National Book Awards * 2012

1950 National Book Award Winners:

William Carlos William (left),

 Nelson Algren (second from right), 

and Ralph L. Rusk (far right),

 with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt 

at the first National Book Awards Ceremony.

The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America.  For more about the history of this award, visit the National Book Award.

And this year's winners are:

• THE ROUND HOUSE by Louise Erdrich (Fiction)... When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, fourteen-year old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family

• BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS by Katherine Boo (Non-Fiction)... The dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the twenty-first century's great, unequal cities. In this fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human. Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees fortune in the recyclable garbage of richer people. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a rural childhood, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to good times. But then, as the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths,the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. 

• GOBLIN SECRETS by William Alexander (Young People's Literature)... Hoping to find his lost brother, Rownie escapes the home of the witch Graba and joins a troupe of goblins who perform in Zombay, a city where humans are forbidden to wear masks and act in plays.

• BEWILDERMENT: NEW POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS by David Ferry (Poetry)

Women Writers of the West

The award is names in honor of Pulitzer Prize winner Willa Cather, one of the country's foremost novelists.  The WILLA Literary Award is awarded annually for outstanding literature featuring women's stories set in the West.

Winners for 2012:

CONTEMPORARY FICTION

WINNER: Raising Wrecker by Summer Wood -- Wrecker is born in 1965 in flower-powered San Francisco. By his third birthday, his mother has landed in prison and he's been taken by the state. So when an uncle claims the boy and brings him to a place called Bow Farm, Wrecker is scared and angry and quick to cause chaos. Here among the California redwoods, a clan of eccentrics will come together to raise one remarkable child, and feel themselves transformed. Charting two decades of an unconventional family.

FINALIST: Fracture by Susan Cummins Miller

FINALIST: Séance in Sepia by Michelle Black

CREATIVE NONFICTION

WINNER: Rightful Place by Amy Hale Auker  -- Thirty essays on land and life in the American West; poetic prose describing the author's experiences as a wife, mother, cook, ranch hand, and writer living the cowboy life

FINALIST: Light on the Devils: Coming of Age on the Klamath by Louise Wagenknecht

FINALIST: Bull Canyon: A Boat Builder, A Writer, and Other Wildlife by Lin Pardey

HISTORICAL FICTION

WINNER: The Bride's House by Sandra Dallas -- In 1880's Georgetown, Colorado, seventeen-year-old Nealie Bent deals with lies, secrets, and heartache before choosing the man who will give her the Bride's House. Years later, Nealie's daughter, Pearl, grows up in the Bride's House. When the enterprising young Frank Curry comes along and asks for Pearl's hand in marriage, Pearl's father sabotages the union. But Pearl has inherited her mother's tenacity of heart, and her father underestimates the lengths to whichthe women in the Bride's House will go for love.

FINALIST: Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker

FINALIST: A Race to Splendor by Ciji Ware

 

POETRY

WINNER: Married Into It by Patricia Frolander -- This poetry book provides a revealing glimpse into the life of a female rancher, in Wyoming. It shows the hardships and joys involved into the demanding occupation. The book provides poetic views on family, community and the land itself.

FINALIST: The Singing Bowl by Joan Logghe

FINALIST: Dirt Songs: A Plains Duet by Linda M. Hasselstrom and Twyla M. Hansen

ORIGINAL SOFTCOVER FICTION (TRADE OR MASS MARKET)

WINNER: The American Cafe by Sara Sue Hoklotubbe -- Thirty-six-year-old Sadie Walela's hopes of making a fresh start in her native Cherokee county are not going well when on the opening day of her restaurant, American Cafâe, she is threatened by an old woman with a sawed-off shotgun and learns that the restaurant's previous owner has been shot to death.

FINALIST: Captive Trail by Susan Page Davis

FINALIST: Unbridled by Tammy Hinton

CHILDREN’S/YOUNG ADULT FICTION & NONFICTION

WINNER: The Year We Were Famous by Carole Estby Dagg -- Based on the true story of the author's great-aunt and great-grandmother, this is a fast-paced historical adventure set during the time of the suffragist movement, the 1896 presidential campaign, and the changing perception of "a woman's place" in society.

