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Ten Almost-Quill Nominees
May 4, 2007
This year, some of the mechanics of the upcoming Quill Awards have been revamped and I find myself among the “Quills/PW Selection Committee” that helps whittle-down a massive list of books in 19 categories. Once that list has been brought down to roughly 10 books in each category, an even more select committee shaves the list down to five.
As PW’s audiobook reviews editor, I'm mainly focused on the audio category. I love lists. I even love other people’s lists. So, coming up with a list of the best audiobooks of the year was a fun collaboration. The only drawback was that the nominees for the upcoming Quill Awards straddle both 2006 and 2007. Nominees are supposed to be chosen from books released between July 2006 and June 2007.
This is problematic for audiobooks because, unlike bound books, there are no advance galleys for audiobooks. Because PW doesn’t review books after they’ve been released, we get advance readers copies (ARCs) several months prior to publication. But audiobooks are on a tighter schedule. PW usually doesn’t get in copies of audiobooks to review until publishers are sending them out to retail outlets. That means, when we’re currently pulling together our 10 best audios list, we will not be able to consider virtually any of the audios being released in May and June of this year.
The final Quill nominees will be announced at BookExpo America. In the meantime, I’ve come up with a list of “Almost-Quill Nominees” in the audiobook category. These are nine superb titles that fell into that black hole of being released too late for last year’s awards and too early for this year (and one February title that should have been nominated last year…but I wasn’t on the committee to push for it).
1) Firefly Cloak by Sheri Reynolds, read by Jenna Lamia. HighBridge Audio, unabridged, seven CDs, 8 hrs., $32.95 ISBN 978-1-5988-7021-3
2) The Girls by Lori Lansens, read by Stephanie Zimbalist and Lolita Davidovich. Hachette Audio, abridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.98 ISBN 978-1-5948-3223-9
3) The Gospel of Jesus, edited by Daniel L. Johnson, read by Garrison Keillor. HighBridge Audio, abridged, six CDs, 7.5 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 978-1-5988-7016-9
4) Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith, read by William Dufris. Tantor, unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 978-1-4001-0225-9
5) Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, read by George Guidall. Penguin Audio, unabridged, 11 CDs, 12.5 hrs., $44.95 ISBN 978-0-1430-5875-5
6) An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina, with Tom Zoellner, read by Dominic Hoffman. Penguin Audio, unabridged, seven CDs, 8 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 978-0-1430-5856-4
7) A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, read by Paul Giamatti. Random House Audio, unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hrs., $34.95 ISBN 978-0-7393-2392-2
8) The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, read by Andy Paris and Jeff Woodman. Recorded Books, unabridged, 10 CDs, 12 hrs., $34.99 ISBN 978-1-4193-7171-4
9) Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, read by David Strathairn, Maria Tucci, Bill Irwin, Tony Roberts, Dylan Baker. Caedmon, unabridged, nine CDs, 7 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 978-0-0608-9871-7
10) With Ossie & Ruby: In This Life Together by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, read by the authors. Hachette Audio, abridged, five CDs, 6 hrs., $29.98 ISBN 978-1-5948-3335-9
Still looking for more audio lists? Check out the finalists for the 2007 Audie Awards.
Posted by Kevin Howell on May 4, 2007 | Comments (0)
