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The National Book Awards celebrate the best of American literature. Their purpose is to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America. Here are the 2009 winners for fiction and nonfiction. For a full list of finalists and winners please see The National Book Awards.

In 1974 Manhattan, a radical young Irish monk struggles with personal demons while making his home among Bronx prostitutes, a group of mothers shares grief over their lost Vietnam soldier sons, and a young grandmother attempts to prove her worth. Check catalog for availability.

A biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism, documenting how Vanderbilt helped launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation. Check catalog for availability.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

Please feel welcome to join the Milwaukee Public Library in celebrating The Big Read in 2010 by reading the Klondike classic Call of the Wild by author/adventurer Jack London.
The Call of the Wild, published in 1903, was based on London's personal experiences as a gold prospector during the winter of 1897 on the frozen expanses of the Yukon. Though the novel is often considered to be a children's story, it contains depictions of brutality that may be more suitable for older readers.
The story follows Buck, a kidnapped domesticated dog, as he lives and learns while a sled dog in the harsh Yukon wilderness. While Buck survives many hardships from multiple owners, some crueler than others, he slowly loses his domesticated sensibilities and begins to regress to the way of his ancestors, the wolves, after a beloved master is killed and he unleashes brutal retribution upon the attackers.
Join other readers in discussing this important work of American fiction at numerous discussions at Milwaukee Public Libraries throughout the City of Milwaukee.
For more information regarding the Big Read please click here: Milwaukee Public Museum.

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Submitted by Dan@Central

Kurt Vonnegut's literary reputation is as solid as a California Redwood and a recent re-reading of his mid-career novel Jailbird left that tradition firmly intact. The simple plot revolves around the release of Walter F. Starbuck from a low security prison after being convicted of playing a minor role in the Watergate scandal. The decidedly autobiographical sketches Vonnegut paints of Starbuck's life are intertwined with a rather factual history of the Labor Movement in the United States. Funny, witty, harsh and brilliant, Vonnegut's complexity is as simple as life itself.

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Submitted by Dan@Central

This is the first book by Nicole Dickson. When I began reading Casting Off I was skeptical that it was going to be too simple in nature, not the intellectual type of read that I normally seek out. But again, as in another previous fictional knitting book I read, I quickly became enchanted. Each chapter heading defines a different Irish stitch and/or combination of stitches and how it is constructed. Casting Off is the story of two very conflicted individuals, each who suffered tragic events in their past. These events have left them haunted by their past, each unable to let go and move on with their lives. Rebecca is raising a daughter on her own and overly protective. Sean is a loner and eccentric, with a keen eye for the rapidly changing weather conditions of this small island on the western coast of Ireland. Despite their differences, and Rebecca's wariness of Sean, the two lives intersect in ways neither would ever have believed could happen. As usual with books involving knitting, I am inspired to knit some cables and bobbles! Check catalog for availability.

- Submitted by Mary S. @ MPL Central

The Last Child by John Hart won for Best Novel and Best First Novel went to In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff. For a complete list of nominees and winners click here.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

Julie Orringer, best selling author of How to Breathe Underwater: Stories, is back with her first novel. The Invisible Bridge is an astonishing story of war and the dangerous power of art. In 1937 a Hungarian Jewish architecture student arrives in Paris with a puzzling letter that he is to deliver to C. Morgenstern. He becomes involved with the letter's receiver and at the same time his older brother is studying medicine and their younger brother drops out of school for the stage. The advent of the war turns their lives upside down as we watch from Hungarian villages, majestic opera houses in Budapest and Paris to life in forced labor camps and more.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

This prequel to Sex and the City is about Carrie Bradshaw's senior year of high school and what led her to her beloved New York City. In a small Connecticut town, her friends were inseparable until bad boy Sebastian Kydd came to town and a friend's betrayal changed everything. She's smart, with a talent for math, but she wants to be a writer; she has to learn to think for herself and make her own decisions. She takes this on with wit and some fairly risky adventures. Fans will recognize the Carrie they know from the previous book and tv series, but The Carrie Diaries can stand alone.

