NBCC 2010: 4 Decades Of Winners Make The Best Reading List Now (PHOTOS)

The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Awards have been around since the 1970s and the winners over the decades make an impressive recommended reading list. We loved these highlights--one in each category for every decade.

Meanwhile, the 2010 winners will be announced tomorrow nominees include Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen and Christopher Hitchens. The full list of 35 years of finalists and winners is here.

Do this year's nominees measure up? Let us know in the comments!

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1977 Fiction Winner

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"Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison (Knopf)

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"Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison (Knopf)

comments(157)

Total comments: 157 | Post a Comment

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This Win

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

This got an award? Great book!

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Comments

[Baileygk]

04:56 PM on 03/24/2011

I read "We wish to inform you......" a few months ago. I put it off for a long time due to my perception of the graphic nature of the topic. I was incredibly surprised. What a wonderful piece of history.

[loki]

05:44 PM on 03/10/2011

mod squad got me!

[loki]

05:33 PM on 03/10/2011

while some of the books on this list I have read, and some I would like to or would be interested in reading, this is not in anyway the end all best reading list.

Books are like art, in fact they are art. And beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just because one person, or a group of people consider these books to be the must reads, doesn't mean everyone does. And trying to make people think that if the dont agree with you they are dumb or stupid, or lessor humans for it, well, that is just creating a divide to make yourself feel like your better than they are. Its arrogance.

[Pakulio]

01:51 PM on 03/10/2011

If you're going to have a list like this you should at least include a short descrption of what the books are about.

[Aelfgifu]

05:42 AM on 03/11/2011

But that would take effort. We can't have that!!

[mmkay]

01:50 PM on 03/12/2011

Or you can do a looksee on wikipedia or amazon.com or both. Book lovers love the detective work when it comes to books.

[Mum]

06:40 AM on 03/10/2011

This is very poorly written article.  There is a link to a piece detailing the nominees for the 2010 NBCC awards, and there is another link to the NBCC website where you can find all the winners and nominees since the inception of the awards in 1975.  And then there's the absolutely irrelevant photo "list" where someone randomly chose winners from the past 35 years.  Judging from the comments, people appear to be mostly confused by the article, and who wouldn't be?

[deepintheheartoftejas]

10:17 PM on 03/09/2011

BO-ring. Except for the Gore Vidal book, I haven't read any of these. Or even heard of most of them.

[CenaW]

11:05 AM on 03/10/2011

That being the case I recommend Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon.
You will have to read it at least twice.

[mmkay]

01:53 PM on 03/12/2011

Indeed. I live by the same rational yardsitck. "ïf i have not heard of it, that makes it boring". I love it, because one thing I can't stand is the utter delight of discovering something that escaped my attention previously.

[mravka]

05:16 PM on 03/09/2011

What? Why was my comment removed? The moderation on this site is ridiculous.

Like others on this thread, I made a list that I thought to be better reads than those chosen by NBCC and HP. So what's the big deal? There are other comments which are far more derogatory than the innocent little list I posted. Get over it.

[SDLee]

04:59 PM on 03/09/2011

Mostly boring chic lit and PBS type stuff. Cormack McCarthy's good if you have a strong stomach. Not much of a list.

[Mum]

06:33 AM on 03/10/2011

Have you read any of the books up for the prizes this year?  I don't see a bit of "chick lit" among the nominees.  And I'm not sure what defines "PBS type stuff."

[SDLee]

03:05 PM on 03/10/2011

Anything you like, Mum.

[GaryNOVA]

04:09 PM on 03/09/2011

This is rediculous! how did "everybody poops" not make the list??!!!!

[loki]

05:37 PM on 03/10/2011

it did, they just renamed it and used Ghost authors

[mmkay]

01:55 PM on 03/12/2011

It did. See bio of H. James.

[GaryNOVA]

04:07 PM on 03/09/2011

Cormaz McCarthy should have been on the list twice because he won it with "The Road" also. And IMO the road was a better book.

[Mum]

06:36 AM on 03/10/2011

What list are you talking about?  Cormac McCarthy hasn't published a book this past year so there is nothing of his that would qualify for the NBCC 2010 awards?  And his books are on the lists from the past because he's been nominated and a winner.

[GaryNOVA]

09:07 AM on 03/10/2011

This is a list of the past 4 decades is it not?

[JamezQ]

03:43 PM on 03/09/2011

Wow, I haven't read a single book in this list.

[Mum]

06:41 AM on 03/10/2011

Which list?

[mmkay]

01:56 PM on 03/12/2011

You got catching up. And there are heaps of good books that didn't make this cut. Riveting non-fic like "In the Land of the White Death," for example.

[Pennsanic]

03:41 PM on 03/09/2011

Anyone here read "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien? Fantastic read.

[Mum]

06:42 AM on 03/10/2011

One of the most moving books I have ever read, and a finalist in the 1990 NBCC awards.

[AwShucks]

11:46 AM on 03/10/2011

Yes. And I loved it.

[AwShucks]

02:50 PM on 03/09/2011

In a word, boring.

[Mum]

06:43 AM on 03/10/2011

What exactly is boring?  And, if that's the case, why are you here?

[AwShucks]

11:47 AM on 03/10/2011

The list is boring as are you.

[mmkay]

01:58 PM on 03/12/2011

No Elmore Leonard, no Thomas Perry, no Stephen King or Dean Koontz. Bad list for sure.

[emmanuel goldstein]

02:49 PM on 03/09/2011

No Kurt Vonnegut or Douglas Adams? Balderdash and poppycock.