Bookworm News (September 2011)

Goethe Prize awarded to Syrian poet

The first Arab writer to win Germany's €50,000 (US$72,286) Goethe Prize, Adonis receives a prize awarded every three years on Goethe's birthday to an individual whose work reflects the spirit of the German master. The Guardian reported that the jury called him "the most important Arab poet of our time," and praised his "eminent literary talent, his cosmopolitanism and his contribution to world literature. Just as Goethe popularized Arabic poetry with [his book] West-Eastern Divan, Adonis carried the accomplishments of European modernity into Arabic cultural circles, with great effect," said the jury.

Guardian First Book Award longlist announced

This year's longlist for the £10,000 (US$16,247) Guardian First Book Award--open to all first-time authors writing in or translated into English, across all genres--is "fiction-heavy," with six novels, three works of nonfiction and one poetry collection. The Guardian reported that a "series of regional reading groups, run in partnership with Waterstone's bookshops, will now assist the judging panel with choosing a shortlist." The list of nominated writers includes Booker-shortlisted Stephen Kelman and artist and writer Erin Morgenstern.

Have a lovely time

A family travel writing competition celebrating the beauty of Britain is calling for submissions. The contest at www.havealovelytime.com has a top prize of £200, a second prize of a weekend stay at the Park Inn in historic York and an English Heritage family pass for everyone finishing in the top ten, as well as a copy of Travelling with Children, by Catherine Cooper, one of the competition’s judges. There’s also a mystery prize on offer for the entry voted readers’ favourite after the competition closes on October 1, 2011. Journalist and author Linda Jones who edits Have a lovely time, and is Catherine’s fellow judge, adds: “We want to celebrate all that’s great about family tourism in our stunning land. That might include breathtaking adventures in the Lakes, laughing til your sides ache at a family-friendly Edinburgh festival, savouring the splendour of the West Wales coastline, a Devon cream tea or a knees up at a holiday park…or of course plenty more. “Wherever you love to find quality family time in Britain – we want to hear about it. We’re looking for entries about family holidays, breaks, days out or adventures. “Perhaps your stories could be inspired by firing your imagination at an English Heritage (www.english-heritage.org.uk) property – as we’re delighted they are backing our contest – and there are so many adventures to be had for you and your family. We won’t tell you what we mean by ‘family’ – so long as you feel the title fits, that’s fine by us. Perhaps the break you want to write about is a first one without children when they’ve flown the nest. Maybe you don’t have children but consider a beloved pet part of your family." A first entry is free but if you’d like to try more than once, there’s a fee of £5 per subsequent entry. If you’d like a professional critique of your submission you can pay £12.50 for feedback on your style, structure and content. A proportion of all fees paid will be split between Have a Lovely Time’s chosen charity, CCPA (www.ccpa.org.uk) (formerly NACCPO) and their support for an organisation called the Torbay Holiday Helpers Network (www.thhn.co.uk) which helps offer free holidays, to families who have seriously ill life threatening/limiting, terminally ill and recently bereaved children.

Victorian Prize for Literature

Kim Scott won the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature, Australia's richest literary award, for That Deadman Dance, which "explores the relationships between 19th-century British settlers and the indigenous people on the coast of Western Australia," the Wall Street Journal reported. In June, Scott's novel won the Miles Franklin Award, making him the first indigenous writer to earn that prestigious award twice (his novel Benang won in 2000). "It’s reassuring and gratifying and should be confidence boosting," Scott said. "We’ll see. Last time I won a couple of awards for a novel, that was my last novel and that was about 11 years ago, so I wouldn’t want to have to wait that long before I wrote another one." That Deadman Dance is scheduled to be released in the U.S. and Canada in January.

Authors protest against online libraries

A number of authors and authors' groups have filed a lawsuit in New York to prevent universities from creating online libraries with millions of scanned books. The Authors Guild and the Australian Society of Authors, among others, joined eight individual authors in filing a copyright infringement lawsuit in Manhattan, claiming that the scans of seven million copyright-protected books were unauthorised.

Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

The lists of finalists competing for the £30,000 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award has been announced ahead of a winners' ceremony due to take place on November 3rd. Shortlisted titles cover rethinking of ways to fight global poverty, the rise and fall of the dollar, and the differences between good and bad strategies.

