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“New York Times Best Fiction & Nonfiction of 2020”

Award Winner, Book List, Debut Author, Fiction, General, Historical, Inspirational, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Wartime, Women's Fiction

The editors of The Times Book Review chose the best fiction and nonfiction titles of 2020, from among the titles they had reviewed. The titles are a mix of bestsellers and wannabes, from debut and/or international writers, but more importantly, the NYT Book Review editors fell in love with the story or the writing.

 

Listed in alphabetical order by author. Click on the titles to read the reviews and learn more about the books.

 

FICTION

“Homeland Elegies”  by Ayad Akhtar 

“The Vanishing Half”  by Brit Bennett

“Deacon King Kong”  by James McBride

“A Children’s Bible”  by Lydia Millet

 

 

“Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell

 

 

NONFICTION

“Hidden Valley Road” by Robert Kolker

“War” by Margaret MacMillan

“A Promised Land”  by Barack Obama

“Shakespeare in a Divided America”  by James Shapiro

“Uncanny Valley” by Anna Wiener

 

 

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2020 Barnes and Noble Book of the Year

Leave a Comment / Book List, Cookbooks, Fiction, General, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction

In its second annual “Best of…” event, 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. The booksellers chose among the finalists for the B&N Book of the Year (indicated in red).

Click on the titles to learn more about the books.

 

“Leave the World Behind”  by Rumaan Alam

 

“The Vanishing Half”  by Brit Bennett

 

“Untamed”  by Glennon Doyle

 

“Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design”  by Lauren Ko

 

“Accidentally Wes Anderson”  by Wally Koval

 

“Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times”  by Katherine May

 

“World of Wonders”  by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

“Stamped”  by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

 

Have you read any of the finalists in this year’s celebration of the booksellers’ faves? Let us know in the comments below.

 

 

 

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2020 Booker Prize

2 Comments / Book List, Fiction, General, Nominated for Award

From the Booker Prize website:

“The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over five decades. Each year, the prize is awarded to what is, in the opinion of the judges, the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. It is a prize that transforms the winner’s career.

 

The winner receives £50,000 as well as the £2,500 awarded to each of the six shortlisted authors. Both the winner and the shortlisted authors are guaranteed a global readership plus a dramatic increase in book sales.”

 

Click on the titles and author names to learn more about both.
The winner is highlighted in red.

The 2020 shortlist is:

 

Congratulations to all the finalists and the winner!

 

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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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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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New York Times Notable Non-fiction – 2018

Award Winner, Bestselling Author, Biography, Book List, Debut Author, General, Historical, Nominated for Award, Non-fiction, Sports, True Crime

 

The New York Times Notable Non-fiction of 2018 list consists of books selected by the editors of the NYT Book Review. It contains a mix of biographies, insights into historical American subjects, along with books that deal with contemporary societal issues. Here are ten of the NYT Notable Non-fiction Book Review editors’ selections for 2018. Click on the book titles to read the reviews.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Arthur Ashe: A Life”  by Raymond Arsenault.  

 

 

“Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City” by Sam Anderson

 

“American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment”  by Shane Bauer

 

“Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup”  by John Carreyrou

 

“Ali: A Life”  by Jonathan Eig

 

“American Dialogue: The Founders and Us”  by Joseph J. Ellis

 

“Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America”  by Eliza Griswold

 

“Brothers of the Gun: A Memoir of the Syrian War”  by Marwan Hisham and Molly Crabapple

 

“American Eden: David Hosack, Botany and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic” by Victoria Johnson

 

“Churchill: Walking With Destiny” by Andrew Roberts

 

“Calypso”  by David Sedaris                                   

 

 

 

 

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New York Times Notable Fiction – 2018

Bestselling Author, Book List, Crime, Debut Author, Fiction, General, Historical, Suspense

 

The New York Times Notable Fiction of 2018 list has been posted. It’s always interesting to see which books the Book Review editors will choose for their “Best of…” lists for the year. The titles are sometimes bestsellers, sometimes from debut authors, several from 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 ten of their notable fiction choices from 2018. Click on the book titles to read their reviews.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"An American Marriage"  by Tayari Jones

 

"Cherry"  by Nico Walker

 

"Eternal Life"  by Dara Horn

 

"The Friend"  by Sigrid Nunez

 

"The House of Broken Angels"  by Luis Alberto Urrea

 

"Macbeth"  by Jo Nesbø. Translated by Don Bartlett

 

"Mirror, Shoulder, Signal"  by Dorthe Nors

 

"My Year of Rest and Relaxation"  by Ottessa Moshfegh

 

"There There"  by Tommy Orange

 

"Warlight"  by Michael Ondaatje

 

Happy reading!   🙂

 

 

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