Takling a cue from reality TV, the folks behind the National Book Awards are asking readers to pick the best fiction winner over the past 60 years. The National Book Foundation has narrowed the list to six finalists: "The Stories of John Cheever" (1981 winner), Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" (1953), William Faulkner's "Collected Stories" (1951), "The Complete Stories" of Flannery O'Connor (1972), Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity Rainbow" (1974) and "The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty" (1983).

I can't help noticing that judging by the list, it's been a long, cold spell since the 1980s. Too bad for authors such as Alice McDermott, E. Annie Proulx, Jonathan Franzen, Alice Walker and Pete Dexter.

Starting this week, you can vote at the foundation's web site. The winner will be announced Nov. 18, and voters will be entered in a drawing for two tickets to the 60th National Book Awards in New York City, as well as two nights lodging.

My vote: Invisible Man, which was not only powerful literature, but a force in shaping social change.