Putting Potter powers and the Oxford name into ordinary interiors

According to the Telegraph, Oxford University has designed a new range of interior furniture and accessories to capitalise on its links with the Harry Potter films. The 400-year-old Bodleian Library lends its name to a bookcase worth nearly £4000 while a Harry Potter-style dining table, named the Oxford Collection, is priced at just over £2500. The furniture, inspired by 800 years of history and archives, intends to hark back to the many scenes set in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, which were filmed in Christ Church College's dining hall. One emeritus professor of the college was horrified, describing the venture as "vulgar, inappropriate, and unauthorized by the university at large," accusing it as "cheapen[ing] its image".

Returning banned books to the shelves

The Mark Twain work "Eve's Diary" has been put back on the shelves of a Massachusetts library more than a hundred years after it was originally banned. Library trustees unanimously voted to return the book to circulation, reversing the board's 1906 decision to ban the 1905 story, which is written from the perspective of the Biblical Eve, and was banned thanks to its nude illustrations of Eve.

Fashion dictionary adds new words to aid Debenhams shoppers

An influx of new terms that have emerged from the fashion press, such as 'jardigan (a cross between a jacket and a cardigan)' and 'tregging (the love child of trousers and leggings)', has forced high street retailer Debenhams to update its fashion dictionary that it gives to shoppers. The retailer's fashion dictionary has already had an influence on more mainstream tomes, with the Oxford English Dictionary taking terms from the book, such as 'jegging' and 'mankini' for its own pages for 2011. New fashion phrases added to Debenhams' reference list include shinos (short/chinos), athleisure (clothes to take you from work to the gym), and glittens (mittens that roll back to reveal gloved fingers). The new copy of the Debenhams Fashion Dictionary is out now.

Four hundred books banned from Algerian international book fair

Algeria's culture minister reports that 400 books were banned from the country's international book fair recently. Banned books supported themes including colonialism, terrorism and tacism, and books attacking the national liberation struggle against France were also not allowed in. More than 500 publishers participated in the festival from around the world, with Lebanon being the guest of honour thanks to its 70 participating publishers.

Roald Dahl Funny Prize

What better way to celebrate Roald Dahl Day than with the announcement of this year's finalists for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize? For the first time, schools will be involved in the judging process. More than 400 pupils from England have been selected to read the shortlisted titles, discuss with their classmates and pick their favorite funny book in the relevant category for their age. Their votes will then be combined with the votes of the adult judging panel to find the two winners. Category winners receive £2,500 (US$3,970), and will be honored November 8 in London. The 2011 shortlisted books are:

Funniest book for children aged six and under

Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere
Cats Ahoy! by Peter Bently, illustrated by Jim Field
First Week at Cow School by Andy Cutbill, illustrated by Russell Ayto
Limelight Larry by Leigh Hodgkinson
Marshall Armstrong Is New to Our School by David  Mackintosh
A Place to Call Home by Alexis Deacon, illustrated by Viviane Schwarz

Funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen

Animal Tales by Terry Jones, illustrated by Michael Foreman
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by Liz Pichon
The Get Rich Quick Club by Rose Impey
Letters from an Alien Schoolboy by Ros Asquith
Penny Dreadful is a Magnet for Disaster by Joanna Nadin, illustrated by Jess Mikhail
The Wrong Pong by Steven Butler, illustrated by Chris Fisher

Red Bull Flying Bach: the ultimate clash of cultures

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Bookish Bits & Bobs: Booker Prize Shortlist 2011

With the release of the Booker longlist in August, it's my little game every year to see if I can guess what will make the cut when it comes to the announcement of the shortlist in September. I'm usually wrong on an epic scale. I was therefore quite pleased to see the degree of my accuracy this year after predicting that the shortlist would contain "one of the two big guns [Barnes or Hollinghurst], or, if not them, [...] Kelman's offering." The shortlist does indeed contain one of the big names (Julian Barnes' A Sense of an Ending is on the list), and Stephen Kelman's Pigeon English made it too. But what of the others who made it onto the shortlist?

I was hoping that with the release of the shortlist more previews would be available on Amazon - with the price of books these days, how are people supposed to be able to have a valid opinion on what they think should win otherwise? By reading the reviews of the broadsheet journalists who get free copies and parroting their opinions? Anyway, Amazon seems to see my point for the shortlisted novels at least, with all except AD Miller's Snowdrops being available for preview. I therefore went in and had a second nosey around the first few pages of each.

