Book Awards: More OffBeat Winners
The National Book Awards have gotten a reputation for being a little too nose-in-the-air about its nominations and its winners. Last night, the ceremony provided further evidence: Jesmyn West (pictured) won the fiction prize for her under-the-radar “Salvage the Bones,” a story set against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina. And Stephen Greenblatt won non-fiction for “The Swerve,” his study of the “rediscovery” of Lucretius masterpiece “On the Nature of Things.” I’ve read neither, though will probably graze in their pages the next time I hit a Barnes & Noble.
