Fiction

“New York Times Best Fiction and Nonfiction of 2019”

Award Winner, Bestselling Author, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Short Stories/Collection, True Crime

 

It’s always interesting to see which books the Book Review editors choose for their “Best of…” lists for the year. The titles are sometimes bestsellers, sometimes from debut or international writers, but more importantly, the NYT Book Review editors have fallen in love with the story (or the writing) and ta-da! the book makes the list.

 

Check out their Best of Fiction and Nonfiction choices from 2019. Listed in alphabetical order by author, click on the book titles to read their reviews.

 

Fiction:

 

“Night Boat to Tangier” by Kevin Barry

 

“Exhalation” by Ted Chiang

 

“The Topeka School” by Ben Lerner

 

 

 

“Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli

 

 

“Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips

 

Nonfiction:

 

“The Yellow House” by Sarah M. Broom

 

“The Club” by Leo Damrosch

 

“Midnight in Chernobyl” by Adam Higginbotham

 

 

 

 

 

“Say Nothing” by Patrick Radden Keefe

 

 

 

“No Visible Bruises” by Rachel Louise Snyder

 

Have you read any of the titles? Please let us know what you thought in the comments below.

 

 

 

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National Book Awards – 2019

Leave a Comment / Award Winner, Book List, Fiction, General, Historical, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Young Adult/Teen

 

The prestigious National Book Awards–2019 for last year's books were bestowed in New York City on November 20, 2019. There were 25 finalists – five each in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People's Literature.

 

Take a look at the finalists and winners (indicated in red) and click on the titles to learn more about the books:
 

FINALISTS FOR FICTION:

 

FINALISTS FOR NONFICTION:

 

FINALISTS FOR POETRY:

 

FINALISTS FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE: 

 

FINALISTS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE:

 

Congratulations to all!!!

 

 

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Barnes & Noble booksellers choose 8 Best of Year Finalists

Leave a Comment / Bestselling Author, Book List, Fiction, Inspirational, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Suspense

 

Barnes and Noble did a survey of booksellers at its brick and mortar stores, asking which books they enjoyed selling the most during the year. Here’s the list of the eight top nominees. In December, the booksellers chose among the finalists for the B&N Book of the Year. It's highlighted in red.
 

Click on the titles to learn more about the books.

 

"The Testaments (Barnes & Noble Book Club Edition)"  by Margaret Atwood

 

 

"The Food of Sichuan"  by Fuchsia Dunlop

 

 

"Mythos: (Ancient Greek Mythology Book for Adults, Modern Telling of Classical Greek Myths Book)"  by Stephen Fry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse"  by Charlie Mackesy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Silent Patient"  by Alex Michaelides
 

 

"Olive, Again"  by Elizabeth Strout

 

 

"No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference"  by Greta Thunberg

 

 

"The Nickel Boys (Barnes & Noble Book Club Edition)"  by Colson Whitehead

 

 

What do you think of the list? Which one(s) did you read? Let us know in the comments below.  🙂

 

 

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Macavity Awards-2019

Leave a Comment / Bestselling Author, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Short Stories/Collection, Suspense

 

Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate their favorite mysteries in five categories from the previous year for the Macavity Awards. The winners of this coveted award were announced at the end of October, 2019, at the Bouchercon convention in Dallas, Texas.
 

Mystery Readers International, Mystery Readers Journal, and the Macavity Awards, were created by Anthony Award winner, Janet Rudolph.

 

The winning titles are indicated in red.
 

Best Novel:

  • Lou Berney: November Road
  • Alison Gaylin: If I Die Tonight
  • Jane Harper: The Lost Man
  • Jennifer Hillier: Jar of Hearts
  • Naomi Hirahara: Hiroshima Boy
  • Lisa Unger: Under My Skin
     

Best First Novel:

  • Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, the Serial Killer
  • John Copenhaver: Dodging and Burning
  • Delia Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing
  • Catherine Steadman: Something in the Water
  • C.J. Tudor: The Chalk Man
     

Best Nonfiction:

  • Laird R. Blackwell: The Metaphysical Mysteries of G.K. Chesterton: A Critical Study of the Father Brown Stories and Other Detective Fiction
  • Margalit Fox: Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer
  • Leslie S. Klinger: Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s
  • Michelle McNamara: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
  • Laura Thompson: Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life
  • Sarah Weinman: The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World
     

Best Short Story: (Click on titles in red for links to the stories)

  • Craig Faustus Buck: “Race to Judgment” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
  • Leslie Budewitz: “All God’s Sparrows” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, May/Jun 2018)
  • Barb Goffman: “Bug Appétit” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Nov/Dec 2018)
  • Barry Lancet: “Three-Star Sushi” (Down & Out: The Magazine, Vol.1, No. 3)
  • Gigi Pandian: “The Cambodian Curse” (The Cambodian Curse and Other Stories)
  • Art Taylor: “English 398: Fiction Workshop” (Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Jul/Aug 2018)
     