Already being sold by Barnes' and Kelman's offerings, I decided to concentrate on the others. Jamrach's Menagerie, by Carol Birch, is poetic and raw in equal measure in describing its gruesome matter. Descriptions are simple, striking and accessible, with short sentences quickening pace and longer ones adding suspense and panic. With my only criticism being that the grim choice of subject would not put it at the top of my reading list, I can still nonetheless see why it could win: it grabs you from the off, with the retrospective narrative voice adding further intrigue, as we immediately want to know how the protagonist has got from the awful 'there' to the apparently calmer 'here'. In many ways it epitomises the purpose of literature: to inform, entertain, share the experiences of others, and give us an alternative prism through which to view the world.

Patrick deWitt's The Sisters Brothers is equally graphic but more defensive. Information is revealed slowly and in a controlled manner, but perhaps a little too slowly: it is more pedestrian than Birch's effort, where we are immediately thrown into the action, and this may cause readers to lose interest more quickly. Nevertheless, we are given a mysterious commanding character called The Commodore, and the narrator's responsibilities and profession are as yet unknown. These are all reasons to continue reading.


Finally I came to Half Blood Blues, which I described in my previous Booker-related post as having a compelling premise but let down by disappointing prose. Upon rereading the preview, it is with a sinking feeling that my initial impressions do not appear to have changed. The use of dialect seems contrived and stilted - but having just embarked on the study of Of Mice and Men for the third year running with my eldest students, it is perhaps only natural that just about anything would be weak in comparison to Steinbeck's sterling command of colloquial English. But this is not to say that Esi Edugyan's work lacks promise - phrases like "twisted beauty" and "clotted shadows" are gems to be treasured.

So who do I believe will win? I'm inclined to go with my initial predictions of Julian Barnes or Stephen Kelman. It seems mean to name another author on top of them when a) AD Miller's work was unavailable for preview, and b) to name another author would effectively mean I was naming 50% of the shortlist as potential winners, which seems rather silly or unfair odds.

I realise the irony in what I have just done, given what I said before: I have just reviewed these Booker-shortlisted works for others' reading pleasure. I encourage you, though, to not take my word for it: go and read the previews as I have just done, or even buy the whole book to read before the winner is announced in October. By all of us getting involved and informed, we can get a truer impression of whether the elected winner is also the people's winner, and not just that of a circle of judges.

Nazi Literature in the Americas (Roberto Bolano)

--The blurb--

"The rich seam of Nazi literature has, until now, been sadly under-explored. Here for the first time acclaimed novelist and poet Roberto Bolano provides a long-overdue and meticulously researched survey of the writers who have contributed to pan-American Nazi literature. Carefully documenting the lives, politics and literary works of these writers in exhaustive and compelling detail, this is the definitive account of the writers who have shaped the literary landscape of the Americas."

--The review--

This book's deliberately reactionary and taboo-breaking title is probably what encourages most readers to pick it up, inciting in people a dormant and perhaps slightly morbid interest not only in Nazism but also the desire for insight into the minds of those who not only believed in the principles espoused by Hitler but also wrote about them. The blurb implies that what you are getting is a historical and biographical document, and to a degree this is believable. However, readers' suspicions are aroused when some of the writers' dates of death are significantly in the future (2013+). At first we wonder if this is a typo; then, after several occurrences and a bit of Googling, we realise that the whole thing is nothing more than an immense fiction.

It is the lateness with which we work out the fictional nature of the book that leads us to mistrust the author and causes our attention to wander. We become increasingly disengaged and uninterested, especially given the narcissistic, unsuccessful and depressive personalities of the characters described; when repeated over and over with only a few variations, it all begins to wear rather thin and it lacks wit all the way through. And once we have had time to digest the notion of this being fiction disguised as fact, Nazi Literature In The Americas seems even more pointless; why not present it more transparently as fiction? Why not link the characters more explicitly to Nazism and Nazi literature (in most of the characters' cases, their links to Nazism and Nazi literature are tenuous to non-existent) if that was what you wanted to do? The upshot is that the author's aims become increasingly confused and ill-thought-through. The spew of praise on the inside and outside covers is therefore very difficult to believe in.

