The Times yesterday announced the National Book Award winners with the headline “‘Good Lord Bird’ Is Surprise Winner for National Book Award in Fiction.” The other nominees were Rachel Kushner, Jhumpa Lahiri, George Saunders and Thomas Pynchon, no slouches in fiction writing. George Packer won nonfiction with “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America.” We have all their books.
To be eligible, authors must be American citizens and published between Dec. 2012 and Nov. 2013. Winners receive $10,000.