Boswell Book Co. owner Daniel Goldin has made his list and checked it twice. Those other end-of-year book favorites are spotty, so here’s his advice.
“You don’t really know who is putting the list together. Sometimes, they might be an aggregate of several different people … and sometimes it’s just the opinion of one person,” said Goldin, referring to the many lists generated each December by newspapers and magazines.
Goldin, who opened Boswell in 2009 and filled the gap left by the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop on Downer Avenue in Milwaukee, has been called “one of the best booksellers in the country.” He just published his 2014 Holiday Gift Guide and Newsletter and is sharing some of his favorite titles of the year.
“At this time of year, it all kind of comes together. There are books that got good reviews, and there are books that got amazing reviews. It isn’t really until the end of the year that you start seeing the trends,” Goldin said.
The “can’t ignore” subject that emerged this year, said Goldin, was war fiction.
“War is definitely a subject that people are writing about in a very good way right now,” he said.
Among the books published this year in that subgenre, Goldin was probably most impressed by Phil Kay’s debut short story collection about the Iraq War, “Redeployment.” It won a National Book Award and was on The New York Times’ top 10 list.
Here are Goldin’s other recommendations, broken down by category:
Nonfiction
Aging and Death:
A Good Year for Biography:
Every Celebrity Must Write a Book:
Historical Adventure:
Science:
How To:
Fiction
Complicated Plots:
Lots of Reprint:
No Plots at All:
Unique Structure:
Modern Western:
Thriller:
Just the Right Amount of Plot:
Historical Inspiration:
Short Stories:
