The New York Times, a leading source of book reviews, recently launched its list of more than 100 notable fiction and nonfiction books of 2013. This week, Shanghai Daily’s book page makes a selection from the Times’ pick of 100 of the year’s best.

FICTION & POETRY

THE ACCURSED, by Joyce Carol Oates. (Ecco/HarperCollins, US$27.99)

BLEEDING EDGE, by Thomas Pynchon. (Penguin Press, US$28.95)

CHILDREN ARE DIAMONDS: An African Apocalypse, by Edward Hoagland. (Arcade, US$23.95)

ALL THAT IS, by James Salter. (Knopf, US$26.95)

THE CIRCLE, by Dave Eggers. (Knopf/McSweeney’s, US$27.95)

AMERICANAH, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. (Knopf, US$26.95)

CLAIRE OF THE SEA LIGHT, by Edwidge Danticat. (Knopf, US$25.95)

A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA, by Anthony Marra. (Hogarth, US$26)

THE COLOR MASTER: Stories, by Aimee Bender. (Doubleday, US$25.95)

DIRTY LOVE, by Andre Dubus III. (Norton, US$25.95)

THE DINNER, by Herman Koch. Translated by Sam Garrett. (Hogarth, US$24)

THE END OF THE POINT, by Elizabeth Graver. (Harper, US$25.99)

DISSIDENT GARDENS, by Jonathan Lethem. (Doubleday, US$27.95)

DUPLEX, by Kathryn Davis. (Graywolf, US$24)

THE FLAMETHROWERS, by Rachel Kushner. (Scribner, US$26.99)

A GUIDE TO BEING BORN: Stories, by Ramona Ausubel. (Riverhead, US$26.95)

HALF THE KINGDOM, by Lore Segal. (Melville House, US$23.95)

I WANT TO SHOW YOU MORE: Stories, by Jamie Quatro. (Grove, US$24)

THE IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF GRETA WELLS, by Andrew Sean Greer. (Ecco/HarperCollins, US$26.99)

THE INFATUATIONS, by Javier Marías. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa. (Knopf, US$26.95)

THE INTERESTINGS, by Meg Wolitzer. (Riverhead, US$27.95)

LIFE AFTER LIFE, by Kate Atkinson. (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown, US$27.99)

LOCAL SOULS: Novellas, by Allan Gurganus. (Liveright, US$25.95)

LONGBOURN, by Jo Baker. (Knopf, US$25.95)

LOVE, DISHONOR, MARRY, DIE, CHERISH, PERISH, by David Rakoff. (Doubleday, US$26.95)

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, by Elizabeth Gilbert. (Viking, US$28.95)

THE LOWLAND, by Jhumpa Lahiri. (Knopf, US$27.95)

MADDADDAM, by Margaret Atwood. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, US$27.95)

A MARKER TO MEASURE DRIFT, by Alexander Maksik. (Knopf, US$24.95)

METAPHYSICAL DOG, by Frank Bidart. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, US$24)

OUR ANDROMEDA, by Brenda Shaughnessy. (Copper Canyon, paper, US$16)

SCHRODER, by Amity Gaige. (Twelve, US$21.99)

SOMEONE. by Alice McDermott. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, US$25)

THE SON, by Philipp Meyer. (Ecco/HarperCollins, US$27.99)

THE SOUND OF THINGS FALLING, by Juan Gabriel Vásquez. Translated by Anne McLean. (Riverhead, US$27.95)

SUBMERGENCE, by J. M. Ledgard. (Coffee House, paper, US$15.95)

SUBTLE BODIES, by Norman Rush. (Knopf, US$26.95)

TENTH OF DECEMBER: Stories, by George Saunders. (Random House, US$26)

THE TWELVE TRIBES OF HATTIE, by Ayana Mathis. (Knopf, US$24.95)

THE TWO HOTEL FRANCFORTS, by David Leavitt. (Bloomsbury, US$25)

WANT NOT, by Jonathan Miles. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, US$26)

WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES, by Karen Joy Fowler. (Marian Wood/Putnam, US$26.95)

WE NEED NEW NAMES, by NoViolet Bulawayo. (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown, US$25)

WOKE UP LONELY, by Fiona Maazel. (Graywolf, US$26)

THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS, by Claire Messud. (Knopf, US$25.95)

NONFICTION

AFTER THE MUSIC STOPPED: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead, by Alan S. Blinder. (Penguin Press, US$29.95)

THE AMERICAN WAY OF POVERTY: How the Other Half Still Lives, by Sasha Abramsky. (Nation Books, US$26.99)

