Winner of 2009 ALA Notable Books Council Book Award Announced

My book award committee met and we have selected our choices for the 2009 American Library Association CODES Notable Books Council Book Award.

* denotes my personal favorites.

The Notable Book Award is makes available to the nation’s readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for the adult reader.

The 2009 winners are:


FICTION

Alameddine, Rabih. The Hakawati Knopf 9780307266798

Aslam, Nadeem. The Wasted Vigil Knopf 9780307268426

Bausch, Richard. Peace Knopf 9780307268334

*Benioff, David. City of Thieves: A Novel Viking 9780670018703

Erdrich, Louise. The Plague of Doves HarperCollins 9780060515126

Galchen, Rivka. Atmospheric Disturbances Farrar Straus & Giroux 9780374200114

Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth Knopf 9780307265739

*Millhauser, Steven. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories Knopf 9780307267566

Sheers, Owen. Resistance Doubleday/Nan A. Talese 9780385522106

Strout, Elizabeth. Olive Kitteridge Random House 9781400062089

Talarigo, Jeff. The Ginseng Hunter Doubleday/Nan A. Talese 9780385517393


NONFICTION

Coll, Steve. The Bin-Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century Penguin Press 9781594201646

Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War Knopf 9780375404047

*Filkins, Dexter. The Forever War Knopf Publishing Group 9780307266392

Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth. Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950 Norton 9780393062441

Gordon-Reed, Annette. The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Norton 9780393064773

Harris, Mark. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood Penguin 9781594201523

Horwitz, Tony. A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World Holt 9780805076035

*Mayer, Jane The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals Doubleday 9780385526395

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto Penguin 9781594201455

Taylor, Nick. American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work Bantam 9780553802351

Vanderbilt, Tom. Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us) Knopf 9780307264787

Wickersham, Joan . The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order Harcourt 9780151014903

POETRY

Hirsch, Edward Special Orders: Poems Knopf 9780307266811

*Tate, James Ghost Soldiers: Poems Ecco 9780061436949


The winner(s) was selected by the Notable Books Council, whose members include Patricia L. Gregory, chair, Saint Louis University; Alicia Ahlvers, Kansas City Public Library; Susie Brown, Shaker Heights Public Library; A. Issac Pulver, Saratoga Springs Public Library; Andrea Slonosky; Sandra Ballasch, University of Iowa Libraries; Malynda Dalton, Texas A&M International University; Julie Elliott, Indiana University South Bend; Nancy Pearl; Nonny Schlotzhauer, Pennsylvania State University; Lise Snyder, UCLA College Library; Valerie Morgan Taylor, Lewisville Community Library and Booklist consultant Brad Hooper.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need. For more information, visit www.ala.org/rusa