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2004 High Scores: The Best-Reviewed Books

The following table lists the highest-scoring books in our database for 2004. The higher a Metascore for a book (on a 0-100 scale), the better the overall reviews for that book were. Note that a book must have a minimum of seven reviews to qualify for this list.

You may also view all-time high scores | view 2005 high scores


Fiction

1 Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley 2004 93
2 The Circus In Winter by Cathy Day 2004 90
3 The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst 2004 89
4 Runaway by Alice Munro 2004 88
5 Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith 2004 87
6 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 2004 87
7 Harbor by Lorraine Adams 2004 87
8 Heir To The Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick 2004 86
9 An Unfinished Season by Ward Just 2004 83
10 Between Two Rivers by Nicholas Rinaldi 2004 83
11 The In-Between World Of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji 2004 83
12 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 2004 83
13 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 2004 82
14 Little Black Book Of Stories by A.S. Byatt 2004 81
15 When The Nines Roll Over by David Benioff 2004 81
16 Crossing California by Adam Langer 2004 81
17 The Master by Colm Tóibín 2004 81
18 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker 2004 81
19 The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes 2004 80
20 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth 2004 80
21 Old Boys by Charles McCarry 2004 80
22 The Year Is '42 by Nella Bielski 2004 79
23 The System Of The World by Neal Stephenson 2004 79
24 Havoc, In Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett 2004 79
25 Dark Voyage by Alan Furst 2004 79
26 Case Histories by Kate Atkinson 2004 79
27 An Evening Of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray 2004 79
28 Sweet Land Stories by E.L. Doctorow 2004 79
29 Natasha by David Bezmozgis 2004 78
30 War Trash by Ha Jin 2004 78
31 The Tyrant's Novel by Thomas Keneally 2004 78
32 The Preservationist by David Maine 2004 78
33 The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin 2004 78
34 The Inner Circle by T. Coraghessan Boyle 2004 77
35 Snow by Orhan Pamuk 2004 77
36 Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay 2004 77
37 Four Souls by Louise Erdrich 2004 77
38 You Remind Me Of Me by Dan Chaon 2004 77
39 Transmission by Hari Kunzru 2004 77
40 Human Capital by Stephen Amidon 2004 77
41 Iron Council by China Mieville 2004 75
42 My Nine Lives by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala 2004 75
43 Life Mask by Emma Donoghue 2004 75
44 The Divine Husband by Francisco Goldman 2004 74
45 The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason 2004 74
46 Banishing Verona by Margot Livesey 2004 73
47 The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble 2004 73
48 Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen 2004 72
49 Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames 2004 72
50 The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith 2004 71


Nonfiction

1 Arc Of Justice by Kevin Boyle 2004 94
2 A Tale Of Love And Darkness by Amos Oz 2004 94
3 Armageddon by Max Hastings 2004 93
4 Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough 2004 92
5 Nightingales by Gillian Gill 2004 90
6 Chronicles by Bob Dylan 2004 88
7 The Irresponsible Self by James Wood 2004 88
8 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) by Jon Stewart And The Writers Of The Daily Show 2004 88
9 Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson 2004 88
10 Perilous Times by Geoffrey R. Stone 2004 88
11 de Kooning by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan 2004 88
12 John James Audubon by Richard Rhodes 2004 87
13 Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim by David Sedaris 2004 85
14 Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi 2004 84
15 His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis 2004 84
16 Maximum City by Suketu Mehta 2004 83
17 George Balanchine by Robert Gottlieb 2004 83
18 The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins 2004 82
19 Running On Empty by Peter G. Peterson 2004 82
20 Wodehouse by Robert McCrum 2004 81
21 Vermeer In Bosnia by Lawrence Weschler 2004 81
22 Margot Fonteyn by Meredith Daneman 2004 80
23 Namath by Mark Kriegel 2004 79
24 What's The Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank 2004 78
25 Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett 2004 78
26 Leonardo da Vinci by Charles Nicholl 2004 78
27 Rising '44 by Norman Davies 2004 77
28 The Fall Of Baghdad by Jon Lee Anderson 2004 77
29 So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star by Jacob Slichter 2004 75
30 The Myth Of Solid Ground by David L. Ulin 2004 75
31 Will In The World by Stephen Greenblatt 2004 75
32 Another Bullshit Night In Suck City by Nick Flynn 2004 75
33 Amazonia by James Marcus 2004 75
34 Coast Of Dreams by Kevin Starr 2004 75
35 The Truth About The Drug Companies by Marcia Angell 2004 75
36 Bicycle by David Herlihy 2004 75
37 Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford 2004 75
38 One Matchless Time by Jay Parini 2004 73
39 Exuberance by Kay Redfield Jamison 2004 73
40 Collapse by Jared Diamond 2004 73
41 Jerome Robbins by Deborah Jowitt 2004 73
42 American Dream by Jason DeParle 2004 73
43 How Soccer Explains The World by Franklin Foer 2004 73
44 Wonderland by Michael Bamberger 2004 72
45 Spice by Jack Turner 2004 72
46 War And The American Presidency by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. 2004 71
47 Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs 2004 70
48 American Taboo by Philip Weiss 2004 70
49 The Iraq War by John Keegan 2004 69
50 Osama by Jonathan Randal 2004 69

