Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen is not a stranger to this award: He won for The Snow Leopard, and was nominated for At Play in the Fields of the Lord. This epic, masterly novel is a condensation and meticulous reworking of the author's Watson trilogy.

The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed

The Hemingses of Monticello is the most exhaustively researched history of a slave family written to date. Annette Gordon-Reed not only contextualizes the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings, and the children he fathered with her in Revolutionary America, but extends her scope to the Hemings's family history, which includes Sally's half-sister, who happened to be Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles. Gordon-Reed's 800-page journey through the tangled branches of one of America's most mysterious family trees is enthralling and enlightening from the first page to the last.

Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems by Mark Doty

A collection of poems from his seven previous books, with new work as well, Fire to Fire highlights Mark Doty's ability to be simultaneously spare in language and lush in imagery. Everyday observations and small details are transformed into expansive investigations of desire, art, and beauty.

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

When Evie?s father returns home after serving in World War II, their family life regains a sense of normalcy. But the arrival of Peter Coleridge, a handsome GI who served with Evie?s father in postwar Austria, shatters the family?s idyllic existence. Despite the web of secrets and lies that Peter brings with him, Evie can?t help but fall for Peter, until a tragedy forces her to get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between loyalty to her family and the man she loves.

The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon

Aleksandar Hemon takes a real tragedy—the shooting death of Jewish immigrant Lazarus Averbuch in 1908 Chicago, by police chief George Shippy—and uses it as the springboard to explore a century of Eastern European history, from early 20th-century Chicago to modern-day Sarajevo.

Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner

Set in the decadent American expat community of pre-Castro Cuba, Telex from Cuba juxtaposes the story of Fidel and Raúl's rise as revolutionary catalysts with that of the wealthy white plantation owners and their confusion at their changing world. Kushner presents a masterfully told piece of historical literature.

Home by Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for her 2004 novel Gilead, told in voice of Iowa minister John Ames. While Home shares the same setting and tells the story of Ames's good friend, the Reverend Robert Boughton, it is its own moving novel, a tale of the prodigal son and the blessings of daily life.

The End by Salvatore Scibona

In this debut novel, a chorus of disparate voices tells the story of one day in 1953, at a street carnival in the Italian immigrant neighborhood of Elephant Park, Ohio. With a modernist precision, Salvatore Scibona sweeps through seven decades in his characters' lives, then returns to the day of the carnival.

The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer

Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives by Jim Sheeler

The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order by Joan Wickersham

Watching the Spring Festival by Frank Bidart

Creatures of a Day by Reginald Gibbons

Without Saying by Richard Howard

Blood Dazzler by Patricia Smith

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Underneath by Kathy Appelt

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp