Sorry to interrupt VeganMofo, but the National Book Awards longlist was published yesterday. Usually I am completely unaware of most of the books on the list because I read more foreign fiction, but this time I’ve not only read but also reviewed two of them, The Flamethrowers and Pacific. You can follow those links to my reviews and check out the entire fiction longlist below. The best place for literary award discussion and betting is the forum at The Mooske and the Gripes.

• Pacific — Tom Drury
• The End of the Point — Elizabeth Graver
• The Flamethrowers — Rachel Kushner
• The Lowland — Jhumpa Lahiri
• A Constellation of Vital Phenomena — Anthony Marra
• The Good Lord Bird — James McBride
• Someone — Alice McDermott
• Bleeding Edge — Thomas Pynchon
• Tenth of December — George Saunders
• Fools — Joan Silber