Orange Prize Loses Sponsorship
May 22, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (2)
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The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
eBook
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May 22, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (2)
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The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
eBook
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May 17, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (0)
The American Library Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced the finalists for the inaugural Andrew Carnegie Medal honouring excellence in fiction and nonfiction for adult readers. Althought the American Library Association has long sponsored awards for children's literature like the Caldecott and Newberry Medals, this is the first award that focuses on adult readers.
The winners will be selected by a panel of library professionals and announced on June 24 at the ALA's annual conference.
Fiction
The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
Nonfiction
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Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie
The Information: a History, a Theory and a Flood by James Gleick
Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
May 3, 2012 | Kelli | Comments (2)
Jane Rogers has won Britain's most prestigious Science Fiction award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, for her novel The Testament of Jessie Lamb.
Set in the near future, the world has been forever changed by an act of bioterrorism. A virus that kills pregnant women is on the loose and women are dying by the millions. The future of the human race is in serious peril.
Jessie Lamb is an ordinary sixteen year-old girl who decides to save the human race. She volunteers to become impregrated with an immune embryo, which will require her to to be put into a coma from which she will never recover. Her parents are horrified by her decision. They see it as an idealistic act by an impressionable young woman and set about to stop her.
The Testament of Jessie Lamb is Jane Rogers first venture into Science Fiction and appeared on the Man Booker Prize's Longlist last year.
The other books on the shortlist were:
April 26, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (0)
This year three Canadian writers are competing for the Commonwealth Book Prize. Formerly called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the focus of the award has been changed. In addition to the name change it now honours debut novels by writers from Commonwealth countries. The structure remains similar to the former prize: nominated books compete regionally and the five regional winners compete for the overall award.
Nason, Senior, and Skibsrud will compete for the Canada and Europe Regional prize against three UK writers.
This is the complete list of nominees in all regions. Please note that some of the international titles have not yet been released in Canada.
Canada and Europe
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A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvette Edwards (UK)
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The Dancing and the Death on Lemon Street by Denis Hirson (UK)
Dancing Lessons by Olive Senior (Canada)
Pao by Kerry Young (UK)
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The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud (Canada)
-- Audiobook
-- eBook
-- eAudiobook
-- Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
The Town that Drowned by Riel Nason (Canada)
Africa
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The Dubious Salvation of Jack V. by Jacques Strauss (South Africa)
Jubilee by Shelley Harris (South Africa)
Patchwork by Ellen Banda-Aaku (Zambia)
Asia
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The Book of Answers by C.Y. Gopinath (India)
Chinaman: the Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Karunatilaka (Sri Lanka)
Rebirth by Jahvni Barua (India)
The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya (India)
The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad (Pakistan)
-- Large Print
-- eBook
Caribbean
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Sweetheart by Alecia McKenzie
Pacific
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Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor (Australia)
The Ottoman Motel by Christopher Currie (Australia)
Purple Threads by Jeanine Leane (Australia)
The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen (Australia)
The winners of the regional awards will be announced on May 22 and the overall winner on June 8.
April 18, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (0)
This year, for the first time since 1977, there will be no Pulitzer Prize given for fiction. The jurors have announced that they could not reach a concensus and will therefore not present this award.
The Pulitzer Prizes for books are awarded in several categories.
Biography or Autobiography
Winner:
George F. Kennan: an American Life by John Lewis Gaddis
Finalists:
Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel
Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
Audiobook
eBook
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
Drama
Winner:
Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Finalists:
Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz
Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam
Fiction
Finalists:
The Pale King: an Unfinished Novel by David Foster Wallace
Audiobook
Large Print
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
eAudiobook
eBook
Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
General Non-Fiction
Winner:
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
eAudiobook
Finalists:
One Hundred Names for Love: a Stroke, a Marriage and the Language of Healing by Diane Ackerman
Large Print
eAudiobook
Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl
History
Winner:
Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention by Manning Maracle
Audiobook
eBook
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
Finalists:
Empires, Nations & Families: a History of the North American West, 1800-1860 by Anne F. Hyde
The Eleventh Day: the Full Story of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan
Railroaded: the Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America by Richard White
Poetry
Winner:
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
Finalists:
Core Samples from the World by Forrest Gander
How Long by Ron Padgett
March 15, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (0)
The Man Asian Literary Prize is awarded annually to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in or translated into English. For the first time in its five year history, it has been awarded to a woman. Kyung-sook Shin was honoured for her novel Please Look After Mom, a story of a family's search for its matriarch after the woman disappears in a crowded subway station in Seoul. A bestseller in the author's native South Korea, the foreign rights to the book have been sold in 19 countries.
Please Look After Mom will be the featured book on Book Buzz, Toronto Public Library's virtual book club during May 2012. Register to become a member.
Man Asian Literary Prize 2011 Shortlist
Dream of Ding Village by Lianke Yan
The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto
Rebirth by Jahvni Barua
(Not yet published in Canada)
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
The Sly Company of People who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya
The Wandering Falcon by Jamil Ahmad
March 2, 2012 | Kelli | Comments (2)
In The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, Stephen Greenblatt tells the story of Poggio Bracciolini and his discovery of Titus Lucretius Carus' influential poem De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things). According to Greenblatt, it is the discovery of this beautiful poem, which had been lost for more than a thousand years, that was the spark that begun the Renaissance and therefore the beginning of the modern world.
