Because no prize can be complete without some sort of controversy, here are some articles about the dust John Banville left in his wake after winning the Booker for The Sea:
The chair of the Judging committee’s opinion in the Guardian,
A dissenter,
And of course the party report.
On a side note, in the last article there, they mention that Banville was scheduled to receive an honorary degree at Skidmore College the next day, which just happens to be my alma mater. How very interesting.
You may have heard that John Banville won this years Man Booker prize, which ought to make Mark very happy. Apparently this is quite the “coup” according to the Guardian, who report that the voting was tied until the chairman cast his vote. I love reading about this prize as every year we get to hear about the British odds.
In other prize news, the Nobel prize for Literature should be awarded this Thursday. They’ve gone and surprised everyone by announcing it a week later than the rest of the prizes. Supposedly the controversy has to do with honoring Orhan Pamuk, but I can’t help but feel they are trying to stir up some news about the prize, which usually gets a very tepid response from the media. And a judge has stepped down, declaring giving the prize last year to Elfriede Jelinek has done “irreparable damage to all progressive forces”. Meow.
I wrote about this book a few months ago. It’s Doug Psaltis’ memoir about his rise in the food world. I hated it. Psaltis comes across as a complete asshole in my opinion. And apparently, others in the business seem to think the same thing according to this article in the NYT. His book has caused quite a stir, as he criticizes a lot of big time chefs. Even the Jacques Pepin and Mario Batali who both wrote the blurbs that got me to read this book have recanted.
Y’all should head over the the LBC site where Ami Greko, publicity assistant at Viking and all-around nice gal (I met her in NYC at BEA), blogs about, well, publicity.
And tomorrow, Paul Slovak, Steve Stern’s editor and publicist for The Angel of Forgetfulness will be hanging around the blog.
I was planning on writing all of these posts tonight about my trip–what I saw, what I read, what I ate (ham!), etc., but the jetlag calls me to bed earlier than normal. I will show you something I discovered in the subway. We disembarked from the train and were headed toward the exit when we did a doubletake:
Looks like a normal, everyday vending machine. But look what it’s got inside:
Is that cool or what? And they aren’t just selling crap titles like The Da Vinci Code (which is all over there by the way, but not as big as The Historian and Shadows of the Wind). They’ve got Arturo Perez-Reverte (whom I like anyway), Jose Saramago, Mario Vargas Llosa all for €9. How about that?
And yes, I am a big enough dork to take pictures of a vending machine. Wait until you see the photos of the various Spanish covers I took at a bookstore.
I was away when the LBC announced the Fall Read This! pick. This round Steve Stern’s ambitious novel The Angel of Forgetfulness is the pick, with some other great nominees. Since this is a learning process for us, we are doing things a bit differently this time. The other nominees have been revealed and each book will get a week’s discussion in dialogue form. We hope to have the Steve Stern, his editor, and other assorted folk involved with the book on the site sometime soon. So go check out the LBC site, where the discussion is already afoot.
The Man Booker Prize has announced its shortlist, only 1 of which I’ve read of course. They are:
John Banville The Sea
Julian Barnes Arthur and George
Sebastian Barry A Long Long Way
Kazuo Ishiguro Never Let Me Go
Ali Smith The Accidental
Zadie Smith On Beauty
I think the winner should be decided in a Thunderdome method—6 authors enter, only leaves.
Lots of good things to read out there while I take a hiatus from posting.
There’s a new issue of Boldtype. They are calling this month’s issue the Fortune issue.
At Maud Newton’s, Roy Kesey interviews George Saunders, whose new novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil hits stores this week.
Nextbook offers an interview with Robert Pinsky, whose new book The Life of David is the first Nextbook’s Jewish Encounters series. They also offer podcasts with Pinksy reading from Samuel I. Plus they have many other fasinating articles.
Diana Abu-Jaber, author of Crescent and The Language of Baklava, writes in The Washington Post about being detained at the airport mroe than likely for having an Arab name.
Scott Esposito has started a new e-zine I will call it called The Quarterly Conversation, which has author interviews, reviews, etc.
Bookslut has a new issue available. This month features interviews with Susanna Clarke (whom I met in NY and thought was lovely), Aimee Bender, Doria Russell, and more.
And here’s another article about these crazy new litblogs! No, I am not mentioned, probably because my site has sucked lately. No matter. I will return from Spain rejuvenated! And I might even post some pictures and stuff from there. This leads to my last bit. Can anyone recommend books that take place in Spain or by Spanish authors that I should read while in Barcelona?
What’s wrong with Globe? Fine, people have obvious disagreements with the concept of the Quill Awards (I think it’s a marketing ploy), but the author of this article makes it out like the naysayers are a bunch of pansies with their panties in a twist.
Plus, what’s going on here?:
”There were snobs and cynics when Oprah Winfrey had her book club, yet Oprah did more for American literature than Edmund Wilson or Alfred Kazin,” said Alan Cheuse, book reviewer for National Public Radio. ”What’s the worst that can happen, that someone in a trailer with her hair in curlers will be lying in bed reading a romance novel? But if her kids are watching her do that, they’ll develop the habit of reading books.
”That would be terrific.”
Bookdwarf 