Kirkus finalists announced!

[kim.kovacs]

FICTION

• The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth)

• The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy (Mariner Books)

• Isola by Allegra Goodman (Dial Press)

• A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar ( Knopf)

• The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (Simon & Schuster)

• Flesh by David Szalay (Scribner)

NONFICTION

• King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson (Doubleday)

• Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

• A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead)

• America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin (Penguin Press)

• Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry

• Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Scribner)

YOUNG READERS’ LITERATURE

Picture Books

• Island Storm by Brian Floca, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Holiday House/Neal Porter)

• Everybelly by Thao Lam (Groundwood)

Middle Grade

• The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes (Viking)

• John the Skeleton by Triinu Laan, illustrated by Marja-Liisa Plats, trans. by Adam Cullen (Restless/Yonder)

Young Adult

• Butterfly Heart by Moa Backe Åstot, trans. by Agnes Broomé (Levine Querido)

• Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming (Anne Schwartz/Random House)

[kim.kovacs]

Which have you read? So far, I’ve just read Isola but I’ve got The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny queued up as my next read.

[nick]

I’m surprised how many books there are about boxing that I see on these lists (and that we’ve reviewed). Not surprised to see Isola or A Marriage at Sea up there.

[Anne_Glasgow]

I’ve read The Slip, Flesh, A Marriage at Sea, and Black in Blues. I enjoyed them all but Black in Blues and The Slip are favorites. And yes, @nick The Slip is somewhat about boxing, but not really.

Obama’s summer reading list also posted. It’s probably more commercially popular.

[Elizabeth]

Yikes - I haven’t read any of them.

[Jorene_J]

I read Isola and A Marriage at Sea- both are favorite reads this year!

[Diane_Jones]

I requested an ARC of The Wilderness because Angela Flournoy is one of the authors in the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Ten Evenings series. (I have a ticket for her presentation next March.) I was pleased to see that it is on the Fiction finalists list!

[NanK]

Ditto! I suspended my hold on The Loneliness.. until I finish Sirens. I hope to start The Loneliness this week.

[Gabi_J]

Isola is next up for me.

[kim.kovacs]

That’s a good one, @Gabi_J!

One of the interesting things about Isola is that while Allegra Goodman has written several books, it’s her only work of historical fiction. I’ve read most of her books, and while her literary fiction is entertaining, Isola knocked my socks off. I hope she returns to the genre.

[Anne_Glasgow]

Kirkus awards are tonight and anyone can watch on the Kirkus YouTube channel. Starts at 7:30 ET.

[kim.kovacs]

Ooh, didn’t know that. Thanks, @Anne_Glasgow!

[kim.kovacs]

I always hope that one of the books I’ve read will be a winner. Not sure why that is, unless it’s an attempt to control my ever-expanding TBR list. (“Whew! There’s one I don’t have to read!”)

Not so this year. The winners are:

Fiction: The Slip by Lucas Schaefer
Nonfiction: King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson
Young Readers’ Lit: Everbelly, by Thao Lam

[Anne_Glasgow]

Thought I’d drop this in because it’s an easy at-a- glance covers shot. I’m thrilled about The Slip—I loved it.