THE BARBAROUS YEARS. The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675, by Bernard Bailyn. (Knopf, US$35)

THE BILLIONAIRE’S APPRENTICE: The Rise of the Indian-American Elite and the Fall of the Galleon Hedge Fund, by Anita Raghavan. (Business Plus, US$29)

THE BLOOD TELEGRAM: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide, by Gary J. Bass. (Knopf, US$30)

BOOK OF AGES: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin, by Jill Lepore. (Knopf, US$27.95)

THE BOY DETECTIVE: A New York Childhood, by Roger Rosenblatt. (Ecco/HarperCollins, US$19.99)

THE BULLY PULPIT: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. (Simon & Schuster, US$40)

THE CANCER CHRONICLES: Unlocking Medicine’s Deepest Mystery, by George Johnson. (Knopf, US$27.95)

CATASTROPHE 1914: Europe Goes to War, by Max Hastings. (Knopf, US$35)

COMMAND AND CONTROL: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety, by Eric Schlosser. (Penguin Press, US$36)

COUNTRY GIRL: A Memoir, by Edna O’Brien. (Little, Brown, US$27.99)

DAYS OF FIRE: Bush and Cheney in the White House, by Peter Baker. (Doubleday, US$35)

ECSTATIC NATION: Confidence, Crisis, and Compromise, 1848-1877, by Brenda Wineapple. (Harper, US$35)

EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, by Jung Chang. (Knopf, US$30)

THE FARAWAY NEARBY, by Rebecca Solnit. (Viking, US$25.95)

GOING CLEAR: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, by Lawrence Wright. (Knopf, US$28.95)

THE GUNS AT LAST LIGHT: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945, by Rick Atkinson. (Holt, US$40)

THE HEIR APPARENT: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince, by Jane Ridley. (Random House, US$35)

A HOUSE IN THE SKY, by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett. (Scribner, US$27)

JONATHAN SWIFT: His Life and His World, by Leo Damrosch. (Yale University, US$35)

KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR: The Path to a Better Way of Death, by Katy Butler. (Scribner, US$25)

LAWRENCE IN ARABIA: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East, by Scott Anderson. (Doubleday, US$28.95)

LOST GIRLS: An Unsolved American Mystery, by Robert Kolker. (Harper, US$25.99)

MADNESS, RACK, AND HONEY: Collected Lectures, by Mary Ruefle. (Wave Books, paper, US$25)

MANSON: The Life and Times of Charles Manson, by Jeff Guinn. (Simon & Schuster, US$27.50)

MARGARET FULLER: A New American Life, by Megan Marshall. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, US$30)

MEN WE REAPED: A Memoir, by Jesmyn Ward. (Bloomsbury, US$26)

MISS ANNE IN HARLEM: The White Women of the Black Renaissance, by Carla Kaplan. (Harper, US$28.99)

MY BELOVED WORLD, by Sonia Sotomayor.(Knopf, US$27.95)

MY PROMISED LAND: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, by Ari Shavit. (Spiegel & Grau, US$28)

PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR: An Adventure, by Artemis Cooper. (New York Review Books, US$30)

THE RIDDLE OF THE LABYRINTH: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code, by Margalit Fox. (Ecco/HarperCollins, US$27.99)

THE SKIES BELONG TO US: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking, by Brendan I. Koerner. (Crown, US$26)

THE SLEEPWALKERS: How Europe Went to War in 1914, by Christopher Clark. (Harper, US$29.99)

THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD: And How They Got That Way, by Amanda Ripley. (Simon & Schuster, US$28)

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE, by David Finkel. (Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, US$26)

THE THIRD COAST: When Chicago Built the American Dream, by Thomas Dyja. (Penguin Press, US$29.95)

THOSE ANGRY DAYS: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941, by Lynne Olson. (Random House, US$30)

TO SAVE EVERYTHING, CLICK HERE: The Folly of Technological Solutionism, by Evgeny Morozov. (PublicAffairs, US$28.99)

TO THE END OF JUNE: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care, by Cris Beam. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, US$26)

UNTHINKABLE: Iran, the Bomb, and American Strategy, by Kenneth M. Pollack. (Simon & Schuster, US$30)

THE UNWINDING: An Inner History of the New America, by George Packer. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, US$27)

THE WAR THAT ENDED PEACE: The Road to 1914, by Margaret MacMillan. (Random House, US$35)

YEAR ZERO: A History of 1945, by Ian Buruma. (Penguin Press, US$29.95)

CHILDREN’S BOOK SECTION

YOUNG ADULT

BOXERS and SAINTS, written and illustrated by Gene Luen Yang. (First Second, US$18.99 and US$15.99)

In these companion graphic novels, Yang tackles the history of China’s Boxer Rebellion.

