Here are the six novels selected as finalists for the 2009 Man Booker Prize, the U.K.'s prestigious award for literature. They were chosen out of a Longlist of 13.
Category: Good Books
An intense graphic memoir: “Stitches”
I read an advance copy of David Small's graphic (as in comic-strip style) memoir this weekend. It's as gripping as I thought it would be. Here's a review.
Ponder me, remember me
"Do Not Deny Me" is a new short story collection whose characters are drawn from everyday life. Facing distressing circumstances, they reach for hope and new ways to go forward.
Headlights on September
Publisher's Weekly issued "The Road to Fall Books" this week. From the looks of the lists within, we'll be bombarded with a slew of new selections. Here's what caught my attention.
How romance adds up
The June 22nd issue of The New Yorker features a profile of mega-selling romance writer Nora Roberts. My experience with the romance genre is limited (best we make that "extremely limited"), but the profile interested me for its data on the genre.
A winning debut
Michael Thomas recently received the 2009 International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, "Man Gone Down." It was chosen out of a final list of eight novels from the United States, Norway, India, Pakistan and France. If this stellar novel is not on your reading table, it should be.
54 years, 54 books
To celebrate my birthday today - turning a frolicsome 54 - I compiled a list of 54 favorite books. The majority are novels, but there are also mysteries (Daphne du Maurier), memoirs (Patricia Hampl), Vietnam books (Tim O'Brien), classics (Norman MacLean), short stories (Ellen Gilchrist), Pulitzer Prize winners (Wallace Stegner) and more. Not a mere list, though, but also descriptions and commentary to help fill those summer reading totes.
The answer’s in the carpet
"Of Human Bondage" is William Somerset Maugham's masterpiece and a classic coming-of-age story originally published in 1915. It follows protagonist Philip Carey, from childhood through young adult years, as an artist in Paris and a medical student in London. Along the way, he wrestles with the meaning of life.
“The Photographer”
Photojournalist Didier Lefevre traveled into the far northern reaches of Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders in 1986. The leader of the expedition invited Didier so he could document the mission's effort to set up a small field hospital in the war-torn nation. "The Photographer" tells the mission's story in black and white photographs knitted together with prose and artwork in the style of a graphic novel. It's a visual treat.
The pony problem
Having come off two dark books, let alone a friend's doom and gloom email, I've been thinking about books that made me laugh. Sloane Crosley hits the top of the list with "I Was Told There'd Be Cake," as do two other all-time favorites.
The revolutionary road not taken
Richard Yates' 1961 novel "Revolutionary Road" now moves off my reading table. I read it compulsively, neglecting the books on my Currently Reading list. My attachment to the book - made into a movie starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio - surprised me.
Window on a sleazy world
Living in a drunken stupor may not seem like palatable reading matter, but Patrick deWitt’s unique style in his debut novel "Ablutions: Notes for a Novel" is – well – addictive. DeWitt's "Ablutions" is written in the rare second-person viewpoint.
No lucky guess, but a lucky child
In his moving Holocaust memoir, Thomas Burgenthal recounts the miraculous story of his survival in Auschwitz as a 10-year-old separated from his parents. In his Acknowledgements, he writes about the difficulties in getting his memoir published in the United States.
Jeffrey Fisher’s “Birds”
Artist, illustrator Jeffrey Fisher published a book this spring season featuring hand-painted portraits of 46 birds. Its title is simply "Birds," and the book is delightful.
Three additions to My Reading Table
Three new books added to Kassie Rose's Reading Table: "Revolutionary Road" by Richard Yates, "Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?" by Charlise Lyles and "Loneliness as a Way of Life" by Thomas Dumm.
The Longest Chapter 