2010 National Book Award Finalists

by Colleen Barrett 1

The nominees for the National Book Award came out yesterday. To be honest I haven't read any, but I've wanted to read Just Kids by Patti Smith since hearing her in a NPR interview earlier this year. Also Lord of Misrule (not to be confused with book five of the Morganville Vampire series) isn't even being published until November! So no need to feel behind if you haven't crossed any off your list. Aren't awards just a way to sell more books anyway? Find out which fiction and nonfiction books made it below.

Fiction

• I Hotel, Karen Tei Yamashita
• Great House, Nicole Krauss
• Lord of Misrule, Jaimy Gordon
• Parrot and Olivier in America, Peter Carey
• So Much For That, Lionel Shriver

Nonfiction

• Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq, John W. Dower
• Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War
• Just Kids, Patti Smith
• Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, Barbara Demick
• Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade, Justin Spring

Read any yet? Or do you want to now?