Amazon picks the 100 best books of 2014

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Updated 1355 GMT (2155 HKT) November 11, 2014

One of Amazon.com's best books of 2014, Phil Klay's "Redeployment," is also the year's winner of the National Book Award for fiction. The short story collection is unflinching in its look at the realities of war and its effects on those fighting at the front lines. Klay, a Marine Corps vet who served as a public affairs officer in Iraq's Anbar Province in 2007, zeroes in on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and "manages to wring some sense out of the nonsensical — resulting in an extraordinary, if unnerving, literary feat," <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20791199,00.html" target="_blank">Entertainment Weekly observed. </a>Here are 19 other titles at the top of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=s9_acss_bw_hsb_BHP1021B_s1_n?docId=1002993971&ie=UTF8&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-2&pf_rd_r=1R5N9ZH7XN2HGYYWJYH4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1968745842&pf_rd_i=10207069011" target="_blank">Amazon's best books of the year list</a>:
Photos: Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year
Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year – One of Amazon.com's best books of 2014, Phil Klay's "Redeployment," is also the year's winner of the National Book Award for fiction. The short story collection is unflinching in its look at the realities of war and its effects on those fighting at the front lines. Klay, a Marine Corps vet who served as a public affairs officer in Iraq's Anbar Province in 2007, zeroes in on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and "manages to wring some sense out of the nonsensical — resulting in an extraordinary, if unnerving, literary feat," Entertainment Weekly observed. Here are 19 other titles at the top of Amazon's best books of the year list:
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Celeste Ng has crafted a winner with her debut novel, "Everything I Never Told You." Amazon has picked the literary thriller, which follows the disappearance of a young Chinese-American woman in small-town Ohio circa 1977, as the best book of 2014. "If we know this story, we haven't seen it yet in American fiction," The New York Times Book Review praised this summer. "Not until now."
Photos: Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year
Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year – Celeste Ng has crafted a winner with her debut novel, "Everything I Never Told You." Amazon has picked the literary thriller, which follows the disappearance of a young Chinese-American woman in small-town Ohio circa 1977, as the best book of 2014. "If we know this story, we haven't seen it yet in American fiction," The New York Times Book Review praised this summer. "Not until now."
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Fans of Anthony Doerr won't be surprised to see that his World War II-era novel, "All the Light We Cannot See," is at No. 2 on Amazon's best books of the year list. "All the Light" tells the story of a blind French girl and a young German orphan, and how their paths eventually intertwine. On top of receiving plenty of praise from critics, "All the Light We Cannot See" is also a finalist for the National Book Award.
Photos: Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year
Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year – Fans of Anthony Doerr won't be surprised to see that his World War II-era novel, "All the Light We Cannot See," is at No. 2 on Amazon's best books of the year list. "All the Light" tells the story of a blind French girl and a young German orphan, and how their paths eventually intertwine. On top of receiving plenty of praise from critics, "All the Light We Cannot See" is also a finalist for the National Book Award.
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Hampton Sides' "In the Kingdom of Ice" takes us back to the 19th century's "Arctic Fever," when New York Herald owner James Gordon Bennett financed an expedition to the North Pole that included a crew of 32 men and a leader in an officer named George Washington DeLong. But when disaster struck two years into the trip, the crew found themselves stranded and fighting for their lives. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-hampton-sides-20140803-story.html" target="_blank">To the Los Angeles Times</a>, Sides' capturing of this tale "is a masterful work of history and storytelling."
Photos: Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year
Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year – Hampton Sides' "In the Kingdom of Ice" takes us back to the 19th century's "Arctic Fever," when New York Herald owner James Gordon Bennett financed an expedition to the North Pole that included a crew of 32 men and a leader in an officer named George Washington DeLong. But when disaster struck two years into the trip, the crew found themselves stranded and fighting for their lives. To the Los Angeles Times, Sides' capturing of this tale "is a masterful work of history and storytelling."
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After the events in Ferguson, Missouri, <a href="http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/september-book-recommendations-the-short-and-tragic-life-of-robert-peace/" target="_blank">Grantland's Kevin Nguyen</a> could "hardly think of a book that feels more necessary, relevant and urgent" than Jeff Hobbs' "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace." Within those pages, Hobbs recounts the life of an African-American man named Robert Peace, who grew up amid the crime of Newark, New Jersey, in the '80s with a father in prison and a mother making less than $15,000 a year. Peace's academic success led him to study molecular biochemistry at Yale, but what occurs after his graduation is heartbreaking. Along with the all-too-short life of Michael Brown, Peace's story serves as an incredible "(reminder) of the systemic problems that continue to claim the lives of young black men," Nguyen wrote.
Photos: Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year
Amazon's Top 20 Books of the Year – After the events in Ferguson, Missouri, Grantland's Kevin Nguyen could "hardly think of a book that feels more necessary, relevant and urgent" than Jeff Hobbs' "The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace." Within those pages, Hobbs recounts the life of an African-American man named Robert Peace, who grew up amid the crime of Newark, New Jersey, in the '80s with a father in prison and a mother making less than $15,000 a year. Peace's academic success led him to study molecular biochemistry at Yale, but what occurs after his graduation is heartbreaking. Along with the all-too-short life of Michael Brown, Peace's story serves as an incredible "(reminder) of the systemic problems that continue to claim the lives of young black men," Nguyen wrote.
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Maestro of the written word Stephen King also makes an appearance in Amazon's top 10 best books of 2014. His novel "Revival" explores themes of fanaticism and addiction as it tells a juicy story about a boy growing up in a 1960s small town taken over by a charismatic preacher and his wife. As that boy grows older and finds his own form of religion in music, he crosses paths with that preacher once again -- and what follows is a conclusion that has <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/theater-arts/stephen-king-revival-horror-master-best-article-1.1997842" target="_blank">one critic calling</a> "Revival" "the horror master at his best."