30 Interesting Award Winning 2019-2020 Books

Hello Everyone,

I recently updated my current book award winners, and wanted to share an eclectic mix of weird and intriguing books with you all. I have worked hard to find book awards that are not as publicized, as that is such a fun way to discover new authors, new genres and especially stories from other places and countries!

By all means, please check out the full updated list for your own genres, and check out my list below as well.

Recent Award Winning Books I Want to Check Out

• The Ten Loves of Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell – This won a translation award, and it looks so interesting. The story of a man through the eyes of ten women who are connected with him romantically, and I love the idea of a good romantic book set in another culture.
• The Eighth Life (for Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili, translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin – This is LONG (like 900 pages), but its a inter-generational story that could be really good.
• Belladonna and EEG by Daša Drndić, translated by Celia Hawkesworth – I don’t think these books are my cup of tea, but their covers are super intriguing!
• Trust Exercise by Susan Choi – This sounds super intense, and I don’t know if I would like it, but I do think it sounds interesting and worth looking into more.
• Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa, translated by Leri Price – This is a fiction book that sounds like it is an absurd comedy, and is set in wartime Syria, so I’m automatically intrigued.
• Ridgerunner by Gil Adamson (a follow up to The Outlander) – These are marketed as Western mysteries, and sound so good, and I don’t know why I haven’t heard about them before. I’m hoping they are like the snowy winter cabin version of a “beach read”, and I really want to check them out.
• The Yield by Tara June Winch – Australia is a country that will always intrigue me story-wise because I don’t feel like a lot of books are set there. This sounds like a powerful family novel, language and heritage that is set the outback and could be cool.
• Two Trees Make a Forest by Jessica J Lee – I am always super interested in books that focus on nature but through a non western lens, and this book, about connecting to the natural world in Taiwan is perfectly aligned with that!
• The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by Les and Tamara Payne – Malcolm X is an interesting figure, and I would love to know more about him, and this book looks like it is a good choice.
• The End of the Myth by Greg Grandin – First things first, this was moved from history to nonfiction, possible because of the political side of things (?). I’m skeptical of commentary on current day situations, but not opposed to GOOD commentary, so this gets me interested.
• The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff, read by a Full 45-Person Cast with Holter Graham – I’m as sick as anyone of 9/11 stuff, but a 45 person cast intrigues me, and this sounds actually interesting.
• Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran – Neil Gaiman is brilliant, and this looks beautiful!
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine – I am a sucker for a good fantasy/science fiction series, and this is new to me, but something I am super interested in.
• A Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker – This came out in 2019, but the tag line starts with “After a global pandemic makes public gatherings illegal and concerts impossible….”
• Evidence of V by Sheila O’Connor – This is a mystery told through “found materials” and I’m super intrigued by it because I haven’t heard of it before.
• Forgotten Corners: Essays in Search of an Island’s Soul by Pete Hay – I love the idea of this book of essays about Tasmania, because I love learning about new places and love seeing new parts of the world through literature.
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas – This book is about the intersection of Latinxand trans culture and I’m into it.
• Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang – This won like a million awards, and yet I have never heard of it. Plus, I enjoy short story collections a lot.
• Beautiful/Interesting Picture Books: My Heart by Corinna Luyken, Bowwow Powwow: Bagosenjige-niimi’idim by Brenda J. Child and We Are Water Protectors illustrated by Michaela Goade, written by Carole Lindstrom
• When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller – It is always fun to find middle grade fiction set in other places, and this book, set in Korea, looks great!
• How Much of These Hills is Gold: A Novel by C Pam Zhang/Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon H Chang – This is an interesting pairing of award winning books about a period of time and a subject that is super interesting to me.
• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, illustrated by Harmony Becker – George Takei’s graphic memoir might be a good entry into a serious subject for a reluctant reader or someone, and I am curious about it.
• A Theory of Birds by Zaina Alsous – This cover of this poetry collection is utterly ridiculous and makes me intrigued.
• The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison – I’m so happy that the NCAAP awards reminded me that this book exists because I really wanted to read it and had forgotten about it.
• The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell – This book sounds AMAZING. It’s about a hotel in Zambia, and I’m so intrigued.
• Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante – This is a cool sounding book that sounds ethereally beautiful and something I’m intrigued by.

Bonus: This isn’t a book, so it didn’t make the list, but Leslie Nneka Arimah, author of one of my all time favorite book of short stories, What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky, won an award for a short story called Skinned, which you can read online by clicking the hyperlink.