If I seem somewhat scarce

That’s because this week is all National Book Awards, all the time. It’s also the first year that I’ve read almost all of the fiction shortlisted (ONLY REVOLUTIONS excepted) and I still can’t help but think this is one of the freshest, most interesting group of five nominees assembled by the NBA. It’s the kind of list that reminds me why I landed on the fringes of the book business – because there’s almost nothing that compares to getting excited about a book and wanting to spread the word to everyone and anyone.

I mean, how cool is that?

More later.