November AwardsCAT -- American Space Exploration

This month combines the National Book Award with the Hugo Award.

The National Book Award is awarded annually to books published in the United States. Awards are giving in four categories; fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young people's literature. Books are nominated by publishers and the judges are all authors. Past nominees and winners have included Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, The Round House by Louise Erdrich and The Penderwicks by Jeanne Bierdsall. Here is a link to the National Book Foundation website (the group that organizes the award) and a link to lists of nominees and winners.

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2013.html#.Ul5_Hxaet7E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_National_Book_Award

The Hugo Awards are given to works of science fiction and fantasy. They are presented annually by the World Science Fiction Society and are considered the most prestigious award for writing in those genres. Past nominees have included books by John Scalzi, China Mieville, Neil Gaiman and Neal Stephenson.

http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/

As ever, have fun looking at the lists and make sure to come back and let us know what looks interesting to you. Let us know what you read for this CAT and if you particularly love a book that has won or been nominated for either award, tell us about it.

Incidentally, I wasted quite a bit of time over on this site, making up magazine covers. It went with the theme.

http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.htm...

For the National Book Award I'm planning on reading The Penderwicks (which has been on my TBR shelves for far too long) and House of Stone. I'm planning on The Yiddish Policeman's Union for the Hugo, which will also count as my Y book for the AlphaCAT.

The Penderwicks is a wonderful book!

It looks like I have one National Book Award winner on my TBR bookcase: Dale Loves Sophie To Death by Robb Forman Dew (First Novel, 1982) so I think I will read that. If i have time I have a couple of finalists I can dip into.

For the Hugo, I have The City & The City by China Mieville (Novel, 2010).... didn't think I had a Hugo lurking on my bookshelves, but apparently, I do!

I am digging into the past for the National Book Award with a 1955 runner-up, Lord Grizzly by Frederick Manfred, and then a 1959 runner-up with The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton.

My Hugo Award reads will be The Curse of Chalion a 2002 runner-up, and the 2012 Best novel, Among Others by Jo Walton.

I knew there was a reason Redshirts has been giving me a "read me! read me!" face lately (if books can be said to have faces). Either that or I will read The Postman, which my BF read earlier this year.

I've been reading them by Joyce Carol Oates for what seems like months...since it was a National Book Award winner (1970), this is good incentive to finish it this month! Other NBA's that I'm considering are A Hologram for the King (finalist 2012), Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (finalist 2012), and The Color Purple (winner 1983).

For the Hugo, I am on the library waitlist for Ender's Game (1986 winner) and Neuromancer (1985 winner).

I've started The Doomsday Book, which shared the 1993 Hugo award for best novel with A Fire in the Deep.

I've finished my first AwardCat for November. Among Others by Jo Walton won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

I've finished two NBA's so far, them (so glad to be done) and A Hologram for the King. I thought for sure there would have been a David among the pilgrims making AHftK a CAT trick, but no such luck.

I have read two more excellent books for this month's AwardCat. The Curse of Chalion winner of the 2002 Best Novel in the Hugo Awards and Lord Grizzly by Frederick Manfred, a 1955 fiction finalist in the National Book Award.

I purchased a National Book Award winner this past weekend, but at over 800 pages, I don't think I'll be finishing Europe Central this month.

I've finished The Color Purple - really good and a deserved NBA win, imo.

I've also finished a Hugo winner, Neuromancer. I think sci-fans will like it, but I was mostly confused while reading. Despite the confusion it was still entertaining.

I finished The Yiddish Policemen's Union for the Hugo AwardsCAT. It's also my Y AlphaCAT book. I'm getting ready to start The Penderwicks for the National Book Award.

My last AwardCat of the month was the National Book Award 1959 Fiction Finalist, The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton. This was an excellent historical fiction read set in the early days of Colonial America.

I've been looking forward to the book I just finished - The Penderwicks, which won a National Book Award in 2005 in the young people's literature category.

And finished one last one for the month, Ender's Game, the Hugo winner 1986. Really enjoyed this sci-fi.

I'm going to count Path Between the Seas by David McCullough for this CAT, winner of the 1978 non-fiction: history award. I started it for the October group read, but didn't finish it until mid-November.

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I'm also using The Path Between the Seas as I only recently finished it.

I finished Doomsday Book by Connie Willis and without question, it was my favourite read of November!