So many familiar titles and publishers on the list of the L.A. Times Book Award finalists--Lawrence Wright's "Going Clear," and A. Scott Berg's biography of Woodrow Wilson, and Ruth Ozeki's fine novel, "A Tale for the Time Being."

But also--tiny little Two Dollar Radio press! And Minnesota's Joyce Sidman, and UM MFA grad (and occasional Star Tribune book critic) Ethan Rutherford, and Graywolf Press, and Coffee House Press. Also (I have just learned), Anders Nilsen, a finalist in graphic novels, is back in Minneapolis after about 20 years away, and the publisher of yet another graphic novel finalist--Uncivilized Books--is also in the Twin Cities. Whew. So much to love about this long list. The winners will be announced on April 11.

Here's the full list, with links to Star Tribune reviews:

The 2013 L.A. Times Book Prize finalists:

Biography
Marie Arana, "Bolivar: American Liberator," Simon & Schuster
A. Scott Berg, "Wilson," G.P. Putnam's Sons
Benita Eisler, "The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman," W. W. Norton & Co.
Edna O'Brien , "Country Girl: A Memoir," Little, Brown & Co.
Deborah Solomon, "American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell," Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Current Interest
Sheri Fink, "Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital," Crown
David Finkel, "Thank You for Your Service," Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Charlie LeDuff, "Detroit: An American Autopsy," The Penguin Press
Barry Siegel, "Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers Who Fought for His Freedom," Henry Holt & Co.
Lawrence Wright, "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief," Knopf

Wazyata poet and writer Joyce Sidman. Star Tribune photo by Glen Stubbe

Fiction
Percival Everett, "Percival Everett by Virgil Russell," Graywolf Press
Claire Messud, "The Woman Upstairs," Knopf
Ruth Ozeki, "A Tale for the Time Being," Viking
Susan Steinberg, "Spectacle: Stories," Graywolf Press
Daniel Woodrell, "The Maid's Version: A Novel," Little, Brown & Co.

The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
NoViolet Bulawayo, "We Need New Names," Reagan Arthur Books
Jeff Jackson, "Mira Corpora," Two Dollar Radio
Fiona McFarlane, "The Night Guest," Faber & Faber
Jamie Quatro, "I Want to Show You More," Grove Press
Ethan Rutherford, "The Peripatetic Coffin and Other Stories," Ecco / HarperCollins

Graphic Novel/Comics
David B., "Incidents in the Night: Volume 1," Uncivilized Books
Ben Katchor, "Hand-Drying in America: And Other Stories," Pantheon
Ulli Lust, "Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life," Fantagraphics
Anders Nilsen, "The End," Fantagraphics
Joe Sacco, "The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme," W. W. Norton & Co.

History
Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman, "FDR and the Jews," Belknap Press of Harvard University
Christopher Clark, "The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914," HarperCollins
Glenn Frankel, "The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend," Bloomsbury USA
Doris Kearns Goodwin, "The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism," Simon & Schuster
Alan Taylor, "The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832," W. W. Norton & Co.

Mystery/Thriller
Richard Crompton, "Hour of the Red God," Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Robert Galbraith, "The Cuckoo's Calling," Mulholland Books/Little, Brown & Co.
John Grisham, "Sycamore Row," Doubleday Books
Gene Kerrigan, "The Rage," Europa Editions
Ferdinand von Schirach, "The Collini Case," Viking

Poetry
Joshua Beckman, "The Inside of an Apple," Wave Books
Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, "Hello, the Roses," New Directions
Ron Padgett, "Collected Poems," Coffee House Press
Elizabeth Robinson, "On Ghosts," Solid Objects
Lynn Xu, "Debts & Lessons," Omnidawn

Science & Technology
Matthew D. Lieberman, "Social: Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect," Crown
Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld, "Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience," Basic Books
Virginia Morell, "Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures," Crown
Annalee Newitz, "Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction," Doubleday Books
Alan Weisman, "Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?" Little, Brown & Co.

Young Adult Literature
Elizabeth Knox, "Mortal Fire," Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Rainbow Rowell, "Fangirl," St. Martin's Griffin
Joyce Sidman, "What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms and Blessings," Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers
Jonathan Stroud, "Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase," Disney-Hyperion
Gene Luen Yang, "Boxers & Saints," First Second/Macmillan