National Book Awards 60th Anniversary

I don't seem to be much of an other-website promoter, but this is just too damn cool. To me, anyway. Though to be fair, the term "tremendous book nerd" has been bandied around in relation to me in the past.

For anyone else who thinks a nicely-laid-out retrospective of classic books from the past sixty years is omgzawesome, the National Book Foundation has given us just that. There have been 77 National Book Awards fiction winners in that period, ranging from things I've heard of (The World According to Garp, All the Pretty Horses) to things like, well, The Wapshot Chronicle. Giggle.

At any rate, a great way to learn about what some very booky people have considered the most important book of the year since 1950. And whether these selections have stood the test of time, at least from today's perspective. I'd be willing to bet these things go in cycles, and the ones they're making fun of this time around will be the stars of the show for the hundreth-anniversary edition.

They've only got about the first dozen entries up right now, so there's plenty of time to catch up. Have fun!