The National Book Awards’ move towards greater visibility and recognition culminated in much the same way as in previous years: a mixture of expected and surprise winners. New Yorker staff writer George Packer took the nonfiction prize for THE UNWINDING, while James McBride’s THE GOOD LORD BIRD (Riverhead) won the fiction prize, surprising the author — who did not prepare a speech, since he was among those who expected one of the other nominees to prevail. “They are fine writers,” McBride said of the other nominees, “but this sure is nice.” The judges called him “a voice as comic and original as […]