Fiction: 2666 by Roberto Bolano (in stock $30)

Non-fiction: The Forever War by Dexter Filkins (in stock $25)

Biography: The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French (in stock $30)

Autobiography: My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar (available to order $25.95)

Poetry: Sleeping It Off in Rapid City by August Kleinzhaler (tie) (available to order; hardcover $26; paperback available 3/31 for $16)

Poetry: Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (with CD) by Juan Felipe Herrera (tie) (available to order $24.95)

The National Book Foundation, who annually present the National Book Awards, has announced its 5 Under 35 authors.  According to their announcement,

These five writers, Matthew Eck, Keith Gessen, Sana Krasikov, Nam Le and Fiona Maazel, all under the age of 35, were selected by previous National Book Award authors who found the young writers’ debut work to be promising and exciting.

We now have bookmarks with this list, and several of the books are in stock.  All are available to order.

The authors, nominators, and book details are below:

For more information, please go to www.nationalbook.org.

Dear Country Bookshelf patrons,
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While we don’t have any events to tell you about, we do have lots of exciting books and book news to share.
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The PBS documentary to accompany the book Full-Court Quest: The Girls from Fort Shaw Indian School Basketball Champions of the World by Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith is scheduled to air on Montana PBS on Sunday, February 15th at 7pm.  You can go to www.montanapbs.org for more information.  The book is available in the store in hardcover for $29.95.
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New books in paperback this Tuesday the 10th of February include:

• The Age of American Unreason (Updated Post-Election Edition) by Susan Jacoby
• The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker by Steven Greenhouse
• Dangerous Laughter: 13 Stories by Steven Milhauser
• and the third and fourth books in the Martin Beck mystery series by Swedish authors Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, The Man on the Balcony and The Laughing Policeman (rereleased by Vintage Crime)

The Academy Awards will be given on Sunday, February 22, and many of the films nominated are adaptations of fascinating books.  Be sure to check out these titles, many of which are on display in the front of the store:

• Slumdog Millionaire (originally published as Q and A) by Vikas Swarup,
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates,
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink,
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (now available on its own),
• Frost/Nixon by David Frost with Bob Zelnick,
• Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, and
• The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts.
• Also, Waltz with Bashir, the Israeli film nominated for best foreign language film, which was created simultaneously with a graphic novel of the same name by Ari Folman and David Polonsky, is scheduled to go on sale Tuesday, February 17th.  You can call to preorder your copy now.

The 2009 Newbery and Caldecott awards were just announced. 

• The Newbery Medal went to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (illustrated by Dave McKean).
• Ingrid Law’s Savvy won a Newbery Honor. 
• The Caldecott Medal was awarded to The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes and written by Susan Swanson.
• Instant high demand has caused these to go on backorder, but you can still call to reserve copies.

Other recent award-winning books you may have missed and which are in stock at the Country Bookshelf (as of this writing) include:

Jennifer Lowe-Anker’s memoir Forget Me Not won the 2008 National Outdoor Book Award for Outdoor Literature

The 2008 National Book Awards

• for Fiction: Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country
• for Nonfiction: Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello
• for Poetry: Mark Doty’s Fire to Fire
• for Young People’s Literature: Judy Blundell’s What I Saw and How I Lied; finalist Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

The 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction went to Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

The 2008 Pulitzer Prize

• for Fiction: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
• for History: What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe
• for Biography/Autobiography: Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson
• for Poetry: Time and Materials by Robert Hass

And finally, here’s what some of the Country Bookshelf staff are reading right now (be sure to ask us about these when you come in or call):

• The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
• The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
• The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal by Lily Koppel
• Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
• Descartes’ Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason by Russell Shorto
• Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War by Joe Bageant
• What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami
• Resistance: A Novel by Owen Sheers
• Hannah’s Dream: A Novel by Diane Hammond
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Thank you for reading, and please feel free to call or stop in to inquire about these titles or any other book needs we can help with.
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Best,
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The Country Bookshelf Staff