Three Book Sense 76 Picks Win Literary Awards

Independent booksellers sure can pick 'em. Three Book Sense 76 Picks have recently won prestigious literary awards: Edward P. Jones' The Known World (Amistad Press), a Book Sense Top Ten September/October 2003 pick, took the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. Jennifer Haigh's Mrs. Kimble (Perennial), which appeared on the 76 list for January/February 2004, received the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, a prize given for a distinguished first book of fiction. And Richard Bausch's The Stories of Richard Bausch (HarperCollins), a 2003 November/December Book Sense 76 pick, won the PEN/Malamud Award, given annually since 1988 to recognize a body of work that demonstrates excellence in the art of short fiction.

The Known World was nominated for the 76 by Carla Cohen of Politics and Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Washington, D.C. She said of the novel, "I am in awe of Edward Jones' precise language and the weave of the story, but what I most admire is his brutal honesty. Every reader will again have to confront the horrors of slavery and how it brutalized every individual who was involved. That the slave owners are themselves black adds a new, terrifying dimension. This is a masterful novel."

Debut novel Mrs. Kimble was nominated for the 76 by Liz Murphy of the Learned Owl Book Shop in Hudson, Ohio, who noted: "I love to begin a book without first reading the jacket copy ... especially one like this, where I managed to get well into the book before realizing exactly what was going on. The character of each of the three Mrs. Kimbles was beautifully developed -- and through these women, we learn about Mr. Kimble. What a great book-club book!"

Bookseller Beth Henkes of University Book Store in Bellevue, Washington, chose The Stories of Richard Bausch for the 76 list and said, "I was completely engrossed in the complexities of the characters Bausch presented. This is a remarkable introduction to a complex and entertaining writer."