Award season is hitting its stride, and this year’s National Book Award finalists have been announced. This year’s fiction list includes something of an invasion from overseas, with Peter Carey, surely the first Booker shortlister to also be a National Book Award finalist (but eligible for both because the Australian-born author is now a U.S. citizen), and Lionel Shriver, who, though a U.S. citizen is often more commonly associated with London, where she makes her home.
The nomination for Shriver validates a provactively titled piece that ran in these pages this year, Lionel Shriver: America’s Best Writer?, which suggested that she deserves far more critical attention. Rounding out the fiction list are Nicole Krauss, recently lauded as a New Yorker “20 Under 40” writer, and a pair of relative unknowns Jaimy Gordon and Karen Tei Yamashita, each writing for small indie presses, McPherson and Coffee House, respectively. Also notable, the fiction finalist number four women versus one male author, and Jonathan Franzen and his blockbuster literary novel Freedom are nowhere to be found.
The other big name to note is rocker Patti Smith, who earned a nod for her memoir.
Here’s a list of the finalists in all four categories with bonus links and excerpts where available:
Fiction:
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey (excerpt)
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
Great House by Nicole Krauss (excerpt)
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver (excerpt)
I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita (excerpt)
Nonfiction:
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick (excerpt)
Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq by John W. Dower (excerpt)
Just Kids by Patti Smith (excerpt)
Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward by Justin Spring (excerpt)
Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War by Megan K. Stack (excerpt)
Poetry:
The Eternal City by Kathleen Graber (excerpt [pdf])
Lighthead by Terrance Hayes (poem)
By the Numbers by James Richardson (poem)
One with Others by C.D. Wright (poems)
Ignatz by Monica Youn (poem)
Young People’s Literature:
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Dark Water by Laura McNeal
Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Some great books on the shortlist, but I would love to have seen both Sebastian Barry and Mike McCormack in the final shake-up. Both excellent.
Sadly, the two Irishmen mentioned by Eamonn should have had a place, but American’s are bumping out Commonwealth writers. I remember long ago my book seller expressing his disdain for book prizes and his feeling of awkwardness having to attend an event he believed held no value. This was while I was still excited by the Booker. This shortlist is so disappointing, I am pretty much done. I thought with Sarah Hall being a judge there may be hope, but nope. At least Ali Smith was acknowledged. BTW, I love American writers, my concerns have nought to do with that.
I agree, it is unfortunate Sebastian Barry is still not in the running. He is so gifted, and “Days” is one of his best novels yet. Highly recommended.
I was rather surprised to see Saunders on the list (regardless of what country he’s from, although for the record I didn’t think they needed to expand the Booker beyond the commonwealth either). Everything I’ve heard and read about that book is that it’s a little herky-jerky and a rather classic example of a short story writer trying on the form of the literary novel for the first time. I consider myself a pretty scholarly person in touch with the literary world at large, but I haven’t heard a single person rave about this book, as opposed to Tenth of December, which a good dozen people pushed on me or strongly encouraged me to read (and which I agree is quite marvelous).
Cecil, you must be living in a cave. He just won the National Book Award, and he has been well reviewed in countless publications…
Jeremy, you must be living in a place that doesn’t have google.