Yesterday evening The 2012 National Book Awards took place. The first National Book Award was given  in 1950. Since then it recognises and praises the best of American literature. And here are this year's proud literary winners:

 

Fiction

 Louise Erdrich, The Round House 

Strong book about crime and (in)justice in one reality where two tribes live: the whites and the Ojibwe nation.  Geraldine Coutts suffers after brutal attack and rape. Her son Joe tries to find a way to know the truth, bring his mother to the world and find justice on his own.

 

 

 

Non-Fiction

Katherine Boo, Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity  
American Pulitzer Prize winning journalist shows a reader a completely new world of India so much different from beautiful and colorful postcards. She portrays life in Mumbai slums, the narration is emotional, the story touching and while reading it's hard to believe that what could be a fiction story is in fact reality.

 

 Poetry

 David Ferry, Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations

Very personal by at the same time universal. Ferry’s poems are full of self awareness, humor, eloquent and colloquial language showing author’s high skills in jumping between them and not losing emotional character but expressing it even more.

 

 

 

Young People's Literature

 William Alexander, Goblin Secrets 

A fantastical journey with suspense and magic evoking with each page being turned. An account of fraternal love, friendship and family bonds accompanied with fast paced adventures. Let us present you Rowan, Rownie, witch Graba and bunch of goblins and let the story begin.

 

 

 

Congratulations to all winners and finalists!

This book of essays was what I chose to read in between Water for Elephants and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I figured it was something I could drop at a moment's notice if I had to, since it's not a narrative. It was a good choice in that respect.

It's also an enjoyable read for any woman who has planned a wedding, or thinks that she probably will at some point. It's not practical advice, but it is thoughtful, reflective, amusing, and honest writing by women who've been through it. Some fought the wedding industry all the way along, and others intended to, but got sidetracked and sucked in anyway. And others really wanted The Modern American Wedding, whether or not that's what they got. A few ended up not having the wedding after all, and others support the truth that the wedding itself isn't an omen for the marriage that follows, one way or another. A couple of the contributors aren't even married (yet) - Curtis Sittenfeld and Megham Daum have included pieces about being single wedding guests.

Being an essay anthology, I liked some of the selections better than others; besides the ones I mentioned above, I also particularly liked the essays by Jennifer Armstrong and Carina Chocano (planning), Amy Sohn and Gina Zucker (family), and Ruth Davis Konigsberg and Julie Powell (ceremonies and, for Powell, reception food).