2014 National Book Award

[Lily]

Thought it might be rather fun this year to start to follow some of the major awards a little earlier. Here are some tidbits about the 2014 National Book Award of possible interest:

"There are four panels of five Judges each in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature, each including a Chairperson, chosen by the National Book Foundation."

Timeline:

April 1, 2014: 2014 National Book Awards Application process opens.

May 15, 2014: Publishers must complete the online entry form and submit payment.

September 10, 2014: NBA Long-list announcements.

October 15, 2014: The Foundation will announce a shortlist of twenty Finalist books, five in each category.

November 18, 2014: Finalists reading will be held at The New School in NYC.

November 19, 2014: One winner in each category will be announced at the National Book Awards ceremony and benefit dinner.

"All books must be published by U.S. publishers located in the United States between December 1, 2013 and November 30, 2014. All authors must be U.S. citizens."

For more: http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaentry....

[LindaJ^]

Lily wrote: "Thought it might be rather fun this year to start to follow some of the major awards a little earlier. Here are some tidbits about the 2014 National Book Award of possible interest:

"There are fo..."

Thanks, Lily. I do feel sorry for the judges who I expect will have a lot of books to read between May and September and then collectively decide which are the 10 best. I thought last year's list was good and am looking forward to another reading frenzy after the long list is published.

[[deleted user]]

This is a truly excellent thread and I will follow it with interest!

[Sue]

Very interesting. Thanks Lily for getting this going!

[LindaJ^]

The longlist is only a couple of weeks away! I'm interested to see what books are chosen. I really enjoyed the bulk of last years, some of which I would not have otherwise thought to read.

[Lily]

A@1 Lily wrote: "...September 10, 2014: NBA Long-list announcements...."

The timeline for announcements seems to have been modified. Tonight the web site says the following:

Dates for 2014 NBAs

NBA Longlist Announcement
Sep 15: Young People's Literature Longlist
Sep 16: The Poetry Longlist
Sep 17: The Nonfiction Longlist
Sep 18: The Fiction Longlist

Oct 15 - Finalists Announcement

Nov 19 - NBA Ceremony and Benefit Dinner (Winners announced)

http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaentry....

[Lily]

2014 National Book Award for Poetry Longlist (Bold to indicate short list added.)


Linda Bierds, Roget's Illusion (G. P. Putnam's Sons/ Penguin Group (USA))

Brian Blanchfield, A Several World (Nightboat Books)

Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night: Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) -- Winner

Edward Hirsch, Gabriel: A Poem (Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House)

Fanny Howe, Second Childhood: Poems (Graywolf Press)

Maureen N. McLane, This Blue: Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Fred Moten, The Feel Trio (Letter Machine Editions)

Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric (Graywolf Press)

Spencer Reece, The Road to Emmaus: Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Mark Strand, Collected Poems (Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House)

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014.h...

POETRY JUDGES

Eileen Myles, Katie Peterson, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Robert Polito, Paisley Rekdal

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014.h...

[Lily]

2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Longlist (Bold to indicate short list added.)

Laurie Halse Anderson, The Impossible Knife of Memory (Viking/ Penguin Group (USA))

Gail Giles, Girls Like Us (Candlewick Press)

Carl Hiaasen, Skink--No Surrender (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers/ Random House)

Kate Milford, Greenglass House (Clarion Books/ Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Eliot Schrefer, Threatened (Scholastic Press)

Steve Sheinkin, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights (Roaring Brook Press/ Macmillan Publishers)

Andrew Smith, 100 Sideways Miles (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster)

John Corey Whaley, Noggin (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster)

Deborah Wiles, Revolution: The Sixties Trilogy, Book Two (Scholastic Press)

Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Group (USA)) -- Winner

Young People’s Literature Judges

Sharon M. Draper, Starr LaTronica, Dave Shallenberger, Sherri L. Smith, Rebecca Stead

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014.h...

[Lily]

2014 National Book Award for Nonfiction Longlist (Bold to indicate short list added.)

Roz Chast, Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? (Bloomsbury)

John Demos, The Heathen School: A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic Alfred A. Knopf/ Random House)

Anand Gopal, No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes (Metropolitan Books/ Henry Holt and Company)

Nigel Hamilton, The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941-1942 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Walter Isaacson, The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (Simon & Schuster)

John Lahr, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh (W.W. Norton & Company)

Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) -- Winner

Ronald C. Rosbottom, When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 (Little, Brown and Company/ Hachette Book Group)

Matthew Stewart, Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic (W.W. Norton & Company)

Edward O. Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence (Liveright Publishing Corporation/ W.W. Norton & Company)

NONFICTION JUDGES

Robert Atwan, Gretel Ehrlich, Tom Reiss, Ruth J. Simmons, Alan Taylor

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014.h...

[Lily]

And tomorrow we get to replace this with the fiction longlist!

[Jen]

Actually, I think the fiction list was leaked, it's being reported by NY Times: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/201...

[Lily]

Okay, here's the scoop, as reported in the NY Times tonight (Bold to indicate short list added, 10/15/14):

1. Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman, Grove Press

2. Molly Antopol, The Unamericans: Stories, W.W. Norton & Company

3. John Darnielle, Wolf in White Van, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

4. Anthony Doerr, All the Light We Cannot See, Scribner​

5. Phil Klay, Redeployment, The Penguin Press -- Winner

6. Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven, Alfred A. Knopf

7. Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck & Other Stories, The Dial Press

8. Richard Powers, Orfeo, W.W. Norton & Company

9. Marilynne Robinson, Lila, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

10. Jane Smiley, Some Luck, Alfred A. Knopf

For descriptions, here is a repeat of the link Jen gave us above:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/201...

