The finalists for the 2008 National Book Awards have just been announced! For fiction, the nominees are Aleksandar Hemon’s The Lazarus Project, Rachel Kushner’s Telex From Cuba, Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country, Marilynne Robinson’s Home, and Salvatore Scibona’s The End. For nonfiction, a bunch of really depressing-sounding books. Winners are announced November 19. [National Book Foundation]