In case anyone was wondering, I’m getting caught up on my reading. In the meantime, the list of National Book Award Finalists came out last week. I haven’t read any of the Fiction Finalists, so I’m providing links to those who have.
- Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Jaimy Gordon Lord of Misrule (McPherson & Co.)
- Nicole Krauss Great House (W.W. Norton & Co.)
- Lionel Shriver So Much for That (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)
- Karen Tei Yamashita I, Hotel (Coffee House Press)
I couldn’t find a blog review for Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule (due in stores on November 14th). If you know of one, please post it in the comments below. Ironic, though, since it is that book and I, Hotel which I’d most like to read.
And for fun, here’s the Non-fiction list:
- Barbara Demick Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group)
- John W. Dower Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq (W.W. Norton & Co/The New Press )
- Patti Smith Just Kids (Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)
- Justin Spring Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
- Megan K. Stack Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War (Doubleday)
Winners are scheduled to be announce Wednesday, November 17th. And I should have a new review up over the weekend.
READER AT LARGE 
I’m not actually that big a fan of the National Book Award. I’ve noticed that I tend to like the finalists that don’t make the cut more than the eventual winners. I also am more inclined towards the young adult winners, not the official “fiction” winners. I just always feel that it’s a very… safe award. Not that the finalists aren’t sometimes random and far-out, but I’m never terribly surprised…
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I completely understand where you are coming from Biblibio. To be honest, I’m almost always disappointed with the National Book Award – mainly because it is so easily eclipsed by the Booker or the Giller Awards. Even the Pulitzer feels like it carries more weight.
I’ll be interested to see who wins this year – mainly because of the novels I mentioned above that caught my eye – but I’ll probably have to write a note reminding myself to look for the results this Wednesday.
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