Are you ready for the second annual Orange July?

Orange July is my personal commitment to read books that have won or been nominated for the Orange Prize. Last July and January, many book lovers joined this challenge, and I hope this Orange July will see even more participants!

Remember, there are no rules, no minimums and no reviews required. You can commit to read only one book or 20. It's up to you! If you do write reviews, please consider leaving them on the Orange Prize Project blog.

What's on your reading list for Orange July ?

I will definitely commit to reading one from the longlist for fiction. In fact, it is already on my TBR pile and I hope to get to it next week, a little a head of schedule: The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey. I am sure I will find a couple more on the list to read.

Happy reading Everyone!

>2, I'm reading that book right now. It's amazing writing.

I started reading Fingersmith last week, but then one of my Reservations at the library became available so I've 'paused' on Fingersmith, but I might promise myself to finish it off in July now that I've heard about this :)

Oh, wonderlake, Fingersmith is one of those books you need to read straight through, IMO. Are you far into it? If not I'd suggest starting it over when you get back to it.

Orange January and July have become favorite reading events for me. I've had my July list queued up since January although I'm still dithering over it. I have a goal this year to finish reading the winners, so in July I'll definitely be reading:
1999 - A Crime in the Neighborhood, by Suzanne Berne
1998 - Larry's Party, by Carol Shields
1997 - Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels
1996 - A Spell of Winter, by Helen Dunmore

I might also read the 2009 winner, Home, but am trying to decide if I should read Gilead first (in which case I'll do both another month).

I may also read a couple shortlisted works:
- The Girls, by Lori Lansens - if for some reason I don't get to it this month
- Molly Fox's Birthday, by Deirdre Madden
- A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewycka

One thing's for certain: my library will love me, because I have very few of these books on my shelves!

Here is what I have on my bookshelves (no idea what I'll read yet):

WINNERS:
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels (1997)
Larry's Party by Carol Shields (1998)

SHORT LIST:
I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn (1997)
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)
The Accidental by Ali Smith (2006)

LONG LIST:
La Cucina by Lily Prior (2002)
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (2003)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (2004)
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn (2007)
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld (2009)

Open to suggestions! =)

Here's what I'm planning to read (and I don't have the energy to list them by category or year):

Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett
The Colour by the beloved Rose Tremain (I'm savoring her books, reading one every six months or so)
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt
and if I have time
The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman

Hmmm ... I have some longlists on my shelves, too. But I have enough queued up for July already!

Here's my reading list- hope to get through it all, some of these are long books and I'm bound to try to fit in some other reading during the month.

Small Island - The Orange of the Oranges ;-) and 2004 Winner.
Bel Canto - 2002 Winner.

Short-listed
The Inheritance of Loss 2007
Everymans Rules for Scientific Living 2006
Purple Hibiscus 2004
White Teeth 2000
The Hundred Secret Senses 1996

long-listed
Girl in the Blue Dress 2009 - Bookring -I might start this one this month.
Sorry 2008 - Bookring -This one might turn up in July.
Gilgamesh by Joan London 2004
Fall on your Knees 1997

ETA Two more long-listed books to my list
*grinning from ear-to-ear like a kid in a lolly shop*

Message edited by its author, Jun 15, 2009, 5:55am.

Oooh, I haven't done one of these before. :)

I have on my shelves the following Orange winners/short listed/long listed books, and I'll try to get to a few of them in July:

Half of a Yellow Sun
Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
Oryx and Crake
Purple Hibiscus
Unless
The Idea of Perfection
Fugitive Pieces
What I Loved
Brick Lane
Gilgamesh
The Vintner's Luck

The Idea of Perfection will be read, and hopefully Half a Yellow Sun as well. Am up for any suggestions for others I simply MUST read, they all sound fabulous to me (which is why they've all ended up on Mt TBR at some stage or another). Argh, decisions, decisions!

First off - mrstreme, I will second teelgee with a Fingersmith recommendation. I read it in January and recommend it to everyone. The Namesake is wonderful too.

Second, I have only one picked for sure, the others are up in the air still. The Magician's Assistant is where I am starting off, from there I can pick from my very large Orange listed/winner books sitting waiting to be read.

I love this challenge, it has made me aware of some wonderful books I would not have read before.

#12 - Sydamy: I definitely will be reading Fingersmith - received tons of recommendations. In fact, I will probably read it first!

>11 wookie: Purple Hibiscus and Oryx and Crake are ones I've read recently and loved. Unless was pretty good but not real high on my favorites list.

Can't wait to hear reports of ones I don't have yet!

Okay here are my Orange TBRs:

1. Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
2. Fugitive Pieces, Anne Michaels
3. Hotel World, Ali Smith
4. The Blind Assassin, M Atwood
5. Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
6. The Accidental, A Smith
7. We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver
8. A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian, Marina Lewycka
9. Oryx and Crake, M Atwood
10. The Colour, Rose Tremain
11. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker
12. What I Loved, Siri Hustvedt

phew !

I'm struck by how many people in this group have Fugitive Pieces in their TBR pile. I think this is one of the best books I have ever read. The author is primarily a poet and the prose is just magical. I've read it three or four times now and have The Winter Vault in my TBR pile. I suspect it may be a candidate in next year's Orange.

>16 Fugitive Pieces is a wonderfully written book. When I was looking through these lists that was the one that made me think that those reading it for Orange July are in for a treat. I'm also, envious of those with Fingersmith and The Colour, these two are still on my virtual TBR pile (not actually ones I have in the house as yet), I think they will be great reads.
Winter Vault is going on my wishlist, just going by the first book and the reviews I've read so far, I think you've made a very good prediction there bookmark123.

Yes, I've heard nothing but good things about Fugitive Pieces, I really want to get to it soon!

Passing by the local bookshop at lunch today, and they had a sale on, and I have no willpower. I now have two more Orange books on Mt TBR:

The Household Guide to Dying
The Road Home

The Household Guide to Dying was on sale?!!
What a great find. I'm on a bookring for that one, but its in the UK at the moment and there is a long-line of participants before little ol' me. It might arrive in time for Orange July 2010 ;-)
Not complaining tho', no famine here and I'm really going to feast on my list for Orange July :-)

Well there is Orange January too Kim, so there's hope!

