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The James Tait Black Memorial PrizeJoin LibraryThing to post. This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply. 1andylAug 6, 2006, 5:10am 
Awarded since 1919 this is Scotland's most prestigious and the U.K.'s oldest literary awards. An award is made for fiction and biography.
Does anyone who has read Saturday, the 2005 Fiction winner, have an endorsement or a warning to give? I have heard both positive and negative reviews so far, so it continues to sit on my shelf, unread.
Leave Saturday on the shelf. What a huge disappointment after the brilliant Atonement. Saturday is a prime example of what happens when the editor becomes a sycophant to an author's reputation.
I meant to add that 1990's JTB winner Brazzaville Beach by William Boyd is a cracking read. 5Trapnel First MessageAug 11, 2006, 5:44pm
I have to agree that Saturday is disappointing. I found it unconvincing and implausible, and abandoned it before the end, which I very rarely do. 6bentoth First MessageAug 27, 2006, 3:27pm
I enjoyed it. It got better as it went on. I don't think it is meant to be realistic.
I loved Saturday. To me it was a perfect novel, and plausible too. I adored how McEwan covered the minutiae (physical and emotional) of one day, and created an entire novel from that. 8avalandNov 26, 2006, 4:11pm
This message has been deleted by its author. 10avalandMay 22, 2008, 7:55am
2006 Cormac McCarthy, The Road was awarded August 2007. The winner for 2007 will be awarded this August (2008) 13kiwidocMay 19, 2009, 10:21pm
Out of that list I have read A Mercy and The Secret Scripture and personally preferred the latter. In the non-fiction pile, I really like the look of the Chagall biography and the Holroyd book. I would love to hear if anyone has read any of the list. 14kidzdocMay 19, 2009, 11:03pm
I've only read the Hanif and the Barry, and liked both about the same.
#13 I (and my bookgroup) are reading Sheila Rowbotham's Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love. We haven't discussed it yet, but the email comments have been very enthusiastic. I'm finding it wonderfully written, and Carpenter himself (1844-1929) was such a fascinating man! His interests were broad, but focussed around social justice, and in many of his positions he was about one hundred years before his time. Certainly an historical figure who deserves the close examination that Sheila Rowbotham gives him. 17kidzdocMay 15, 2010, 7:41am
The shortlist for this year's awards was announced yesterday: The five shortlisted works for the fiction prize are: * Strangers by Anita Brookner * The Children’s Book by A.S Byatt * Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro * The Selected Works of T.S Spivet by Reif Larsen * Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel The five books competing for the £10,000 biography prize are: * Cheever: A life by Blake Bailey * William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies by John Carey * Muriel Spark: The Biography by Martin Stannard * A Different Drummer: The Life of Kenneth MacMillan by Jann Parry * The English Opium Eater: A Biography of Thomas De Quincey by Robert Morrison Book prize shortlist revealed18kiwidocMay 15, 2010, 10:40am
Thanks for posting the list, Darryl. It is interesting to see the same names and titles appearing again. I wonder if the different prizes select on certain criteria. 19kidzdocMay 15, 2010, 12:08pm
Karen, I posted criteria for the award on my thread in the 75 books group. If I remember correctly, the books have to be published in the UK in English in the preceding year. The nationality of the authors is not relevant; Cormac McCarthy was the last American winner fot the fiction award, for his novel "The Road". |  317 members 2,519 messages  AboutThis topic is not marked as primarily about any work, author or other topic. Touchstones |