As an attempt at satire and commentary it is weak at best. As one Amazon reviewer puts it, "unless you are sufficiently well versed in the literary figures of the Americas then for the most part this book is like being told joke after joke where you don't understand the punchline". Equally, the author is inconsistent (switching out of the third person and into the first for the telling of the final character's story) and frequently leaves stories unfinished in a way that does not fit in well with either fiction, history or biography. I understand that his more stolid works of fiction are better, and at some point in the future I would be open to attempting these. However, there's definitely more than one reason that this book was found with a £3.99 sticker over its £16.99 price tag, so it's going straight onto the "to sell" pile.

other works by Roberto Bolano

By Night in Chile (2003)

Distant Star (2004)

The Savage Detectives (2007)

Amulet (2007)

The Skating Rink (2008)

2666 (2008)

Antwerp (2010)

Monsieur Pain (2010)

The Third Reich (2011)

*NB Many of these works were published posthumously.

The Visible World (Mark Slouka)

--The blurb--

"The unnamed narrator of The Visible World, the American-born son of Czech immigrants living in New York, grows up in an atmosphere haunted by fragments of a past he cannot understand. Nowhere is this more true than in regard to his mother, Ivana, a spontaneous, passionate woman moving ever closer to genuine despair. As an adult, the narrator travels to Prague, hoping to learn about a love affair between his then young mother and a member of the Czech Resistance named Tomas, an affair whose untimely end, he senses, lays behind Ivana's unhappiness. Ultimately unable to complete his knowledge of the past, he imagines the two lovers as participants in one of the more dramatic moments of the war: the actual assassination of a high-ranking Nazi official."

--The review--

Having spotted that this was recommended by the Richard and Judy Book Club (praised as their Best Read of the Year), I picked it up with confidence, knowing the Madeley/Finnigan duo to be responsible for the meteoric rise of such literary successes as Notes on a Scandal, Brick Lane, and Starter For Ten. Strangely, I had not heard of this particular recommended read; by the end I knew why.

There are errors right from the start in the respect that the narrator, by telling the story in the first person, ends up giving the reader information that he could not possibly have had access to; telling the story in the third person would have therefore been far more appropriate and far less distracting. It also decreases our trust in the narrator and causes our attention to wander (a problem with another book that I've had recently - but more of that another day). Other elements, which are not necessarily errors but perhaps just personal preferences or observations, can also be criticised: the author is precise in emotion and detail but not in plot or character. Overall, he is just far too vague, to the point of it preventing us from fully understanding the story.

Having read Edmund de Waal's excellent history-biography-memoir hybrid recently, the bar had already been set rather high. It did not help that Slouka had apparently been trying to do something similar to de Waal but failed due to a lack of straightforwardness. The comparisons on the back of the book to Ondaatje and Kundera therefore begin to seem completely over-complimentary, unjustified, and overly generous. This is a shame, as it is a potentially rich and promising story that is ruined by shoddy writing skills.

By the time we get to the climax, we no longer care, due in part to its slowness in coming. There are some moments of eloquence that really resonate - but for the most part, the author skirts around the story and makes us wonder what he did to Richard and Judy to make them dispense such a laudable accolade. It is a little worrying, to say the least, that barely a week after reading it I have forgotten the vast majority of it. We get the feeling, ultimately, that the author used this work as a chance to exorcise his own personal demons relating to his family, with little thought for the readers themselves.

Strangely, in spite of all this, The Visible World seems to have scored highly on Amazon, as have his other novels and non-fiction works. It is stranger still, then, that despite good reviews and the prize bestowed on him by the great morning sofa, the author is still apparently relatively obscure, not even apparently meriting an entry on Wikipedia (and I had seriously never even heard his name before reading The Visible World - let alone those of any of his books). Does this mean that the writer's work is just interminably bad? Or is it that the only thing that's bad is the luck he's had? After all, you can be a good author who is just unrecognised - and God's Fool, his fiction debut, does not seem entirely without its charms. But for its sheer forgettability alone, I think that in general I'll be giving his work a wide berth.

Other works by Mark Slouka

The War of the Worlds: Cyberspace and the High-Tech Assault on Reality (1997)

Essentialism (1999)

God's Fool (2008)

Lost Lake (2008)

Real Life (2010)

Essays from the Nick of Time: Reflections and Refutations (2010)

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

--The blurb--

"Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who dreams of travelling the world in search of a worldly treasure as fabulous as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers, and from there into the Egyptian desert, where a fateful encounter with the alchemist awaits him."

