I'm guessing most of you have heard by now that the Pulitzers were announced yesterday. The list interests me for two reasons. One, two prize-winners wrote for Seattle-based journals (Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong of The Seattle Times, and Seattle Times, and Eli Sanders of The Stranger). Two, the board declined to choose a winner for Fiction.
When I first heard about the fiction award, or lack of it, I assumed the jury had deadlocked. Apparently that's not the case. (Read more about it here, from the BBC--whose report is a model of clarity.) I imagine lit world will be humming with speculation for a while. For the record: I have no clue what the issue/s might be.
Then this morning the Orange Prize jury announced its shortlist:
- Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail) Canadian, 2nd Novel
- Anne Enright, The Forgotten Waltz (Jonathan Cape) Irish, 5th Novel
- Georgina Harding, Painter of Silence (Bloomsbury) British, 3rd Novel
- Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles (Bloomsbury) American, 1st Novel
- Cynthia Ozick, Foreign Bodies (Atlantic Books) American, 7th Novel
- Ann Patchett, State of Wonder (Bloomsbury) American, 6th Novel
Bloomsbury did well--and North America. For a discussion of the books, see The Guardian.)
I don't know Georgina Harding, so I'm happy I have another author to add to my Try List. Sadly, most authors never make it from Try to Buy. I've started two of the short-listed novels and put them both down, unimpressed by the writing. But, hey, it's good to keep trying.
How about you? How many of these books have you read? Do they excite you? If these don't excite you, what have you read lately that does?
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I must confess that except for Ann Patchett I've not even heard of these writers. (There are just too damn many books to keep up...sigh.)
ReplyDeleteRe: the Pulitzer prize: Everybody's too good to be able to choose one? Nobody's good enough? We don't feel like it? The job of the committee is to choose. They could have done so.
ReplyDeleteMark, yep, so many books. Which is why it's so useful to have prize winners--it's a real signpost for readers.
ReplyDeletebarbara, I don't know. I do know that because of the board's inability to make a decision, independent booksellers will suffer this year. And, by extension, readers. Such a pity.
Like Mark, the only writer on the Orange List I've heard of is Ann Patchett. I've only read one of her books (The Magician's Assistant), but I really enjoyed it, so I may pick up State of Wonder. And after reading the Guardian article, I'm intrigued by Half Blood Blues and may give that one a go as well.
ReplyDeleteYou've got me curious now--who are some of the writers on your Buy List?
Hilary Mantel. William Boyd (though I was disappointed in his last two so am hesitating about his new one). Ali Smith's short stories. Val McDermid. David Stone (his books become steadily more ridiculous, but I still really like them). I'd buy all the Modesty Blaise books if someone would republish them. Sarah Waters (though I didn't enjoy her last two as much as I'd hoped). Sarah Hall (I love her focus on the body and setting). Probably Lee Child, though the formula is getting a little old.
DeleteAnd more.
What have I been reading? There but for the . . ., the new Ali Smith, her sense of the humor in life so amazing in the Accidental is still going strong in the new novel. Here's a bit to explain some part of the title:
ReplyDeleteBut
(my dear Mark)
As promised
Is very occasionally a preposition but is mostly a conjunction,
And the word conjunction, according
To my Chambers 21st Century Dictionary, means
Connection
Union
Combination
Simultaneous occurrence in space and time
A word that connects sentences, clauses and words
One of the aspects of the planets, when two bodies
Have the same celestial longitude or the same right
Ascension
A conjunctiva is a connective of the front of
The eye, covering the external surface of the cornea
And the inner side of the eyelid.
A conjuncture is a combination of circumstances,
Esp one leading to a crisis.
But but?
And and?
(So simple.)
Conjunctions.
And conjunctions?
(So simple.)
The way things connect.
This one should be enjoyed by any who like word play, historical England, social commmentary and a deep understanding of what it is to be human.
I am also a Sarah Waters fan, with Fingersmith being my favorite. Then there's the Anne Perry series, which I had always ignored because I was looking for new Thomas Perry's. And recently I have been making myself go back to Science Fiction, so M.J. Locke's first novel is one I would greatly recommend for its deft weave of a future with elements from our present and its promise of more to come in the series.
I don't know Locke. Thanks for the rec.
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