Best fiction of 2004
Discover the best fiction books of 2004! Explore our curated list of top-rated novels and must-read stories from acclaimed authors that defined the year in literature.
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. …
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Runaway
by Alice Munro
A collection of short fiction captures the lives of women of all ages and circumstances, as they deal with the limits and lies of passion, …
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Mardi Gras in the Moment
by Jason Bentsman
The world has waited decades for a new anti-hero in American fiction, a character who prophesizes the pettiness of American social life at the beginning …
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Snow
by Orhan Pamuk
After years of lonely political exile, Turkish poet Ka returns to Istanbul to attend his mother's funeral and learns about a series of suicides among …
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You Remind Me of Me
by Dan Chaon
Why do we become who we become? Through the intertwined threads of the characters' lives, this is the question explored in this eagerly awaited first …
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Transmission
by Hari Kunzru
Lonely, naïve, and insecure, Indian computer programmer Arjun finds life and security destroyed when he is fired and, in order to keep his job and …
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Any Place I Hang My Hat
by Susan Isaacs
No matter which side of the nature/nurture debate you're on, Amy Lincoln's prospects do not look good. Her mother abandoned her when she was ten …
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Aloft
by Chang-rae Lee
Lee burst on the scene with "Native Speaker," which won numerous awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award. Now, with "Aloft," Lee has expanded his range and …
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The Plot Against America
by Philip Roth
In this alternate history, Pulitzer Prize winner Roth considers what it would be like for his Newark family--and for a million such families all over …
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Cloud Atlas
by David Stephen Mitchell
Recounts the connected stories of people from the past and the distant future, from a nineteenth-century notary and an investigative journalist in the 1970s to …
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Little Children
by Tom Perrotta
A group of young suburban parents, including a stay-at-home dad, a former feminist, and an over-structured mom, finds its sleepy existence shattered when a convicted …
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Line of Beauty
by Alan Hollinghurst
Moving into the attic room in the Notting Hill home of the wealthy, politically connected Fedden family in 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest becomes caught up …