The National Book Awards were announced tonight and here are the winners (in the categories I follow)! I‘m delighted with the NF winner and I certainly can‘t argue about Everett getting his due (though a part of me wanted to see My Friends take it). The translated pick is the only one I haven‘t read yet, as it only came out last week, so I‘m looking forward to seeing what I think.

I went into this one completely blind after enjoying Wahala and I‘m glad I did. I found it wholly absorbing and didn‘t want to stop listening. It explores upheaval, culture, race, greed and more. No sophomore slump for Nikki May!

Quill has always lived in the rez in northern Minnesota and is all too aware of the epidemic of Native women going missing when she hears a woman scream when she‘s out on a run. From there the book focuses in on her realities, the issues with the local tribal police, and the feeling amongst the women that they have to protect themselves and each other, as no one else will. A searing read.

This story of the murder of Emmett Till, told by a man who grew up near where it happened but never knew, is superb. Wrapping together local history, the murder itself, and deep knowledge of the area, it trends new ground from the equally good The Blood of Emmett Till. I‘m glad this story is no longer hidden and hearing the author come to terms with his own past ignorance and unintended racism is affecting.

This book explores 3 adult sisters as their father has just died, looking at their current, somewhat strained relationships and their childhood. All this in the setting of a cli-fi, climate change impacted world as well as maybe something odd going on. I wish the oddness had been explored a bit more, as I feel it would have helped build tension to the ending, but this was good.

As US ambassador to Russia, Sullivan had a front row seat to the initial invasion of Ukraine and was also there in early COVID and Britney Griner‘s detention. Not only does he come across as a very reasonable guy, but he adds some history and his own experiences of the Russian people to make this a rich story. I was fascinated by this one and appreciated getting more of the story from a sort of insider.

I have had this copy for decades after my mom read this one not long after it was published. I have finally read it! The first quarter or so is a rough go, as there‘s a lot of info dumping. After that, I become so wholly absorbed that when the final page came (815), I wanted to know what happens next! Excellent read on the events leading up to Irish independence.

I loved Pandora‘s Jar, so I was really excited for this one but I struggled with it a bit. I don‘t know if it was the book itself or me/the timing (this past week 😵‍💫). I‘ll definitely still be looking for her books in the future.

This is a poorly done thriller with a super thin plot and a main character who is a little hard to root for. Plus, the audiobook narrator is not good and repeatedly pulled me out of the story with her odd pronunciations. Disappointing.

I wanted pure escapist entertainment today and this fit the bill. Mara feels like she‘s failing at life and decides to take up her successful cousin on a job working as a PA on his tv show. They show hauntings (or are they) at newly bought houses. But then some funny things start happening. I found this really satisfying and not so much scary as fun.

I was glad to be in the middle of this one, as it was good to spend some time completely off the planet today. I liked but didn‘t love this one. It looks at the moon from all aspects: the science, the interaction with people, etc. Interesting but not quite NBA longlist material to me.

Like others here, I wanted to read more from Davies after Clear. I liked this one, a novel of obsession, the expansiveness of men‘s lives and the rapid narrowing of girls‘s as they become women. The ending is a tad preposterous but I liked it.

I picked this up on NetGalley because I love a dystopia and clifi, and it‘s dreadful. I‘m not sure which is worse—the partially explained, wildly unrealistic premise or the depiction of women as helpless pathetic harridans who require rescue by men. 🤮 And from a female author! I‘m deeply disappointed in Kate.

I read and loved Wool and Silo over a decade ago and somehow never ended up getting to Dust. Now, thanks to #ReadYourEbooks, I finally have! And it‘s a good ending to a very satisfying trilogy. I‘m so glad I finally got to it.

Here‘s my #ReadYourEbooks picks for the month! I‘m still finishing the one and only I read (technically am reading) from October‘s picks, so we‘ll see how I do this month.

My haul from the store (photographed inside).

Greetings from the Cannon Beach Book Company! I had a long, satisfying browse and I feel so good now. I overheard a fellow Litten in the store (even if she doesn‘t know she‘s one) mention how important it is to look at every part of the store so as not to miss any books. I couldn‘t agree more!

