I am not going to bore you by listing the National Book Award finalists, but I am going to express my surprise that I have scarcely heard a peep about any of them up until now. When the list was announced yesterday, I immediately "amazoned" the novels. The plot descriptions and discussions did not tantalize me one bit. In fact, the only one that seems remotely interesting is The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck. Judging by the fiction list, it seems that the judges were interested in literary fiction that is away from the mainstream, selecting titles that appear to be long on artistry, perhaps a bit short on plot. Your thoughts?