The American Library Association (ALA) has selected six books as finalists for the 2013 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction, awarded for the previous year’s best fiction and nonfiction books written for adult readers and published in the U.S. The 2013 finalists are:
FICTION
Canada by Richard Ford (CD book, eBook, MP3 CD)
After his parents are arrested and imprisoned for robbing a bank, 15-year-old Dell Parsons is taken in by Arthur Remlinger who, unbeknownst to Dell, is hiding a dark and violent nature that interferes with Dell’s quest to find grace and peace on the prairie of Saskatchewan.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich (CD book, eBook, large print book)
When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, fourteen-year-old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family.
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz (CD book)
Presents a collection of stories that explores the heartbreak and radiance of love as it is shaped by passion, betrayal, and the echoes of intimacy.
NONFICTION
The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death by Jill Lepore
A history of American ideas about life and death includes coverage of topics ranging from the 17th-century Englishman who investigated a belief about life starting with eggs and the heated debates over Darwin’s evolutionary findings to the role of the Space Age in changing views on planetary life to the 1970s trends in cryogenics.
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan (downloadable audiobook)
Recounts the pioneering photographer’s life-risking effort to document the disappearing North American Indian nation, offering insight into the danger and resolve behind his venture, his elevation to an impassioned advocate, and the posthumous discovery of his achievements.
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen
Examines the emergence and causes of new diseases all over the world, describing a process called “spillover” where illness originates in wild animals before being passed to humans and discusses the potential for the next huge pandemic.