Right on schedule as usual, with many more listmakers weighing in, the favorites have separated into two pretty clear lists of top fiction and nonfiction. At the top of the lists, novels by James McBride and R.F. Kuang are vying for book of the year honors, with a number of other titles tightly packed and right behind them. In nonfiction the competition at the top is equally close between Safiya Sinclair’s memoir and David Grann’s latest. (Kuang’s Babel was tied for No. 9 on last year’s fiction list, while McBride’s Deacon King Kong was tied for No. 6 on the […]