The National Book Critics Circle has unveiled its new monthly recommended books list — which, as I understand it, is designed to provide alternatives to mainstream bestseller lists — by posting inaugural selections covering all of 2007. MaudNewton.com favorites Junot Díaz and Edwidge Danticat top the fiction and nonfiction lists, respectively. Head over to Critical Mass for the full selections, including poetry. (Perhaps Ron Silliman or Jordan Davis will comment on those choices.)
Voters included not just current members* but many of the NBCC’s former finalists and winners, and some of their outlying votes surface at the NBCC’s blog. There President John Freeman arranged for writers like Julia Alvarez and Amy Bloom to reveal their own choices. And at TEV, David Leavitt and Charles Solomon disclose their favorites.
* For the record, I haven’t joined.