KimB, yup. On sale. Older cover, and the sale table was right next to their staff recommendation display where the book was displayed with its new cover. So I'm guessing they were just clearing out the slightly older stock (most of the sale books were trade paperbacks that have since come out in standard paperback format). And I'm hardly fussy about covers. :)

Perhaps this will be helpful. If this all posts properly (from my personal OP list), one should be able to copy and paste it into a document file on your computer and then print it out (sorry the paste here doesn't keep the colors, as I had the short list in red, winners in blue. I will email the pdf if any wants to leave their email on my profile page):

THE ORANGE BROADBAND PRIZE FOR FICTION

1996

Pat Barker, The Ghost Road
Julia Blackburn, The Book of Colour - shortlist
Ajay Close, Official and Doubtful
Lindsey Collen, The Rape of Sita
Isla Dewar, Keeping Up with Magda
Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter - winner
Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower
Lesley Glaister, The Private Parts of Women
Stephanie Grant, The Passion of Alice
Liz Jensen, Egg Dancing
A. L. Kennedy, So I am Glad
Pagan Kennedy, Spinsters - shortlist
Andrea Levy, Never Far from Nowhere
Mary Morrissy, Mother of Pearl
Jane Rogers, Promised Lands
Elspeth Sandys, River Lines
Amy Tan, The Hundred Secret Senses - shortlist
Anne Tyler, Ladder of Years - shortlist
Marianne Wiggins, Eveless Eden - shortlist

1997

Margaret Atwood Alias Grace - shortlist
Beryl Bainbridge, Every Man for Himself
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spices
Joan Brady, Death Comes for Peter Pan
Joan Didion, The Last Thing He Wanted
Linda Grant, The Cast Iron Shore
Siri Hustvedt, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl
Jamaica Kincaid, The Autobiography of My Mother
Laurie R King, With Child
Ann-Marie MacDonald, Fall on your Knees
Deirdre Madden, One by One in the Darkness - shortlist
Jane Mendelsohn, I Was Amelia Earhart - shortlist
Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces - winner
E Annie Proulx, Accordion Crimes - shortlist
Leone Ross, All the Blood is Red
Manda Scott, Hen's Teeth - shortlist
Paulina Simons, Red Leaves
Meera Syal, Anita and Me
Jeanette Winterson, Gut Symmetries
Mary Kay Zuravleff, The Frequency of Souls

1998

Kirsten Bakis, Lives of the Monster Dogs - shortlist
Sandra Benitez, Bitter Grounds
Lucy Ellmann, Man or Mango?
Esther Freud, Gaglow
Cristina Garcia, The Aguero Sisters
Nadine Gordimer, The House Gun
Kathryn Heyman, The Breaking
Michelle Huneven, Round Rock
Liz Jensen, Ark Baby
Christina Koning, Undiscovered Country
Pauline Melville, The Ventriloquist's Tale - shortlist
Drusilla Modjeska, The Orchard
Ann Patchett, The Magician's Assistant - shortlist
Deirdre Purcell, Love Like Hate Adore - shortlist
Anna Quindlen, Black and Blue
Michele Roberts, Impossible Saints
Carol Shields, Larry's Party - winner
Anita Shreve, The Weight of Water - shortlist
Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter
Louise Young, Baby Love

1999

Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
Andrea Barrett, The Voyage of the Narwhal
Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood - winner
Julia Blackburn, The Leper's Companions - shortlist
Marilyn Bowering, Visible Worlds - shortlist
Catherine Chidgey, In a Fishbone Church
Julia Darling, Crocodile Soup
Maureen Duffy, Restitution
Jane Hamilton, The Short History of a Prince - shortlist
Jackie Kay, Trumpet
Oonya Kempadoo Buxton Spice
Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible - shortlist
Elizabeth Knox, The Vintner's Luck
Karla Kuban, Marchlands
Hilary Mantel, The Giant O'Brien
Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Most Wanted
Toni Morrison, Paradise - shortlist
Barbara Neil, A History of Silence
Nora Okja Keller, Comfort Woman
Marly Swick, Evening News

2000

Leila Aboulela, The Translator
Judy Budnitz, If I Told You Once - shortlist
Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring
Anita Desai ,Fasting, Feasting
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, The Dancers Dancing - shortlist
Barbara Ewing, A Dangerous Vine
Jo-Ann Goodwin, Danny Boy
Linda Grant, When I Lived in Modern Times - winner
Sunetra Gupta, A Sin of Colour
Laura Hird, Born Free
A L Kennedy, Everything You Need
Julia Leigh, The Hunter
Alice McDermott, Charming Billy
Gina B Nahai, Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith
Christine Pountney, Last Chance Texaco
Jane Rogers, Island
Shauna Singh Baldwin, What the Body Remembers
Zadie Smith, White Teeth - shortlist
Elizabeth Strout, Amy and Isabelle - shortlist

2001

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin - shortlist
Trezza Azzopardi, The Hiding Place
Jill Dawson, Fred & Edie - shortlist
Meaghan Delahunt, In the Blue House
Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai
Leslie Forbes, Fish, Blood & Bone
Esther Freud, The Wild
Laurie Graham, Dog Days, Glenn Miller Nights
Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection - winner
Josephine Humphreys, Nowhere Else on Earth
Sena Jeter Naslund, Ahab's Wife
Rosina Lippi, Homestead - shortlist
Jayne Ann Phillips, Motherkind
Danzy Senna, From Caucasia, with Love
Jane Smiley, Horse Heaven - shortlist
Ali Smith, Hotel World - shortlist
Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter
Jeanette Winterson, The PowerBook

2002

Kitty Aldridge, Pop
Anna Burns, No Bones - shortlist
Jennifer Clement, A True Story Based on Lies
Stevie Davies, The Element of Water
Helen Dunmore, The Siege - shortlist
Maggie Gee, The White Family - shortlist
Lesley Glaister, Now You See Me
Joanne Harris, Five Quarters of the Orange
Chloe Hooper, A Child's Book of True Crime - shortlist
Elizabeth McCracken, Niagara Falls All Over Again
Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees
Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age
Kathy Page, The Story of My Face
Ann Patchett, Bel Canto - winner
Nani Power, Crawling at Night
Lily Prior, La Cucina
(2002, Cont’d)
Anita Rau Badami, The Hero's Walk
Emma Richler, Sister Crazy
Rachel Seiffert, The Dark Room
Sarah Waters, Fingersmith - shortlist

2003

Bella Bathurst Special
Sandra Cisneros Caramelo
Janet Davey English Correspondence
Anne Donovan Buddha Da - shortlist
Lucy Ellmann Dot in the Universe
Sonya Hartnett What the Birds See
Siri Hustvedt What I Loved
Liz Jensen War Crimes for the Home
Nora Okja Keller Fox Girl
Haven Kimmel The Solace of Leaving Early
Shena Mackay Heligoland - shortlist
Valerie Martin Property - winner
Edna O’Brien In the Forest
Julie Otsuka When the Emperor was Divine
Alice Sebold The Lovely Bones
Carol Shields Unless - shortlist
Zadie Smith The Autograph Man - shortlist
Donna Tartt The Little Friend - shortlist
Louise Welsh The Cutting Room
Crystal Wilkinson Water street

2004

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus - shortlist
Monica Ali, Brick Lane
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake - shortlist
Rupa Bajwa, The Sari Shop
Stevie Davies, Kith & Kin
Stella Duffy, State of Happiness
Maggie Gee, The Flood
Sarah Hall, The Electric Michelangelo
(2004 Cont’d)
Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire - shortlist
Zoë Heller, Notes on a Scandal
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
Dinah Lee Küng, A Visit from Voltaire
Joan London, Gilgamesh
Andrea Levy, Small Island - winner
Sarah May, The Internationals
Toni Morrison, Love
Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife
Gillian Slovo, Ice Road - shortlist
Rose Tremain, The Colour - shortlist
Anne Tyler, The Amateur Marriage

