Bookish matters

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Happy belated birthday to one of my favourite living writers, Jennifer Johnston, who turned 80 on January 12. There's a really wonderful interview with her published in the Irish Times, which sums up all the things I love about her work: "Her fiction has explored our ability to make mistakes. Above all, she looks at the small hurts that render us emotionally remote. Her novels are also suspended between the several Irelands defined by social, political and cultural differences. Johnston’s sophisticated, at times deceptively conversational, narratives have drawn on social class as it exists in a country caught between the contrasting Catholic and Protestant cultures."

Farewell to American writer J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, who has died, aged 91.

Have you heard the theory that the late Stieg Larsson, author of the Millennium trilogy, may not have actually written the best-sellers? That's one of the theories floated in this quite comprehensive article about the Scandinavian writer.

Journalist Toby Lichtig asks where are you supposed to go to do your lunchbreak reading at this time of year? He discounts cafes, because he feels guilty after the food has gone. He's obviously never been to any of the cafes, eateries and coffee shops near my office: they are stuffed to the brim with lunchtime readers (me included) and no one ever asks them to move on. I find lingering over a hot drink (or a cold one) works wonders.

Swedish writer Henning Mankell seems to be everywhere at the moment, probably because of the second series of Wallander, which has recently been screened on BBC TV and which is going to be released on DVD early next month. This article, by Rachel Cooke, looks at the dilemma the series poses to those people who have read the books: to watch, or not to watch?

So, have your rushed out and bought your Apple iPad yet? According to this article in the New York Times, five publishers — Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster — have signed on to provide e-book content for the new device.

Congratulations to Australian writer Peter Goldsworthy, who has been awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours List, ”for service to literature as an author and poet, through arts administration, and to the community”. I read Goldsworthy's Honk If You Are Jesus half a lifetime ago, and loved it, and recently bought his more recent Three Dog Night, which I'm looking forward to reading. [Via ANZLitloversLitblog]

Comments

Happy belated birthday to one of my favourite living writers, Jennifer Johnston, who turned 80 on January 12. There's a really wonderful interview with her published in the Irish Times, which sums up all the things I love about her work: "Her fiction has explored our ability to make mistakes. Above all, she looks at the small hurts that render us emotionally remote. Her novels are also suspended between the several Irelands defined by social, political and cultural differences. Johnston’s sophisticated, at times deceptively conversational, narratives have drawn on social class as it exists in a country caught between the contrasting Catholic and Protestant cultures."

Farewell to American writer J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, who has died, aged 91.

Have you heard the theory that the late Stieg Larsson, author of the Millennium trilogy, may not have actually written the best-sellers? That's one of the theories floated in this quite comprehensive article about the Scandinavian writer.

Journalist Toby Lichtig asks where are you supposed to go to do your lunchbreak reading at this time of year? He discounts cafes, because he feels guilty after the food has gone. He's obviously never been to any of the cafes, eateries and coffee shops near my office: they are stuffed to the brim with lunchtime readers (me included) and no one ever asks them to move on. I find lingering over a hot drink (or a cold one) works wonders.

Swedish writer Henning Mankell seems to be everywhere at the moment, probably because of the second series of Wallander, which has recently been screened on BBC TV and which is going to be released on DVD early next month. This article, by Rachel Cooke, looks at the dilemma the series poses to those people who have read the books: to watch, or not to watch?

So, have your rushed out and bought your Apple iPad yet? According to this article in the New York Times, five publishers — Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster — have signed on to provide e-book content for the new device.

Congratulations to Australian writer Peter Goldsworthy, who has been awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours List, ”for service to literature as an author and poet, through arts administration, and to the community”. I read Goldsworthy's Honk If You Are Jesus half a lifetime ago, and loved it, and recently bought his more recent Three Dog Night, which I'm looking forward to reading. [Via ANZLitloversLitblog]

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