Costa Award Reading Challenge

An ongoing project to read the Costa Prize fiction winners from1971 when the prize (then called the Whitbread) was established to the present. I will be reading all of the fiction and first novel winners and any shortlist nominees that appeal to me. There are no longlists provided for this prize and shortlists contain only four nominees. 

2012 Winners announced Jan.3, 2013:

2012 Costa Novel Award shortlist:

Hilary Mantel - Bring up the Bodies (Winner!)
Stephen May - Life! Death! Prizes!
James Meek - The Heart Broke In
Joff Winterhart - Days of the Bagnold Summer

2012 Costa First Novel Award shortlist

J. W. Ironmonger - The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder
Jess Richards - Snake Ropes
Francesca Segal - The Innocents (Winner!)
Benjamin Wood - The Bellwether Revivals 

Official Costa Award Site
________________________

Costa Novel Award 2011

• Pure**** by Andrew Miller (Winner)
• The Sense of an Ending**** by Julian Barnes
• A Summer of Drowning by John Burnside
• My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young     

Costa First Novel Award 2011

• Tiny Sunbirds Far Away****+ by Christie Watson (Winner)
• City of Bohane by Kevin Barry
• The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness
• Pao by Kerry Young

Winners read:

2010 Pure**** by Andrew Miller  
2010 Tiny Sunbirds Far Away****+ by Christie Watson

2010 The Hand That First Held Mine**** by Maggie O'Farrell 
2008 The Secret Scripture***** by Sebastian Barry
2008 The Outcast**** by Sadie Jones
2007 What Was Lost***** by Catherine O'Flynn
2007 Day**** by A L Kennedy
2006 The Tenderness of Wolves****+ by Stef Penney
1985 Hawksmoor***** by Peter Ackroyd (read twice)
1972 The Bird of Night**** by  Susan Hill 

Also read, from the shortlists:

2010 The Sense of an Ending**** by Julian Barnes 
2009 The Elephant Keeper****+by Christpher Nicholson (reviewed)
2009 The Music Room**** by William Fiennes (Biography)
2008 The Other Hand***** by Chris Cleave (Little Bee in US) reviewed
2008 Trauma***** by Patrick McGrath
2008 The Behaviour of Moths**** by Poppy Adams
(The Sister in US)
2007 Death of a Murderer***** by Rupert Thomson  reviewed
1983 Flying to Nowhere**** by John Fuller

On my shelves tbr:

2005 The Silk Factory by Tash Aw
2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
2000 White Teeth by Zadie Smith
1978 Picture Palace by Paul Theroux
1974 The Sacred & Profane Love Machine by Iris Murdoch

Which have you read and can recommend? Comments, requests for brief reviews or links to reviews are always welcome. 

Also working her way through Costa Book Award winners:
Rose City Reader.

Wellcome Trust Book Prize 2011

 Celebrating Wellness in Literature

If you visit Fresh Ink Books you know that I follow many literary awards for reading recommendations. I don't always love the winners per se but I always find some very good reading in both the shortlists and those longlists that are released. The Wellcome Trust is a new one for me. In it's third year now, it rewards the book of fiction or non fiction which dealt with a medical subject.

I've always loved novels with some aspect of medicine or with doctors in them. I have to say that the improvement in the quality of the subjects covered has greatly improved since I was young and scrounging around for good stories that dealt accurately and not mawkishly with illness or disease. This year's shortlist for The Wellness Trust Book Prize were Announced on Oct. 6. The winner Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante was announced on Nov.9, 2011

Fiction

Turn of Mind

Alice LaPlante
The police are convinced that Jennifer White has killed her best friend. Amanda's body has been discovered, with four fingers neatly removed from her right hand. Jennifer's work as an accomplished surgeon and the stormy nature of their friendship make her the prime suspect. But Jennifer has Alzheimer's, and the disease that is gradually destroying her once brilliant mind prevents her from knowing if she really is the murderer.
Publisher: Harvill Secker

Nemesis

Philip Roth
Set in 1944 during a fictional polio epidemic that threatens children in the Jewish community of Newark, New Jersey, this book is the story of Bucky Cantor, the 23-year-old playground director of the local school. Cantor becomes a hero to the boys, but as polio begins to ravage the playground and they begin to die, he is forced to make decisions that will haunt him in later life.
Publisher: Vintage