2005

Kate Atkinson - Case Histories
Clare Clark - The Great Stink
Kira Cochrane - Escape Routes for Beginners
Joolz Denby - Billie Morgan - shortlist
Anita Desai - The Zigzag Way
Christine Dwyer Hickey - Tatty
Patricia Ferguson - It So Happens
Melanie Finn - Away From You
Jane Gardam - Old Filth - shortlist
Sue Gee - The Mysteries of Glass
Miranda Hearn - Nelson’s Daughter
Ingrid Hill - Ursula, Under
Sheri Holman - The Mammoth Cheese - shortlist
Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - shortlist
Nell Leyshon - Black Dirt
Michelle Lovric - The Remedy
Maile Meloy - Liars & Saints - shortlist
Joyce Carol Oates - The Falls
Lionel Shriver - We Need to Talk About Kevin - winner
Tricia Wastvedt - The River

2006

Leila Aboulela, Minaret
Lorraine Adams, Harbor
Naomi Alderman, Disobedience
Jill Dawson, Watch Me Disappear
Helen Dunmore, House of Orphans
Philippa Gregory, The Constant Princess
Alice Greenaway, White Ghost Girls
Gail Jones, Dreams of Speaking
Nicole Krauss, The History of Love - shortlist
Hilary Mantel, Beyond Black - shortlist
Sue Miller, Lost in the Forest
Joyce Carol Oates, Rape A Love Story
Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep
Ali Smith, The Accidental - shortlist
Zadie Smith, On Beauty - winner
Carrie Tiffany, Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living - shortlist
Célestine Hitiura Vaite, Frangipani
Sarah Waters, The Night Watch - shortlist
Meg Wolitzer, The Position

2007

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun - winner
Clare Allan, Poppy Shakespeare
Rachel Cusk, Arlington Park - shortlist
Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss - shortlist
Patricia Ferguson, Peripheral Vision
Margaret Forster, Over
Nell Freudenberger, The Dissident
Rebecca Gowers, When to Walk
Xiaolu Guo, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers - shortlist
Jane Harris, The Observations - shortlist
M J Hyland, Carry Me Down
Lori Lansens, The Girls
Lisa Moore, Alligator
Catherine O’Flynn, What Was Lost
Stef Penney, The Tenderness of Wolves
Deborah Robertson, Careless
Rachel Seiffert, Afterwards
Jane Smiley, Ten Days in the Hills
Anne Tyler, Digging to America
Melanie Wallace, The Housekeeper

2008

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
The Room of Lost Things by Stella Duffy
The Keep by Jennifer Egan
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant
The Master Bedroom by Tessa Hadley
Fault Lines by Nancy Huston - fault lines
Sorry by Gail Jones
The Outcast by Sadie Jones - shortlist
The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg
When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson - shortlist
In The Dark by Deborah Moggach
Mistress by Anita Nair
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill - shortlist
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
Monster Love by Carol Topolski
The Road Home by Rose Tremain - winner
Lottery by Patricia Wood -shortlist

2009

Debra Adelaide, The Household Guide to Dying
Gaynor Arnold, Girl in a Blue Dress
Lissa Evans, Their Finest Hour and a Half
Bernardine Evaristo, Blonde Roots
Ellen Feldman, Scottsboro - shortlist
Laura Fish, Strange Music
V.V. Ganeshananthan, Love Marriage
Allegra Goodman, Intuition
Samantha Harvey, The Wilderness - shortlist
Samantha Hunt, The Invention of Everything Else - shortlist
Michelle de Kretser, The Lost Dog
Deirdre Madden, Molly Fox’s Birthday - shortlist
Toni Morrison, A Mercy
Gina Ochsner, The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight
Marilynne Robinson, Home - winner
Preeta Samarasan, Evening is the Whole Day
Kamila Shamsie, Burnt Shadows - shortlist
Curtis Sittenfeld, American Wife
Miriam Toews, The Flying Troutmans
Ann Weisgarber, The Personal History of Rachel DuPree

Orange Broadband Award for New Writers

2005
26a by Diana Evans - winner
shortlist:
Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

2006
Disobedience by Naomi Alderman - winner
shortlist:
The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li#

2007
The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly - winner
shortlist:
Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan
Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki

2008
Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna - winner
shortlist:
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg

2009
An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay - winner

Man, that's a lot of excellent reading! avaland, would you email it to me please? I believe you have my addy. Thanks!

Thanks for the list avaland. I didnt realise that Fall on your Knees had been longlisted in 1997. It was a recent gift from a lovely LTer. Yay, another contender in my library for Orange July ;-)
I'm almost ready to start Girl in a Blue Dress.

I have a few possibilities already in my TBR pile:

A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
Lottery by Patricia Wood

So I think I have enough to keep me busy.

I just recently finished The Girls by Lori Lansens. I highly recommend it. On the surface a novel of conjoined twins, I am still pondering how my own life is conjoined with others.

I'd like to suggest that perhaps everyone could check out the works' pages for these books. Most of them are missing the fact that they are Orange Longlist or Orange Shortlist under the awards section.

I found this by checking out my personal Zeigeist where you can take a look at the Award Winners in your library--and found only a few of my "Orangies" listed.

Message edited by its author, Jun 13, 2009, 10:12am.

>22 avaland - Thank you for posting the list! This is fantastic!

Just adding another to my reading list that I've found in my library
Gilgamesh by Joan London- longlist 2004.

Lois, let me add my thanks for posting this list! This will be helpful as I head to the library. There is no budget available for buying the books as I would like to this year, unfortunately. I kind of like doing the library, though, because I don't know what I am going to get.

I've started early (I owe these books to others, so had to get on with reading them). I've read two longlisted books. The Girl in the Blue Dress found it strangely captivating, I like historical fiction and this sort of fit the mold.
And Sorry which is an amazing book, in my humble opinion. Highly recommended.
Also, I'm adding another of long-listed to my wee Orange in July list The lost Dog.

I've got so many on my Orange July list, I've decided to request nudges.
All nudges gratefully received on this thread
http://www.librarything.com/topic/67653".

Ack! For a non-joiner, I'm sure in a lot of groups. I've been following this one for awhile and was inspired to join by Avaland's list of Orange winners. I'm always looking for ways to choose books from my teetering TBR pile. Here are my choices to consider. Maybe I'll just read all of them!

My current book is Scottsboro and will count that as a July book, although I will probably finish it on Monday or Tuesday.

Next up will be Small Island because, after all, it is the "Orange of the Oranges."

After that, I have the following which I'll read in no certain order:

Fingersmith and The Night Watch both by Sarah Waters
The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
The Girls by Lori Lansens

Happy reading, all!

Scottsboro is my next book. I received it as an LT Early Reviewer book, and it's waiting for me. After that, I'm not sure.

Curious why Small Island is the Orange of Oranges -- is that an official designation? I thought it was excellent, but wouldn't be my choice for an Orange Orange! :o)

My first Orange July book will be The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I have just started it and at over 500 pages I will be reading it for awhile (I'm such a slow reader).

I think I've only read 3 actual Orange Prize winners and of those 3 my favorites were Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Not having read many of the winners I wouldn't know which was the Orange of Oranges but those 2 were really something!

Donna - why is Small Island the Orange of Oranges?

Which are the best Orange (actual winners) that the rest of you have read?

Message edited by its author, Jun 29, 2009, 3:35am.

IMO: Bel Canto, The Idea of Perfection, Half of a Yellow Sun, The Road Home.

