2003 Book Sense Book of the Year Finalists -- Nonfiction

The will of individuals to prevail over monstrous obstacles links all of these Book Sense Book of the Year nonfiction finalists. Not only Captain Cook faced uncharted waters. Some spent their childhood trapped in brutal civil war or with brutalizing parents. Fighting adversaries, real or imagined, was necessary for the survival of all the authors.

The Book Sense Book of the Year Awards will be announced at the Celebration of Bookselling, on Friday, May 30, during this year's BookExpo America, at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California.

All current ABA member bookstores can vote for the Book Sense Book of the Year. The remaining four finalists in each category will be awarded the title of Book Sense Honor Book. All nominated authors and illustrators will be invited to attend the award ceremonies and the Book Sense 76 Lunch, also to be held on Friday, May 30, at BEA.

Ballots will be mailed to all ABA bookstore members at the end of March and must be returned by April 30. The ballot will also be available online. Watch for details in upcoming issues of BTW. The tabulation of votes will be handled by KPMG, and the results will be kept secret until the May 30 event.

BLUE LATITUDES: Going Boldly Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, Tony Horwitz (Holt)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz retraces the key legs of Captain James Cook's epic 18th-century explorations of the Pacific Ocean, detailing their impact. Cook's three voyages of the 1770s were the most significant attempts ever undertaken to map the uncharted world: the imagined Great Southern Continent, the Pacific archipelagos, and the Northeast Passage. Horwitz combines his own colorful travel tales of modern-day exploration, through Polynesia, Australia, the Aleutians, and England on a replica of Cook's ship, with a nuanced biographical portrait of the enigmatic explorer.

From the Book Sense 76 recommendation:
"What a fantastic book. It is a well-written, fascinating account of Captain Cook and the colonization and devastation of the Pacific. And, of course, mixed in with the grim and tragic is Horwitz's characteristic wit. I couldn't put it down." -- Julia Green, Front Street Books, Alpine, Texas

DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT: An African Childhood, Alexandra Fuller (Random House)
Alexandra Fuller was born in England in 1969. In 1972, she moved with her family to a farm in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Civil war then wracked the country for almost a decade, and "Bobo" (Fuller's nickname) witnessed her parents' fight to maintain white rule, the deaths of two siblings, and her mother's descent into crippling depression. Once the white colonials lost the civil war and the Fuller's lost their farm, they moved to Malawi, and then permanently settled in Zambia. Fuller left and now lives in Wyoming. Her memoir is emotional rather than political and refuses to condemn or laud her parents' racial views and actions. Her poignant memories are those of a young child who loves her family and her adopted country but lacks a sense of belonging. "My soul has no home," Fuller writes. "I am neither African, nor English, nor am I of the sea."

From the Book Sense 76 recommendation:
"This is the witty, sad, and powerful story of a young white girl caught in the web of the Rhodesian Civil War. I am amazed at her survival skills, the family's constant movement of locality, an alcoholic mother, and much more. It is one of those books where you find yourself saying, 'I must reread this.'" -- Elly Smith, Madison Park Bookstore, Seattle, Washington

MY LOSING SEASON, Pat Conroy (Nan Talese/Doubleday)
"I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one," begins Pat Conroy's account of the losing basketball season in his senior year at the Citadel, from 1966 to1967. Conroy recounts every game with precision, his development as a player, and he includes extensive interviews with his former teammates. Losing isn't everything, and Conroy uses his wrenching experiences to grow into a strong and determined man. Discovering basketball at age 10 gave Conroy a refuge from the storms of his family life, familiar to all readers of The Great Santini. Conroy's father, who was a Marine pilot and the inspiration for the Great Santini, Colonel Don Conroy, is often recalled as the source of more pain and heartache than any defeat on the court. Although, Conroy concludes, "If not for sports, I do not think my father ever would have talked to me."

From the Book Sense 76 recommendation:
"Conroy has returned to the greatness of The Prince of Tides and given his fans an insight into the events of his life that are transformed into his novels. It is more than a book about a losing season; it is an autobiography, sports thriller, and psychological page-turner. Terrific!" -- Susan M. Taylor, Wellesley Booksmith, Wellesley, Massachusetts

POPULATION, 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, Michael Perry (HarperCollins)
Michael Perry, formerly a registered nurse and cowboy, relates the pleasures and trials of small-town life through his vantage point as a volunteer firefighter in his home town of New Auburn, Wisconsin. His essays reflect his belief in the viability of small-town life. Town eccentrics and unusual community traditions are portrayed vividly and affectionately by Perry. He confronts the tragedies, and there are many, unblinkingly. He is quick to point out his own deficits and does not consider his work heroic. "Remove the danger and firefighting is just plain fun. You get full-grown toys, you get to drive fast, and you get to spray water.… But the whole 'bold and brave' thing gets overblown…. We study. We prepare, but the fact remains: We are amateurs playing a game in which the professionals regularly get their tails whipped."

From the Book Sense 76 recommendation:
"This is a rare and wonderful book. Perry has brought us to a town rich with history and personality, and he recounts his family's lives as volunteer firefighters. It would seem that this would result in a memoir of sorrow and pain, as the town's history unfolds from disaster to disaster, but instead, it is a story of great humility, humor, and humanity." -- Russ Harvey, Cody's Books, Berkeley, California

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS: A Memoir, Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin's)
Wild, scatological, sexually explicit, and unlikely describe this memoir of a gay preteen who is forced to live in the anarchic, "nonjudgmental" home of his mother's psychiatrist in the late 1970s to early '80s. What ensues are events beyond the comprehension of many, but Burroughs, a longtime advertising copywriter, spins his tales stylishly and with considerable amusement. His development into a fully functional, well-socialized adult is a testament to his exceptional strength of character.

From the Book Sense 76 recommendation:
"This book is like a hybrid offspring of the writings of Derrick Jensen and David Sedaris, as the author's story is both insightful and humorous. Anyone who reads this book will have a greater understanding and respect for those who had difficult or unusual circumstances or challenges in their youth. I highly recommend this book." -- Lin Orndorf, Malaprop's Bookstore/Café, Asheville, North Carolina

Next week, BTW will feature the Children's Illustrated and Children's Literature finalists.