Chall writes in with this question:
Any National Book Award predictions?
Awards season is upon us. The Booker shortlist is out, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced in the next week or so, and the National Book Award finalists will be named on October 15th. Chall’s question gives us an excuse to engage in a bit of speculation, though we’ll stick with fiction for the most part. Offering up some guesses at who might make the NBA cut are Garth and Edan, our two contributors most plugged in to the latest in contemporary fiction.
Edan: (some of whose guesses were “completely pulled from thin air, for no reason.”)
- The Boat by Nam Le (see Edan’s interview with Nam)
- America, America by Ethan Canin
- Fine Just the Way It Is by Annie Proulx
- Indignation by Phillip Roth
- The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
Edan also likes An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination by Elizabeth McCracken and The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston in non-fiction.
Garth: (“Edan’s got some good stuff going on with her picks. I think there will be at least one debut author and one book of short stories, and The Boat is a good call. The Canin is interesting, too, as he’s well-regarded and this book hasn’t gotten as much ink as it might have. For the sake of doing something different, I’m going to go another way”)
- Home by Marilynne Robinson
- The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
- Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen
- A Better Angel by Chris Adrian
- Lush Life by Richard Price (a “sleeper” pick)
Incidentally, both also wanted to pick Netherland by Joseph O’Neill, which was recently snubbed by the Booker. But I don’t think O’Neill is a U.S. citizen, and that would disqualify him from the NBA. And here are a few of my guesses:
Max:
- Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
- The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
- People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
- City of Thieves by David Benioff
- Home by Marilynne Robinson
Share your picks in the comments below. Name up to five books, and the whoever is closest will get bragging rights. Remember: only books with “scheduled publication dates between December 1, 2007 and November 30, 2008” are eligible. And the author must be a U.S. citizen.