Submitted by Jacki @MPL Central

Mary Beth Latham lives in a suburban New England town with her husband and three teenage children (twin boys and daughter). She realistically and beautifully narrates her pretty ordinary life of family, school, work, friends, sports, and cooking. After one of her sons is diagnosed with depression, she immerses herself in concern for him. Meanwhile, her daughter wants to break up with her long-time boyfriend (who is like a member of the family) and so she attempts to balance all the emotional needs of her family. Even though there is heavy foreshadowing, the brutal and savage act that happens half way through the book is still shocking and dreadful. This act changes "every last one" of her family members forever. For me, the second half was emotionally troubling to read yet so very eloquently rendered. Mary Beth's journey through her sadness is both heart-breaking and hopeful. Check catalog for availability.

- Submitted by Rebecca @ MPL Central

At a suburban barbeque a man slaps a child who is not his own...discuss. And yes, that is what this novel does; each chapter tells a different characters perspective on the situation. This is Australian author Tsiolkas' fourth novel, but the first to be published in the U.S. Suggested for fans of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Don DeLillo's Underworld.

Check catalog for availability.

- Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

"This, the third edition of Le Morte DArthur with Aubrey Beardsley's designs is limited to 1600 copies, after printing which the type has been distributed."

Le Morte DArthur contains hundreds of drawings by Aubrey Beardsley, most, if not all, of which were made specifically for Sir Thomas Malory's text. The first (1485), second (1498) and third (1529) editions vary slightly in the number of drawings accompanying the text as well as number of chapters. Also, the third edition has the original cover design.

The third edition follows "accurately and completely the best text, [and] shall be modernized in spelling and punctuation... [while maintaining] the grammar of the period in which it was written." Interestingly the original manuscript completed in 1469 has never been found.

If you are interested in tales about King Arthur and his court, or would like to view the fantastical drawings by Aubrey Beardsley you can make an appointment to see this 1529 volume of Morte DArthur by calling the Art, Music and Recreation department at the Central Library at 414-286-3000. Here is catalog information for this book.

If you'd like to see other books related to this item, here are a plethora of others that the Milwaukee Public Library holds.

- Submitted by Paula @ MPL Central

When an author's writing makes me thankful for my ability to read and feel by gliding into another person's world, it is truly remarkable. I'm still reeling from the experience of this novel and look forward to hearing what other people think.

This is the story of a young girl named Rose who discovers that she can taste other people's deepest emotions and secrets through the food that they prepare. This changes her perspective on the world. And while she tells us her story we learn about her brother and mother and father. Her brother Joseph wants nothing more than to be left alone, to disappear from the limitations of his life. The two understand each other only as siblings can, even though they refuse to accept, at least at first, the peculiarities of the other. It takes George, Joseph's brilliant friend, to release both of them. Check catalog for availability.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

Gail Carriger's debut novels Soulless and Changeless (check catalog for availability) were so much fun that I had to go out right away and get the second one to read before I even finished the first. Both novels are in Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series. Set in a parallel Victorian steampunk England where vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and other creatures are contributing members of society, Carriger's main character has to navigate not only the dangers of the supernatural set but also the murky depths of high society.

Alexia Tarabotti has to contend both with the discomfort of being half-Italian in English Victorian society, as well as concealing the fact that she is preternatural. Preternaturals are not well known either among the ton or the supernatural set and can revert a supernatural back to their human state simply by touching them. Alexia deals with the supernaturals in a way that befits her station and refuses to tolerate rudeness or impropriety.

In Soulless, after Alexia accidentally kills a vampire, she must join forces with Lord Conall Maccon who happens to not only be an earl but is also the Alpha werewolf of London's werewolf pack. Alexia finds Lord Maccon to be rude and forward but is strangely attracted to him. For his part, Lord Maccon finds Alexia to be headstrong and frustrating. Together they must overcome their personality conflicts to determine why some vampires are disappearing and new ones are appearing.