Lucretius' poem contained some very dangerous ideas for 15th century Europe. It claimed that the universe functions without the help of gods, that death should not be feared because there is no afterlife, and that the world is made up of very small particles that are randomly colliding and swerving. Greenblatt argues that these ideas went on to have a significant impact on the great thinkers who followed, including Galileo, Freud, Darwin and Einstein.
Greenblatt presents a vivid picture of the political, intellectual and religious climate of the early 1400s, when the Roman Catholic Church was split between several Popes and interest in the works of Greek and Roman philosophers was reviving. Bracciolini, one of the great bookhunters of his time, spent his life trying to find lost classical manuscripts, such as On The Nature of Things, by visiting remote monasteries where generations of monks had spent their time copying, and recopying, the books in their collections.
The Swerve was a engaging and enjoyable book, easily understood by anyone with a basic knowledge of history. It may appeal to those who enjoy medieval and Renaissance history as well as anyone interested in the history of philosophy. Fans of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens may also find it of interest, as Lucretius' philosophy is part of the history of the their ideas.
The Swerve was the winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Non-Fiction. Reviews for this book appeared in the Globe and Mail, and The Guardian, and The New York Times. The Swerve is also available as an eAudiobook.
For more suggestions of non-fiction books, have a look at our Literary Non-Fiction We Recommend list.
February 26, 2012 | M | Comments (0)
Tonight's Academy Awards ceremony promises glitz, glamour and celebrities. It's important to note that some of the motion picture magic has been inspired by literature. This year a number of the movies nominated for Best Picture were based on books.
The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings.
Hemmings' novel inspired the movie about a family in crisis.
Other Formats:
eBook
eAudiobook
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
A boy searches New York for answers after his father dies in the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Other Formats:
Audiobook
eBook
eAudiobook
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel inspired the film about maids in Mississippi in the 1960s and the feisty woman who wanted to tell their story.
Other Formats:
Large Print
Audiobook
eBook
eAudiobook
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
This award-winning children's novel about a boy living in a Paris train station was the source material for Hugo, a film by Martin Scorsese.
Other Formats:
Audiobook
eAudiobook
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Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Lewis' book about baseball manager Billy Beane's innovative and successful attempt to use computer analysis to draft players was the inspiration for Moneyball.
Other Formats:
eAudiobook
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War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
It's been a play and a movie, but it began as a children's book. The film has been nominated for best picture and best adapted screenplay.
Other Formats:
Large Print
Audiobook
eAudiobook
Books and stories also inspired films nominated in other categories:
Albert Nobbs, the Glenn Close vehicle, was based on a short story called The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs by George Moore which can be found in The Bodley Head Book of Longer Short Stories, 1900-1974.
Rooney Mara is nominated for her role as Lizbeth Salander, a character created by Stieg Larsson in his novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling provided the story for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 2, the conclusion of the Harry Potter series.
In Darkness, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, is based on Robert Marshall's non-fictional book In the Sewers of Lvov: the Last Sanctuary from the Holocaust.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre provided the inspiration for the film of the same name.
January 10, 2012 | Book Buzz | Comments (0)
The Charles Taylor Prize was founded in 2000 to honour Canadian literary non-fiction. The shortlist was announced on January 10.
This year's nominees are:
Afflictions and Departures: Essays by Madeline Sonik
The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary: a Canadian Story of Resilience and Recovery by Andrew Westoll
Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe by Charlotte Gill
Into the Silence: the Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis
The Measure of a Man: the Story of a Father, a Son and a Suit by J.J. Lee
The winner will be announced on March 5, 2012.
December 30, 2011 | Erin | Comments (0)
As 2011 draws to a close, The Sisters Brothers written by Patrick deWitt, has been appearing on many Best Books of the Year lists. It has already won the Governor General's Literary Award and been Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Giller Prize. Ablutions, deWitt's debut novel, was also well-received. Originally from Vancouver Island, Patrick deWitt is a new author to watch for in the future.
Set in 1851 during the gold rush, Eli and Charlie Sisters are hired gunslinger for the Commodore, a man who is as famous as he is feared. The brothers have been hired, once again, to travel from Oregon City to San Francisco to hunt down and kill a prospector named Herman Kermit Warm. The Commodore mysteriously never tells the brothers how Warm has wronged him. Everywhere they go, the Sisters' brothers strike fear in the hearts of everyone they meet. Their brutality is legendary. Suring their journey they have many adventures, including run-ins with Indians, a bear, a witch, a lost boy, a vengeful frontier baron, saloon ladies, and a gang of fur trappers.
Eli, the more sympathetic brother, narrates the tale. As he witnesses his brother's cruelty, blood-lust and addiction to drink and women, he begins to realize that this may be his last job for the Commodore and he may just consider settling down to a quiet, peaceful life.
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