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Bookish Talk

Indie Lit Awards – The Short Lists!

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The Indie Lit Awards

The short lists have been determined for The Independent Literary Awards. As you may recall, I am a judge for the Lit Fiction panel. It took three tie-breakers to come up with our short list but I am loving the Lit Fiction list that you all came up with. Thank you for taking the time to nominate a book. Now, on to the important stuff… the 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 (isn’t this a great list?)

  • 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

I downloaded all of the lit fiction books to my Kindle and will be reading them through the end of January. This is in addition to the reading list that I already had in place, so I must get cracking. We’re hoping to have a winner by February 1, 2011.

So, if you’re looking for something to read, why not pick up one of these titles?

Bookish Talk

Bookish Ramblings

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This is my last week of work before the break, so I find myself doing last-minute, work-related items but I’m still managing to get my reading in. Yes, sometimes it’s at my desk here at work but it all counts in my book.

My favorite time of the day right now is right after dinner. The Girl and I get into our jammies, grab our latest read and head off to my room to get cozy. I am reading Last Night in Twisted River on my Kindle. Let me tell you, my Kindle is an endless source of fascination for The Girl. She taunts me with “What page are you on?” more times than I can count.

I read somewhere that the Google e-book store will have versions with page numbers, but depending on the font size you use, you could end up with 20 pages with the same page number. I’m not sure what’s worse. No page numbers or the same darn page over and over again.

 Little Women Book Cover

What is The Girl reading? She is reading Little Women. The library at her school weeds through their books regularly and takes out anything that is tattered or torn. Well, The Girl can’t stand to see a book go into the trash (I raised her right!) so she she nabs them when she can. This time, she nabbed Little Women. It’s a really old copy and very short so I can only imagine what was taken out, but she’s loving it. I just get a kick out of the fact that she is reading Little Women. She’s only seven.

As for break, a friend from work let me borrow his Harry Potter series, so that’s what I will be reading in between the books for the Indie Lit Awards shortlist. Oh, the shortlist is going to be good. I can’t wait to share it with you next week.

Speaking of breaks, what will you be reading over the holidays?

Oh, and if you don’t mind, please answer this question for me.