Last Saturday evening, I was home channel surfing and stumbled onto a very pleasant surprise -- Channel 4 was televising an award show honoring books --the 2007 Quill Awards. The Quills celebrate the best adult and children's books of the year in 19 popular categories, ranging in everything from biography to general fiction to cookbooks and graphic novels. The winners are selected through a two-part process involving nomination by industry experts and final selection by consumer votes. They are promoted as 'consumer-driven awards created to inspire reading while promoting literacy'.
The 2007 Quill Award Winners are:
Book of the year: Angels Fall, Nora Roberts
Debut author of the year:The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel , Diane Setterfield
Audio book: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, (read by Sissy Spacek)
Children's illustrated book: Flotsam, David Wiesner
Children's chapter book/middle grade: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick
Young adult/teen: Sold, Patricia McCormick
General fiction: The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Graphic novel: Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels, Volume 7, Scott McCloud
Mystery/suspense/thriller: What the Dead Know, Laura Lippman
Poetry: For the Confederate Dead, Kevin Young
Romance: Angels Fall, Nora Roberts
Science fiction/fantasy/horror: The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
Religion/spirituality: Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know - And Doesn't, Stephen Prothero
Biography/memoir: Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson
Business: The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, Robert I. Sutton, PhD
Cooking: Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition, Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker
Health/self improvement: How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman, M.D.
History/current events/politics: The Assault on Reason, Al Gore
Humor: I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, Amy Sedaris
Sports: The Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America's Top High School Chess Team, Michael Weinreb
Stop into the library and check out the display table featuring these winners.