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Award Winner

Edgar Award Winners 2011

The Edgar Awards are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America and are often considered the most prestigious awards for the mystery genre. This year's awards were presented this weekend and the winners include:

Best Novel: The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

Best First Novel: Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva

Best Paperback Original: Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard

Best Fact Crime: Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
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Posted by Sarah B. on May 1, 2011

Pulitzer Prizes 2011

The 2011 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded this week and include awards for letters.

Fiction
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

History
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

Biography or Autobiography
Washington : A Life by Ron Chernow

Poetry
The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

General Nonfiction
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Posted by Sarah B. on Apr 19, 2011

National Book Critics Circle Awards 2010

The National Book Critics Circle Awards was announced this week. This award is to promote the finest books published in English for the previous year. The winners include:

Fiction:
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Biography:
How To Live: Or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell
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Posted by Sarah B. on Mar 13, 2011

Moon Over Manifest

It is 1936 in the depths of the Great Depression and Abilene Tucker has been sent by her wandering father to live in the dying town of Manifest, Kansas. She spends the summer making friends and trying to discover the truth about the town, its colorful inhabitants, and her father's past. The mystery revolves around the years 1917-18 when America was fighting in World War I and a deadly outbreak of influenza swept the world. Abilene and her buddies delve into old newspapers, find hidden clues, and uncover secrets through a diviner's stories to reveal the extraordinary friendship between two young men, Ned and Jinx. Abilene is disappointed when she believes there is no trace of her father in Manifest but for the first time in her life, she begins to think of a place as home.
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Posted by Mary F. on Mar 8, 2011

Just Kids

Just Kids One of my favorite Leonard Cohen songs begins with the lines,"I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel/You were talking so brave and so free." Patti Smith's memoir of her coming-of-age with artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe is partially set in this hotel with its unique history and cast of characters.
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Posted by Dory L. on Feb 24, 2011

From Book to Movie to Award Nomination

Between a Rock and a Hard Place Where does Hollywood get many of their ideas? Comic books? Yes. TV shows from the 1970s? *Sigh* - yes. But also from books! Real books! This year's Academy Award nominations were announced this week, including 5 films for Best Adapted Screen Play - 4 of which are based on books. The fifth film, Toy Story 3 is based on a original treatment of the first movie (or something).

If you liked these movies - you might try the original too! I know I am adding several of these to my to-read list.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
This memoir is the basis for Danny Boyle's film 127 Hours and tells the amazing true story of a hiker who had to make a terrible decision after being trapped and injured alone in the desert for over five days. As a sometimes solo hiker, I am intrigued by this story. Both movie and book are on my list.
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Posted by Sarah B. on Jan 27, 2011

2011 Michael L. Printz Award

Shipbreaker Every year the Michael L. Printz award is given to recognize excellence in Young Adult Literature. The American Library Association's publication, Booklist, is the sponsor of the award which was announced two weeks ago. The announcement slipped my notice, but both the winner and several of the honored titles look too good to not pass along.

2011 Printz Winner:
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.
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Posted by Sarah B. on Jan 20, 2011

Tomie dePaola Wins ALA Award!

So many wonderful books received awards from the American Library Association earlier this week. You can view the complete list of ALA's Youth Media Awards online. But I wanted to give a big HURRAH! to one of my favorite author/illustrators who received special recognition from ALA for his body of work: Tomie dePaola. DePaola received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, "honoring an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."

There are so many reasons to love Tomie: his sense of humor, his appreciation of a child's perspective, his beautiful artwork, his versatility. He writes, he illustrates. He works with both fiction and nonfiction, folktales and nursery rhymes, bible stories and poetry. I think I became particularly fond of Tomie when I discovered he shares my Irish/Italian heritage - which he describes in his autobiography 26 Fairmount Avenue, a 2000 Newbery Honor winner.
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Posted by Lisa C. on Jan 13, 2011

A Splendid Friend, Indeed

Well, it doesn't generate quite the excitement that Oscar night might bring. And we won't be wearing our sleeveless ball gowns to the library on Monday (at least I won't be!)... Nevertheless, we are eagerly anticipating the announcement on Monday, January 10, of the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards for 2011.

These awards include the esteemed Newbery Medal, awarded for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children in the past year, and the Caldecott Medal which recognizes the most distinguished American picture book for children. See the ALA's Youth Media Awards for a complete listing of the different types of literature honored annually.
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Posted by Lisa C. on Jan 7, 2011