FINALIST: Forgiven by Janet Fox
FINALIST: A Book for Black-Eyed Susan by Judy Young

Man Booker Prize 2012

Hilary Mantel wins Man Booker Prize for 

"Bring Up the Bodies"

from NoveList: 

The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller, Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England.

                             

When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice. At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason.

Booker prize-winning novelist Hilary Mantel crafts monumental accounts of pivotal historical times; whether it's Revolutionary France or Henry VIII's court, Mantel delves into her protagonists' lives to show how their personalities were shaped, and how these personalities shaped their world. She's also just as comfortable in 1960s Botswana or a provincial English village full of nobodies-characterization is all, a characterization conveyed through sometimes complex but always witty prose; the end result is a world at once dark and amusing, with a variety of themes that keep readers riveted with each fresh new novel. Start with: The Giant, O'Brien.

Hilary Mantel read alikes include:

• Aravind Adiga 
• Philippa Gregory 
• Andrew Miller
• Steven Millhauser
• Orhan Pamuk
• Gore Vidal
• Robert Pen Warren

 
This year's short-listed novels include:

• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
• Umbrella by Alison Moore and Will Self
• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil

 

Pick up a Man Booker book today!

Do you read Banned Books?

You might not know it, but you might be reading a Banned Book... 

 

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) receives reports from libraries, schools, and the media on attempts to ban books in communities across the country. ALA compiles lists of challenged books in order to inform the public about censorship efforts that affect libraries and schools. The ALA condemns censorship and works to ensure free access to information. For more information on ALA's efforts to raise awareness of censorship and promote the freedom to read, please explore Banned Books Week.

According to the ALA, these are the top 100 Banned/Challenged books from 2000-2009 in the country: 

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
4. And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
5. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
6. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
7. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
8. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman
9. ttyl; ttfn; l8r g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
11. Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
12. It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
13. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey
14. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
15. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
16. Forever, by Judy Blume
17. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
18. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
19. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
20. King and King, by Linda de Haan
21. To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
22. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar
23. The Giver, by Lois Lowry
24. In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
25. Killing Mr. Griffen, by Lois Duncan
26. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
27. My Brother Sam Is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier
28. Bridge To Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
29. The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline B. Cooney
30. We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
31. What My Mother Doesn’t Know, by Sonya Sones
32. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
33. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
34. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler
35. Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison
36. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
37. It’s So Amazing, by Robie Harris
38. Arming America, by Michael Bellasiles
39. Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
40. Life is Funny, by E.R. Frank
41. Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher
42. The Fighting Ground, by Avi
43. Blubber, by Judy Blume
44. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
45. Crazy Lady, by Jane Leslie Conly
46. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
47. The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby: The First Graphic Novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, the creators of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey
48. Rainbow Boys, by Alex Sanchez
49. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
50. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
51. Daughters of Eve, by Lois Duncan
52. The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
53. You Hear Me?, by Betsy Franco
54. The Facts Speak for Themselves, by Brock Cole
55. Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Green
56. When Dad Killed Mom, by Julius Lester
57. Blood and Chocolate, by Annette Curtis Klause
58. Fat Kid Rules the World, by K.L. Going
59. Olive’s Ocean, by Kevin Henkes
60. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
61. Draw Me A Star, by Eric Carle
62. The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
63. The Terrorist, by Caroline B. Cooney
64. Mick Harte Was Here, by Barbara Park
65. The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
66. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred Taylor
67. A Time to Kill, by John Grisham
68. Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
69. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
70. Harris and Me, by Gary Paulsen
71. Junie B. Jones (series), by Barbara Park
72. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
73. What’s Happening to My Body Book, by Lynda Madaras
74. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold
75. Anastasia (series), by Lois Lowry
76. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
77. Crazy: A Novel, by Benjamin Lebert
78. The Joy of Gay Sex, by Dr. Charles Silverstein
79. The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
80. A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
81. Black Boy, by Richard Wright
82. Deal With It!, by Esther Drill
83. Detour for Emmy, by Marilyn Reynolds
84. So Far From the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Watkins
85. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, by Chris Crutcher
86. Cut, by Patricia McCormick
87. Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
88. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
89. Friday Night Lights, by H.G. Bissenger
90. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle
91. Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
92. The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
93. Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
94. Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
95. Shade’s Children, by Garth Nix
96. Grendel, by John Gardner
97. The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende
98. I Saw Esau, by Iona Opte
99. Are You There, God?  It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
100. America: A Novel, by E.R. Frank