It looks like I‘ll only be getting one read from the October picks, but I‘m happy with that. Here‘s my November list for #ReadYourEbooks. My connectivity will be scanty over the next week, so hopefully I‘ll get to see the numbers and post mine at some point.

This book was published almost 50 years ago, yet it would be considered fresh and even revolutionary today. I wasn‘t always sure what was personal/family memoir and what was Chinese story, and I sometimes took a long time to figure out how people were related to the author, but I thought it was extraordinary.

Ok, here‘s my “I hope they‘re on the TOB longlist cuz I want to read them and haven‘t yet” picks. 😬 Tagging those who have already posted theirs.

#TOBwaiting

Most of this book is a memoir in essays with some pieces about fantasy pop culture stuff (GOT, gaming) at the end. Some of it is really compelling, some I don‘t agree with at all, and I could have done without the two gaming essays (good writing, uninteresting topic to me). A low pick for me.

NBA longlist, nonfiction

Drawing from true events, this book smacks the reader in the face with graphic brutality from the word go and shows how that violence reverberates across the lives of those involved for decades. I knew nothing about this event from 1980 and I‘m glad I read this, though it wasn‘t an easy read. Phenomenal book.

Ellen Jovin has taken her Grammar Table around the US, answering grammar questions. Here she compiles answers along with anecdotes of the times people asked. It‘s fun but information heavy, so even though Ellen is delightful in the audio, I think print would be a better way to go.

I really enjoyed How the Penguins Saved Veronica and was happy to see there was a follow up. This is just as good, following Veronica in new penguin adventures with similar environmental messaging. I believe there‘s a third book coming soon and I‘m delighted!

I loved Taste, so I was curious to give this one a try. It‘s not quite as good with the absence of all his childhood stories, but it‘s still really enjoyable. The title gives the idea, but it‘s wrapped in the stories of his life and includes some recipes.

I skipped this one when it came out, figuring since I‘d read And The Band Played On that I had the story. But that book is an epidemiologic/public health story of how HIV established in the US and this is the activist/patient side. These men were treated absolutely abominably (even Fauci doesn‘t look so good here) and really fought for treatments and basic care. The book is superb.

Sisters Meg and Gen are on a trip together to NYC to celebrate Gen‘s impending divorce when Gen disappears. What follows is twisty fun that I found very page-turnery. The ending had some preposterous bits, but I overly I had a lot of fun with it.

This book is a definite extension of the first book in the best way. The same cheeky humor and peeking under the veil of the publishing/writing industry while also carrying some of the plot lines forward. It‘s bananas and I loved it.

This is my second attempt at Yazbek‘s fiction (I‘ve read a NF from her and it was superb) and I don‘t think she‘s for me. Her themes here interest me: war in Syria, violence, death; but the structure is tough and some bits of the story I found a little odd.

NBA shortlist, translated literature

I‘ve only watched bits of BC here and there but heard good things about this, so I decided to give it a go when it popped up at my library. I enjoyed spending some time with Ina and hearing her story. Only a small bit of this talks about her show and I liked that. She‘s very relatable, and I like her life philosophy enshrined in the title.

I really liked the first two books in this series, but this one was so over the top nudge-nudge wink-wink from the start that I quickly lost interest. By the end I really didn‘t care. Here‘s hoping the next one is back up to the standard of the series.

This book was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The plot is good and the dog bits are cute, but the writing is poor and there‘s an undercurrent of misogyny in the book that I can never get behind. I wouldn‘t be interested in reading this author again.

The NBA judges for translated lit obviously see something in this I don‘t. For me, it‘s as though it wasn‘t translated at all. I got the 36% and it feels like there‘s no narrative and nothing for me to grab onto, so I‘m giving it the boot.

NBA shortlist, translated literature

Journalist Kostyuchenko is also a lesbian, apparently giving her government multiple reasons to target her. Yet here she is unafraid to show what truly happens on the ground in Russia while showing a deep love for her country and its people. This is searing and tough to read but excellent.

