taxonomy":"pbseries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicbooks.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pbseries?post=895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}