kidzdoc in 2013: Old World, New Imports part 12

Currently reading:

    

Children of the New World by Assia Djebar
Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum
District and Circle by Seamus Heaney

Completed books: (TBR = To Be Read book, purchased prior to 1/1/12)

January:
1. Quiet London by Siobhan Wall (review)
2. The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul (review)
3. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (review)
4. The Eleven by Pierre Michon (review)
5. Pediatric Advanced Life Support Provider Manual by Leon Chameides, MD (review)
6. Communion Town by Sam Thompson (review)
7. Damascus by Joshua Mohr (TBR) (review)
8. The Walls of Delhi by Uday Prakash (review)
9. Inspiring Quotes: The Greatest Quotes of Martin Luther King Junior by Martin Luther King, Jr. (review)
10. A Happy Death by Albert Camus (review)
11. Place of Mind by Richard Blanco

February:
12. Great House by Nicole Krauss (TBR) (review)
13. In the House of the Interpreter by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (review)
14. Bill Veeck's Crosstown Classic by Bill Veeck with Ed Linn (review)
15. Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski (TBR) (review)
16. Big Machine by Victor LaValle (TBR) (review)
17. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (review)
18. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid (review)
19. The Other City by Michal Ajvaz (TBR)
20. A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aranson
21. Domestic Work by Natasha Trethewey
22. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
23. Vertical Motion by Can Xue (TBR)

March:
24. Liquidation by Imre Kertész (TBR)
25. Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman (TBR)
26. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah (TBR)
27. Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke (TBR)
28. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
29. The Jokers by Albert Cossery (TBR)

April:
30. All My Friends by Marie NDiaye (review)
31. Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy and E.M. Tansey (review)
32. Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey (review)
33. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (review)
34. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (TBR)
35. Pow! by Mo Yan
36. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
37. There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe
38. Burmese Days by George Orwell
39. Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi
40. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

May:
41. A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (TBR)
42. The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo (TBR)
43. Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn (TBR) (review)
44. Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn (TBR) (review)
45. Some Hope by Edward St Aubyn (TBR) (review)
46. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
47. Why Me? : A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job by Diane M. Komp, M.D. (TBR)
48. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
49. Skios by Michael Frayn
50. The Aftermath of War by Jean-Paul Sartre (TBR)
51. Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo

June:
52. The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner (review)
53. The Alienist by Machado de Assis
54. The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell (TBR)
55. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna (review)

July:
56. Enon by Paul Harding (review)
57. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
58. The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (review)
59. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (review)
60. The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh (review)
61. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
62. The Blue Riband: The Piccadilly Line by Peter York (review)
63. Drift: The Hammersmith & City Line by Philippe Parreno (review)
64. A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire (TBR) (review)
65. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

August:
66. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
67. What We Talk About When We Talk About the Tube: The District Line by John Lanchester (review)
68. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (review)
69. The 32 Stops: The Central Line by Danny Dorling (review)
70. The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal (TBR) (review)
71. Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano (TBR) (review)
72. 419 by Will Ferguson (review)
73. The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah (TBR) (review)
74. Harvest by Jim Crace (review)
75. Massacre River by René Philoctète (TBR) (review)
76. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (review)
77. The Return by Dany Laferrière
78. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (review)

September:
79. The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby (review)
80. A Northern Line Minute: The Northern Line by William Leith
81. The Kills by Richard House (review)
82. Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty by Alain Mabanckou
83. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
84. Mind the Child: The Victoria Line by Camila Batmanghelidjh and Kids Company
85. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Books acquired in 2013: (✔ = completed book, bold = purchased book)

January:
1. The Eleven by Pierre Michon (5 January; LT Early Reviewers book) ✔
2. Place of Mind by Richard Blanco (21 January; Kindle e-book) ✔
3. A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aranson (29 January; Kindle e-book) ✔

February:
4. Old Man Goriot by Honoré de Balzac (15 February; Kindle e-book)
5. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid (15 February; LT Early Reviewers book) ✔

March:
6. The Return by Dany Laferrière (1 March; Alibris)
7. Brazil Red by Jean-Christophe Rufin (7 March; Alibris)
8. Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy and E.M. Tansey (9 March; free e-book) ✔
9. Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam (16 March; Kindle e-book)
10. All My Friends by Marie NDiaye (16 March; ARC copy received from avaland) ✔
11. Mortality by Christopher Hitchens (17 March; Barnes & Noble) ✔
12. Burmese Days by George Orwell (17 March; Barnes & Noble) ✔
13. Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora by Emily Raboteau (17 March; Barnes & Noble)
14. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi (17 March; Barnes & Noble)
15. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (19 March; LT Early Reviewers book) ✔
16. The Outsider by Albert Camus (21 March; The Book Depository)
17. Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (24 March; Kindle e-book)
18. The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber (24 March; Kindle e-book)

April:
19. Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey (1 April; free e-book) ✔
20. El Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency by Ioan Grillo (7 April; Barnes & Noble)
21. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre (7 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
22. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (7 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
23. There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe (7 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
24. Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Bible (7 April; Barnes & Noble)
25. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks (16 April; Barnes & Noble) ✔
26. The Crow Road by Iain Banks (16 April; Barnes & Noble)
27. Experiment Eleven: Dark Secrets Behind the Discovery of a Wonder Drug by Peter Pringle (21 April; Strand Book Store)
28. Lenin's Kisses by Yan Lianke (21 April; Strand Book Store)
29. Requiem: A Hallucination by Antonio Tabucchi (21 April; Strand Book Store) ✔
30. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe (21 April; Strand Book Store) ✔
31. All Decent Animals by Oonya Kempadoo (21 April; Strand Book Store)
32. Julius Caesar (Modern Library Classics) by William Shakespeare (21 April; Greenlight Bookstore)
33. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (21 April; Greenlight Bookstore)
34. Firefly by Severo Sarduy (22 April; gift from Caroline)
35. The Gate by François Bizot (27 April; Kindle e-book)
36. In the Land of Israel by Amos Oz (28 April; Kindle e-book)

