Clever Magazine, Winter, 05-6 "2005 Clever Book Awards " (www.clevermag.com)

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The Clever Magazine
Book Awards for 2006/7

by Diannek, editor

Make more time for reading!

It's time once again for the Clever Magazine Book Awards. The thing that makes the Clever Awards different from other awards is that there are no publication restrictions on our choices, since it's impossible for us to read everything that comes along every year. As most readers know, there are bountiful book years and drought book years, but rarely a week goes by without some interesting title that merits our attention.

We didn't hand out awards last year because we were just too depressed with the choices we came up with. Things are looking up this year, even though the news from the publishing industry is grim. Fewer people are reading fewer books, more bookstores are closing. More readers are definitely needed.

And the winners are:

Fiction:
The Winner: The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri (This book has been "out" for awhile, so has the movie, but if you haven't read it, give yourself a real treat.)

Runners up:
The March, by Doctorow
Letters from Yellowstone, by Diane Smith

Non-Fiction:
The Winner: Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn & Hall Iggulden (Grandfather alert!)

Runners-up:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
Blinded by the Right, by avid Brock
Fiasco, by Thomas Rich

History:
The Winner: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford

Nature Writing:
The Winner: Defiant Gardens, making Gardens in Wartime, by Kenneth I. Helphand

Runners up:
An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore
The World Without Us, Alan Weisman
Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan

Spy Novel:
The winner: Alan Furst's WWII spy novel series
2 of the best are Foreign Correspondent, World at Night

Travel Essay:
The Winner: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Runner up: Balkan Ghosts, by Robert Kaplan

Best Classic (that I probably only read part of but I'm a better person for):
Dean's December, by Saul Bellow

Inspiration:
The winner: How to Draw a Cup of Coffee, by Joy Sikorski
(one of her series, HT Draw a Radish, and HT Draw a Clam are the others)

So there you have it. A round of applause for the Phantom, who all deserves a new pair of reading glasses and a nice cup of tea for all her hard work again this year.

Editor' note: Clever Magazine doesn't produce these awards as a money-making scheme, but if you are interested in buying any or all of these books through amazon.com, please remember to click through from this website and help support us! Thanks...

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