THANKS, JEN, for sharing your sharp eye! (The list is also up on the official National Book Awards site tonight.)

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014.h...

[Lily]

Incidentally, I finished All the Light We Cannot See just last night. If I were to rank all the books I have read in 2014, it would be second, behind only Wave. (I have read none of the other books on this list.)

[Jen]

You are welcome! I was just reporting what I learned from someone else's sharp eye :-).

I think this is a really interesting list with so many titles on my tbr radar - but I haven't read any of them yet.

[Amanda]

I've read Orfeo, An Unnecessary Woman, and Station Eleven. All very different, all excellent. I'm looking forward to checking out the rest of the list.

[LindaJ^]

Last year I managed to read the longlist prior to the announement of the winner. Glad there are only 10 books this year, as I'm getting a late start and, unlike last year, have not read any of them yet. At least, I have three in hand so will be able to get started while I collect the others. All sound interesting, and I am really glad there is a new Marilynne Robinson book to savor!

[LindaJ^]

The short list has been announced. They are:

An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Redeployment by Phil Klay

Station ElevenEmily St. John Mandel

Lila by Marilynne Robinson

I just finished Lila - I do love the way with words that Marilynne Robinson has. It was a lovely and touching book.

[Kirsten]

This was discussed on Morning Edition this morning: http://www.npr.org/2014/10/15/3545688...

[Kelechi]

Brown Girl Dreaming sounds fantastic!

[Lily]

Kele wrote: "Brown Girl Dreaming sounds fantastic!"

Thanks for reminding us of the other categories, including youth, Kele. And thanks to Linda for getting the fiction short list up so promptly!

The link for all the short list categories (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, youth...) is here:

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014.h...

(Nice format on this page of both "finalists", as National Book Awards calls them, and other long list recipients.)

[LindaJ^]

As noted in prior messages, the short list for the 2014 award includes:
An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine;
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr;
Redeployment by Phil Klay;
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; and
Lila by Marilynne Robinson.

In the last month, I've managed to read them all - in print. All are good books - I gave a 5 to Station Eleven, An Unnecessary Woman, and Lila and a 4 to All the Light We Cannot See and Redeployment -- but all are very different. I cannot pick a favorite to win or rank them, other than to say of the five, All the Light was my least favorite!

[Lily]

Linda wrote: " I cannot pick a favorite to win or rank them, other than to say of the five, All the Light was my least favorite! ..."

Linda -- Why? (My writing teacher, who I respect deeply, feels it deserves to win. I nominated it for discussion this month because I liked it very much, mostly for its probing of lyrical and troubling stories out of WWI/WWII and for the many thoughtful, sometimes enigmatic characters who interact and pose their challenges across history.)

[LindaJ^]

I liked the book Lily. I am not sure what it is that makes it my least favorite to win. I cannot say it would make a bad pick but I'd rather see the winner be Station Eleven, Lila, or An Unnecessary Woman. I really like those three, very different, novels for very different reasons. Perhaps because they all have a strong woman character? Redeployment is a book of short stories about what war does to those are "incountry." It's gritty and sad and reinforces what I hate most about war. All the Light, while enjoyable, just was not as compelling for me, from either a structural or an emotional standpoint.

[Lily]

Linda wrote: "I liked the book Lily. I am not sure what it is that makes it my least favorite to win. I cannot say it would make a bad pick but I'd rather see the winner be Station Eleven, Lila, or An Unnecess..."

Thanks for your reply, Linda.

[LindaJ^]

Lily wrote: "Okay, here's the scoop, as reported in the NY Times tonight (Bold to indicate short list added, 10/15/14):

1. Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman, Grove Press

2..."

I have finished reading the 10 books on the long list. I gave them all at least a 4 -- good choices this year. And, as I noted previously, all quite different. I thought it was interesting that 3 of the 10 were short stories and 2 of those were debut books. There were 5 female authors and 5 male authors.

My 5*s went to Station Eleven, Lila, An Unnecessary Woman, and Orfeo. The one I liked the least (a marginal 4*) was Wolf in White Van. My favorite of the short stories was The Unamericans: Stories.

On Tuesday, we'll get to know the winning book. After reading them all, I'm rooting for Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel but would not be disappointed if the winner is Lila by Marilynne Robinson or An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine.

[Lily]

Give me a few moments and I'll construct the list of tonight's winners in the 2014 National Book Awards.

Fiction: Phil Klay, Redeployment, The Penguin Press -- Winner

Nonfiction: Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) -- Winner

Poetry: Louise Glück, Faithful and Virtuous Night: Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) -- Winner

Young People's Literature: Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books/ Penguin Group (USA)) -- Winner

(This last one, YPL, I need to check against the news, not yet up on the NBA site. I got in on the last of the presentation and am not 100% certain. Please correct me if you find other information.)

Okay, here is confirmation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11...

10:21 pm

[LindaJ^]

Lily wrote: "Give me a few moments and I'll construct the list of tonight's winners in the 2014 National Book Awards.

Fiction: Phil Klay, Redeployment, The Penguin Press -- Win..."

Redeployment is a tough read - good - but tough. On the technical side, it was difficult at times because of the military jargon and acronyms when they were not defined - I had to look up a lot of them. On the substance side, it's hard emotionally. I read it as we began our discussion of All the Light... and found it valuable in considering why and how the "foot" soldiers reacted. You can find Volkheimer and Werner in the pages of Redeployment.