In Changeless Alexia (now Lady Maccon) must once again team up with her now-husband Lord Maccon. As Alexia tries to adjust to her new relationship to Conall, the supernatural population of London is afflicted by a plague of mortality. Because of her abilities as a preternatural Alexia is, of course, blamed for the unfortunate incident. At Queen Victoria's request she looks into the incident only to find that its cause may be tied to her husband's past.

These two books were great fun and a great summer read. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion, and am eagerly awaiting the third installment in the series.

Submitted by Rose @ MPL Central.

In the Stormy Red Sky (check catalog for availability) is the seventh installment of David Drake's Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) series. David Drake is one of my favorite authors, mainly for his ability to slip effortlessly between the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres.

His Republic Of Cinnabar Navy series is a true space opera, complete with large space battles reminiscent of the naval battles of the 19th century. Beyond the well-crafted action sequences, the plot moves along at a fast clip.

Drake's character development is exquisite. I got hooked on the series with the first book because the main character was a librarian. Adele Mundy is my kind of female protagonist. She is extremely intelligent, practical, efficient, and ruthless in pursuit of her goals and the goals of Daniel Leary, her close friend and captain (in this book). While Adele started out as a librarian she is now one of the most accomplished spies in the Republic of Cinnabar.

The story unfolds mainly from Adele's point of view. The captain and crew of the RCN's newest ship are tasked with transporting a new ambassador to a star cluster that is allied to Cinnabar. When they arrive at their destination they realize that the new ruler of this area is not especially stable. They also learn that the Alliance of Free Stars' navy has just won a major battle and has succeeded in taking over one of Cinnabar's star systems.

Adele and Daniel must somehow return to Cinnabar space in one piece both physically and politically. This is a fun novel that is reminiscent of Horatio Hornblower. It is the seventh in the series, and while it can be read alone I would recommend at least reading the first book in the series With the Lightnings (check catalog for availability) in order to get a handle on the main characters' history with each other.

Submitted by Rose @ MPL Central.

Narrated by high school student Clay Jenkins, this story is disturbing, haunting and full of regret. It all starts when Clay mysteriously receives thirteen cassette tapes in the mail recorded by a girl, Hannah, who recently committed suicide. Readers will find this story gripping as it races toward Hannah's unfortunate demise. Author Jay Asher leaves us in deep thought about our own past interactions with acquaintances, friends and family and how actions, perhaps unknowingly, cause intense reactions for better or worse.

I listened to the audio book, read by both a female and male, which makes you feel like you are listening to Hannah's tapes too as an eerie participant of the story. Check catalog for availability.

Submitted by Paula @ MPL Central

July 15 is St. Swithin's Day. Tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin's Day, it will continue so for the next forty days. Here is the weather rhyme that has been around in the British Isles since Elizabethan times:

'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St. Swithin's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'

It's also a day to make an apple dessert or at least eat an apple. St. Swithin is the patron saint of apples and apple growers used to ask St. Swithin for his blessing each year because they believed:
•Rain on St. Swithin's day 'blesses and christens the apples'.
•No apple should picked or eaten before July 15th.
•Apples growing at St Swithin's day will ripen fully.

You can also indulge St. Swithin reading the novel One Day by David Nicholls. Over twenty years, snapshots of a relationship are revealed on the same day--July 15th (St. Swithins)--of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.

Beginning in 1988 Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. They both know that the next day, after college graduation, they must go their separate ways. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. As the years go by, Dex and Em begin to lead separate lives--lives very different from the people they once dreamed they'd become. And yet, unable to let go of that special something, an extraordinary relationship develops between the two.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central

It's 1956 in Gilead, Iowa and Reverend John Ames is dying. He spends his final days writing letters to his seven year old son. These moving letters are an account of the Reverend's life; his journeys and tragedies, feelings on the beautiful and spiritual, and on the sacred bond between fathers and sons. The return of Jack Ames Boughton, wayward son of close friend and fellow preacher Boughton, heightens tension in the Ames and Boughton households. Through his letters, we see the Reverend Ames' anger and distrust of Jack turn to shame, forgiveness and finally hope for the troubled man who is his namesake. This moving account of a parent trying to give his child something to remember him by reads like a hymn to life and creation. Gilead was the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction and is listed among President Barack Obama's favorite books.