--The review--

Disconcertingly, despite having had both an English and a French copy of The Alchemist on my bookshelf for a number of years, I could not actually remember if I had read this story before or not. The reason for this is perhaps as follows: upon (re)reading it, I found that Coelho's poetic strengths as found in Eleven Minutes are not as obvious here. The author's strengths are in setting and detail, and then, to an extent, character, rather than in plot - the whole of The Alchemist just seems a bit thin, and takes on the manner of a children's story, rather than being in the style of a spiritual book for adults. While that's a good thing, in a way, if it makes the story more accessible to a wider range of people, it could have easily done with extra padding and extension.

The Alchemist is ultimately a sweet and sentimental fairytale that lacks concrete relevance to our own lives - in the end, it contains nothing that we can apply directly. More development, as mentioned, is certainly required overall, especially when it comes to explanations of some of Coelho's concepts, such as The Soul of the World. The story does contain some pleasing and thoughtful maxims, but it does perhaps depend on the reader as to whether they are happier with this than with something more directly advisory. This is perhaps exemplified by the fact that after the number of five-star ratings for this book on Amazon (184), the next highest number of ratings is actually in the one-star category (where there are 62).

It is fitting that the protagonist ends up back where he started, and this endows the book with a satisfying and cyclical appeal. Ironically, even though this is Coelho's best-selling work, I did not find it to be the best of his oeuvre; go elsewhere for something more inspiring and less woolly. 

Other works by Paulo Coelho

The Manifest of Krig-Ha (1974)

Theatre of Education (1974)

Hell Archives (1982)

Practical Manual of Vampirism (1986)

The Pilgrimage (1987)

Brida (1990)

The Greatest Gift (1991)

The Valkyries (1992)

Maktub (1994)

By the River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept (1994)

The Fifth Mountain (1996)

Love Letters From A Prophet (1997)

The Manual of the Warrior of Light (1997)

Veronika Decides To Die (1998)

Essential Words (1998)

The Devil and Miss Prym (2000)

Fathers, Sons and Grandsons (2001)

Eleven Minutes (2003)

And On The Seventh Day (2004)

The Genie and the Roses (2004)

Journeys (2004)

The Zahir (2005)

Revived Paths (2005)

Like The Flowing River (2006)

The Witch of Portobello (2006)

Life: Selected Quotations (2007)

The Winner Stands Alone (2008)

The Aleph (2011)

The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (Edmund de Waal)

--The blurb--

"264 wood and ivory carvings, none of them larger than a matchbox: potter Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie. Later, when Edmund inherited the ‘netsuke’, they unlocked a story far larger than he could ever have imagined…"

--The review--

Moved to read this tome for its mentions of Proust (due to working through the big guy's opus as we speak - last volume now!), I was left upon finishing with a sense and knowledge of so much more. Edmund de Waal's work received an award for biography, but it is not quite a memoir - it is more than this. Having received recommendations of the book from my mother and sister, and gone on to enjoy it myself, proves via our different spectra of abilities and interests that it is readable, accessible, and interesting to very many. The author therefore does what many in the past have failed to do by bringing history and art history to the masses, binding these interests together perfectly with political and personal histories.

Skilled and sensitive, The Hare With Amber Eyes is driven by the sheer dedication of its author, and the depth of research that has gone into it is of clearly phenomenal levels. Images are used carefully to gently enhance enjoyment, rather than bombarding the reader, and the concision of the prose is equally commendable. The choice of the hare in the title is perhaps not necessarily apparent (after all, there are 264 netsuke to choose from, so why pick that one?), but this does not seem to matter. The book is also a travel book, in that it compels you to want to visit the places described - Odessa, Paris, Vienna and other locations are brought to life with vivacity and tenacity.

That the main themes in the book should be the nature of memory, storytelling and oral tradition (not AURAL, I'm afraid, Edmund), art, the making of things, and passing things down make it no surprise that the story's principal message should be that it's how you tell the story that matters - it's no good simply having these objects without knowing where they have come from, and certainly in the hands of a lesser author the story itself may have become devalued by being passed down to us as a readers in an inferior manner. It is perhaps here that the choice of a hare with amber eyes comes into significance - the use of amber as a way to preserve something old within something new exemplifies the purpose of the writer's story, which he states is to encase the story in something new for his children.

