Acclaimed novelist Pat Conroy announced the finalists for the 2010 National Book Award winners on October 13. Among the nominees are many books to which Kirkus awarded starred reviews. Here's a list of all the 2010 finalists Kirkus reviewed.
FICTION
Released: Nov. 14, 2010
"Exceptional writing and idiosyncratic characters make this an engaging read. "
A novel of luck, pluck, farce and above all horse racing--not at tony and elegant sites like Churchill Downs and Ascot but rather at a rinky-dink racetrack in Indian Mound Downs, W.Va.
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FICTION
Released: Oct. 1, 2010
"Brainy and often lyrically expressive, but also elusive and sometimes infuriatingly coy; Krauss is an acquired taste."
A many-drawered writing desk resonates powerfully but for different reasons with the various characters in this novel about loss and retrieval from Krauss (
The History of Love, 2005, etc.).
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CHILDREN'S
Released: Sept. 14, 2010
"Notable for well-drawn characters, an engaging plot and, especially, hauntingly beautiful language, this is an outstanding book. (Fiction. 12 & up)"
This debut solo effort after several collaborations with husband Tom McNeal (The Decoding of Lana Morris, 2007, etc.) stands out in the crowded coming-of-age field.
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NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 7, 2010
"An unrelenting, incisive, masterly comparative study."
Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning historian Dower (
Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, 1999, etc.) draws astute ironies between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in terms of the overweening arrogance of military superpowers.
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NONFICTION
Released: Aug. 24, 2010
"A vivid, candid portrait."
Provocative biography of a little-known university professor turned sex researcher and pornographer.
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NONFICTION
Released: June 15, 2010
"A scathing look at the human costs of war."
