Now that 2011 is gone and we’re trucking along into 2012, I can finally share with you the nonfiction short list for the Indie Lit Awards. This year, Biography/Memoir got split off from the Nonfiction category, which means our nonfiction list is chock full of intensely long and serious nonfiction reads. Seriously. Every book on this list is more than 400 pages long. So much reading!
Anyway, here’s what I’ll be diving into (but not posting about) for the next couple of months:
- Berlin 1961 by Frederick Kempe (Putnam Adult)
- In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson (Crown)
- Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff (Harper)
- Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku (Doubleday)
- The Social Animal by David Brooks (Random House)
I am really excited about this list. Astute blog readers will note that I’ve already read and reviewed In the Garden of Beasts and Lost in Shangri-La in 2011, but I think for the sake of the awards I’ll be rereading both to keep my memory fresh. They were both excellent books (4.5 out of 5 star reads), so that definitely won’t be a chore.
Physics of the Future and The Social Animal are both books I wanted to read in 2011, but never got around to picking up, so I’m excited to finally have the motivation I need to pick them up. And while I hadn’t heard of Berlin 1961 before it was nominated, it looks like an exciting read as well.
If you’re curious about the other lists, head over to the Indie Lit Awards website for more information. I am especially jealous of the Biography/Memoir short list, which is full of books that I have been dying to read as well. It should be a good start of reading for this year.
Comments on this entry are closed.
I’ve read at least one off of the other lists, but this is a sure sign I am undereading in the non-fiction category. I haven’t read ANY of these!
It’s an interesting mix of books that got a lot of buzz and books that have been a bit more under the radar. Of the books, I think Larson’s is the only one that seemed to get a lot of attention during the year. Maybe the Brooks one too. Either way, at the end hopefully I’ll have a couple to recommend 🙂
I can’t believe how many books on the short lists I want to read!
I know! The short lists ended up being really good. I’m sooo jealous of the memoir list.
I haven’t read any of these, but I have a friend who’s a non-reader who raves over Lost in Shangri-La.
I thought that one was very, very good. It’s one of those stories that seems too crazy to be true.
Wow, I am lucky that Memoir/Biography got its own category this year because I don’t think there would be room for my little book on that non-fiction list! I’ve only read a few of these, but the rest look fantastic.
Can’t wait to dig into these!
I’m looking forward to spending time with them. It should be a good couple of months of reading.
I loved Social Animal, In the Garden of Beasts and Lost in Shangri-La. Can’t wait to read your review of Social Animal.
Good luck !
That might be the one I’m most excited to read, although Physics of the Future should be a lot of fun too.
Great list, can’t wait to see what wins!
Me too!
I’m super pumped for the Indie Lit Awards this year and am eager to delve into my own fiction category! Hope you have a great time reading all the nominees, and I’ll look forward to your panel’s top pick.
The fiction list looked fantastic again as well. I can’t wait to see which ones wins and get some book recommendations.
I appreciate these lists but I’m hopeless at contributing to them. I just do not pay enough attention to what’s hot NOW.
I sometimes wish I paid less attention 🙂 Then I’d read all my collected books, not the ones that I keep getting distracted and grabbing because they’re new and shiny.
I’m always so surprised when these lists come out how many of the books I haven’t heard of! I really want to listen to the Erik Larson book and am pretty sure my library has an audio copy of Lost in Shangri-La as well. But the others I”m not familiar with. Will look forward to the outcome!
Both of those are really good — I read them earlier in 2011. I think Lost in Shangri-La might be better on audio, but you can really never go wrong with an Eric Larson book.
I love Michio Kaku! I didn’t know he had a new book out last year though. I hope you enjoy his writing as much as I do 🙂
I’m really looking forward to that one. His books seem like they’ll be a lot of fun.