What a “shock.” As usual, manufactured “surprise” is the fuel of the Booker publicity machine, as the “longlist” turns out to be a head fake for the real shortlist; Salman Rushdie and John Berger did not make the final cut nor did Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44, which served its purpose just by being held up as a possible nominee. Also left aside were the overrated Netherland by Joseph O’Neill and books by Gaynor Arnold; Michelle de Kretser; and Mohammed Hanif. That leaves your finalists of: Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger (Atlantic) Sebastian Barry, The Secret Scripture (Faber and Faber) […]
Awards
LAT Fall Books
The paper has an essay on forthcoming fall books as part of their overall fall culture guide. “If 2008 hasn’t already been the year of the spy, the fall list is going to make it so,” the piece begins. Updike, Morrison, DeMille, Gregory Maguire and Thomas Keneally all “return to old territory…. As we might expect, given the election, Fred Kaplan’s Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer is hardly the only presidential history to appear this fall…. Works in translation bring a thrill because they force a new point of view,” and the paper mentions Amara Lakhous’ “Clash of Civilizations […]
WSJ Heavy Hitters
There are no big surprises here, but that’s not the point: the WSJ touts fall releases from some of the best-known authors: Toni Morrison, Stephen King, Annie Proulx and Marilynne Robinson have new novels. So do Christopher Paolini (who wrote “Eragon”) and Candace Bushnell (“Sex and the City”). Prepublication reviews have been strong for Dennis Lehane’s “The Given Day,” a 700-page epic from the “Mystic River” author that includes characters such as Babe Ruth. The buzz is also rising for Philip Roth’s “Indignation,” the tale of a butcher’s boy in an Ohio college during the Korean War. In nonfiction, Bill […]
October Indie Next List
The Given Day: A Novel by Dennis LehaneDewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, with Bret Witter The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson Serena: A Novel by Ron Rash American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum The Other Queen: A Novel by Philippa Gregory Goldengrove: A Novel by Francine Prose Downtown Owl: A Novel by Chuck Klosterman The Forever War by Dexter Filkins A Most Wanted Man by John le CarreThe Archangel Project by C.S. Graham Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de […]
USAT: Ten Top Fall Titles
USA Today writes: “Oprah Winfrey and book clubs across America get it: Certain books are ‘talkers.’ They make you think, react and want to chat up your friends about what you’ve just read. Here are 10 titles worth talking about this fall:” 1. The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (Harper, $29.95)2. The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 by Bob Woodward (Simon and Schuster, $32)3. A Mercy by Toni Morrison (Knopf, $23.95)4. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (Voice, $25.95)5. A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey through Fatherhood and Divorce by Alec Baldwin with Mark Tabb […]
Sargent Shortlist
The Mercantile Library Center announced the shortlist for the 2008 John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize. The winner will be named December 1: Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)Dervishes by Beth Helms (Picador) The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (The Dial Press)Personal Days by Ed Park (Random House)Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter by Peter Manseau (Free Press)The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (Ecco/HarperCollins)The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block (Random House) Separately, former US poet laureate Louise Glueck was given the $100,000 Wallace Stevens Award for “outstanding and proven mastery in the art of […]