The inheritance referred to on the cover of the book is naturally not only the physical inheritance of the netsuke but the legacy of the family history, and it is told in such a way as to be pleasantly cyclical. Further strengths include the honesty, detail and humour with which family members are portrayed, and the accessibility with which various complex issues are approached. Familiarities such as Impressionism and Nazi Europe are made new for us, and de Waal's arguably overambitious scope is approached and fulfilled with deftness and modesty. 

De Waal's mastery of all aspects of storytelling is what makes this true tale what it is; a rich fiction, but in the most positive possible way. Determined and moving without being slushy, it is practically perfect in every way - absorbing, intellectual, down-to-earth, humorous, and written with real feeling.

Bookworm News: August 2011

Exiled Cuban writer Eliseo Alberto dies

The fifty-nine-year-old Cuban writer, who was living in exile in Mexico, died at the end of July a few days after receiving a kidney transplant. Alberto, who was the author of Caracol Beach, worked for many years as a journalist in Cuba before being exiled to Mexico in 1990. He received Mexican citizenship in 2000 and his work typically explored Christian themes, such as forgiveness, punishment and regret. He also wrote poetry, TV and movie scripts and taught at film schools in Mexico, Cuba and the US. In 1998 he received the Spanish literary award Premio Alfaguara de Novela, and his screen credits include the film Guantanamera.

Award news

Plenty of award news to be had this month:

• John Grisham won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, for his novel The Confession
• A range of prizes from the PEN American Center were awarded to a number of authors including Susanna Daniel, Danielle Evans, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Aleksandar Hemon, and Robert Perkinson. The full list of winners can be found here.   
• Tatjani Soli and Hilary Spurling won the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, which are awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh and are worth £10,000 each. Previous winners include Ian McEwan, AS Byatt and Cormac McCarthy.

The ReLit ring

Raindrops on roses, longlists and shortlists...

The shortlist for the Canadian Indie Press 2011 ReLit Awards was announced this month, celebrating novels, poetry, and short fiction titles published by Canadian independent presses. The list includes works by Kathy Page, Dani Couture, and Brian Joseph Davis. Category winners receive a ReLit ring - a ring with four dials, each one struck with the entire alphabet, for spelling words.  

Pan Macmillan South Africa also announced the finalists of this year's Citizen Book Prize; the winner will receive R10,000 and either publication by Pan Macmillan or a place on a creative writing course. The full list can be found here, along with synopses of the nominated novels.

Finalists for the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize have also been named, with the winner being announced in October.

Finally, the Center for Fiction announced its shortlist for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize; the winner will be announced on December 6th and the nominees are Carolyn Cooke, Sarah Braunstein, David Bezmozgis, Bonnie Nadzam, Ismet Prcic, Alexi Zentner, and Ida Hattemer-Higgins.

Fifty over-50s who have made their mark

Recently the website www.high50.com decided to list 50 public figures over the age of 50 who matter most. Author Tony Parsons, who produced such bestsellers as Man And Boy, made the cut, and so did other authors Linton Kwesi Johnson, David Sedaris, and Jeannette Winterson. Well done to them all - everybody certainly needs an inspiration, and these people definitely provide a good place to look to.

Sales soar for poet laureate books

Sales of Philip Levine's books have shot up since he was named as America's new poet laureate. Within days of the announcement that the Pulitzer Prize winner would be taking up the post, several of his books sold out on Amazon, with one rising to 110 in the bestseller list - a rank not often seen by a poetry book. The 83-year-old author is known for his celebration of the working class and has won many other accolades alongside his Pulitzer, including a National Book Award. 

Eleven literary friendships we can learn from

Website www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com has recently published an article on 11 Literary Friendships We Can Learn From. Their summation of the friendships of such luminaries as Byron and Shelley, and Larkin and Amis, concisely deliver us every lesson in friendship from "choose your friends carefully" and "forgive and forget" to..."don't do opium". Have fun reflecting on the friendships between these literary lights...no matter how crazy they were!

Boosting Mississippi tourism

The film version of Kathryn Stockett's The Help has only been out in American movie theatres for a couple of weeks, but already increased interest is being seen in visits to its Mississippi setting. Tourism agencies in Greenwood and Jackson have been rolling out tours to appeal to fans of the book and the film - Jackson currently offers two self-guided driving tours, The Help in Bellhaven Neighborhood and The Help in Jackson. Direct economic contribution to the area as a result is estimated to be at $13 million.