#34 Yep, Orange of the Oranges is an official title, according to the sticker on my Small Island.

I read Poisonwood Bible earlier in the year and now it is one of my all time favourite books.
I've read three of the winners, the best of the three would be Half of a Yellow Sun, it was quite a revelation. But I also thought Fugitive Pieces was a piece of amazing writing.
I couldn't finish The Idea of Perfection, the characters were annoying me too much, might just have been my state of mind at the time.

ETA Just remembered, I've also read last years winner The Road Home, I'd describe it as a quiet winner, it's very good, but adding it to my "list of winners read" doesn't change anything I've said above.

Message edited by its author, Jun 29, 2009, 6:56pm.

I have read four of the actual winners:
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant
The Idea of Perfection by Kate Grenville
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Half of a Yellow Sun is, in my opinion, streets ahead of the other three, and also way ahead of all the others I've read from the long lists (maybe a couple of dozen all up). I have yet to read Small Island though.

Others I've read and would recommend are:
The Orchard by Drusilla Modjeska
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. I know this last one has had very wide ranging reviews, but I thought it was a well written and intelligent book.

Edited 'cos I hate typos. :)

Message edited by its author, Jun 29, 2009, 11:10am.

>35: Great question, Jolie. I have read 9 of the O.P. winners. If I had to choose just one as my favorite, it would be Home, closely followed by Half Of A Yellow Sun.

I have no idea how Small Island was chosen as the Orange of the Oranges. I'll share my thoughts after I read it in July.

ETA: That would be Home by Marilynne Robinson. The silly touchstone comes up for The Road Home which I haven't read yet.

Message edited by its author, Jun 29, 2009, 1:08pm.

Out of the winners, I've read On Beauty, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Bel Canto. Bel Canto was my favourite, but that's not to say Kevin wasn't one of the most powerful books I've ever read. I just don't think I'll go back to re-read it (not without a lot of therapy first), whereas I look forward to (one day!) re-reading Bel Canto.

Out of the winners, I have on Mt TBR, The Road Home, Half of a Yellow Sun, The Idea of Perfection, and Fugitive Pieces. I'll be starting with Joan London's Gilgamesh however.

The winners I have on my shelf are Fugitive Pieces and Bel Canto. I'll be reading both of them during Orange July (as long as all my other reading commitments don't overtake them). ;-)

I've only read 20 odd off that list and most of those are from the early ones. I hardly recognise any of the 2009 writers. I hadn't realised that I'm so behind the times!

My recommendations: What I Loved, The Dream Life of Sukhanov (in the New Writers list) and Round Rock.

Interesting that Bel Canto is so popular - I didn't enjoy it at all. The Blue Flower is also on my personal 'most disliked' list.

I'll be reading Purple Hibiscus as it fits nicely with my summer of African reading.

Of the short list/winners I've read I really liked:

Fugitive Pieces
Hotel World
Property
The Colour
Small Island
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Old Filth
Evening is the Whole Day
The Wilderness

Of those that I've read that I wouldn't particularly recommend:

The Inheritance of Loss
The Autograph Man
Half a Yellow Sun
On Beauty
Case Histories
The Great Fire
A Child's Book of Crime
The Weight of Water
The Poisonwood Bible

Message edited by its author, Jun 30, 2009, 3:24pm.

It's 4:15pm here, I've just finished The Girls (which was very good), and I have three library books on the table, all Orange winners. I'm just biding my time for the start of Orange July!

* tapping foot *

I think you can start. It's July 1 somewhere in the world, Laura!

Thank you, mrstreme, for pointing that out. I just finished writing my review of Scottsboro which can be found here. Ellen Feldman's latest book was shortlisted for this year's Orange Prize.

I heartily recommend this expose of the beginning of the civil rights movement in the U.S. The main narrator was a female reporter so the book has a journalistic flavor with an undercurrent of the hate and prejudice of the 1930's in Alabama.

Oh wow, I haven't heard about Scottsboro before. (Thump! That's the sound of another book hitting Mount TBR!).

It's July here, yay, now off to work!

And it being July now, I started Gilgamesh: A Novel on the bus this morning. Once the noisy kids up the back of the bus got off the bus and stopped disturbing me, I got into it. Wondering if I should check out the Wikipedia entry for "Gilgamesh" because I don't think I know the epic tale at all, and I'm assuming there will be parallels. Or maybe it'd be spoiler-ish and I'd enjoy it more if I didn't know "Gilgamesh". Oh, decisions!

What's grabbing me most is that it's set on the southern coast of Western Australia, where my Mum grew up. I'll have to pass it along to her when I'm finished.

My Orange July is already over! I started Purple Hibiscus yesterday afternoon, was reading it until 2am and then finished it when I woke up at 9. Perhaps I should have paced myself, but it was so good I just couldn't put it down.

charbutton -- you can always read more Orange books this month! I have 7 or 8 on tap! Glad you liked Purple Hibiscus, I thought it was wonderful too.

I finished my first Orange July book, A Crime in the Neighborhood. Quite good. It starts out as a mystery, but there are deeper layers of meaning. Now on to Larry's Party. I like Carol Shields but have heard mixed reviews of this one. However, completist that I am, I MUST read all the winners. So off I go.

>51, unfortunately I have to read at least 4 other books this month for LT groups and a real life book group but if I have some spare reading time I'll definitely try and slip another orange in!

Finished The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. Excellent book. At first glance, I thought it was going to be a bit on the "light and fluffy" side. Was I ever wrong. I shouldn't be surprised. I am rarely disappointed in an "Orange" book, short list or long list. Next up is a work book club book, and then I hope to read another Orange. Haven't decided which one but it has been helpful reading the suggestions on this thread. Happy 4th of July to everyone in the U.S.!

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt. Fantastic writing and storytelling. Very creative. Historical fiction/fantasy about Nikola Tesla, a scientist and inventor whose contributions to electrical and magnetic inventions are vastly underrated. Hunt's writing is accessible and fascinating, both historically and creatively. It was a fun book to read. Highly recommend. (4/5)

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize, 2009.

Now starting The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett 1998 shortlist.

I'm on about page 360 of about 530 pages of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
Good book!

I am reading The Outcast by Sadie Jones. So far it's good (but probably the most depressing novel I've read in years).

Cariola - I bought that one recently, thinking that I would read it this month. Hmmmm....... We'll see how I feel at the end of Poisonwood Bible.
I have a few other "Oranges" that I could read instead. Let us know what you think when you are done.

58> I'm not expecting a happy ending, I'm just hoping everybody doesn't kill each other or commit suicide in the end. (Yes, the characters are THAT dysfunctional.)

What a fantastic lot of books are featured in the Orange Prize. I have read quite a few of them now and can honestly say there is only one that I really didn't like. Reading through this thread, I am getting excited about all the books that you guys will be reading that I know are wonderful, and hope you find wonderful too.

As for my personal Orange July quest - I am about halfway through Half of a Yellow Sun. It is so far as good as I have heard.

judylou, if you want some Orange duds, I'd recommend trying The Autograph Man or The Little Friend. The Autograph Man probably wasn't all that bad, but I did find it very disappointing following White Teeth. And The Little Friend was just frustrating - all atmosphere, nothing else. And I was rather lukewarm about A Child's Book of True Crime.

