Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rather than Thomas Cromwell, will feature in Hilary Mantel’s new book. The collection of 10 short stories, called The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher is to be published in September, well ahead of the much-awaited sequel to Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. “Where…
Who will make the Booker Long List 2013?
The hype that always surrounds the prestigious Booker Prize has already begun with the news that the Long List for 2013 will be announced on July 25th.
Last year’s list provided some treasurers. Apart from winner Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies, Tan Twan Eng’s The Garden of Evening Mists was probably my favorite read of the year and a book that everyone to whom I recommended it seems to have enjoyed too, Other memorable ones are Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, The Lighthouse by Alison Moore and Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil.
It’s a big deal, for reputation and sales, to make it onto even the Long List of what is one of the world’s most prestigious literary competitions. So, who will make it into the spotlight in 2013? Apart from the judges, my guess is as good as any, so here are some possible contenders.
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann: McCann’s novel, is divided into a series of narratives
AM Holmes wins Women’s Prize for Fiction
Congratulations to AM Holmes who has taken out the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) for her satire on modern American Life May We Be Forgiven. The book was described by Miranda Richardson, chair of the judging panel, as “so fresh and so funny – darkly funny – and so unexpectedly moving.”
Holmes, an American, beat the much-fancied favourite Hilary Mantel whose Bring Up The Bones has already taken out two of the trifecta of major prizes, the Man Booker and the Costa.
Who should win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature 2013
Another biggie literary event looms with the annoucement of the winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Literature due on Monday morning (American time). There was upraor last year when it was decided, for the first time in 35 years, not to award the prize at all, a huge slap…
How many books is too many?
Can you ever read too many books? Author and Poet Michael Bourne raised the question this week writing in The Millions when he revealed he had read 56 books in 2012, slightly down from the average of 60 books per year he had set himself when he entered a new millenium. To achieve his target he had to read five books a month or just over one book per week. “For years now, reading has been something like training for a marathon,” he writes. “I keep mental tallies of how many pages I’ve read per night, and how many more pages I need to read in the next few days to keep to my average. In 2011, after years of hovering in the mid-50s, when my annual average hit precisely 60 — that is, 720 books read over 12 years — I did a private victory lap.”
Bourne keeps track of his reading habits by listing every book he has read dating back over the past 12 years so he can quickly tell how he is tracking, month by month, to ensure that he fulfills his target. Unfortunately the result wasn’t just a considerable amount of great reading but also a compulsion to stick to his timetable and achieve his quota and that took over from pure reading pleasure as motivation. No More.
Booker winner … perhaps.
With the announcement of the Booker Prize winner imminent, and having read five of the books on the shortlist, I am declaring my hand and announcing my winner now: Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel. It was a close thing though. Right up to the end I have been…