Reading matters

Orange shortlist announced today -- and guess what? I've read one of them!

How prescient of me. I've not been keeping up with all the literary prizes of late, but I'm pleased to see I have actually read one of the contenders on the shortlist for this year's Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction -- Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals.

Other books on the shortlist, which was announced today, include Nancy Huston's Fault Lines, Sadie Jones's The Outcast, Charlotte Mendelson's When We Were Bad, Rose Tremain's The Road Home and Patricia Wood's Lottery.

Lessing wins the world's most prestigious literary award

"Christ!"

That was the reaction of Doris Lessing when a gaggle of journalists outside her London home told her she'd won the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday.

I guess if you're 87 and stumbling out of a taxi after an afternoon's shopping expedition, the last thing you expect is to have your life's work "officially" recognised in this way.

I thought her reaction was hilarious. You can see it for yourself on the Channel 4 News website. Meanwhile, I must dig out that copy of the Golden Notebook, which is buried in my To Be Read pile somewhere.

Betting on the Booker

In a week's time the winner of the 2007 Man Booker Prize for fiction will be announced. Having read only two of the contenders, I'm not very well placed to choose who I think will nab the £50,000 prize.

Interestingly enough, the bookmakers (see Ladbrokes and Paddypower below) seem to largely agree that Lloyd Jones' Master Pip will win it, with Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach not far behind.

Booker shortlist unveiled

The judges have announced the six novels on this year's Man Booker shortlist. They are as follows:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha

Click to read the official press release.

Australian writer wins crime fiction prize

Peter Temple's The Broken Shore has won the best crime novel of the year as part of the CWA Duncan Lawrie Awards for Crime Writing. The prize is worth £20,000.

You can view the rest of the winners at the official website.

Which reminds me, I must get around to reviewing this book! I read it about a month ago and very much enjoyed it.

Orange Prize shortlist unveiled

The 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction shortlist has been announced. And guess what? I ain't read any of 'em, although I have a couple in my To Be Read pile!

The list looks like this:

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
• The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
• A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
• The Observations by Jane Harris
• Digging to America by Anne Tyler

Click to find out more via the official website.

'The Road' is a winner

Cormac McCarthy's The Road has won this year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Between that and its selection for Oprah's Book Club, McCarthy must be beside himself with glee!

Ka-ching, ka-ching!

15 authors from 10 countries make the cut for the 2007 Man Booker International Prize

The judges of the 2007 Man Booker International prize have revealed the 15 authors who are in the running for the £60,000 bi-annual prize.

The authors on the list are:

• Chinua Achebe
• Margaret Atwood
• John Banville
• Peter Carey
• Don DeLillo
• Carlos Fuentes
• Doris Lessing
• Ian McEwan
• Harry Mulisch
• Alice Munro
• Michael Ondaatje
• Amos Oz
• Philip Roth
• Salman Rushdie
• Michel Tournier

The winner will be announced in early June.

You can find out more about the award and the nominated authors by reading the official press release. 

IMPAC Dublin Literary Award shortlist unveiled

The shortlist for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award was announced earlier this week. It looks like this:

• Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (on my TBR)
• A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry (one of my favourite books from 2006)
• Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (I quite liked this one, too)
• The Short Day Dying by Peter Hobbs
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy 
• Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (a gorgeous understated read)
• Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie

The winner will be announced on June 14.

(Via Lost in Translation and Matilda)

Orange Prize longlist unveiled

The longlist for the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction was unveiled today. There are 20 books on the list, which looks like this:

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan

• Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk

• The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai

• Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson 

• Over by Margaret Forster

• The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger

• When to Walk by Rebecca Gowers

• A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo

• The Observations by Jane Harris 

• Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland 

• The Girls by Lori Lansens 

• Alligator by Lisa Moore 

• What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn

• The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

• Careless by Deborah Robertson 

• Afterwards by Rachel Seiffert

• Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley

• Digging to America by Anne Tyler

• The Housekeeper by Melanie Wallace

The shortlist will be announced on April 17 and the winner named on June 6.