The National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced Saturday, and we're thrilled that two books, whose authors were invited to appear on Titlepage.tv, made the fiction list. Congratulations to Aleksandar Hemon for "The Lazarus Project" and Elizabeth Strout for "Olive Kitteridge"!

Click here for complete list of the 2008 finalists.

With only one season and six episodes in the 'can' Titlepage.tv demonstrated an impressive track record of snagging authors whose books landed, some multiple times, on 2008's Best of lists.

Starting with Publishers Weekly's list, there is Richard Price who appeared in our debut episode, All Over the Map, as well as Aleksandar Hemon and Nam Le who both appeared in Episode 5, Found in Translation. A fourth book that made that list, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was one of the books recommended by our host, Daniel Maneker.

As we continue waking up to daily doses of bleak and dreary news, from Gaza to bankruptcies, from  foreclosures to capsized ferries, one cannot help but get excited when a few morsels of news come tinted in a shade of pink.

This week we are particularly uplifted by a couple of stories that Titlepage tends to favor as they highlight books, authors and ideas: First, that of Barack Obama's power to push book sales upwards -- challenging Oprah Winfrey's coveted territory and, second, that of the newly released National Endowment for the Arts report whose headline shouts: Reading on the Rise! 

Of course, pessimists and negativists may turn to other entries such as the announcement that November book sales had been dismal or that a 32 year-old Hedge Fun Partner was moving in to head Borders whose stock was now worth 67 cents!