Today the National Book Awards were announced, and while most of the discussion is about the fiction list (and authors that got left off), I thought I’d pull the nonfiction list and share some impressions.
The five finalists this year are:
- Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
- John W. Dower: Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq
- Patti Smith: Just Kids
- Justin Spring: Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade
- Megan K. Stack: Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War
I haven’t read a single book on this list, which seems to be a common refrain (for the fiction, haven’t seen much discussion on the nonfiction). But, I looked them up and have a few thoughts (and a poll for which book or books I should read and review).
Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
In Nothing to Envy, Los Angeles Times Bejing bureau Demick looks at the lives of six ordinary North Koreans. The country is super secretive and not at all open to journalists, so any in-depth reporting from inside has to be interesting. The book website says Demick reconstructed life by interviewing defectors, and looking at smuggled photos and videos.
John W. Dower: Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq
Historian John W. Dower’s Cultures of War is a comparative book looking at “the dynamics and pathologies of war in modern times.” Dower uses four major events – Peark Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, and the invasion of Iraq for the war on terror – as lenses to look behaviors in conflict.
Patti Smith: Just Kids
Just Kids by Patti Smith is described as both a love story and an elegy, chronicling Smith’s relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the 1960s and ‘70s.
Justin Spring: Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade
The full title of Secret Historian by Justin Spring is pretty broad. Using “never-before-seen diaries, journals, and sexual records” of professor and novelist Samuel M. Steward, Spring puts together the life of a man who left academia to become a tattoo artist and novelist.
Megan K. Stack: Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War
Just weeks after 9/11, Stack, a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, was sent to Afghanistan and Pakistan, then Iraq, Lebanon, and other war-ravaged countries. In her memoir Every Man in This Village Is a Liar, Stack recounts what she saw in the combat zone and after.
So there you have it – an interesting mix of current affairs, politics, history, and memoir. There’s a pretty thick war theme going on, plus other ideas about counterculture and historical exploration.
And now, the poll! Which of the 2010 National Book Award finalists should I absolutely read? I’ll leave the poll open until next Monday, then announce the winner in the Monday Tally.
Loading ...I’m curious – given what you as readers know about me (some of you a lot more than others), which of these books do you think I’m personally most interested in? Which of these are you most interested in reading?
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Um, I don’t know anywhere near enough about you to choose your next book! But, I can say that I would choose to read Nothing to Envy 🙂 I’ll be interested to see what you (or those who know you better) pick!
Seconded.
Tim: Thanks for voting!
Erin: Good choice, thanks for the vote! I only put that at the bottom because I think there are a few bloggers who have such similar tastes in reading they’d be able to pick out the order of interest pretty easily. Maybe not though, since books can be such individual things 🙂
I voted and can’t wait to see what you end up reading.
Kathy: Me too! I love doing votes and watching the numbers come in.
Both Nothing to Envy and Secret Historian sound interesting. I’d probably go for the first one.
Heather: Nothing to Envy is getting a lot of votes, which is cool. It looks fascinating.
I think Nothing to Envy sounds like something you would enjoy–it IS about journalists, after all! But then again Every Man in This Village Is a Liar is narrative AND about journalism, so maybe that would be more for you. Hmmm.
So hard to choose! I just want to read them alllllllllll.
Cass: Good guess – I love books about journalism and narrative books about journalism! You picked out the two I was most excited about when I read the list for exactly those reasons. I want to read them all too though… grrr, not having time to read.
Several of these look interesting to me. I’m not sure what you’d like best, but I picked Every Man In This Village is a Liar, which is, I think, the one *I* would read if I had to choose one. Nothing To Envy is a close second. Looking forward to seeing what you choose and how you like it!
Megan: Those are both my two top choices, they sound pretty fascinating to me.
Hmm, I read Just Kids and thought it was good but not super fantastic. There were parts of the book that were honestly just boring– and I love Patti Smith. I personally think the Justin Spring book sounds interesting.
Ash: I think the Justin Spring one sounds interesting too. I think the Patti Smith book is the one I was least excited about, but that’s because I don’t really know her and am not that into music, generally.
I’m sorry, but if you put the words historian, tattoo, and sexual renegade in a title, that’s the book to pick. 🙂
Trisha: Lol, yes. It’s an amazing title for a book.
I can see you reading Nothing to Envy. For me, I would pick Every Man in This Village is a Liar.
Gwen: Those both sound good to me – I like the title of the second one.
this was a tough vote, but i voted for Every Man. both Nothing to Envy and Secret Historia sound really, really good, too.
i’ll be interested no matter what you choose, so can’t wait to hear about it. 🙂
lisa: They all sounds pretty good, I think. I can’t wait to read as many as I can.
Secret Historian, definitely!!!
Marie: Thanks for voting!