National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists

       They've announced the finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards -- and surprisingly many (well, a handful) are under review at the complete review:

• Fiction: The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Nonfiction: The Information by James Gleick
• Criticism:
  • Is That a Fish in Your Ear ? by David Bellos
  • Karaoke Culture by Dubravka Ugrešić

       Members can write-in suggestions, and books hitting the 20% threshold get nominated too; it's unclear (to me, at this time) whether any of this year's finalists made the list via that route, but I was pleased to see that two of my write-in votes -- the Bellos and the Ugrešić -- were named finalists. I am a bit disappointed that no translated fiction titles -- which the NBCC is willing to consider, unlike the other major US literary prizes -- made it -- especially since the disappointing Eugenides did.