This year's shortlist has been announced for the Literary Review's Bad Sex in Fiction Award, "Britain's most dreaded literary prize" that seeks out "the most egregious passage of sexual description in a work of fiction," the Guardian reported. A "winner" will be named December 3. The shortlisted titles are:
The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
The Hormone Factory by Saskia Goldschmidt
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
The Age of Magic by Ben Okri
The Affairs of Others by Amy Grace Loyd
Desert God by Wilbur Smith
Things to Make and Break by May-Lan Tan
The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh
The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle by Kirsty Wark
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The winners of the 2014 National Outdoor Book Awards, sponsored by the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, and Idaho State University, have been announced and include, for the first time a book that won in two categories--Life on the Rocks. Winners and honorable mentions are:
Outdoor literature: Small Feet, Big Land: Adventure, Home and Family on the Edge of Alaska by Erin McKittrick (Mountaineers Books)
Natural history literature: The Small Heart of Things: Being at Home in a Beckoning World by Julian Hoffman (University of Georgia Press)
History/biography: Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery (Chicago Review Press)
Classic: Not Without Peril: 150 Years of Misadventure on the Presidential Range of New Hampshire by Nicholas Howe (Appalachian Mountain Club Books)
Nature and the environment: Life on the Rocks: A Portrait of the American Mountain Goat, written and photographed by Bruce L. Smith (University Press of Colorado)
Design and artistic merit (tie):
Salt: Coastal and Flats Fishing, photographs by Andy Anderson, essays by Tom Rosenbauer (Rizzoli International Publications)
Life on the Rocks: A Portrait of the American Mountain Goat, written and photographed by Bruce L. Smith (University Press of Colorado)
Children's: Good Morning Loon by Elizabeth S. Varnai, illustrated by Kate Hartley (Vista Court Books)
Outdoor adventure guidebooks: Chattahoochee River User's Guide by Joe Cook (University of Georgia Press)
Nature guidebooks: The Warbler Guide by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle (Princeton University Press)
Instructional: Training for the New Alpinism: A Manual for the Climber as Athlete by Steve House and Scott Johnston (Patagonia Books)
Work of significance: Fieldbook: Scouting's Manual of Basic and Advanced Skills for Outdoor Adventure by Robert Birkby (Boy Scouts of America)
Honorable mentions:
Nature and the environment: Feathers: A Beautiful Look at a Bird's Most Unique Feature by Stan Tekiela (Adventure Publications)
Instructional: Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod & Reel by Yvon Chouinard, Craig Mathews and Mauro Mazzo, paintings by James Prosek (Patagonia Books)