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

Louisa Young
Set on the Western Front in World War I, and also in London, Kent, Paris and Wigan, this is a novel of love, class and sex during wartime. By weaving together the stories of five disparate characters, Louisa Young describes the birth of modern reconstructive surgery and the psychological impact that it had on the men who received it.
Publisher: HarperCollins

State of Wonder

Ann Patchett
Among the waterways of Brazil's Rio Negro, Dr Annick Swenson is developing a drug that could alter the lives of women for ever by granting them lifelong fertility. Her work is shrouded in mystery so Anders Eckman, a mild-mannered lab researcher, is sent to investigate. Eckman's untimely death leads his colleague Marina Singh to investigate - stepping into the jungle's darkness to track down Dr Swenson and uncover her jealously guarded secrets.
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Non-fiction

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Siddhartha Mukherjee
The history of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience and perseverance, but also of hubris and arrogance. Cancer researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee describes the work of his predecessors and peers, with their successes and failures, as they pit their wits against a resourceful enemy. This book investigates the way doctors, scientists, philosophers and lay people have observed and understood the human body and offers a glimpse into the future of medical treatments.
Publisher: 4th Estate

The Two Kinds of Decay

Sarah Manguso
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a hugely distressing disease in which one's own immune system attacks the nerves outside of the brain and spine. Sarah Manguso developed CIDP at 21, leaving her paralysed for weeks at a time. Written after seven years of remission, this book unflinchingly describes the medical routines that kept her going, confronting the often meaningless and irrational nature of real pain.
Publisher: Granta Books

I enjoyed and can recommend State of Wonder as I usually do with Patchett's books, and Turn of Mind and My Dear I Wanted to Tell You are already on my tbr list. I'm not one for Philip Roth but I may change my mind and read Nemesis as we have a family member who's endured polio his entire life. I expect I will read The Emperor of All Maladies one day, as we all probably should, but for now the experiences associated with my father and both of my husband's parents succumbing to this pestilence preclude my wish to concentrate on it. 

I do read medical books and journals  when I want information but I've always found that reading about medical subjects in the context of fiction is often a good way to learn about how people cope and it can teach empathy in a way that non fiction sometimes doesn't.

Shortlist for 2010

So Much For That by Lionel Shriver
Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson
Medic: Saving lives - from Dunkirk to Afghanistan
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Winner)
Teach Us to Sit Still by Tim Parks
Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams

Do you enjoy novels with medical themes or do you prefer non fiction? 

Have you read any of the books mentioned or have any plans to? 

Which outstanding novels dealing with illness or disease can you recommend?

Leave your thoughts or links to reviews in the comments. I'd love to read them

The Wellcome Trust Book Prize Official site

Orange Prize for Fiction 2010

My updated Orange Prize Project post: Orange Prize longlist 2010 announced today.

My updated Miles Franklin Literary Awards longlist 2010 announced today.

Governor General’s Literary Awards of Canada

The Governor General's Literary Awards (GGs) for fiction  are given annually to the best books. Winners receive $25,000 and a specially bound copy of the winning book. The publisher of each winning book receives $3,000 to support promotional activities. Non-winning finalists each receive $1,000. Finalists  are announced in mid to late October. The winner is announced in mid November. I will keep you posted.  

2010 Longlist of nominees

2010 Finalists:


Cool Water by Dianne Warren  Winner
Waiting for Joe by Sandra Birdsell
Room by Emma Donoghue
Motorcycles & Sweetgrass by by Drew Hayden Taylor
Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Those I've read:

2010 Longlist - Beatrice & Virgil**** by Yann Martel
2010 Longlist - Ape House**** by Sara Gruen
2010 Longlist - The Sentimentalists***+ by Johanna Skibsrud  (Giller Winner 2010)  
2010 Longlist - The Ghost Brush***** by Katherine Govier
2010 Longlist - Sanctuary Line***+ by Jane Urquhart
2010 Longlist - The Debba****+ by Avner Mandelman
2010 Longlist - The Crime Machine***+ by Giles Blunt
2010 Finalist - Room****+ by Emma Donoghue 
2009 Winner - The Mistress of Nothing***** by Kate Pullinger  
2009 Finalist - The Golden Mean****+ by Annabel Lyon
2009 Longlist - February**** by Lisa Moore
2009 Longlist - The Disappeared****+ by Kim Echlin
2009 Longlist - No Such Creature***+ by Giles Blunt    
2009 Longlist - The Last Woman***+ by John Bemrose
2009 Longlist - Breaking Lorca**** by Giles Blunt    
2009 Longlist - The Day the Falls Stood Still***** by Cathy Marie Buchanan
2009 Longlist - Carnivore**** by David Sinnett 
2008 Finalist - Atmospheric Disturbances**** by Rivka Galchen
2008 Longlist- Chef**** by Jaspreet Singh
2008 Longlist - The Cellist of Sarajevo***** by Steven Galloway
2008 Longlist - Through Black Spruce***** by Joseph Boyden    
2008 Longlist - Coventry***** by Helen Humphreys    
2008 Longlist - At a Loss for Words**** by Diane Schoemperlen    
2008 Longlist - Quintet***+ by Douglas Arthur Brown
2008 Longlist - The Boys in the Trees***** by Mary Swan    
2008 Longlist - The Gargoyle****+ by Andrew Davidson
2008 Longlist - Trauma***** by McGrath, Patrick    
2008 Longlist - Good to a Fault***+ by Marina Endicott
2008 Longlist - Red Dog, Red Dog**** by Patrick Lane    
2008 Longlist - The Frozen Thames***** by Helen Humphreys            
2008 Longlist - The Retreat**** by David Bergen        
2007 Winner - Divisadero***** Michael Ondaatje
2007 Finalist - Helpless****+ by Barbara Gowdy
2007 Longlist - Conceit***** by Mary Novik
2007 Longlist - The Twice Born***** by Pauline Gedge
2007 Longlist - The End of the Alphabet**** by C. S. Richardson    
2007 Longlist - The Letter Opener***+ by Kyo Maclear
2007 Longlist - The Outlander**** by Gil Adamson
2007 Longlist - Late Nights on Air**** by Elizabeth Hay    
2007 Longlist - By The Time You Read This****+ by Giles Blunt    
2006 Longlist - Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
2005 Longlist - A Map of Glass***** by Jane Urquhart
2005 Finalist - Processional*** by Anne Compton Poetry
2005 Longlist - The Lizard Cage***** by Karen Connelly
2005 Longlist - An Audience of Chairs***** by Joan Clark
2005 Longlist - What We All Long**** For by Dionne Brand
2005 Longlist - The Logogryph**** by Thomas Wharton
2005 Longlist - Carolan's Farewell**** by Charles Foran
2005 Longlist - Three Views of Crystal Water****+ by Katherine Govier
2005 Longlist - Alligator**** by Lisa Moore    
2005 Longlist - Ticknor*** by Sheila Heti
2005 Longlist - The Time in Between**** by David Bergen
2005 Longlist - The Memory Book**** by Howard Engel
2005 Longlist - Blackfly Season**** by Giles Blunt    
2004 Longlist - Look for Me**** by Edeet Ravel
2004 Longlist - Wild Dogs**** by Helen Humphreys
2003 Finalist - Ten Thousand Lovers***** by Edeet Ravel
2003 Longlist - The Way the Crow Flies****+ by Ann-Marie MacDonald
2003 Longlist - The Delicate Storm****+ by Giles Blunt    
2002 Finalist - Unless**** by Carol Shields
2001 Finalist - Life of Pi****+ by Yann Martel
2001 Longlist - The Stone Carvers****+ by Jane Urquhart
2000 Finalist - Mercy Among the Children**** by David Adams Richards
2000 Longlist - Burridge Unbound***+ by Alan Cumyn    
2000 Longlist - Forty Words for Sorrow**** by Giles Blunt
2000 Longlist - Afterimage****+ by Helen Humphreys

1998 Finalist - The Electrical Field***+ by Kerri Sakamoto
1997 Winner - The Underpainter**** by Jane Urquhart
1995 Finalist - Mister Sandman***+ by Barbara Gowdy
1995 Finalist - Night Walk**** by Roo Borson Poetry
1991 Finalist - Words With Power***** Northrop Frye Nonfiction
1986 Finalist - The Collected Poems of Al Purdy**** by Al Purdy Poetry
1984 Finalist - The Whole Night Coming Home**** by Roo Borson Poetry
1982 Finalist - The Great Code: The Bible**** and Northrop Frye Nonfiction
1980 Finalist - Fat Woman** by Leon Rooke
1972 Winner - The Manticore***** by Robertson Davies
1963 Winner - Hugh Garner's Best Stories***** by Hugh Garner
1961 Winner - Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place***** by Malcolm Lowry

