The latest addition to my website is Emily St. John Mandel‘s Station Eleven. This book has been shortlisted for the US National Book Award, with the winner to be announced 19 November. This is a post-apocalyptic novel, but don’t let that put you off. As you will see in my review, there are a already … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Jorge Franco‘s El mundo de afuera [The World Outside], the winner of the prestigious Spanish Alfaguara Prize this year. This is an excellent novel, mainly set in Franco’s home town of Medellín, Colombia and mainly involving the kidnapping of a rich man, Don Diego Echavarría Misa. Don Diego … Read more
We have already had the Prix Femina – Haitian novelist Yanick Lahens won with Bain de lune, and the Prix Médicis – Antoine Volodine won with Terminus radieux and today we got the Prix Renaudot with David Foenkinos winning with Charlotte and the Prix Goncourt with Lydie Salvayre winning with Pas Pleurer. None of these … Read more
After a longer wait than usual, they have announced the shortlist for the Australian Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. The fiction shortlist is: A World of Other People, Steven Carroll (HarperCollins) The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan (Vintage Australia) The Night Guest, Fiona McFarlane (Penguin: Hamish Hamilton) Coal Creek, Alex Miller (Allen & … Read more
They have announced that Richard Flanagan‘s The Narrow Road to the Deep North has won this year’s Man Booker Prize. To my surprise, I have read the winner. It certainly was not a bad novel and well told and clearly helped exorcise both Flanagan’s demons and those of his father. However, I do not think … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Lutz Seiler‘s Kruso, part of my feeble effort to read shortlisted books for this year’s book prizes, other than the Man Booker. This book was not only shortlisted for the German Book Prize (Deutscher Buchpreis) but won it. I had anticipated that it would win so had already … Read more
Lutz Seiler has won this year’s German Book Prize. He is known as a poet and this is his first novel, a modern-day Robinson Crusoe. I hope to have a review of it up later this week, though, of course, it has not been translated into English. I read last year’s winner and that has … Read more
I am not terribly impressed with this year’s shortlist: Joshua Ferris: To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Richard Flanagan: The Narrow Road to the Deep North Karen Joy Fowler: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves Howard Jacobson: J Neel Mukherjee: The Lives of Others Ali Smith: How to be Both One Englishman, a Scot, … Read more
This year’s Man Booker Prize longlist was announced today. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris (Viking) The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan (Chatto & Windus) We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Serpent’s Tail) The Blazing World, Siri Hustvedt (Sceptre) J, Howard Jacobson (Jonathan Cape) The Wake, … Read more
I have now read all the novels on the Baileys Womens Prize for fiction shortlist. As a reminder, they are; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah Hannah Kent: Burial Rites Jhumpa Lahiri: The Lowland Audrey Magee: The Undertaking Eimear McBride: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing Donna Tartt: The Goldfinch Cutting straight to the chase, there is … Read more