It's coming to an end...

Labor Day is generally marks of the end of summer… so to prolong the happy sunshiny feelings of the season, I give you a list of books with summery titles:

A summer affair 

Hilderbrand, Elin

Reluctantly agreeing to organize a children's benefit at which a rock-star ex-lover is performing, Claire Danner Crispin finds her efforts complicated by her clashes with a fellow organizer, her best friend's catering mishaps, and a new relationship. (Women's lives and relationships)

Dark summer 

Johansen, Iris

Working with a makeshift search-and-rescue operation, dedicated veterinarian Devon is thrust into a violent cat-and-mouse game involving a vengeful man of dubious trustworthiness and a wounded black Labrador's mysterious pack. (Romantic suspense stories)

Farewell summer 

Bradbury, Ray

October first, the air is still warm, but fall is rolling in. Thirteen-year-old Douglas Spaulding, his younger brother Tom, and their friends take advantage of these last warm days, tormenting the girls ... and declaring war on the old men who run Green Town, IL. For the boys know that Mr. Quartermain and his cohorts want nothing more than to force them to grow up. If only, the boys believe, they could stop the clock atop the courthouse building. Then, surely, they could hold onto the last days of summer and their youth. But the old men were young once, too. And Quartermain, crusty old guardian of the school board and town curfew, is bent on teaching the boys a lesson. But before the last leaf turns, the boys will teach him the importance of not being afraid of letting go. (Adult books for young adults; Coming-of-age stories)

Firefly summer 

Binchy, Maeve

In the 1960s, Patrick O'Neill builds a hotel in his Irish ancestral home and disrupts the town's life. (Women's lives and relationships; Women's romantic fiction)

Harlem summer 

Myers, Walter Dean

Set on the hot city streets of Harlem in 1925, Mark Purvis is thrilled when he is given a simple job by Fats Waller, Harlem's musical genius, yet when the task goes wrong and a gangster ends up on his tail, young Mark thinks his days of impressing Fats with his skills on the saxophone may now be over. (TEEN - Coming-of-age stories; Historical fiction)

Lowcountry summer 

Frank, Dorothea Benton

When Caroline Wimbley Levine returned to Tall Pines Plantation, she never expected to make peace with long-buried truths about herself and her family. (Domestic fiction; First person narratives)

One summer

Baldacci, David Jack

terminally-ill and preparing to say goodbye to his family, has a miraculous recovery after his wife is killed in a car accident and struggles to reunite his family at her childhood home on the South Carolina oceanfront. (Domestic fiction)

Prodigal summer 

Kingsolver, Barbara

Wildlife biologist Deanna is caught off guard by an intrusive young hunter, while bookish city wife Lusa finds herself facing a difficult identity choice, and elderly neighbors find attraction at the height of a long-standing feud. (Romantic; Thought-provoking)

Still summer 

Mitchard, Jacquelyn

Twenty years after a shared childhood marked by their considerable popularity, Tracy, Olivia, and Holly reunite on a luxury Caribbean cruise during which a chance mistake triggers a series of devastating events that puts their survival in jeopardy. (Suspense stories)

Summer blowout 

Cook, Claire

Working for her Italian-American family's beauty salon chain while secretly indulging her passion for lipstick, Bella Shaughnessy vows against relationships when her husband and sister run off together, a resolution that falters when she meets a contrary entrepreneur, develops a business idea, and attends a huge southern wedding. (Chick lit; Women's lives and relationships; Women's romantic fiction)

