The finalists for the annual National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Award have been announced.

Fiction

• Laurent Binet, HHhH (The missing pages of HHhH)
• Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ben Fountain’s Year in Reading, The Millions interview)
• Adam Johnson, The Orphan Master’s Son (excerpt)
• Lydia Millet, Magnificence (Lydia Millet’s Year in Reading)
• Zadie Smith, NW (Zadie Smith’s Year in Reading, our review, the first lines of NW)

Nonfiction

• Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity (The Millions Interview, National Book Award winner)
• Steve Coll, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power (excerpt)
• Jim Holt, Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story (excerpt)
• David Quammen, Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (excerpt)
• Andrew Solomon, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity (Staff Pick, excerpt [pdf])

via The Millions : 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists Announced.