National Book Critics Circle Announces Award Winners

Last week the National Book Critics Circle announced the winners of its book awards, covering books published in 2008:

• Best Fiction: 2666 by Roberto Bolano (A tale of love and violence set within the framework of the fictional town of Santa Teresa, Mexico)
• Best Non-Fiction: The Forever War by Dexter Filkin (A you-are-there account of bravery, suffering, and insanity as the Iraq war grinds on—a book that both exemplifies and transcends war reporting)
• Best Autobiography: My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq by Ariel Sabar. (The story of Sabar’s journey to rediscover his father and his father’s homeland in Iraq among the last remaining speakers of Aramaic, a language now almost lost.)