Former Miami Herald/current New York Times writer Dexter Filkins won The National Book Critics Circle Award for general nonfiction for The Forever War, his book about covering the war in Iraq.
The late Chilean author Roberto Bolano earned fiction honors for his meaty 2666 (yes, yes, I'm going to read it one of these days), which has earned high praise from just about every critic, writer and reader in the land.
Other winners:
Autobiography: Ariel Sabar, My Father's Paradise
Biography: Patrick French, The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul
Poetry: Juan Felipe Herrera, Half the World in Light and August Kleinzahler, Sleeping it Off in Rapid City
Criticism: Seth Lehrer, Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter
I'm about halfway through 2666 and would mightily appreciate some encouraging words from people who have finished it. It's not that I'm not enjoying it... I am, mostly, in ways that I can't quite explain. But it also feels incredibly burdensome sometimes, and I'm shuddering at the notion of only being halfway through it. Already feels like I've been reading it forever. But, again, I don't dislike it at all and certainly can't imagine giving up on it. So... any 2666 cheerleaders out there?
Posted by: Matt Pinzur | March 16, 2009 at 03:14 PM