But considering all the other Orange books I've read have been quite excellent, and I think these three were only long-listed (can't be bothered looking it up to confirm), then it's still a pretty good indicator of a good book. :)

I'll probably finish Gilgamesh: A Novel tonight (long-listed in 2004, I think), and it's been a great read. Very Australian in parts - it's set where my Mum grew up (southern Western Australian coast) and it just feels right. But it's also quite a travelogue as well, as befits its name!

wookiebender, I have both of those somewhere on my shelves. I will leave them there for a while longer I think :)

My Orange July is off to a bad start. The first book I read was A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper, a 2002 finalist.

I would love to hear from someone who liked this book. I couldn't figure out why it would be a nominee, much less a finalist. Repeatedly throughout the book I felt that even the author didn't know where she was going with things. It's a first book and it feels like it. Also, I felt that the retelling of the crime for children with animal characters (which was interspersed throughout the book) wasn't an effective technique; an experienced writer might have been able to pull it off, but this writing already had too many distractions and unnecessary wanderings. Instead, she should have spent her time on deeper, more consistent character development.

2/5 stars

I got caught up in The Outcast by Sadie Jones and was up until 3:30 last night finishing it. That says something for the power of the book--even though, in terms of content, it is probably the most depressing book I've ever read. If you're looking for a light summer read, don't pick up this one. My main criticism is that it is a bit hard to believe that so many characters could be so cruel and downright abusive with no one seeming to notice. I know that the setting was 1945-57, but even then people might question some of the things that happen to Lewis. No one seems to figure out that his quietness has something to do with the fact that he saw his mother drown or that he's angry that his father remarries only five months later? Still, the author's ability to evoke a visceral response in her reader is the novel's strength, and it certainly deserved to be on the Orange Prize shortlist.

Message edited by its author, Jul 5, 2009, 12:28pm.

Finished Larry's Party ... liked it well enough, but it didn't wow me. Will have a review up later. Next on my list is the 2009 Orange winner, Home.

#63> Yes, I read A Child's Book of True Crime a few months' ago, and was surprised to see it had made the longlist too.

I finished late last night (but at least not early this morning!) Gilgamesh: A Novel. I'll write up a full review later, but it was a good read. I'm now taking a break with a non-Orange book for my bookgroup read this month. But I'll be back soon, I hope!

I've got a bit less than 100 pages left of The Poisonwood Bible. It is so good.

I've just joined this group. I find I already have read a lot of the books listed, but there's an awful lot I haven't that are on my shelves, so I'll try to commit to reading this July:

Girl in a Blue Dress, which I got last week. What serendipity.
Larry's Party (I have tried this one before and it didn't grab me, but I'll try again.)
The Poisonwood Bible and that's probably enough, as it seems a long, dense book.

By the way, I circulated The Idea of Perfection a couple of years ago. I liked it well enough, but by and large the response was luke-warm.

I see that Five Quarters of the Orange is on the list. One of my all time favourites!

Welcome livrecache! I also loved Five Quarters, I think it's Harris' best. Poisonwood Bible is excellent. Enjoy your Orange reads!

Just seconding the rave reviews for Five Quarters. I loved that book!

Hello livrecache, fancy seeing you here! :)

Am I the only person in this group who's never read anything by Joanne Harris??

No, Wookie, I've never read anything by Joanne Harris either. But it sounds like I should.

One of my best mates tends to recommend stuff to me, and I tend to mark it down as "avoid". I really do love her, but she's got no discrimination (hah, as if I have standards!) and tends to love everything, including stuff I thought was fairly meh, at least. And, yes, she loves Joanne Harris too, so that's why I tend to pass them over at the bookshop.

Although, when she gets books right, she gets them very right. She was the first to recommend Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series (The Eyre Affair et al) to me. And was most exasperated that I still didn't pick them up until I got another recommendation from someone else first.

She really is a very good friend, putting up with me ignoring her so much!! Maybe I'll make her day by reading a Joanne Harris novel and telling her it's all due to her persistent recommendations. :)

The first Joanne Harris I read was Coastliners - a delightful novel. And at the time I didn't know she'd written Chocolat which was such an awesome movie and the book was wonderful. Five Quarters of the Orange was too. I have a couple more of hers on the shelf, waiting.

Message edited by its author, Jul 6, 2009, 2:25am.

I just finished The Poisonwood Bible. I'm so glad I finally read this book! I think it will stay with me for a long time.

And I have decided that I will stick with Orange books for all of July no matter how much I want to read other books.

Now I have a choice to make:

I can continue reading about Africa and start Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
OR
I also have:
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (which hasn't been getting very good reviews from most of you)
Paradise by Toni Morrison
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Outcast by Sadie Jones
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (whose Olive Kitteridge was excellent)
or
La Cucina by Lily Prior

My vote goes to Half of a Yellow Sun. The only other one I've read of your list is Amy and Isabelle and it's good, not great.

Must re-read The Poisonwood Bible one of these days!

I was pretty certain Half of a Yellow Sun would be the recommended book by most on Girlybooks. So many have mentioned how much they loved it. I might just go that way. I wasn't sure I wanted to go right back to Africa right away - but, hey, the experience in Africa with The Poisonwood Bible was so interesting . . . I guess I don't see why not!

Hi Teelgee! It's always fun to see that someone has responded to a post so quickly. It's almost like IMing.

Message edited by its author, Jul 7, 2009, 12:58am.

Half of a Yellow Sun, eventhough it is also set in Africa it is a very different book to The Poisonwood Bible. Both are amongst my all time favourite books. I hope I haven't over sold it, but JolieLouise I dont think you will be disappointed with reading it.

ETA I'm another one who hasnt read anything by Joanne Harris yet. I also loved the movie chocolat and the book is beside the bed in the third TBR stack ;-)

Message edited by its author, Jul 7, 2009, 1:33am.

75> I just finished The Outcast and highly recommend it, with the caution that it's not a light summer read.

Personally, I just couldn't get into the two Booker winners, Half of a Yellow Sun and The Inheritance of Loss. (I tend to prefer the longlist titles.) And La Cucina is on my list of worst books read.

JolieLouise, I'd dis-recommend The Little Friend which I found interminably boring. And it's the only one on your list I've read!

I'm leaning towards Half a Yellow Sun for one of my Orange July reads, because everyone (except Cariola!) loves it so much. (It didn't win the Booker, did it?)

No, I don't think it was even a finalist for the Booker.

I finished The Magician's Assistant tonight - good read, review will follow tomorrow - and now just starting The Colour by Rose Tremain. Love her books.

I'll add my recommendation to Half of a Yellow Sun. And no, wookiebender, it didn't win the Booker, so you're safe! ;-)

I'm currently reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. I didn't realise it had been long-listed for the Orange Prize until I saw avaland's list up there. Thank you for posting it. :)

Oh, I loved Case Histories. I've got Behind the Scenes at the Museum on Mt TBR, and I'm slightly cheesed off that it's not on the Orange long/shortlist, because I want an excuse to read it before all the other books on Mt TBR...

