BOOK SNIPPETS

An overdue book was recently returned to The Shreve Memorial Library in Shreveport, Louisiana, after it was taken out 84 years ago. The book, Spoon River Anthology (a first edition from 1915) by Edgar Lee Masters, was checked out in 1934. The man who returned it presumed that his mother took out the book when she was 11 years old. He found it while he was cleaning out her house. Thank goodness the library has a $3 cap for all late returns otherwise the charge would have been $1,542,55.

The National Book Foundation has announced its shortlists for the 2018 National Book Awards. The awards are presented to US authors for books published in America roughly during the award year. The winners will be announced on November 14. The fiction shortlist is: A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley, left, (Graywolf);

Florida by Lauren Groff (Riverhead); Where the Dead Sit

Talking by Brandon Hobson (Soho); The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (Viking); and The

Friend by Sigrid Nunez (Riverhead).