Home is Marilynne Robinson's third novel and winner of the 2009 Orange Prize for Fiction. Focusing on the Boughton household upon the arrival of son Jack after a twenty year absence, Home takes place during the same time frame as Robinson's previous novel Gilead. Glory, Jack, and their father Boughton confront old wounds as the tale of Jack's life before and after a fateful incident is revealed. Home is an essential companion to Gilead, providing an intimate look at Jack and exploring the relationship between acceptance, forgiveness, and love. Robinson's novels are beautifully written and equal parts somber and joyful, simple and profound.

Check catalog for availability.

Submitted by Kristina @ Central

This quick-reading and very entertaining novel tells the story of a Russian teen trapped in Leningrad during World War II, under siege by the German army. Caught out of doors after curfew, he and a Russian soldier recently deserted from the army are ordered to retrieve a dozen eggs for a bigwig's daughter's wedding. Getting the eggs, escaping the Germans, and surviving make this an excellent novel. Check catalog availability.

Submitted by Bruce @ MPL Central

A new book by Preston & Child always comes with a plus and a minus - Plus: another great Pendergast outing sure to satisfy, Minus: no matter how long it is, it'll be over too soon. Special Agent Aloysius X.L. Pendergast is a singular creation - an FBI agent well versed in the fantastic and macabre, brilliant, eccentric, with a wry sense of humor and impeccable style. The series has covered ancient curses in the New York Museum, serial killers, stolen artifacts, anthropology, strange cults, and the criminally insane - all with great characters and compelling plot. However, Fever Dream delves the furthest yet into the intensely personal and mysterious history of Agent Pendergast. From the shade of the musasa trees in Musalangu, Zambia to the black oaks dripping with Spanish moss in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, the authors weave the story of the shocking death of Pendergast's wife during an African safari. A death he has recently come to find was no accident. Taking along with him the only man he trusts, NYPD Lt. Vincent D'Agosta, Pendergast delves into the murder of his wife - and finds the woman he loved had a past just as mysterious as his own. Throughout their travels the men will search for the secrets behind a lost Audubon print, an extinct parrot, and a family's descent into madness. Check catalog for availability.

- submitted by Ruth @ MPL Central

Beach Read! Beach Read! Literally.
A tight-knit group of four couples living on Nantucket Island do everything together. They take vacations, celebrate happy occasions, and even spend most Sundays together. They even make up a name for their group - The Castaways. Then one beautiful August day, one couple does not come back from a sail that they took to celebrate their twelfth wedding anniversary. Tess and Greg McAvoy die under suspicious circumstances.

How could this happen to them? Tess and Greg were school teachers and well-known in the community. They were the All-American couple raising the lovely twins, Finn and Chloe. As we know by now - not everything is as it seems. Tess and Greg had many secrets.

Now the rest of the couples must deal with their grief and the tragedy, bringing to the surface their own secrets they need to address as they try to figure out who the McAvoys really were.

While reading this book, it reminded me of the summers when I was younger and could read anything I wanted, and watch soap operas (not allowed) if my mom was working during the day. Summer, reading, soap opera all in one book. Check catalog availability.

Submitted by Connie @ MPL Central

As number 54 on the hold list for Aimee Bender's bestselling The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, I'm getting a little antsy. If, like me, you're looking for something to tide you over until your copy is available, try these similar reads.

