Award-Winning Mysteries

The Edgar Awards and the Agatha Awards were recently awarded to mysteries published in 2010.

EDGAR AWARDS

Presented by the Mystery Writers of America, the Edgar Awards honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television.

Edgar Allan Poe

BEST NOVEL
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard

BEST FACT CRIME
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and his Rendezvouz with American History by Yunte Huang

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

AGATHA AWARDS

Named in honor of Agatha Christie, the Agatha Awards honor the “traditional mystery,” mysteries that contain no explicit sex, excessive gore, or gratuitous violence.

Agatha Christie

BEST NOVEL
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

BEST FIRST NOVEL
The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames

BEST NON-FICTION
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making by John Curran

2011 Hugo Award Nominees

The Hugo Awards, awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, have announced the 2011 nominations. The nominees for Best Novel are:

The Hugo Awards, awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy, have announced the 2011 nominations.

The nominees for Best Novel are:

All Clear by Connie Willis
Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
Feed by Mira Grant
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

2011 Pulitzer Prizes

The 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning books are:

The 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning books are:

FICTION
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

HISTORY
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

BIOGRAPHY
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

POETRY
The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

GENERAL NONFICTION
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Orange Prize for Fiction Shortlist

The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, announced the 2011 shortlist. The Prize celebrates excellence, originality, and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.

The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, announced the 2011 shortlist.  The Prize celebrates excellence, originality, and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.

Room by Emma Donoghue
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson
Great House by Nicole Krauss
The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht
Annabel by Kathleen Winter

April Is Long Island Reads Month

This year’s Long Island Reads selection is Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead.

Each April, during National Library Week, book lovers in Nassau and Suffolk come together to read the same book, participate in discussions of the selection, and enjoy related events in their public libraries.

This year’s Long Island Reads selection is Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead.

The time is 1985. Benji, the son of a lawyer and a doctor, is one of the only black kids at an elite prep school in Manhattan. He spends his falls and winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs and trying desperately to find a social group that will accept him.

But every summer, Benji and his brother, Reggie, escape to the East End of Sag Harbor, where a small community of African American professionals has built a world of its own. Except Benji is just as confused about this all-black refuge as he is about the white world he negotiates during the school year.

In this deeply affectionate and fiercely funny coming-of-age novel, Colson Whitehead—using the perpetual mortification of teenage existence and the desperate quest for reinvention—beautifully explores racial and class identity, illustrating the complex rhythms of the adult world.

SAG HARBOR BOOK DISCUSSIONS AT THE LIBRARY
Tuesday, April 12, 11:00 a.m.
Thursday, April 28, 7:00 p.m.

COLSON WHITEHEAD AUTHOR EVENTS
Colson Whitehead will be speaking on Thursday, April 14 at the Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton at 3:00 p.m. and at the Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are not required.  Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Books & DVDs featuring Ireland.

Books & DVDs featuring Ireland.

BOOKS–FICTION

The Banyan Tree: A Novel by Christopher Nolan

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes

Civil & Strange by Cláir Ní Aonghusa

Eye of the Law by Cora Harrison

The Lace Makers of Glenmara: A Novel by Heather Barbieri

The Midnight Choir by Gene Kerrigan

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

Shannon: A Novel by Frank Delaney

Troubles by J. G. Farrell

BOOKS–NON-FICTION

A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee by Tom Coyne

Ireland in Mind: An Anthology edited by Alice Leccese Powers

Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools: 80 Glorious Desserts by Margaret M. Johnson

The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland by Margaret M. Johnson

St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography by Philip Freeman

The Táin: A New Translation of the Táin bó Cúailnge translated by Ciaran Carson

The Transformation of Ireland by Diarmaid Ferriter

The Village by Alice Taylor

U2 by U2 by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, & Larry Mullen Jr., with Neil McCormick

DVDs

Dancing at Lughnasa

Kisses

Michael Collins

Ondine

The Eclipse

The Quiet Man

The Wind that Shakes the Barley

Veronica Guerin

Visions of Ireland

Waking Ned Devine

The National Book Critics Circle Awards

The 2010 National Book Critics Circle award winners are:

The 2010 National Book Critics Circle award winners are:

Fiction

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Biography

How to Live, or, A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell

Poetry

One with Others: A Little Book of Her Days by C.D. Wright

General Nonfiction

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Autobiography

Half a Life by Darin Strauss

2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards

The Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2010.
Among the nominees:

BEST NOVEL

Caught by Harlan Coben
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
Faithful Place by Tana French
The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva
The Poacher’s Son by Paul Doiron
The Serialist: A Novel by David Gordon
Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto
Snow Angels by James Thompson

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Long Time Coming by Robert Goddard
The News Where You Are by Catherine O. Flynn
Expiration Date by Duane Swierczynski
Vienna Secrets by Frank Tallis
Ten Little Herrings by L.C. Tyler

BEST FACT CRIME

Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry
The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South by Alex Heard
Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz
Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides
The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr

New Book Friday

We’re entering our last month of book reviews before the Teen Summer Reading Club kicks off at the end of June.  Community service letters will be sent out in early February to all participants in our Winter Read a Book, Write a Review program. If you’re desperate to earn an extra four hours of service, here are our newest titles that can sate your need:

I can already recommend a few books: Teen Cyberbullying Investigated: where do your rights end and consequences begin? by Judge Tom Jacobs. I read it earlier this week, and if you need information on various court cases, computer crimes, and on what has happened to several victims and perpetrators of cyberbullying – this book is a great print resource.

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White stars sixteen-year old Evie, who just wants to be a normal human being: normal friends, prom, lockers, curfew. This just doesn’t mesh with her life: a bagger-and-tagger for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Things go from business-as-usual to really weird when something starts killing off paranormals. Can Evie stop the threat in time? Will she ever see a real-live locker? Read and find out.