National Book Award Finalists Announced!

• Dang, that statue’s handsome.

And Josh Potter’s newest books piece reviews one of them: The Swerve, by Stephen Greenblatt. Greenblatt’s in town tonight Thursday, October 13 at Town Hall. Go give him a high five!

Other finalists include: the much-talked-about (and I mean MUCH) The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht; the beautifully designed Curie biography (look at that cover!) Radioactive, by Lauren Redniss; the beloved-by-my-bookseller-friends young adult novels Chime, by Franny Billingsley and Okay For Now, by Gary D. Schmidt; and many more. Also deemed notable by many book bloggers and critics are the “5 Under 35” listees, four out of five of whom are women (it’s apparently still really interesting when ladies are good at stuff). Mad props to the National Book Foundation for the web design and layout; it’s really fun to look at all the covers like that.

I’m sure Paul would have more to say, but he has ceded much of his book coverage in favor of urine-soaked-yurt coverage.