I was pleased to see the Vulture headline for the NBCCAs in my inbox:

Michael Chabon and Zadie Smith Are Among the Finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Awards

Great, I enjoy their writing. But then I read the list and was dismayed that they’d not mentioned several favorites in their headline. What, no love to Louise Erdrich for ‘LaRosa’? Or Jane Mayer for ‘Dark Money’? A few headlines mentioned Ann Pratchett but I saw no mention of the excellent Mayer and Erdrich. Then, scanning the list, I saw that Margaret Atwood was winning the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award. That’s marvelous, as she remains a lifelong favorite for me, but again, she’s not in the headlines.

It’s an excellent list of nominees. I need to read more books.