The Macavity Awards 2010

The Macavity Award is named for the "mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot's OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS. Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories.

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The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

October 2010

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules and level of audience participation may change, but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

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The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean by Susan Casey

October 2010

I read THE WAVE by Susan Casey about a month ago when it first came out, and thus I am a tad late selecting it as a Bets On. I was not thinking about it for this distinction, but then I realized that I consistently am bringing this book up in conversation when I talk about what I am reading with booksellers, librarians, friends, and okay, just about everyone I come in contact with. What’s been interesting is how this book about waves and where they come from and big wave surfing has led to passionate conversations with folks I never thought would love it, as in people like me who are not going to be jumping on a sufrboard any time soon.
 

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Barry Awards 2010

Named in honor of mystery fiction reviewer and Deadly Pleasures contributor Barry Gardner, the winners of the Barry Awards are selected each year by the magazine’s subscribers and online visitors.

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The Brave by Nicholas Evans

October 2010

Nicholas Evans has been a favorite author of mine for years. He writes brilliantly about human emotion and the human spirit. While he is best known for THE HORSE WHISPERER, I still am haunted by the story in THE DIVIDE, which brilliantly explored the unraveling of a marriage. There are lines he has written there that are brutally honest and refreshingly stark and bold. In each of his books, he treads into relationships that work only because he is brave enough to go there. And thinking of this, I realize how apt it is that his new book is called THE BRAVE.

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Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

October 2010

Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi Alpers finds Alexandrine Paradis’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession.

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