Friends of Montclair Library

The National Book Award nominees for the 2014 fiction and nonfiction prizes were announced last week. Five finalists will be announced October 15th, and the winners presented on November 19th. And for a local angle, four of the fiction nominees live in the Bay Area.

To see what all the fuss is about, check out these books (or get your name on the waiting list, in some cases) at the library:

Non-Fiction
“The 10 nominated works include two books about World War II, a coming book from Walter Isaacson about technological innovation and, for the first time in the nonfiction category, a graphic memoir, from the New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast.” – New York Times 9/17/14

• Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr (BIO WILLIAMS) (not at Montclair)
• The Meaning of Human Existence by Edward O. Wilson (coming soon to Montclair)
• Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast (741.5 CHAST)
• No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes by Anand Gopal (958.1047 GOPAL) (not at Montclair)
• The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson (coming soon to Montclair)
• Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos (951.06 OSNOS) (not at Montclair)
• Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic by Matthew Stewart (277.307 STEWART) (not at Montclair)
• When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 by Ronald C. Rosbottom (940.54214 ROSBOTTOM)
• The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941-1942 by Nigel Hamilton (940.54127 HAMILTON) (not at Montclair)
• The Heathen School: A Story of Hope and Betrayal in the Age of the Early Republic by John Demos (973.5 DEMOS) (not at Montclair)

Fiction
The list “is an eclectic collection that includes two debut volumes of short stories, a first novel from the lead singer and songwriter for the indie folk rock band the Mountain Goats and a dystopian novel, as well as works from literary heavyweights including Jane Smiley, Marilynne Robinson and Richard Powers.” — New York Times 9/17/14

• An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine (FIC ALAMEDDIN)
• The UnAmericans by Molly Antopol (FIC ANTOPOL) (not at Montclair)
• Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle (FIC DARNIELLE) (not at Montclair)
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (FIC DOERR)
• Redeployment by Phil Klay (FIC KLAY) (not at Montclair)
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (not at Montclair)
• Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken (FIC McCRACKEN) (not at Montclair)
• Orfeo by Richard Powers (FIC POWERS)
• Lila by Marilynne Robinson (coming soon to Montclair)
• Some Luck by Jane Smiley (coming soon to Montclair)