Hi all, I am in. I am going to read The Invention of Everything Else.

wookie: Behind the Scenes is an excellent book -- very different from Case Histories. It should have been listed for an Orange. Maybe we could have another category for Orange July -- the Shoulda List.

As terrific as Case Histories was, I thought Behind the Scenes was even better, but then I'm a big Atkinson fan. Haven't decided on my Orange July read. So many books are ahead of it right now!

I have Behind the Scenes at the Museum on my TBR mountain too. I think I'll read that next (or at least in early August) as I am very much enjoying Case Histories. I only started it yesterday and I'm already two thirds of the way through. It's very moreish!

Just a 'me too' to say that I'm a Kate Atkinson fan, and I'm surprised she's not been nominated more times for the award. She would be if I had my way.

livrecache, it was you who introduced me to Kate Atkinson! I am very grateful, although I do tend to whimper pathetically when I'm in bookshops and confronted by When Will There Be Good News? because I can't quite justify buying it new yet...

nebowers, there are two more books about Jackson Brodie - One Good Turn (highly recommended again), and the above mentioned When Will There Be Good News?.

Thanks, wookiebender. I'll keep my eyes peeled for them. :)

I went with Half of a Yellow Sun. You're right, KimB - it IS a different book from The Poisonwood Bible. It took me no time at all to get into it. I'm enjoying it so much that I took a look at her other book - Purple Hibiscus - at the bookstore last night. The only reason I didn't buy that one was because their only copy had a bent corner on the cover. I'm not really a fan of a damaged book before I've gotten to it (unless it's used). So - I'll just wait a while.
Does anyone know of a good, interesting, nonfiction book about Africa that talks about the different languages, the different foods, the agriculture, the culture, etc . . . I looked at a couple in the African history section at the bookstore last night and most of them just seemed kind of dry.
Hmmm......maybe I should see if there is a DK (Dorling Kindersley) book for children about Africa. That company always does such a good job with their books - lots and lots of interesting pictures and info.

I'm pleased your enjoying Half of a Yellow Sun. Not sure about general African non-fiction but I do know that the "Reading Globally Group" had an African theme read in Feb. This is one of the threads.
I'd be interested to hear if you find a good general non-fiction book. Happy hunting ;-)

Jolie -- look for The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski . I've heard raves about this book and bought a copy myself, though I haven't read it yet.

edited to correct title and find touchstone

Message edited by its author, Jul 8, 2009, 9:31am.

#92 and #94 - Terri beat me to it! I loved The Shadow of the Sun. Kapuscinski was a journalist in Africa for many years, and the book covers many different countries.

Thank you, teelgee and cmt. It looks like my local Barnes and Noble has it and they are holding it for me to come and look at.

#63--Christiguc--Sorry I can't be the one to say I liked A Child's Book of True Crime. I'm with you all the way on your evaluation of it.

I'm one of the (apparent) few who is not particularly a fan of Half a Yellow Sun. I thought it was an ok read, but I was annoyed at the soap-opera-ish story line involving the sisters/lovers/husbands.

Re Kate Atkinson--I agree with those above who like Behind the Scenes at the Museum better than Case Histories. Behind the Scenes and Human Croquet are my favorite books of hers, and I like her earlier books better than the mysteries she seems to have morphed into writing more recently.

Message edited by its author, Jul 8, 2009, 9:41pm.

Teelgee, Cmt, and KimB - Tonight I bought a copy of The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski. It does seem like a good book on Africa. Now I would still like to find something with lots of pictures and trivia(ish) information - like I might find in a kids' Dorling Kindersley book about Africa (but I don't really want a travel book). Thank you so much for the suggestion, Teelgee and Cmt.

Silly, silly touchstones!

Message edited by its author, Jul 9, 2009, 12:50am.

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie is my Orange July read. Very involving. Might try The Blue Flower or The Invention of Everything Else next.

#63 I do have to agree that Behind the Scenes at the Museum is probably better than the books Kate Atkinson is writing now. I had reservations about Human Croquet but I liked it well enough. I think it's her writing style that I like, as although she seems to changed genres, I do still enjoy her books.

Finished What I Loved from the longlist, and it was marvellous stuff. Highly recommended.

And I stumbled across Small Island by Andrea Levy today at the library. You know how you go to the library and never find any specific book you're looking for? Not today. (I also got Sarah Water's Affinity, Jose Saramago's The Double, and Rebecca West's Sunflower.) And when I went to pick up my book for my reading group from the bookshop, they had Ryszard Kapuscinski's Shadow of the Sun in the "Popular Penguins" range, so I have that now too.

My backpack (and now Mt TBR) overfloweth.

Glad to hear it about What I Loved, hoping to get to that this month. I loved Affinity and Small Island, you're in for some treats there.

I'm about 3/4 through The Colour and loving it.

Finished Home this week while I was away on vacation this week. I loved it and found it quite moving. I haven't yet read Gilead, which I know received mixed reviews here on LT but I'm now intrigued by its complementary story line.

I have two more Orange winners awaiting me at the library: Fugitive Pieces and A Spell of Winter, and then I will have read all of the winners!

I finished Case Histories the other day. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters felt like real people, and the story felt like it really (and sadly) could happen. Very believable. It made me want to wrap my own children in cotton wool and never let them out of my sight again. I occasionally got a little confused as there were so many stories, but ultimately I enjoyed that aspect of the book. Everything was unravelled and became clear, but not in the usual detective-figures-it-out way; I liked the way each character's story lead up to the reader finding out what had happened to all of them. Does that make any sense?!

I've just started Trumpet by Jackie Kay and already I'm finding it compelling reading.

I began Girl in a Blue Dress today, and am loving it. I didn't want to put it down, but Life intervened.

I finished The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (my review). This was a great book about family relationships. I love Lahiri's writing style!

#104> It made me want to wrap my own children in cotton wool and never let them out of my sight again.

Oh, gosh yes. I read it when Miss Boo was three, and a year or so later, it can still reduce me to tears and make me all over-protective, just thinking about it.

Wonderful book, although I felt emotionally drained at the end.

Having said that, I spent most of yesterday at work slightly shell-shocked after the end of Part 1 of What I Loved. It felt slightly wussy to be that emotionally involved in a book and fictional characters (I work with a lot of non-reading blokes), but, well, I was.

Damnit, Small Island had better have some funny moments.

I am coming rather late to the Orange July reads as I have been busy clearing some of my other reading.

This week I will begin the two books I have picked for my Orange July reads: Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie and The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey, both shortlisted this year.

I'm over halfway through Half of a Yellow Sun. I'm really enjoying it. When I think about it during the day, I feel like I'm remembering a movie that I'd been watching - or an experience that I had actually had (or had a friend tell me about). For those who have read it - for some reason, I really enjoy the perspective of Ugwu (I think that's his name) - the house boy. He has some sad ideas about life but the reading feels richer when I'm reading his thoughts.

I have already read 18 Orange books for my 999 Challenge and I do not think I shall have time for any more this month. But I shall be lurking here to see what others are reading.

107> Small Island does have some funny moments! My hubby and I were laughing out loud to some of the passages I was reading to him. The story is told with such a great sense of humour and warmth. Narrow mindedness and racism are awful in places, but it is just a wonderful book. It's one of the few I'd give 5 stars to. I can't fault it. Such an enjoyable read.
I'm thinking of reading The Colour next.