 

2004 Man Booker Prize Nominees

The full longlist is displayed below. Shortlisted titles are denoted with an asterisk; the winner is denoted with two asterisks.

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
Clear: A Transparent Novel by Nicola Barker
The Island Walkers by John Bemrose
Havoc, in its Third Year by Ronan Bennett
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Always the Sun by Neil Cross
* Bitter Fruit by Achmat Dangor
Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean
A Blade of Grass by Lewis Desoto
* The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall
Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton Paterson
The Honeymoon by Justin Haythe
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
** The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
* Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Unnumbered by Sam North
Snowleg by Nicholas Shakespeare
Cherry by Matt Thorne
* The Master by Colm Tóibín
* I'll Go to Bed at Noon by Gerard Woodward

More Information: bookerprize.co.uk

 

2004 National Book Awards

Winners are marked with an asterisk.

Fiction finalists
Madeleine Is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum
Florida by Christine Schutt
Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber
* The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck
Our Kind by Kate Walbert

Nonfiction finalists
* Arc Of Justice by Kevin Boyle
Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer
Life On The Outside by Jennifer Gonnerman
Will In The World by Stephen Greenblatt
The 9/11 Commission Report by the 9/11 Commission

More Information: nationalbook.org

 

2004 Nobel Prize for Literature

Elfriede Jelinek

 

2004 National Book Critics Circle

Winners are marked with an asterisk.

Fiction finalists
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
* Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

General Nonfiction finalists
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle
Blue Blood by Edward Conlon
* The Reformation: A History by Diarmaid MacCulloch
The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler
Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story by Timothy B. Tyson

Autobiography / Biography finalists
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Chronicles, Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan
Will In The World by Stephen Greenblatt
Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy
* de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan

Poetry finalists
The Orchard by Brigit Pegreen Kelly
Cocktails by D.A. Powell
* The School Among the Ruins by Adrienne Rich
Interglacial by James Richardson
Danger on Peaks by Gary Snyder

Criticism finalists
Paper Trail: Selected Prose 1965-2003 by Richard Howard
* Where You’re At: Notes From the Frontline of a Hip-Hop Planet by Patrick Neate
Strangers: Homosexual Love in the 19th Century by Graham Robb
Sontag & Kael: Opposites Attract Me by Craig Seligman
The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel by James Wood

More Information: bookcritics.org

 

2005 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

Winner is marked with an asterisk.

Finalists
The Green Lantern by Jerome Charyn
The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
* War Trash by Ha Jin
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Prisoners of War by Steve Yarbrough

More Information: penfaulkner.org

 

2005 Pulitzer Prize

Fiction
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Nonfiction
Ghost Wars by Steve Coll

Biography
de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan

History
Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

Drama
Doubt, a parable by John Patrick Shanley

Poetry
Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser

More Information: pulitzer.org

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