Savvy, by Ingrid Law

Like Rose Edelstein in Lemon Cake, members of the Beaumont family have unusual talents, or "savvies." Just days before Mibs' 13th birthday, when her savvy will awaken, her father is terribly injured. Believing her savvy will be able to save him, Mibs and her quirky, heartwarming companions set off on a journey to reach him. As they cross the country, they struggle with the magical and real aspects of growing up and finding your own voice - at any age. The thick dialect of Savvy is well-crafted, and should appeal to readers who enjoy Aimee Bender's lyrical style. Though technically a children's book, I highly recommend this bittersweet adventure for adult readers.

Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

Craving a sensual foodie read? Tita de la Garza's cooking in Like Water for Chocolate is inseparable from the heated passion between her and her lover, Pedro. The magical realism that pervades Lemon Cake has strong roots in Hispanic literature; in that tradition, Like Water for Chocolate expertly blends the real and the fantastical to create an atmosphere in which love, loss, desire, and the power of food are heightened to the boiling point. If you haven't read Like Water for Chocolate since high school, now may just be the time to pick it up again.

The Other Family, by Joanna Trollope

While Trollope's firmly realistic characters have no supernatural gifts, their deep emotional struggles will resonate with readers who were moved by Rose Edelstein's haunting sadness. Most of Trollope's books focus on the pains, joys, and complexities of family relationships, another similarity to Lemon Cake. She employs impeccable prose to draw you intimately into the worlds of struggling families and soul-searching characters. The Other Family is her newest novel, but you'll want to explore her earlier books as well.

Submitted by Audrey @ Central

As the TwilightMoms and hordes of grown-up Harry Potter aficionados can tell you, young adult lit isn't just for teens anymore. Thrilling plots, compelling characters, and plain old good writing transcend the little "YA" stuck on the spine label. Here's how to find teen books just too good to miss - whether you're 16 or 60.

Check out the Printz Award , given annually for excellence in young adult literature. These books tend to be exceptionally well-written. This year's winner, Libba Bray's Going Bovine , manages to be both wacky and profound at the same time. Think Douglass Adams, but with fewer aliens and more smoothies.

There are also some great lists available online - apparently, I'm not the only one harboring an obsession with great teen lit! Try this article from Library Journal, this list on Amazon, or these suggestions on GoodReads.

And, of course, you can ask your friendly neighborhood librarian. We love to talk about fantastic books for any age! Case in point - even with all these fabulous resources to help you find a teen book you'll love, I can't help mentioning one of my all-time favorite series. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins contains some of the most gripping, absorbing books I've read in ages. (The final installment, Mockingjay, was just released on August 24th. Place your holds now!)

So if you've never ventured into the YA area of your library, or if you're a closeted YA fan afraid to whip out the newest Laurie Halse Anderson on the bus, be liberated! No matter what your age, there's a whole world of riveting, poignant, funny, creative teen lit for you to explore.

Submitted by Audrey @ Central

In Rachman's debut, The Imperfectionists, his experience as a foreign correspondent and editor aptly shape the jaded lives of his characters. Each chapter is a different person's tale; a few of my favortites:

• The reader who scans every word of every paper, but slowly, so she is more than a decade behind. In her home it is merely April, 1994 and she knows nothing of history beyond that point.
• Obit writer, Arthur Gopal, is sent to Switzerland to interview Gerda Erzberger, an Austrian intellectual. "Claw your way to the bottom, did you?" she asks, but he doesn't mind because this is all he aspires to.
• The Paris correspondent who doesn't realize he's past his prime.
• The female chief financial officer who ends up on a transatlantic flight sitting next to a man she fired.
• A naïve fellow competing for a stringer's job in Cairo who is completely taken for a ride by an older and wiser cohort.

The chapters read like short stories, but intertwine the origins and development of a newspaper in Rome. This dysfunctional group shows a picture of the imperfection that dogs and yet upholds people. Also of interest is the recently published The Room and the Chair by Lorraine Adams; it has a newsroom similar to Rachman's. And, The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault, which is about lexicographers rather than newspeople, but has melancholy characters.

Submitted by Jacki @ MPL Central