national book critics circle

NBCC Awards Finalists

2005

Fiction

• Mary Gaitskill, Veronica (Pantheon). See the NBCC citation on this book.
• Andrea Levy, Small Island (Picador). See the NBCC citation on this book.
• Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (Alfred A. Knopf). See the NBCC citation on this book.
• William Vollman, Europe Central (Viking). See the NBCC citation on this book.

General Nonfiction

• Robert Fisk, The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (Alfred A. Knopf).
• Ellen Meloy, Eating Stone: Imagination and the Loss of the Wild (Pantheon).
• Caroline Moorehead, Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees (Henry Holt).
• Anthony Shadid, Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War (Henry Holt).

Biography

• Carolyn Burke, Lee Miller: A Life (Alfred A Knopf).
• Jonathan Coe, Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson (Continuum International).
• Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln (Simon & Schuster).
• Ron Powers, Mark Twain: A Life (Free Press). See the NBCC citation on this book.

Autobiography

• Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking (Alfred A. Knopf).
• Judith Moore, Fat Girl: A True Story (Hudson Street Press). See the NBCC citation on this book.
• Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul: Memories and the City (Alfred A. Knopf).
• Vikram Seth, Two Lives (HarperCollins). See the NBCC citation on this book.

Criticism

• Hal Crowther, Gather at the River: Notes from the Post-millenial South (Louisiana State University Press).
• Arthur Danto, Unnatural Wonders (Farrar, Straus & Girroux). See the NBCC citation on this book.
• John Updike, Still Looking: Essays on American Art (Alfred A. Knopf). See the NBCC citation on this book.
• Eliot Weinberger, What Happened Here: Bush Chronicles (New Directions).

2004

Fiction:

• Edwidge Danticat, TheDew Breaker(Knopf). See NBCC citation on this book.
• Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty(Bloomsbury) See NBCC citation on this book.
• David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas (Random House) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Philip Roth, The Plot Against America(Houghton Mifflin) See NBCC citation on this book.

General Nonfiction:

• Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age (Holt) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Edward Conlon, Blue Blood (Riverhead) See NBCC citation on this book.
• David Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America (Knopf) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Timothy B. Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story (Crown) See NBCC citation on this book.

Biography/Autobiography:

• Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (Penguin Press) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Bob Dylan, Chronicles Vol. 1 (Simon & Schuster) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare (Norton) See NBCC citation on this book.
• John Guy, Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart (Houghton Mifflin) See NBCC citation on this book.

Poetry:

• Brigit Pegeen Kelly, The Orchard(BOA Editions) See NBCC citation on this book.
• D.A. Powell, Cocktails (Graywolf) See NBCC citation on this book.
• James Richardson, Interglacial (Ausable Press) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Gary Snyder, Danger on Peaks (Shoemaker & Hoard) See NBCC citation on this book.

Criticism:

• Richard Howard, Paper Trail: Selected Prose 1965-2003 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Graham Robb, Strangers: Homosexual Love in the 19^th Century(Norton) See NBCC citation on this book.
• Craig Seligman, Sontag& Kael: Opposites Attract Me (Counterpoint) See NBCC citation on this book.
• James Wood, The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel(Farrar, Straus and Giroux) See NBCC citation on this book.

Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing:

• Stacey D'Erasmo
• Claire Dederer
• Andrew O'Hagan
• Thomas Powers
• Stacy Schiff

2003

Fiction:

• Monica Ali, Brick Lane (Scribner)
• Caryl Phillips, A Distant Shore (Knopf)
• Richard Powers, The Time of Our Singing (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Tobias Wolff, Old School (Knopf)

General Nonfiction:

• Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (Viking)
• Anne Applebaum, Gulag (Doubleday)
• Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx (Scribner)
• William T. Vollmann, Rising Up and Rising Down (McSweeney's)

Biography/Autobiography:

• Blake Bailey, A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates (Picador) See NBCC commentary on this book.
• Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) See NBCC commentary on this book
• George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards (Yale University Press) See NBCC commentary on this book
• Carol Loeb Shloss, Lucia Joyce: To Dance in the Wake (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) See NBCC commentary on this book.

Poetry:

• Carolyn Forche, Blue Hour (HarperCollins)
• Tony Hoagland, What Narcissism Means To Me (Graywolf)
• Venus Khoury-Ghata, She Says (Graywolf)
• Mary Szybist, Granted (Alice James Books)

Criticism:

• Dagoberto Gilb, Gritos (Grove). See NBCC commentary on this book.
• Nick Hornby, Songbook (McSweeney's). See NBCC commentary on this book.
• Ross King, Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling (Walker). See NBCC commentary on this book.
• Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). See NBCC commentary on this book.

2002

Fiction:

• Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) See NBCC commentary on this book
• Alexander Hemon, Nowhere Man (Doubleday/Nan A. Talese)
• William Kennedy, Roscoe (Viking)
• Edith Templeton, The Darts of Cupid and Other Stories (Pantheon)
  

General Nonfiction:

• Chris Hedges, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (Public Affairs)
• William Langewiesche, American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center (FSG/North Point Press)
• Richard Rodriguez, Brown: The Last Discovery of America (Viking). See NBCC commentary on this book.
• Gaby Wood, Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life (Knopf) See NBCC commentary on this book.
  

Biography/Autobiography:

• Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Knopf)
• Elizabeth Gilbert, The Last American Man (Viking)
• Edmund S. Morgan, Benjamin Franklin (Yale University Press)
• Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music (Simon & Schuster)

Poetry:

• Major Jackson, Leaving Saturn (University of Georgia Press)
• Harryette Mullen, Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California Press)
• Sharon Olds, The Unswept Room (Knopf)
• Adam Zagajewski, Without End: New and Selected Poems (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
  

Criticism:

• Philip Ball, Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
• Julia Blackburn, Old Man Goya (Pantheon)
• Christopher Ricks, Reviewery (Other Press/Handsel Books)
• Charles Rosen, Piano Notes: The World of the Pianist (Free Press)