On my shelves tbr:


2006 Longlist - Consolation by Michael by Redhill    
2006 Longlist - Madame Zee by Pearl Luke
2005 Winner - The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness and Greed by John Vaillant nonfiction
2004 Winner - A Complicated Kindness Miriam Toews
2004 Longlist - The Hatbox Letters by Beth Powning
2004 Longlist - Waking Raphael by Leslie Forbes
2004 Longlist - Woman in Bronze by Antanas Sileika
2003 Winner - The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji
2002 Longlist - The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe    
2001 Longlist - The Boy Must Die by Jon Redfern
2000 Winner - Anil's by Ghost Michael Ondaatje
2000 Finalist - Monkey Beach Eden Robinson
2000 Longlist - Latitudes of Melt by Joan Clark    

1998 Finalist - The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy
1998 Finalist - The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
1996 Finalist - Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
1996 Finalist - The Green Library by Janice Kulyk Keefer
1993 Winner - The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
1993 Finalist - Frontiers by Noël Mostert Nonfiction
1992 Winner - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
1983 Finalist - The Biggest Modern Women in thw World by Susan Swan
1970 Winner - The New Ancestors by Dave Godfrey

Want to read:




2008 Longlist - Your Sad Eyes and Unforgettable Mouth by Edeet Ravel
2008 Longlist - Stunt by Claudia Dey

2006 Longlist - A Wall of Light by Edeet Ravel
2005 Longlist - Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
2003 Longlist - River of the Brokenhearted by David Adams Richard
2000 Longlist - No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod    
1993 Finalist - For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down by David Adams Richards

 Which have you read? Which can you recommend? What are your favourites? Comments, questions, dissenting opinions, or links to reviews are welcomed. I'd love to read them.

Review of 2009 Winner The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger by Jennifer at Mrs. Q: Book Addict.

Book Awards, Do You Follow?

Why do I follow literary awards? Because several experienced readers, usually including booksellers and librarians, read it and bother to go through the process of nominating it. Several other people, who are well read enough to be thought good judges, read it very carefully. They weeded out any poorly written or not well constructed stories, staking their reputations (or friends laughing at them) on their final choices after much discussion among themselves. Most of the work has been done for me already. I'm still very circumspect; there are subjects and themes I do not wish to read about for pleasure. I consider all that made the longlist as equals, even the winners are only someone else's preferences. I still have to decide for myself. But I rarely read a bad book so I'm sticking with award lists, past and present. I follow them everywhere but here are a couple of recent ones closer to home for many of you:

The National Book Critics Circle Award Finalists for fiction:

American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell (short stories)
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James
Blame by Michelle Huneven
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips

I avoid all reviews, jacket information, blurbs etc. before reading novels. They tell too much. But I usually have good instincts. Those I will read and why:

Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips - What I know: the Korean war. Even if I weren't yet another whose father was changed in terrible ways by his experience there, Tim O'Brien gives it his endorsement. I have read In the Lake of the Woods***** so that's good enough for me.

Blame by Michelle Huneven - What I know: alcoholism, manslaughter, remorse, redemption, forgiveness. Again, a personal element is involved that makes this a must read for me.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - What I know: Not a thing, except that it's winning awards, big ones; so it must be well written; and someone said "Thomas Cromwell" so it has to be interesting.

The Book of Night Women by Marlon James - What I know: Slavery in Jamaica 200 years ago. Language, sexual content, and brutal violence (people talk) which would normally put me off. But this is history, as it was. Therefore a possible read- when I am in the mood.

American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell - rarely in the mood for short stories, so not likely.

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association

2010 Nominees for Fiction

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha - What I know: nothing at all, but I can't resist a lyrical title so you never know. I'll wait until I heard good things.

Hotel On Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford - What I know: Japanese internment camps. It had me at "Japanese". A favourite cultural subject. And I won a copy. It doesn't get easier than that.

A Better View of Paradise by Randy Sue Coburn - What I know: A beautiful cover which I featured on Cover Attraction here (would you believe the author left a comment!). Hawaii, a dying father, and a veterinarian are all I know, and that it's her third book. But it looks a lot like chick lit to me - I don't touch the stuff - ever. I feel bad about this because the author is a sweetheart, I'm reserving judgment until I hear different.

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister - What I know: recommended by a blogger I trust and I won a copy so most likely will read.

Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter - What I know: absolutely nothing, but if the title relates to the story, it has to be bleak.

The PNBA awards recognize excellence in writing from the Pacific Northwest. region (Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and British Columbia) The Awards Committee is made up of booksellers representing the PNBA region.

2009 Book Award Winners:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein - Dog stories don't do it for me - too light.

Guernica by Dave Boling - Read it, reviewed it here, loved it. What I knew: The title says it.

2009 Shortlist

The Eleventh Man by Ivan Doig (Seattle, WA) - What I know: he's an awfully good writer from what I've heard, so maybe one day.

The English Major by Jim Harrison (Montana) - What I know: roadtrip with ruminations and reflections. I've only read Harrison's non fiction, but I enjoyed every word. How could I go wrong.

The Jewel of Medina by Sherry Jones (Spokane, WA) - What I know: nothing, sounds like historical fiction/chick lit. Not for me, unless I hear otherwise from someone I trust.

Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska by Seth Kantner (Kotzebu, Alaska) non fiction - Ashamed to admit that I have an ARC and I owe it a review. A male friend is dying to borrow it and I just might let him have it since I can't seem to face non fiction lately. The book is doing really well even without my review.

Do you follow fiction awards? Have you had good experiences with them or negative ones? Are there any books mentioned here that you can recommend? No spoilers though please.

Do posts on fiction book awards interest you? I'd be happy to write up more if anyone is interested.

The Complete Booker Reading Challenge

"This is not so much a reading challenge as a long-term project in which the participants aim to read all 41 books that have won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. There is no time limit."

Updated for Booker Challenge 2010: Hosted by Laura at Musings.

Winners Circle: read at least 6 winners
Contender: read at least 6 shortlisted nominees
Longshot: read at least 6 longlisted nominees
Booker Devotee: choose a year, and read all 6 shortlisted works from that year
Booker Fanatic: choose a year, and read all 13 long- and shortlisted works from that year

Read in 2010:

2006-Longlist-Black Swan Green**** by David Mitchell

The Booker Prize winners I've read:

1978-The Sea, The Sea**** by Iris Murdoch
1979-Offshore***** by Penelope Fitzgerald
1984-Hotel Du Lac**** by Anita Brookner
1985-The Bone People***** by Keri Hulme
1998-Amsterdam**** by Ian McEwan
1989-The Remains of the Day**** by Kazuo Ishiguro
1990-Possession***** by A.S. Byatt
1997-The God of Small Things***** by Arundhati Roy
2002-Life of Pi**** by Yann Martel
2005-The Sea**** by John Banville
2007-The Gathering***+ by Anne Enright
2008-The White Tiger***** by Aravind Adiga

Also read:

2009-Shortlist-The Little Stranger***** by Sarah Waters
2009-Longlist-The Wilderness***+ by Samantha Harvey
2008-Shortlist-The Secret Scripture***** by Sebastian Barry
2008-Shortlist-The Clothes on Their Backs**** by Linda Grant
2008-Shortlist-The Northern Clemency***+ by Philip Hensher
2007-Shortlist-On Chesil Beach**** by Ian McEwan
2006-Shortlist-The Secret River***** by Kaye Grenville
2006-Shortlist-Carry Me Down**** by M.J.Hyland
2006-Longlist-Black Swan Green**** by David Mitchell
2005-Shortlist-Never Let Me Go**** by Kazuo Ishiguro
2002-Shortlist-Unless**** by Carol Shields
2002-Shortlist-Dirt Music***** by Tim Winton
2001-Shortlist-Atonement**** by Ian McEwan
2001-Shortlist-Hotel World**** by Ali Smith
2000-Shortlist-When We Were Orphans***** by Kazuo Ishiguro
1995-Shortlist-The Riders***** by Tim Winton
1992-Shortlist-Black Dogs****by Ian McEwan
1989-Shortlist-The Book of Evidence**** by John Banville
1983-Shortlist-Flying to Nowhere**** by John Humphreys
1978-Shortlist-The Bookshop**** by Penelope Fitzgerald
1973-Shortlist-The Black Prince**** by Iris Murdoch
1972-Shortlist-The Bird of Night by Susan Hill
1972-Shortlist-The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith***** by Thomas Keneally

Booker winners in my library TBR:

1974-The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
1980-Rites of Passage by William Golding
1982-Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
1987-Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
1992-The English Patent by Michael Ondaatje

Booker shortlist nominees in my library TBR:

Orchard on Fire by Shena MacKay
Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
Oxygen by Andrew Miller
Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Illywhacker by Peter Carey
The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch

"The longlist, ‘The Man Booker Dozen' - the 12 (or 13) titles under serious consideration for the prize - will be announced in late July 2010 and a shortlist of six books will be announced in early September 2010. The Man Booker Prize 2010 winner announcement will be broadcast by the BBC from London's Guildhall at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 12 October 2010."

