| Autobiography/Biography | | Hardcover | Walt Whitman, Justin Kaplan | | Paperback | Samuel Beckett, Deirdre Bair |
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| Children's Books, Fiction | | Hardcover | The Night Swimmers, Betsy Byars | | Paperback | Ramona and Her Mother, Beverly Cleary |
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| Children's Books, Nonfiction | | Hardcover | Oh, Boy! Babies, Alison Cragin Herzig and Jane Lawrence Mali |
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| Fiction | | Hardcover | Plains Song, Wright Morris | | Paperback | The Stories of John Cheever, John Cheever |
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| First Novel | Sister Wolf, Ann Arensberg |
| General Nonfiction | | Hardcover | China Men, Maxine Hong Kingston | | Paperback | The Last Cowboy, Jane Kramer |
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| History | | Hardcover | Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, John Boswell | | Paperback | Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery, Leon F. Litwak |
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| Poetry | The Need to Hold Still, Lisel Mueller |
| Science | | Hardcover | The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History, Stephen Jay Gould | | Paperback | The Medusa and the Snail, Lewis Thomas |
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| Translation | The Letters of Gustave Flaubert, Francis Steegmuller |
| Arno Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold, John E. Woods |