I…don‘t know what to think of this. Early on, the MC reminded me of a younger version of the All Fours MC (this is not a compliment) and the ending‘s a bit of a mess. But I found it oddly compelling. So I‘ll give it a pick with reservations, as I can‘t really say I “liked” it.

This book weaves through a cast of people putting on a production of the Wizard of Oz in Hilo. It‘s fun, but centers each character too briefly and interchangeably calls them by their name or their Oz name, which gets confusing. It takes much too long to get to know each one. I did enjoy reading it but can‘t quite give it a pick. I do love that glorious cover, though.

I‘ve had mixed responses to Hanif‘s writing before and I don‘t like basketball, so I skipped this when it first came out. So I‘m glad the NBA longlisted it for nonfiction, because it‘s terrific. It‘s not really about basketball at all, rather that sport is used as a framing device to talk about community, life as a black man and more. This one gets all the stars from me (and it should have been shortlisted).

Bite wanders through the animal kingdom looking at teeth and how they serve various species. It‘s really interesting with some fun nerdy humor here and there. The one negative for me is this is my second read from Schutt and for me he tends to be a bit dry in places.

Coates‘s latest book is a series of essays that form a narrative through-line looking at who gets to be a full person. He impactfully explores the treatment of Palestinians in Israel (he visited before the current war), demonstrating the similarity to Jim Crow. We need provocateurs like Coates to get us talking and thinking. I‘m fully on board with him here.

This book goes in depth on Putin: his history, how he sees the world, his behavior. It is almost 10 years old so is a little dated, but remains an excellent exploration of a consequential man. It‘s dense but not in a bad way. I learned a lot.

This book takes forever to get going and reads like a self-indulgent “I had a hit book and now don‘t need to be edited” project. Bailing at the halfway point.

I somehow missed that there was a between the books novella where we get to see a bit of Vero‘s story before she meets Finlay. This was fun! And since it‘s a prequel, it can really be read at any point in the series.

In the follow up to Shutter (definitely read that one first), Rita continues to be plagued by ghosts talking to her and hostility at work. Plus there appears to be a serial killer operating in the area. While still dark, this wasn‘t quite as dark and devastating as Shutter and in fact has a note of hope. It‘s a good follow up.

Drug rep Cordelia also has a side gig. That “job” is hunting and killing bad men. This book is a great mix of dark and light. I completely agree with the Bandit Queens comp, especially in tone. I loved this one and so did my mom. It‘s out on 10/28.

While I enjoyed this between the books novella, this is a series that I feel benefits from the novel-length story to flesh it out. It was fun to spend time with these characters, but it felt a little sparse, so a low pick for me. Once again, Lauren Ambrose is perfection as the audio reader.

Kelley Armstrong‘s latest stand alone horror is a haunted house story with a high creep factor. I‘m not typically scared by horror stories, but this one got under my skin and definitely disrupted my sleep for a couple nights. I really liked the characters and the structuring of the story.

A girl with no name is imprisoned with 39 women. The male guards never speak to them. We watch her grow older in this cage, trying to navigate this unusual life. I found this book fascinating. There are unanswered questions in it that I think will drive some readers crazy, but I really liked it. @BarbaraBB I think you would like this, too.

This is a bit sappy in places and can be heavy-handed with the messaging, but is a worthy follow up to Cerulean Sea. I loved new character David as well as the ending. And the author‘s note at the end is absolutely beautiful.

I am not at all religious and this is not a book I would have chosen, but I read it for completion‘s sake for the NBA nonfiction list (it was shortlisted). It chronicles the rise of a church that then undergoes upheaval from disagreements within. It‘s a good chronicle of the events, though somewhat less interesting for me personally.

This collection of connected short stories is a bit of a doozy. It‘s by turns gross, funny, disturbing, and thought-provoking, sometimes all in one story. There are parts of it I didn‘t like, but ultimately I think it‘s incredibly creative and unique and I expect it to stick with me.

NBA longlist, fiction