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery:

  • Dianne Freeman: A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder
  • Elsa Hart: City of Ink
  • Laurie R. King: Island of the Mad
  • Sujata Massey: The Widows of Malabar Hill
  • Ann Parker: A Dying Note
  • Charles Todd: A Forgotten Place
     

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!   🙂

 

 

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Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year 2019 – McIlvanney Prize

Leave a Comment / Bestselling Author, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Suspense, Thriller

 

The Scotland Crime Book of the Year Award, now called The McIlvanney Prize, is given at Bloody Scotland, a premier conference for crime writers. Eligible authors must be born in Scotland, live there, or set their books there. The winner receives 1,000 pounds and the book is promoted for a year by a major bookstore chain in Great Britain. The winners of both awards were announced on Friday, September 20, 2019 and are indicated in red.
 

McIlvanney Prize Shortlist and winner:
• Breakers, by Doug Johnstone
• Conviction, by Denise Mina
• The Way of All Flesh, by “Ambrose Parry”, aka Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman
• A Treachery of Spies, by Manda Scott
 

McIlvanney Debut Prize Shortlist and winner:
• All the Hidden Truths, by Claire Askew
• From the Shadows, by G.R. Halliday
• Black Camp 21, by Bill Jones
• In the Silence, by M.R. Mackenzie
• The Peat Dead, by Allan Martin
 

 

Congratulations to all! 

Previous winners are noted below:

2018: Liam McIlvanney – “The Quaker”

2017: Denise Mina – “The Long Drop”

2016: Chris Brookmyre – “Black Widow”

2015: Craig Russell – “The Ghosts of Altona”

2014: Peter May – “Entry Island”

 

 

 

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Man Booker International Prize – 2019

Leave a Comment / Award Winner, Book List, Fiction, General, Nominated for Award

 

The Man Booker International Prize celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world. The £50,000 prize for the winning book is divided equally between its author and translator. The 2019 finalists are listed below, with the winner indicated in red.

Author
(Origin Language Country/territory)

 Translator

Title

 


Jokha Alharthi
(Arabic – Oman)

 Marilyn Booth

"Celestial Bodies"

 


Annie Ernaux
(French – France)

 Alison L. Strayer

"The Years"

 


Marion Poschmann
(German – Germany)

 Jen Calleja

"The Pine Islands"

 

 

Olga Tokarczuk
(Polish – Poland)

 

Antonia Lloyd-Jones

 

"Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead"

 

 

Juan Gabriel Vásquez
(Spanish – Colombia)

 

Anne McLean

 

"The Shape of The Ruins"

 

 

Alia Trabucco Zerán
(Spanish – Chile)

 

Sophie Hughes

 

"The Remainder"

 

 

 

The shortlist was selected by a panel of five judges, chaired by Bettany Hughes, award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, and is made up of writer, translator, and chair of English PEN Maureen Freely; philosopher Professor Angie Hobbs; novelist and satirist Elnathan John, and essayist and novelist Pankaj Mishra.

 

The winner of the 2019 prize was announced on 21 May at a formal dinner at the Roundhouse in London. Congratulations to all! 

 

 

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Lefty Awards – 2019 (Left Coast Crime)

Leave a Comment / Award Winner, Bestselling Author, Book List, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, Historical, Mystery, Nominated for Award, Suspense

 

The annual Left Coast Crime Conference has provided authors, readers, reviewers, librarians, and publishers, a great place to gather and share their love of mysteries since 1991. The Lefty Awards are chosen by attendees at the conference from titles (either paper or ebook format) that were published for the first time the previous year in the United States or Canada.


The nominees and winners are listed below in alphabetical order by author, with winners indicated in red.


Best Humorous Mystery Novel
Ellen Byron – Mardi Gras Murder 
Kellye Garrett – Hollywood Ending
Timothy Hallinan – Nighttown
Leslie Karst – Death al Fresco 
Cynthia Kuhn – The Spirit in Question
*Catriona McPherson – Scot Free 


Best Historical Mystery Novel (events before 1960)
Rhys Bowen – Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding 
David Corbett – The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc Holliday 
Laurie R. King – Island of the Mad
*Sujata Massey – The Widows of Malabar Hill 
Ann Parker – A Dying Note
Iona Whishaw – It Begins in Betrayal 


Best Debut Mystery Novel
Tracy Clark – Broken Places 
A.J. Devlin – Cobra Clutch
A.J. Finn – The Woman in the Window 
*Dianne Freeman – A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder 
Aimee Hix – What Doesn’t Kill You
Keenan Powell – Deadly Solution
J.G. Toews – Give Out Creek


Best Mystery Novel
*Lou Berney – November Road 
Matt Coyle – Wrong Light 
Louise Penny – Kingdom of the Blind 
Lori Rader-Day – Under a Dark Sky 
Terry Shames – A Reckoning in the Back Country 
James W. Ziskin – A Stone’s Throw 


Congratulations to all!   🙂
 

 

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