Summer breeze 

Thayer, Nancy

House-sitting her aunt's lake cottage in the Berkshires while mending a broken heart, Manhattanite Natalie bonds with a smitten shopkeeper who is caring for an aging parent and a reluctant stay-at-home mom with whom she commiserates over romantic complications. (Women's lives and relationships; Women's romantic fiction)

Summer Island 

Hannah, Kristin

Nora Bridge is a woman who walked out on her marriage and left her two daughters behind. Now she's a radio talk show host and syndicated newspaper columnist. Her daughter Ruby is a comedienne who uses her mother as fuel for her humor. The two haven't spoken in more than a decade. The tabloids unearth a scandal from Nora's past and offer Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother. But first Ruby needs to know her well enough to write the story. She returns to Summer Island and finds that Nora is not the woman Ruby has imagined all these years. (Women's lives and relationships)

Summer knight 

Butcher, Jim

Harry Dresden's faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. All par for the course for Chicago's only professional wizard. But in all Harry's years of supernatural sleuthing, he's never faced anything like this: the spirit world's gone completely postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble--and not just of the door-slamming, boo-shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone--or something--is stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn't figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself. (Hardboiled fiction; Mystery stories; Urban fantasy fiction)

Summer nights 

Mallery, Susan

Horse whisperer Shane Stryker is determined to meet someone who will be content with the quiet life of a rancher's wife. And the fiery, pint-size redhead who dazzles him does not fit the bill. Small-town librarian Annabelle Weiss can't understand why Shane keeps pushing her away, but only he can help her with a special event for the next Fool's Gold festival. (Contemporary romances)

Summer people 

Hilderbrand, Elin

A summer of healing turns turbulent when Beth, grieving widow, and her teenage twins experience passion and first love, but a dangerous secret from her past threatens to destroy the family. (Women's lives and relationships)

Summer reading 

Wolitzer, Hilma 

The lives of three very different women--Lissy Snyder, an insecure newlywed and unwilling stepmother; her nosey housecleaner, Michelle; and Angela Graves, the head of a local book group--intersect over the course of a summer in the Hamptons. (Love stories; Women's lives and relationships)

Summer rental 

Andrews, Mary Kay

Ellis questions everything she believed after losing an all-consuming job, while Julia struggles with insecurities that threaten a loving relationship and Dorie confronts a maelstrom of problems after a shocking betrayal. (Women's lives and relationships)

Summer sisters 

Blume, Judy 

Two girls meet one summer and become best friends until one girl falls passionately in love. An exploration of choices, of friendship, love, families and having a friend too dangerous to forgive and too essential to forget. (Adult books for young adults; Coming-of-age stories; Women's lives and relationships)

Summer 

Kingsbury, Karen

Dayne Matthews finds the perfect solution to his on-camera love scenes--his wife, Katy, will star in his next film--but in an effort to appease the press, the couple agrees to a twelve-episode reality show, which creates trouble for the newlyweds. (Christian fiction; Christian love stories)

Summer 

Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937 

An 18-year-old girl named Charity Royall, living in the small town of North Dormer, is ignorant of desire until she meets a visiting architect, Lucius Harney. Like the succulent summer in the beautiful Berkshires around them, their romance is lush and picturesque, but its consequences are harsh and real. (Literary fiction)

Summer's child 

Rice, Luanne 

The lives of four different people come together as the result of the mysterious disappearance of expectant mother Leila Jameson. (Adult books for young adults; Domestic fiction; Women's lives and relationships)

That summer 

Dessen, Sarah 

During the summer of her divorced father's remarriage and her sister's wedding, fifteen-year-old Haven comes into her own by letting go of the myths of the past. (TEEN - Realistic fiction)

*all titles, authors, genres and synopses are from NoveList*

**for more information on these books or more summer

books be sure to visit NoveList from our website**