Next up in my "reading it for the award" list was Ian McDonald's "The Dervish House". Overall, I really enjoyed this book, despite finding it difficult to read for an extended length of time for the first half. (This is not the same as slow or uninteresting - but it was very much the kind of book I could pick up on a subway and then stop reading when I got where I wanted to go. Until suddenly, it wasn't.)
There were two aspects of the book that made it so enjoyable and, in my opinion, up for the 2010 Locus and (I think) Hugo. The first was the setting. McDonald does a fantastic job of integrating the history of the city with the story of the characters, creating a panoramic view of people, culture and a beautiful city that comes through his words naturally.
The second was that he actually had a story to tell. THis wasn't just an exploration of nano tech or a foray into non-western sf (though it has elements of both), but a fully realized, well-developed story with real people populating it. I only wish that the threads of the story had begun to wind together a bit sooner, as it really did take this book a long time to become a story. But once it did, it was lovely.