New words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary

With 'tweet' and 'retweet' having recently cut the mustard in the UK, it's interesting to see how our American cousins are expanding their vocabularies. The latest words to be set in stone by lexical giants Merriam-Webster include bromance, cougar and, of course, tweet. Tweeting of which, I'm off to do so now. Happy September!

Natural Flights of the Human Mind (Clare Morrall)

--The blurb--
"Peter Straker lives in a converted lighthouse on the Devon coast with a fine view of the sea, two cats, and no neighbors. That's just the way he likes it. He speaks to no one except in his dreams, where he converses with some of the seventy-eight people he believes he killed nearly a quarter-century earlier -- though he can't quite remember how it happened. But Straker's carefully preserved solitude is about to be invaded by Imogen Doody, a prickly and unapproachable school caretaker with a painful history herself. Against his will -- and hers -- Straker soon finds himself helping Imogen repair the run-down cottage she's inherited. There are forces gathering, however, as the twenty-fifth anniversary of Straker's crime approaches, and they're intent upon disturbing his precarious peace."

--The review--
Having read Morrall's Booker-shortlisted (OK, so I'm a Booker whore, so sue me) Astonishing Splashes of Colour some years ago, I was both thrilled and surprised to uncover this new find (OK, so 2006 is not exactly 'new'...but meh). Thrilled because I had thoroughly enjoyed her other work and could not wait to see what was next; surprised because I found this one in Poundland! I finally scooped up my new bargain and read it on holiday this year, and thankfully was not disappointed.

Titles of novels such as this one are bound to fill the reader with interest; what 'flights of human mind' could be referred to? As well as the more concrete meaning of 'flight' which increases in significance as the novel progresses, Morrall successfully defines 'flights of human mind' throughout the story via her embodiments of people's assumptions, consciences, and ways of coping with trauma from their past. Morrall adds further layers to the fascination that she creates due to her fine eye for detail and way in which she slowly reveals information, thus making the novel worth rereading.

Parallels between the 'ordinary mortal' Imogen and the criminal Peter Straker means that the author achieves her arguably controversial creative purpose - to show us that even if we don't like to admit it, we are all human, we all live under the same sky, and therefore the reactions that we all have to ordinary events in our own lives can develop in more extreme ways in some of us than in others. The origin, though, is the same. Dramatic scenery rises up to meet these very human characters, and Straker's process of opening up more and more to others is realistically documented. The real, physical journeys that the characters make define their internal, emotional journeys, and Morrall certainly does not disappoint us, following on in quality from her debut.

The challenge of addressing daunting themes of being 'second best' and the idea of somehow proving we exist, or validating and vindicating what we do as people, is risen to indomitably by the author, and as a result, she provides a more concrete, realistic and somehow inspiring message of our souls' progress through this world than the wishy-washy ideas explored in books like The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho), where they are often overdramatised and ill-defined. Morrall writes with greater subtlety and skill and does not seek to make any of her characters into noble guiding lights - even Simon and Maggie, who come closest to fulfilling this role, have the ability to become irritated and do not find it easy to forgive.

The novel cuts between scenes frequently, and while some may find this annoying, others (including myself) may find that it adds momentum and intrigue. Even though there are occasional faults - the novel-writing antics of the narrator, for instance, are necessary as a foreshadowing device but are not really convincing enough to make us believe in them - everything else is excellent, and the reader looks forward to seeing how the whole package is bound together. The notion in the novel that people are not all that they seem (as demonstrated by the characters of Harry, Celia, Peter, Imogen and Stella, to name just a few) means that the overall effect of the story is transformative and revelatory as we discover what really lies beneath the characters' exteriors. This process also proves applicable to our own lives as we are encouraged (in a way that is not intended as overt social commentary) to discard the notion of people being perfect and our need to imitate and please them in every detail - that way madness lies, as the author sinisterly proves. Perfection and happiness, as shown by Peter's and Harry's backgrounds especially, are not at all the same thing.

Morrall's deftness with her pen not only leaves readers moved and thoughtful but also gives her scope for further novels focusing on Harry and Imogen, or on Peter's parents, to point out just the tip of the iceberg of possibility. I don't suppose for one moment that Morrall would ever produce such sequels, as I suspect that she has bigger fish to fry; however, I would certainly read them if she did.

other works by Clare Morrall
Astonishing Splashes of Colour (2003)
The Language of Others (2008)
The Man Who Disappeared (2010)

Bookish Bits & Bobs: Booker Prize Longlist 2011

OK, I'm aware that this came out now a few weeks ago, but other things got in the way (such as Do Nothing But Read Day, and holidays, and things).

