Friday, February 4, 2011

The Big Reveal: Indie Lit Awards

The results are in!  The Independent Literary Award short lists have all been read, discussed, and we have our winners.  If you want to know what book to pick up next, take a look at this list:

GLBTQ
Winner: Annabel by Kathleen Winter
Runner Up: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green, David Levithan

Literary Fiction
Winner: Safe From the Sea by Peter Geye
Runner Up: Great House by Nicole Krauss

Non-Fiction
Winner: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Runner Up: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Speculative Fiction
Winner: Kraken by China Miéville
Runner Up: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

Being involved in the awards process was a blast.  I loved seeing what books were being nominated, (I only wished I had some great books of my own to nominate--I'm working on remedying that this year,) and it was so exciting when the shortlists were decided upon.  Even the task of reading through the shortlist was great fun--what diversity we had in the Literary Fiction category!  If you are curious about the thoughts that went into making this final decision, check out the reviews of the other panelists/judges:

Safe From the Sea: my review, Write Meg, Fizzy Thoughts, Book Chatter
Great House: my review, A Guy's Moleskine Notebook, Book Chatter, Amused, Bemused and Confused

I'm glad I had the chance to get to know these fabulous book bloggers better, and read some the favorites from 2010.  Thanks to Peter Geye for writing such a great little book, and special thanks to the amazing Wallace for coming up with the idea in the first place and making it happen!


Now go get your hands on a copy of Safe From the Sea and tell me what you think!

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5 comments:

  1. WallaceFebruary 5, 2011 at 10:30 AM

    Thanks so much for all of your hard work, Melody! You've been a great proponent of the awards and I appreciate that! I'm glad you enjoyed the task. :)

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  2. bFebruary 5, 2011 at 12:09 PM

    Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my review for Tinkers. I clicked over to yours and oh, my! What a jewel I've found! I felt like I'd landed in an old bookstore. I plan to come back by and browse for a while... I see Confessions on your "Waiting to be Read" list. Wonderful book! I'll be back!! :-) B.

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  3. MelodyFebruary 5, 2011 at 2:21 PM

    It was very enjoyable--I think that the awards are such a great idea that I get excited just thinking about it. :)

    B, thanks for stopping by! I'm so glad you like my blog, thanks for the nice comments! See you around!

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 6, 2011 at 5:27 AM

    Melody: I've been trying to follow the Indie Lit blog a bit. I see where the short list is chosen and I've noted your reviews of the books on the short list. Is there any where that the judges' discussions about the books can be found (sort of what went into selecting the winners)? I would deeply love to be a judge one day. I guess I first must make myself a book blog though!

    Belle (St. Kate at SL)

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  5. MelodyFebruary 6, 2011 at 7:05 PM

    Belle, make yourself a blog! It's been a great way for me to process all I read without talking my husband's ears off, and it also provides me with the opportunity to write a little bit--all while making new friends. You can do it at whatever scale works for you--don't feel like you have to jump in the deep end with constant reviews--you could even do just a weekly update/chat sort of post.

    About the Indie Lit Awards, there really isn't a place to read the judge's discussions, but I agree that it would be a very nice feature. Pretty much as close as you can get is by reading each judge's reviews, and even that is somewhat incomplete.

    In a broad generalization, (thus speaking mostly for myself,) I think that it boiled down to this: C was lacking in plot/character appeal, Major Pettigrew and Room were lacking in some depth where writing/themes were concerned, and Great House lacked some continuity. Safe From the Sea seemed to have a good balance in all areas.

    Hope that helps a bit! Hopefully next year's awards will be able to incorporate some sort of judge's opinion.

    ReplyDelete

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