American Book Award Finalists

Already an Oprah bookclub book, A Guardian and a Thief is a story set in the near future about an Indian family coping with survival in a world ravished by the climate crisis. Descriptions call the book “a ravishing novel.”

The second of three fiction books nominated for the award is written by Augustina Bazterrica and translated into English by Sarah Moses. A description of the book includes the phrase “an absorbing feminist literary horror novel.” It was picked by Dave’s Book Club, which is a club featuring horror books.

We Do Not Part was written by Han Kang in 2021. Critics have described the book as both ‘masterful’ and ‘pretty grim reading.” The story follows a fictional author who returns to help a friend in Korea. It is here that the main character remembers a massacre that happend in 1948. The details unfold in dreamlike detail. There is a bit of magical realism in the book even though it is historical in nature.

The above books are the fiction nominees for the American Book Award for 2026. I will discuss the non-fiction books in another post. I am obviously not a literary scholar, but I do want to think that I appreciate good literature. Unfortunately, I can’t see myself reading any of these three books. Imagining or reliving traumatic experencies are not for me at this stage of my life and in this particular world climate. I would be happy to hear from any blog reader who would like to comment.