'A Visit from the Goon Squad' wins National Book Critics Circle Award

The National Book Critics Circle announced the winners of its annual book awards during a ceremony yesterday (Thursday) in New York City.

The winner in the fiction category was “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan.

The other fiction finalists were:
- Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
- To the End of the Land by David Grossman
- Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson (translated by Damion Searls)
- Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

The winner in the nonfiction category was “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson.

The other nonfiction finalists include:
- Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
- Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne
- Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans
- The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The winner in the autobiography category was “Half a Life” by Darin Strauss.

The other autobiography finalists include:
- Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978 by Kai Bird
- The Autobiography of an Execution by David Dow
- Hitch-22: A Memoir by Christopher Hitchens
- Hiroshima in the Morning by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto
- Just Kids by Patti Smith

The winner in the biography category was “How to Live: Or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer” by Sarah Bakewell.

The other biography category finalists were:
- The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selina Hastings
- Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang
- The Killing of Crazy Horse by Thomas Powers
- Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends by Tom Segev

The winner in the poetry category was “One with Others: [a little book of her days]” by C.D. Wright.

The other poetry finalists were:
- Nox by Anne Carson
- The Eternal City by Kathleen Graber
- Lighthead by Terrance Hayes
- The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

The winner in the criticism category was “Lyric Poetry and Modern Politics: Russia, Poland and the West” by Clare Cavanagh.

The other finalists in the criticism category included:
- The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them by Elif Batuman
- The Professor and Other Writings by Terry Castle
- The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence by Susie Linfield
- Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir by Ander Monson

In other book news, Barnes & Noble released this week its Best Books of the Month list for March, and more than a few notable titles made the cut.

Eleven books were named to the “Best Books of the Month for Adults” list, including:

1. The Free World by David Bezmozgis
2. Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell
3. The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
4. My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe
5. The Most Human Human by Brian Christian
6. To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
7. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
8. Volt by Alan Heathcock
9. The Social Animal by David Brooks
10. The Information by James Gleick
11. All the Time in the World by E.L. Doctorow

Eight books were named to the “Best Books of the Month for Kids & Teens” list, including:

1. My Name Is Not Alexander by Jennifer Fosberry
2. Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
3. Little Mouse’s Big Secret by Eric Battut
4. Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting
5. Dream Big, Little Pig! By Kristi Yamaguchi
6. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
7. Storm Runners by Roland Smith
8. The Chaos by Rachel Ward

Barnes & Nobles top 10 hardcover books for the month include:

1. The Social Animal by David Brooks
2. Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
3. Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton
4. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
5. The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
6. To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
7. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick
8. My Name Is Not Alexander by Jennifer Fosberry and Mike Litwin (illustrator)
9. The Most Human Human by Brian Christian
10. My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe

In the end, how many of these books have you had a chance to read? What did you think about them? Which would you recommend? Let us know in the comments section below.