This week, the National Book Award Foundation announced its longlist for the 2016 National Book Award in Fiction, joining its previously announced selections for Non-Fiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature. Finalists in all categories will be announced October 13; winners, November 16. In the meantime, we can all add the following to our fall reading list:
· The Throwback Special, Chris Bachelder
· What Belongs to You, Garth Greenwell
· Imagine Me Gone, Adam Haslett
· News of the World, Paulette Jiles
· The Association of Small Bombs, Karan Mahajan
· The Portable Veblen, Elizabeth McKenzie
· Sweet Lamb of Heaven, Lydia Millet
· Miss Jane, Brad Watson
· The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
· Another Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson
The Man Booker Prize Shortlist in Fiction was also announced this week, with the following finalists:
· Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien
· The Sellout, Paul Beatty
· All That Man Is, David Szalay
· His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet
· Hot Milk, Deborah Levy
· Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh
The winner will be announced Oct. 25.
In other book news, the LA Times largely pans Jonathan Safran Foer’s new novel “Here I Am,” which it calls "joyless" and “kitsch at best.” Meanwhile, LitHub offers readers “10 Books Featuring Subversive Women,” which kicks off with Mary Gaitskill’s excellent—and tenacious—collection Bad Behavior.