Anonymous wrote:I did not like Martyr, but adored All Fours.

I had the exact opposite experience. Martyr was good, All Fours was so god awful it was the first book in many years that I DNFed.

I really wanted to like All Fours, but I found the main character kind of tiresome.

I did not like Martyr, but adored All Fours.

The only one I've read from that list is James, which was very good. I also have Martyr! and All Fours on hold at the library already.

Usually I'm really excited by the nonfiction selections for this prize, but this year none are appealing to me.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/01/books/finalists-2024-national-book-award.html

Here Are the Finalists for the 2024 National Book Award

Fiction
‘Pemi Aguda, “Ghostroots”

Kaveh Akbar, “Martyr!”

Percival Everett, “James”

Miranda July, “All Fours"

Hisham Matar, “My Friends”

Nonfiction
Jason De León, "Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling”

Eliza Griswold, “Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church”

Kate Manne, “Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia"

Salman Rushdie, “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder”

Deborah Jackson Taffa, “Whiskey Tender"

Poetry
Anne Carson, “Wrong Norma”

Fady Joudah, “[…]"

m.s. RedCherries, “mother”

Diane Seuss, “Modern Poetry”

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, “Something About Living”

Translated Literature
Bothayna Al-Essa, “The Book Censor’s Library”

Translated from Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain

Linnea Axelsson, “Ædnan”

Translated from Swedish by Saskia Vogel

Fiston Mwanza Mujila, “The Villain’s Dance”

Translated from French by Roland Glasser

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, “Taiwan Travelogue”

Translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King

Samar Yazbek, “Where the Wind Calls Home"

Translated from Arabic by Leri Price

Young People’s Literature
Violet Duncan, “Buffalo Dreamer"

Josh Galarza, “The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky”

Erin Entrada Kelly, “The First State of Being”

Shifa Saltagi Safadi, “Kareem Between”

Angela Shanté, “The Unboxing of a Black Girl”