Award season is hitting its stride, and this year’s National Book Award finalists have been announced. For the second year in a row, the fiction finalists number four women versus one male author, and many of the “bigger” literary releases of the year are nowhere to be found. Also for the second year in a row, a New Yorker “20 Under 40” writer is recognized. By virtue of that, Téa Obreht may be the most well-known name of the bunch (our review). A pair of independent or university presses are represented among the fiction finalists, including Bellevue Literary Press, which made its name when Paul Harding’s Tinkers won the 2010 Pulitzer.
In nonfiction, we have the first graphic book in to be recognized in this category.
Update: There was a late addition to the YA finalists list: Chime by Franny Billingsley
Update 2: Due to a mixup by and subsequent pressure from the Foundation, Lauren Myracle has withdrawn Shine from consideration.
Here’s a list of the finalists in all four categories with bonus links and excerpts where available:
Fiction:
The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak (excerpt)
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (excerpt)
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (excerpt)
Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman (excerpt)
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (excerpt)
Nonfiction:
The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism by Deborah Baker (excerpt)
Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel (excerpt)
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt (excerpt)
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable (our review)
Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss (excerpt)
Poetry:
Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney
The Chameleon Couch by Yusef Komunyakaa
Double Shadow by Carl Phillips
Tonight No Poetry Will Serve: Poems: 2007-2010 by Adrienne Rich (excerpt)
Devotions by Bruce Smith
Young People’s Literature:
My Name is Not Easy by Debby Dahl Edwardson
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (excerpt)
Flesh and Blood So Cheap: The Triangle Fire and Its Legacy by Albert Marrin (excerpt)
Shine by Lauren Myracle
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (excerpt)
We Need New Names was fantastic, best of the shortlist I’ve read so far. Of these six, only still haven’t read The Lowland and The Luminaries, but I’m really looking forward to them, The Luminaries especially.
Ah, unfortunately Aw’s “Five Star Billionaire” didn’t make it. Too bad. But “We Need New Names” is indeed great. I’ve got a couple more to read, but I really hope Bulawayo will win.
I realize Colm Toibin is a regular when it comes to (short/long)listing for the Booker but The Testament of Mary is very deserving. A beautiful and tragic story told with compassion and wonder.
A few days ago I finished reading the last of the six books in the short list. In my view the shortest book is out first as it has too many allusions and needs specialized knowledge of Christianity to understand. The longest is out next as it’s simply too long for a whodunit and doesn’t end with any kind of a surprise factor. Bulawayo’s book has far too many characters and all of them seem to be protagonists. Between the last two Lahiri’s is a strong contender but the two halves of the novel do not jell – though I admit that might be the express intent of the author. The winner is Ruth Ozeki’s book with its stark juxtaposition of contrasting characters and time frames.