Sunday, January 2, 2011

BANG! And We're Off...

2011 already, can you believe it?  My list of Books Read has shrunk back to ZERO, the slate is clean, time to start afresh.  I spent Saturday cleaning, Sunday in the car (which ended up being a horribly long drive--almost 12 hours!--but at least I got half of Persuasion read) and Monday is straight into the routine. Whew.

The good news about it being January 2011 is that my participation in the Indie Lit Awards is kicking into high gear.  Have you checked out the website lately?  All the short lists are here!  The list for Literary Fiction is Fan.Tas.Tic.  The best part?  I have to buy 5 fabulous new books.  Now, I typically avoid hardcover books--they are just so bulky and difficult to maneuver--but when I was deciding whether to buy Kindle books or hardcover books, or a mix, (Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is available in paperback,) I decided that being on the panel for Literary Fiction was a fine excuse to use books for more than one purpose.  Reading, of course, but won't it be great to look at this grouping of 5 fabulous books on my shelf and remember being on the 2010 panel for the Indie Lit Awards?  So, these are the five books I got to go buy:
CGreat House: A NovelMajor Pettigrew's Last Stand: A NovelRoom: A NovelSafe from the Sea
I've already read ROOM (my last book of 2010, #120) and will be posting about that sometime soon.  I haven't decided which one I'll dive into next, they all look so good!  What a great start to a year!  A month from now, we should know the winner.  Here are all of the short lists:

2010 Shortlist for GLBTQ
  • Annabel by Kathleen Winter
  • Jumpstart the World by Catherine Ryan Hyde
  • Krakow Melt by Daniel Allen Cox
  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green
  • Scars by Cheryl Rainfield
2010 Short List for Literary Fiction 
  • C by Tom McCarthy
  • Great House by Nicole Krauss
  • Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson
  • Room by Emma Donoghue
  • Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye
The 2010 Short List for Non-Fiction
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
  • The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
  • Let’s Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell
  • Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
  • At Home by Bill Bryson
2010 Shortlist for Speculative Fiction
  • Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
  • Kraken by China Mieville
  • Dante’s Journey by JC Marino
  • How to Live Safely in a SF Universe by Yu
  • The Passage by Justin Cronin

4 comments:

  1. Oh, man - luck you! I've got all of those on my wish list, except Safe from the Sea, which I am unfamiliar with. Can't wait to see your reviews, as C, in particular, has been an "almost bought" for me on many occasions!

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  2. Doesn't that list look great? I'm expecting them to each have some great qualities, so I'm looking forward to reading them.

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  3. I love Bill Bryson! You'll have to let me know how his new book is.

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  4. I just finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. I loooved it. Hope you do too!

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