The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America. The 2012 Finalists are:
FICTION
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers (CD book, MP3 CD book)
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
NONFICTION
Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945 – 1956 by Anne Applebaum
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo (audio download, eBook)
The Passage of Power: The Tears of Lyndon Johnson, volume 4 by Robert Caro (eBook)
The Boy Kings of Texas by Domingo Martinez
House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid (audio download)