Which have you read and what did you think of them? Which can you recommend that I have not read? If you've posted a list of your Booker reads, or reviewed any of them, please leave a link. I'd love to read them.

Giller Prize longlist 2008

The jury selected 15 titles out of 95 books, submitted by 38 publishers from every region of Canada. The longlist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize includes three former winners of the Canadian prize for literary fiction. The list will be winnowed down to a shortlist of five on October 7. The winner will be announced on November 11.

Award-winning author and previous Giller Prize winner Margaret Atwood; Liberal MP, Foreign Affairs critic and author Bob Rae; and renowned international journalist, professor and author Colm Toibin comprised the 2008 jury.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the prize.
From a highly competitive field, the Scotiabank Giller jury has selected the following titles for this year’s longlist:




David Adams Richards for The Lost Highway






David Bergen for The Retreat






Joseph Boyden for Through Black Spruce






Austin Clarke for More






Anthony De Sa for Barnacle Love, short stories






Emma Donaghue for The Sealed Letter






Marina Endicott for Good to a Fault






Steven Galloway for The Cellist of Sarajevo






Rawi Hage for Cockroach






Kenneth J. Harvey for Blackstrap Hawco






Patrick Lane for Red Dog, Red Dog






Pasha Malla for The Withdrawal Method, short stories






Paul Quarrington for The Ravine






Nino Ricci for The Origin of Species






Mary Swan for The Boys in the Trees





Of the longlist, the jury writes:

“These fifteen books vary widely in technique, in setting, and in tone — from the historical to the contemporary, from the comic to the satiric to the tragic, from the local to the international. Nothing unites them but the jury's belief in their accomplishment: each contributes something fresh, original, thoughtful, or vital to the practice of fiction.”
The Scotiabank Giller Prize awards $50,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $5,000 to each of the finalists. The Scotiabank Giller Prize is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch.
October 7, 2008 Shortlist Announcement
November 11, 2008 Gala Evening and Winner Announcement
---

I have read The Boys in the Trees***** by Mary Swan. I have started The Cellist of Sarajevo and have Cockroach by Rawi Hage, Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden, and The Lost Highway by David Adam Richards in my TBR pile.

If you have reviewed any of these books let us know by commenting or sending me a link to your review.
So, which have you read? Which do you plan to read? Have any interesting information about any of them or their authors?

Booker Prize shortlist 2008

The Man Booker Awards shortlist for fiction

Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger

Sebastian Barry for The Secret Scripture

Amitav Ghosh for Sea of Poppies

Linda Grant for The Clothes on Their Backs

Philip Hensher for The Northern Clemency

Steve Tolz for A Fraction of the Whole

I am half way through A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Tolz and it's one of a kind I must say. And a first novel. I still plan to read the Sebastian Barry book and Linda Grant's The Clothes on Their Backs. From the longlist I have read A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif and The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser, both excellent stories. I will read From A to X because I fell in love with John Berger's writing the first time I read him. Then Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, and possibly the rest of them.

Quoted from The International Herald Tribune:

John Sutherland, who has twice been a judge for the Man Booker literary prize, wrote in The Financial Times that "If The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie doesn't win this year's Man Booker I'll curry my proof copy and eat it."

Oh oh.

The first chapter of Rushie's book is available to read online at the New York Times
here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/books/chapters/first-chapter-enchantress.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin

The Man Booker Prize winner will be announced on October 14th, 2008.

*****
I follow all books awards for the kind of fiction I read simply because it alerts me to books I might not hear about otherwise. So many novels come out each month that it's hard to keep up. Some get a lot more press than others too, those are the ones you hear about constantly. I never relinquish my own instincts though because who knows better than me what I like. In writing reviews my own tendency is toward shortness, almost a brief synopsis and a rating. Unless it's a reviewer's copy because publicity agents expect more. But I enjoy not knowing about anything that's going to happen in a story when I read. I want all the little shocks, twists, and heartbreaks to surprise me, like life itself. The problem with that is you can't waste time reading anything and everything and you can't totally trust a review. Reviewers can be paid to do it, may know the author, have an agenda of their own, such as advancing their reputations, (or blogs), or even have books of their own to promote. They can be uninformed about some subjects or elements of a story or about the author's body of work and the kind of writing they're reviewing. And like all of us reviewers are imperfect and have biases, for or against certain subjects, styles etc.

