Does the prize season seem to come all at once, or is it me? Since the National Book Award finalists were just announced today, and the Nobel Prize for literature comes tomorrow, I feel swamped under prize mania. Despite that, I still am thrilled by the prospect. Sorry, can’t help myself.
Nominees:
- Mischa Berlinski: Fieldwork
- Joshua Ferris: Then We Came to the End
- Lydia Davis: Varieties of Disturbance
- Denis Johnson: Tree of Smoke
- Jim Shepard: Like You’d Understand, Anyway
I’m glad that two of these – Davis and Shepard – are short story collections, and also glad Ferris was nominated (although I think it was more of a token – I don’t think he’ll probably win). I would think Tree of Smoke might be in the lead for potential winner, but we’ll see about other predictions from the blogger gallery in the next week.
