The best-known book awards tend to shine a spotlight on well-wrought literary works rather than formulaic best-sellers. A novel or collection of stories that wins a major national book award can often be among the most widely read literary works of its day. By upholding a standard of literary excellence, the awards can help ensure that the most significant books will find an audience, both in the moment and for years to come. This series is sponsored by Humanities Kansas.
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem, Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award (1999)
Awkward, oddly-endearing Lionel Essrog narrates this literary detective novel, which centers around a group of now-grown orphans rescued from St. Vincent’s Home for Boys by Frank Minna, self-proclaimed “King of Brooklyn.” Frank has groomed them to be his Minna Men, to staff a car service/detective agency, which is really a front for shady mob dealings. When Frank is stabbed to death, Lionel must comb the cityscape for answers, all while negotiating the uncontrollable verbal acrobatics of his Tourette’s Syndrome in this smart and funny novel.