I judge by who wrote it, what else have they written, where does the story take place, what time period, which culture etc. In other words, will it interest me. Until my personal alarm goes off. Terms such as "bestselling" ,"gritty", "saga", "romance", "sexual obsession", or blurbs with exclamation marks are warning signs for me. They may not mean absolutely not but they give me serious pause. I'm sure we all have some and they'll be different for each one of us. I have read novels when all I knew was " it's about elephants","Vanessa Redgrave really liked it", or "it's written by a medical doctor". I was not disappointed. " The critics tore it apart" will make me more curious. A close friend who knows your tastes is nice to have but not always available to read and screen out the dreck for you.Ultimately any review, or blurb, is still only "one man's opinion". The trick is to find reviewers with similar tastes, keep an open mind, then trust yourself.

If you have any opinions on any of these books, we'd like to hear from you.

Booker Prize longlist 2008

The Man Booker Prizes longlist for 2008 has been announced,

whittled down from 112 entries to these 13:

THE WHITE TIGER by Aravind Adiga

GIRL IN A BLUE DRESS by Gaynor Arnold

THE SECRET SCRIPTURE by Sebastian Barry

FROM A TO X by John Berger

LOST DOG by Michelle De Kretser

SEA OF POPPIES by Amitav Ghosh

THE CLOTHES ON THEIR BACKS by Linda Grant

A CASE OF EXPLODING MANGOES by Mohammed Hanif

THE NORTHERN CLEMENCY by Philip Hensher

NETHERLAND by Joseph O'Neill

THE ENCHANTRESS OF FLORENCE by Salman Rushdie

CHILD 44 by Tom Rob Smith

A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE by Steve Toltz

The Man Booker Prize shortlist will be announced on September 9th, 2008.

The Man Booker Prize winner will be announced on October 14th, 2008.

I have read and enjoyed The Lost Dog**** by Michelle de Kretser of Australia. I had already planned to read the John Berger, Sebastian Barry, and Joseph O'Neill , and was considering the Linda Grant book when I found out more about it. I'll see how many I can get to before the winner is announced.

If you have opinions on any of these books, we'd like to hear from you.

Out Stealing Horses,Elephant Winter,Tirra Lirra By the River

Out Stealing Horses***** by Per Petterson (Norway)

This won the Dublin Impac Award 2007. That's the big one cash-wise:100,00 Pounds. This prize is chosen by librarians around the world.

Other Awards:

Norwegian Critic's Award

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

Winner Norwegian Booksellers' Prize

American Library Association Notable Book

Time Magazine Best Book of the Year

New York Times Best Books of the Year

New York Times 100 Notable Books for 2007

Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist

Out Stealing Horses is about boyhood friendship, tragedy and loss, fathers and sons and their expectations of one another. And how the main character deals with loneliness both in his youth and late in life. Well worth reading. A good place to start on Scandinavian literature if you haven't tried any yet. Four and a half stars. Highly recommended.

Elephant Winter***** by Kim Echlin (Canada)

A very good story set in the Africa Lion Safari Park, close to where I live in Ontario. Elephants figure prominently but there is love, loss, illness, and trust between both animals and human for those of you who need people in your stories too. An original story, highly recommended.

The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy (Canada) will be my next novel about elephants. An elephant family comprises the characters of this story.

Tirra Lirra by the River**** by Jessica Anderson

This won the Miles Franklin Award (Australia) in 1978.

I Bookmooched it so I could read it and it was worth it. An oldie but goodie about how a woman's life turns out differently than she'd expected. Denied independence, then having it forced upon her by her husband, she reflects on her two lives. One lived in Australia and the other in London until she returns to her childhood home in old age and finds the world a very different place. A very good read, I recommend it.

Currently reading Under The Skin by Michael Faber

I'm 40 pages in and scared to find out what the woman is doing with the hitchhiking men she keeps picking up in Scotland. They disappear, you see, and it's giving me the creeps.

Reading recommendations and comments are always welcomed.

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