The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2010 SIBA Book Awards. These are the books from last year that Southern Indie Booksellers especially loved, the ones they most enjoyed putting into the hands of their customers with the earnest words “You’ve got to read this.”  Nineteen titles were chosen by bookseller vote out of a nominee list of over 100 books, in the categories of Children’s/YA, Nonfiction, Fiction and Cooking. The finalists represent what Southern Indie Booksellers feel to be the best in Southern Literature of the year.

Children’s & Young Adults

Eli the Good by Silas House (Candlewick)
Scat by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf)
Secret World of Walter Anderson by Hester Bass (Candlewick)
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)

Nonfiction

A Good Mule is Hard to Find by Kirk Neely (Hub City Writers Project)
Hard Work by Roy Williams (Algonquin)
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White (Morrow)
Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg (Macadam/Cage)
You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning by Celia Rivenbark (St. Martins)
Zeitoun by David Eggers (McSweenys)

Fiction

A Quiet Belief in Angels by R.J. Ellory (Overlook)
Dead Weight by Batt Humphreys (Joggling Board Press)
Devil's Punchbowl by Greg  Iles (Scribner)
The Help by Katheryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam)
The Last Child by John Hart (Minotaur)
South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan Talese)

Cooking

The Lee Brothers Simple Fresh Southern by Ted and Matt Lee (Clarkson Potter)
Southern Farmer's Market Cookbook by Holly Herrick (Gibbs Smith)
My New Orleans: The Cookbook by John Besh (Andrews McMeel)

__________________________________________________________