Between the Covers

National Book Critics Circle nominations

And they're out: The National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalists for its annual awards.

FICTION

2666, Roberto Bolano

Home, Marilynne Robinson

Olive Kittredge, Elizabeth Strout

The Lazarus Project, Aleksander Hemon

The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, M. Glenn Taylor

NONFICTION

The Forever War, Dexter Filkins

The Dark Side, Jane Mayer

This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust

White Protestant Nation, Allan Lichtman

From Colony to Superpower, George C. Herring

For  a full list of nominees - which include separate categories for autobiography and biography - click here. Winners will be announced on March 12.

Azar Nafisi's family secrets

After enduring a stormy relationship with her own mother, Azar Nafisi had one wish for her relationship with her own daughter.

"For me the main thing was for her on some level to become my friend," says the author of the bestselling Reading Lolita in Tehran, which you really ought to read if you haven't already. "My mother belonged to a generation of women who, many of them, were only half-fulfilled, and they took it out on their daughters."

Sound familiar, anybody?!

Nafisi's new memoir, Things I've Been Silent About, focuses on her mother (who was in the Iranian Parliament) and her father (mayor of Tehran until he was jailed for four years), but it also paints a picture of a culture in upheaveal (Iran during the Islamic Revolution.) I was not sure I'd like it, but Nafisi is such an evocative writer she pulled me right in. She blends the personal and the historic in a compelling way.

You can read my interview with her here and see her at UM's Gusman Concert Hall Friday night. You can get free tickets at any Books & Books location.

Publishers on Mark McGwire book: YAWN

The New York Times reports that a pitch for a tell-all book on Mark McGwire - written by his brother, in one of the classier family moves I've seen in awhile - turned out to be of little interest to publishers. The Times reports that little brother Jay wrote a 58-page proposal and was shopping it around last week, but so far everybody's passed on it.

The book is allegedly titled The McGwire Family Secret. Talk about the worst kept secret in the world, right up there with "Clay Aiken is gay." 

Jay, come on, man. That ship has sailed. That ball has left the park. And all other terrible cliches.

Is the Washington Post book section doomed?

It's just a rumor at this point, but the National Book Critics Circle has already started a petition to save The Washington Post's book section - just in case. NBCC president Jane Ciabattari told Publisher's Weekly that it's never too early to save one of the few standalone sections left in the country. A Post spokesperson told PW that nothing had been decided yet, but Ciabattari said, "It behooves us to bang the drum loudly."

I sure hope the section stays, but nothing would surprise me these days. Not to be negative...

Herman Rosenblat's book to be published as a novel

York House Press has announced that it has reached an agreement with Atlantic Overseas Pictures to publish a fictional version of North Miami Beach resident Herman Rosenblat's extremely fictional Holocaust memoir. The book will be based on an updated movie script and is tentatively titled The Apple.

Rosenblat, a Holocaust survivor, wrote that he met his future wife when she tossed him apples over the fence at the concentration camp. The guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show - and plenty of others - recently admitted his account was a fake.

A York House press release states that "Many still want to read his story, despite the recent controversy.'' Me, I wonder...

Edgar Award nominees announced

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.

BEST NOVEL

Missing, Karin Alvtegen

Blue Heaven, C.J. Box

Sins of the Assassin, Robert Ferrigno

The Price of Blood, Declan Hughes

The Night Following, Morag Joss

Curse of the Spellmans, Lisa Lutz

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

The Kind One, Tom Epperson

Sweetsmoke, David Fuller

The Foreigner,  Francie Lin

Calument City, Charlie Newton

A Cure for Night, Justin Peacock

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

The Prince of Bagram Prison, Alex Carr

Money Shot, Christa Faust

Enemy Combatant, Ed Gaffney

China Lake, Meg Gardiner

The Cold Spot, Tom Piccirilli

Winners will be announced April 30 in New York.

The World Without Me

A confession: I had to give up on the audiobook for Alan Weisman's The World Without Us , which received much acclaim. Time named it a top book of the year, and every book critic in the land raved about it.

I listened to the first CD but just never warmed up to it. I can't quite say why. The premise is intriguing enough: What would the world be like if humans were to disappear immediately off the planet? OK. I'll bite. But hearing someone drone on about how our houses would fall apart struck me as somewhat dull, duller even than Al Gore's famous Academy Award winning Power Point presentation (which I enjoyed thoroughly, for the record).

To me, it felt repetitive (and yes, this is based on a fairly small sampling, 1 CD out of 10). But I do stick to my rule: If you are not enjoying a book, and you don't have to read it for class or no one is paying you to read it, BAIL.

What are you reading now?

"I read Revolutionary Road. Richard Yates was a real discovery, and Revolutionary Road deserves to be on the shelf with The Great Gatsby as one of the great American novels. It's stunning. Hopefully, people won't just see the movie. It's all about the American dream being a lie.''

NORAH VINCENT, author of Voluntary Madness: My Year Lost and Found in the Loony Bin

Obama's favorite books

In honor of Inauguration Day - one that would do Fake President Jed Bartlett proud -  here's a story from the NY Times on the reading habits of Barack Obama.

We know he is  fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, but we're also pleased to note he's a fan of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. Which I swear I am going to read sometime in 2009.

Oprah on Rosenblat Holocaust hoax book

She's "very disappointed."