>111: So glad to hear that you loved Small Island, Kim. I just started it last night and am enjoying the Jamaican slant. I don't do many audio books, but I think this one would be great because I love the language. Maybe I'll try reading those parts to my DH to get him interested in it.

I loved Small Island, getting the different perspectives of the different characters was so well done!

I'm struggling with Fugitive Pieces. Feel like I have to pay such close attention and yet I'm unable - or unwilling - to do that.

I finished The Flying Troutmans yesterday. I enjoyed it--found some parts quite funny--but I don't think I loved it as much as some others who I've spoken with have.

Bewildered. Bewitched. That pretty much sums up my thoughts on Fugitive Pieces. Here's my review: http://mrstreme.livejournal.com/82879.ht...

That's a great review Jill. I just got to Part II and went "huh?" I'm sticking with it, though it's as you say, meandering and confusing. Still, beautiful writing.

I really enjoyed your review Jill. I found Fugitive Pieces hard to read but beautiful. Terri, I liked the first part much more than the second - hopefully you'll be the other way round!

I really enjoyed your review Jill. I found Fugitive Pieces hard to read but beautiful. Terri, I liked the first part much more than the second - hopefully you'll be the other way round!

It has been awhile (12 years) since I first read Fugitive Pieces. I remember being enthralled with the beautiful writing. It wasn't until my reread two years ago that I fully appreciated the story behind it.

>115: Spot on review. "Bewitched but bewildered...beautiful but tangled"...were perfect reflections. Sometimes my life mirrors those apt words!

Just finished Fugitive Pieces. A reverie, sometimes dreamy, sometimes nightmarish, with images of the Holocaust, experienced first hand by the first narrator, Jakob. About 3/4 of the way through the book, the narrator changes to Ben, whose parents survived the Holocaust. Two troubled, brilliant men attempting to sort out their lives. At times the book is difficult to follow, but her writing is quite amazing. Not a linear read by any means! I admire this book, but did not love it. (3.5/5)

I actually ended up liking the second part more than the first - perhaps because I read it straight through, while the first part I read in bits and pieces.

It's interesting how almost everyone who has commented raves about Ms. Michaels' writing style but struggled with the story itself. Like Donna said, maybe the story is better appreciated the second time around.

She is a poet first and foremost and it shows in her writing. I don't think I could read it a second time. I would like to read some of her poetry though!

The different reactions to Fugitive Pieces are interesting. I loved it, both the story and the writing and would read it again for the writing. But I'm really not a poetry reader apart from some very few exceptions. On the weekend, I saw a Book of Michaels poetry in the library, Skin Divers, thought to myself "oh, I'll have that!", but after flicking through it I just couldn't be bothered with it and didnt borrow it after all.

>123: It took me ten years before I tackled it again, Terri! Who knows, maybe I won't like it when I read it in the next decade. Btw, I gave it a 4 star rating.

Now I'm really intrigued ... Fugitive Pieces will be my next read! I'm currently about halfway through A Spell of Winter which got took a surprising turn about 30 pages ago.

I started Old Filth today. 2005 shortlist. So far, quite good.

I finished Small Island, and, yes, it was quite marvellous. I'm behind in my reviews though...

And I started The Vintner's Luck (longlisted in 1999). This has been gathering dust on my shelves for some years. Can't say I'm impressed with it so far, but it's short, at least.

Finished I Was Amelia Earhart. Short, likeable book but I wrinkled my nose at the ending. Here is my review: http://mrstreme.livejournal.com/83345.ht...

That one was very forgettable for me Jill.

Yeah, I figured I would be on the minority on the Amelia book. =)

I finished Girl in a Blue Dress last night. It was entertaining but I'm not quite sure how it was long listed for the Booker, or the Orange. It didn't seem to me to have that much literary merit.

# 128 I read The Vintner's Luck with a bookclub some years ago, and it did not engage me. Ever.

Message edited by its author, Jul 17, 2009, 8:02am.

Well, The Vintner's Luck failed the 50 page test for me. Tortuous language, git of a main character, references to angels and heavens being real, too many sex scenes (okay, I'm a prude, shoot me).

I'm glad I didn't have to read it for a bookclub, livrecache, I might have felt obliged to finish it!

I very happily moved onto The Mistress of the Art of Death. :) I'll get back on the Orange July bandwagon in a couple of days.

Ok wookie and livrecache, you're not helping my goody-good plan to read more New Zealand literature this year. (I'm up to... ummm... 1 superb book so far - Waiariki by Patricia Grace) I bought The Vintner's Luck about 6 months ago and now it's going to the bottom of the heap!

cmt, I did read a great NZ book earlier this year: Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins. Not that you would know she's a Kiwi, it's set in London and one of the characters is an Australian ex-pat.

I've also been thinking I need to read some more NZ literature too. I've got some NZ short stories (Opportunity by Charlotte Grimshaw) for my reading group for next month. It won their major literary prize (Montana, I think it's called, but it's about to morph into the NZ Post literary award) last year. And it took an AGE to get it in at my local bookshop - a five week wait, because it's out of stock in Australia!

Sometimes it's hard to support NZ literature!

>134 You should read some Katherine Mansfield!

#136 christina, yep, I know I should!! I just don't. I really must go and see what everyone thought of KM over in the monthly author reads group. What did you read?

Wookie, I'm meant to be part of that book group too but I just have no time, and what reading time I have goes on books that aren't Aussie and NZ. Emily Perkins has quite a high profile here and I have a copy of one of her earlier ones here - Not her Real Name.

Ah, I joined ANZLitLovers so I would bloody well read some more Australian/NZ literature! Not that I haven't in the past, it's just that the "1001 Books" list (etc) seems to have taken over my reading time, and I wanted to wrestle it back towards the Antipodes.

I finished A Spell of Winter yesterday and found it just OK. My final Orange July read will be Fugitive Pieces.

I've also heard wonderful things about Patricia Grace's book Potiki. It's been on my wish list for a long time.

And, though she's not a New Zealander, Rose Tremain's book Colour is about the New Zealand gold rush - fantastic book, as I think I've written here earlier.

I finished Half of a Yellow Sun today. What a great story - and great storyteller! I was talking to my husband about it tonight and telling him that I felt it increased my compassion for humanity, in general. We went to a fair/festival tonight and I found I had more patience than usual with some of the behavior you see in crowded Friday night venues. The story was on my mind.
It wasn't wrapped up neatly - everyone's lives didn't just "get better" at the end of the war between Biafra and Nigeria. And, so, the story was very realistic. I feel like I learned a lot.
I said I was going to keep reading "Orange" books all throughout July but I've changed my mind. I just started Errands by Judith Guest (so, still a female writer). I've just read 2 books in a row about Africa (happily) and now I'm going to read something about Michigan (where I live).

ETA: I posted in the wrong thread, didn't I. *blush* My apologies, I must've clicked on the wrong link...

Message edited by its author, Jul 18, 2009, 9:12pm.

Well, I finished Fugitive Pieces and was really disappointed. Didn't do much for me at all. Sigh, I hate it when that happens. I had very high hopes for this book ... With that I've finished my Orange July reading and can now proudly say I've read all the winners! There are many shortlisted books I'd like to read though, so I'll be reading Oranges for some time to come.