The release of the Man Booker Prize Longlist meant this year, as in previous years, trawling Amazon for previews and seeing what I think. It was encouraging this year to see so many new names on the longlist alongside some familiar ones, but the downside to my approach is that many of these new names will not have previews available online. A shame. In any case, I did still manage to get a feel for a few of the novels gracing this year's list.

Julian Barnes' effort, entitled The Sense of an Ending, seems like it will not disappoint: arresting, innovative, intriguing and thought-provoking prose grabs you by the neck and makes you want to read on. The other returner to the list, Alan Hollinghurst, is, strangely, another one of those authors whose longlisted work is not available for preview. Another disappointment, as I was hoping that The Stranger's Child would help me to dispel my own prejudices towards his work. On the blurb's first appearance, it sounds beautiful, compelling and romantic, but I did sigh inwardly at the use of the phrase "sexual mores" (again, Alan? Really? You might as well throw in a bag of cocaine and a bottle of champagne and be done with it, if The Line Of Beauty was anything to go by). Still, I'd be willing to give the guy another chance.

Then, as mentioned, several longlisted authors remaining shrouded in mystery due to the inability to consult their works without actually buying them (what, you think I'm made of money? You can certainly forget finding such recently issued books at the library). Yvvette Edwards is one of these, having been nominated for her debut, A Cupboard Full Of Coats. The same is the case for AD Miller's Snowdrops. Patrick McGuinness, while not shortlisted for his debut, is shortlisted for The Last Hundred Days; no previews are available for any of his works. Of these three, based on the blurbs alone, it is Edwards' unravelling of the past that appeals most to me (although Amazon shoppers have voted with their wallets, clearing the online retailer of all stocks of The Last Hundred Days).

Grimness, tragedy and a sense of history pervade virtually all of this year's offerings; don't come to this list if you're looking for a laugh (if that's what you want, you'll likely find it in Barnes' tale of schoolboy escapades). Nevertheless, all of the remaining novels have something appealing to offer in spite of their serious overtones. Sebastian Barry's On Canaan's Side provides no look inside, but the writer's previously Booker-shortlisted The Secret Scripture does allow you to take a peek inside his style. Eloquent and flowing, we get a hint of a slightly spooky, rambling and Victorian feel which is not unattractive, although it does carry with it the often-found characteristics of Irish fiction. Jamrach's Menagerie, the nominated novel by Carol Birch, is too similar to Barry's work, but lacks the Irishness - so if you're not into Irish literature but Barry's tome appeals otherwise, Ms Birch's novel could be the one for you.

Esi Edugyan's premise in Half-Blood Blues is appealing, but is let down by the quality of its prose. The remaining nominees are similarly plagued by swings and roundabouts - Patrick Dewitt's The Sisters Brothers has intriguing but ominous circumstances that seem potentially traumatic; Alison Pick's Far To Go has an interesting historical and cultural context but again seems like it may turn out to be tragic; and the offerings by Jane Rogers and DJ Taylor (titled The Testament of Jessie Lamb and Derby Day respectively) seems relatable but grim, carrying themes of teenage invincibility and weighed down by slightly clunky dialogue in Taylor's case (although there are some more lyrical passages).

I mentioned earlier the tricky task of trying to find laughs in this longlist. Another place where some humour is found, aside from Barnes' opus, is in the work of the final nominee, Stephen Kelman. His Pigeon English too, is gruesome-sounding but is endowed with the charming perspective of a child and appears intriguing but amusing. Easily Barnes' and Hollinghurst's nearest competitor in the crowd of literary longlist noobs.

My money therefore, is on one of the two big guns, or, if not them, then on Kelman's offering. And, at the risk of coming over all left-wing on you, it's a relief to find that this latter novelist is not from the Oxbridge novelist factory, but has worked variously as a warehouse operative, a care worker, and an administrator. I'll be interested to see, with the release of the shortlist on September 6th, whether his debut novel has made the cut.

The Booker Prize longlist was announced on July 26th.

The Booker Prize shortlist will be announced on September 6th.

The winner of the prize will be proclaimed on October 18th.