ELEANOR & PARK, by Rainbow Rowell. (St. Martin’s Griffin, US$18.99)

A misfit girl from an abusive home and a Korean-American boy from a happy one bond.

FANGIRL, by Rainbow Rowell. (St. Martin’s Griffin, US$18.99)

Rowell interweaves the story of an introverted girl’s freshman year in college with the “Harry Potter”-like fan fiction she writes.

THE 5TH WAVE, by Rick Yancey. (Putnam, US$18.99)

Novel in which aliens come to Earth manages to appeal to young readers and adults alike.

PICTURE ME GONE, by Meg Rosoff. (Putnam, US$17.99)

Mila, a young Londoner with an uncanny gift for empathy, accompanies her father in a search for his best friend.

THE RITHMATIST, by Brandon Sanderson. Illustrated by Ben McSweeney. (Tor/Tom Doherty, US$17.99)

A boy longs to join a magical cadre defending humanity.

ROSE UNDER FIRE, by Elizabeth Wein. (Hyperion, US$17.99)

Rose, 18, an American transport pilot and aspiring poet, struggles to survive in a women’s concentration camp in Germany.

MIDDLE GRADE

BETTER NATE THAN EVER, by Tim Federle. (Simon & Schuster, US$16.99)

A 13-year-old escapes to New York for a Broadway audition in this debut novel.

THE CATS OF TANGLEWOOD FOREST, by Charles de Lint. Illustrated by Charles Vess. (Little, Brown, US$17.99)

A young girl whose life is saved when magical cats transform her into a kitten learns there are consequences.

FLORA AND ULYSSES: The Illuminated Adventures, by Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by K. G. Campbell. (Candlewick, US$17.99)

A freak accident with a vacuum cleaner turns an ordinary squirrel into a superhero.

HERO ON A BICYCLE, by Shirley Hughes. (Candlewick, US$15.99)

A family in Nazi-occupied Florence aids the partisans.

MY HAPPY LIFE, by Rose Lagercrantz. Illustrated by Eva Eriksson. (Gecko, US$16.95)

Reviewer Pamela Paul called this story of a kindergartner “a book about girls who are neither infallible nor pratfall-prone.”

THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP, by Kathi Appelt. (Atheneum, US$16.99)

In a swamp, raccoon brothers search for the yeti-like Sugar Man who can save their home.

PICTURE BOOKS

AFRICA IS MY HOME: A Child of the Amistad, by Monica Edinger. Illustrated by Robert Byrd. (Candlewick, US$17.99)

A West African girl, on board the Amistad when older slaves take over, has a long journey home.

THE BEAR’S SONG, written and illustrated by Benjamin Chaud. (Chronicle, US$17.99)

A bear cub chases a bee into the Paris opera house while his father struggles to find him.

BLUEBIRD, written and illustrated by Bob Staake. (Schwartz & Wade, US$17.99)

This wordless tale of a bullied boy and the bird who helps him is a book of true beauty.

THE BOY WHO LOVED MATH: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos, by Deborah Heiligman. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. (Roaring Brook, US$17.99)

A picture-book biography of Erdos, the eccentric Hungarian-born mathematician.

BUILDING OUR HOUSE, written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, US$17.99)

A true tale of 1970s homesteader parents.

THE DARK, by Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Jon Klassen. (Little, Brown, US$16.99)

A little boy and the darkness he fears reach a detente in this just-spooky-enough story.

FOG ISLAND, written and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer. (Phaidon, US$16.95)

Storm-tossed siblings wash ashore on a forbidden island off the coast of Ireland.

HILDA AND THE BIRD PARADE, written and illustrated by Luke Pearson. (Flying Eye/NoBrow, US$24.)

A girl named Hilda feels out of place until an amnesiac raven helps her settle in.

JOURNEY, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker. (Candlewick, US$15.99)

A lonely girl draws a red door on her bedroom wall and enters a lush imaginary world.

MR. WUFFLES!, written and illustrated by David Wiesner. (Clarion, US$17.99)

A house cat does battle with space aliens.

SOMETHING BIG, by Sylvie Neeman. Illustrated by Ingrid Godon. (Enchanted Lion, US$16.95)

A little boy who wants to do something big and his dad find perspective at the seashore.

THIS IS THE ROPE: A Story From the Great Migration, by Jacqueline Woodson. Illustrated by James Ransome. (Nancy Paulsen/Penguin, US$16.99)

A common item reflects one family’s Great Migration experience.