Congratulations on reading all of the winners, lindsaci. That's really impressive!

Thanks! This was one of my 2009 reading goals and thanks to Orange January & July, I made it!!

Congratulations lindsacl! Which of the winners would you highly rate? Do you agree with Small Island being "the best of the best"?
Stating the obvious here, but all you need to do now to keep up, is read a winner a year :-) I'm all envy ;-)

Finished The Colour last night, a good story, well told, not a great story tho'. Some of the small details grated a bit, I'm not sure a Kiwi would ever call a new farmer a "Cockatoo", not even back during the gold rush times, thats an Aus bird! A Farmer in Aus is called "A Cocky" but never "A Cockatoo". Could this English writer have got the two countries colloquialisms confused?!

I think I'll read either Purple Hibiscus or Bel Canto next, decisions, decisions.....

Kim, you can't go wrong with either of those, imo.

Interesting insight into the colloquialisms. I never would have caught that, of course.

Well done, lindascl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished Old Filth today - liked it very much - and now into The Blood of Flowers. My 6th Orange for July.

Kim, nope, I've never heard of a farmer being called a cockatoo... that's a bird, not a farmer! And neither's my husband (who's wondering what I'm talking about). So that's a sample of 2 kiwis. I still want to read it though!

Laura congrats, that is great that you've read them all.

>146: Which of the winners would you highly rate? Do you agree with Small Island being "the best of the best"?

Funny you should ask, I was thinking about that myself last night. In my LT library I rated each of the 14 Orange winners so I took a look at the whole lot together. Idea of Perfection and Home came out tops (5 stars), followed closely by Half of a Yellow Sun (4.5). Small Island is in the "upper middle," one of 5 books I rated 4 stars. Overall these books have been above average reads !

Well done Laura. I have read a lot of Oranges but I don't think I have read all the winners yet. Maybe when this year's challenges are over!!!

No. I have about 6 or 7 winners to read. Looks like an Orange January for me in 2010.

Just started How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. This was one of the finalists in 2005 for the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers. So far, I am enjoying the narrarator, a 15-year-old world-wise and world-weary girl from New York City who has just landed in England to visit cousins she has never met before. Only on the second chapter, so I will update with my opinion later.

Finished Purple Hibiscus I really couldn't put it down.
Couldn't pick the ending and the domestic violence was suitably horrible. There are worst things then poverty. An excellent read.

Getting back to the winners discussion, I've got 8 still to read!
Of the five read, I've listed them in order of favourites
Small Island
Half of a yellow sun
Fugitive Pieces
The Road Home
The Idea of Perfection - I didn't finish this Australian novel, the characters were grating on my nerves. I'll have to go back to it one day because so many people have enjoyed it and she is a writer that I respect. I think Grenville's The Secret River was so much better.

I've just started reading Bel Canto so I can't rate it as yet.

>149 thx! I knew it!

edited to get my numbers right!

Message edited by its author, Jul 20, 2009, 7:59pm.

I finished the two Orange July reads I had chosen to read this month.

The first, Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie was an overall good book... it just lost 'something' in the last quarter of the book for me that I cannot pin down. The ending was thought provoking, in line with the theme of the story, but something just wasn't connecting and holding my attention through that one section of the book.

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey was a captivating read and hard to put down.

I finished Fingersmith and here's my review: http://mrstreme.livejournal.com/83638.ht...

A very enjoyable book - lots of twists and turns that kept me hanging on!

Up next is What Was Lost!

Mrstreme: I just finished reading Fingersmith too and thought it was great. It was like "Great Expectations," but with lesbian sex.

LOL -that's a good way to put it! =)

I finished Small Island a few days ago. Although I really enjoyed it, I would have to place it at the No. 3 spot in the O.P. Winners list of ones I have read -- after Half Of A Yellow Sun and Home.

I have enjoyed my first experience with Orange July during this too-busy month for me. I have some library books backed up. I'll be back in January for more Orange reading.

Just finished The Blood of Flowers and liked it a lot. At one point it felt too predictable, but it got over that and evolved into a very nice story. Great info about carpet making in Iran in the 17th century.

Just finished Bel Canto the 2002 winner. Loved it! It comes in at number 2 on my list of favourites after Small Island. Such an unlikely story. Very original and told very well. One of those books that just make you glow from the inside at the end. :-)
Not that I wanted it to end, like the characters in the book, I just wanted it to go on and on.

I think I'll try to fit in one more short one before I take up my other reading, The Accidental.

Message edited by its author, Jul 24, 2009, 3:51am.

My review of What Was Lost - http://mrstreme.livejournal.com/83940.ht...

Not sure about this novel. O'Flynn did a remarkable job depicting one character while the other characters fell flat. Definitely a promising writer.

My review of the steamy La Cucina - http://mrstreme.livejournal.com/84034.ht...

I have two Orange July books to report today.

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker, the third novel in a trilogy focused on World War I--or, more precisely, a group of patients and doctors in a war hospital and what happens to them once they return to the front. It was good, but I really don't understand why this volume got all the accolades. I thought the first, Regeneration, was far superior.

The Hero's Walk by Anita Rao Badami. A wonderful novel about a middle-class Indian family that focuses not on the exotic as much as the familiar. In other words, these are people that we (Westerners, I mean) can recognize and empathize with. Their frustrations are embodied in Sripathi, the 50-something father, who resents both his mother's domineering insistence on tradition and his children's embracing of modernism. Badami creates a vivid world in her beautifully written novel.

I'm coming very late to the party, but I've begun Digging to America by Anne Tyler (Orange Shortlist 2007). I'm surprised at how many "Orange" books I have on my shelves. Been meaning to read this one for awhile. I haven't read anything by Tyler since Accidental Tourist came out in the mid-80s.

#165 - Fear not! We do this all over again for Orange January! =)

I am all finished with Orange July too; I read seven books this month.

WINNERS:
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels (1997)

SHORT LIST:
I Was Amelia Earhart by Jane Mendelsohn (1997)
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)

LONG LIST:
La Cucina by Lily Prior (2002)
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (2004)
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn (2007)
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld (2009)

Interestingly, none of these books earned five stars, but I did read some great books. My favorites were The Namesake and Fingersmith.

You can see my Orange July reviews here if you're interested in learning more.

I've completed my Orange July reads! What a month. I didn't read all the books I set out to, but substituted a couple here and there, for a total of 8. Rated as follows:

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt = 4 stars
The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett = 4 stars
The Colour by Rose Tremain = 4.5 stars
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels = 3.5 stars
Old Filth by Jane Gardam = 4 stars
The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani = 4 stars
What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt = 3.5 stars
When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant = 4 stars

Orange July started off a bit rough for me but ended quite well! My Orange July final summary:

A Child's Book of True Crime by Chloe Hooper - 2 stars
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews - 3 stars
The Gathering by Anne Enright - 3 stars
The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff - 4 stars
A Crime in the Neighborhood by Suzanne Berne - 3 stars
The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg - 4.5 stars

I've been looking for PBJ, glad to see you liked it well. It's on my list for January!

PBJ is on my Orange January list too!