May:
37. You Were Never in Chicago by Neil Steinberg (1 May; free e-book from the University of Chicago Press)
38. Hack: Stories from a Cab by Dmitry Samarov (8 May; free e-book from the University of Chicago Press)
39. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna (15 May; Amazon UK) ✔
40. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (15 May; Amazon UK) ✔
41. The Remarkable Story of Great Ormond Street Hospital by Kevin Telfer (15 May; Amazon UK)
42. Basti by Intizar Husain (18 May; Joseph Fox Bookshop)
43. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (18 May; Joseph Fox Bookshop) ✔
44. What to Feed Your Baby: Cost-Conscious Nutrition for Your Infant by Stanley A. Cohen, M.D. (20 May; advance review copy)
45. Where There's Love, There's Hate by Adolfo Bioy Casares and Silvina Ocampo (26 May; City Lights Bookstore) ✔
46. The Bottom of the Jar by Adellatif Laâbi (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
47. Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
48. And Still the Earth by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
49. Blue White Red by Alain Mabanckou (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
50. Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
51. The Girl with the Golden Parasol by Uday Prakash (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
52. Salt by Earl Lovelace (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
53. A Muslim Suicide by Bensalem Himmich (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
54. The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner (26 May; City Lights Bookstore) ✔
55. Southern Cross the Dog by Bill Cheng (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
56. Raised from the Ground by José Saramago (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
57. From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia by Pankaj Mishra (26 May; City Lights Bookstore)
58. Ten White Geese by Gerbrand Bakker (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
59. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
60. Percival Everett by Virgil Russell: A Novel by Percival Everett (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
61. Algerian Chronicles by Albert Camus (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
62. Blacks In and Out of the Left by Michael C. Dawson (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
63. The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)
64. Mingus Speaks by John F. Goodman (29 May; City Lights Bookstore)

June:
65. The Alienist by Machado de Assis (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore) ✔
66. Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
67. Satantango by László Krasznahorkai (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
68. The World Is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake by Dany Laferrière (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
69. That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
70. City of a Hundred Fires by Richard Blanco (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
71. On the Imperial Highway: New and Selected Poems by Jayne Cortez (1 Jun; City Lights Bookstore)
72. Engine Empire: Poems by Cathy Park Hong (1 Jun; City Lights Bookshop)
73. Disposable People by Ezekel Alan (2 Jun; Amazon Kindle e-book)
74. Sons for the Return Home by Albert Wendt (8 Jun; Amazon Kindle e-book (free))
75. The Secret River by Kate Grenville (11 Jun; gift book from Paul Cranswick)
76. Enon by Paul Harding (12 Jun; May LT Early Reviewer book) ✔
77. The Code of the Samurai: A Modern Translation of the Bushido Shoshinshu of Taira Shigesuke by Yuzan Daidoji (19 Jun; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
78. What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine by Danielle Ofri, MD (19 Jun; Harvard Book Store)
79. The Dark Road by Ma Jian (19 Jun; Harvard Book Store)
80. Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
81. AIDS at 30: A History by Victoria A. Harden (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
82. Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease by Mark Harrison (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
83. She Came to Stay by Simone de Beauvoir (19 Jun; The Harvard Coop)
84. The Quiet American by Graham Greene (19 Jun; Raven Used Books)
85. Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua (19 Jun; Raven Used Books)
86. Regeneration by Pat Barker (20 Jun; gift book from Caroline)

July:
87. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (4 Jul; Amazon Kindle e-book)
88. My Struggle: Book Two by Karl Ove Knausgaard (14 Jul; Archipelago Books)
89. The Flying Creatures of Fra Angelico by Antonio Tabucchi (14 Jul; Archipelago Books)
90. The Woman of Porto Pim by Antonio Tabucchi (14 Jul; Archipelago Books)
91. Country Boy by Richard Hillyer (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop)
92. Wreaking by James Scudamore (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop)
93. Perfect by Rachel Joyce (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop)
94. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann (16 Jul; Slightly Foxed Bookshop) ✔
95. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (16 Jul; South Kensington Books)
96. Othello by William Shakespeare (16 Jul; South Kensington Books)
97. The Blue Riband: The Piccadilly Line by Peter York (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop) ✔
98. Fireflies by Shiva Naipaul (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
99. North of South: An African Journey by Shiva Naipaul (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
100. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop) ✔
101. Between Friends by Amos Oz (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
102. The Childhood of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee (17 Jul; Foyles Bookshop)
103. The Amen Corner by James Baldwin (20 Jul; National Theatre Bookshop) ✔
104. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh (20 Jul; Waterloo Bridge stalls, South Bank, London)
105. The Reprieve by Jean-Paul Sartre (20 Jul; Waterloo Bridge stalls, South Bank, London
106. The Night Alive by Conor Mc Pherson (24 Jul; National Theatre Bookshop)
107. The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh (24 Jul; National Theatre Bookshop) ✔
108. East-West: Penguin Underground Lines (24 Jul; Kindle e-book) ✔

August:
109. 419 by Will Ferguson (9 Aug; LTER book)
110. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (9 Aug; The Book Depository)
111. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (12 Aug; Amazon UK)
112. Unexploded by Alison MacLeod (12 Aug; Amazon UK)
113. South to a Very Old Place by Albert Murray (19 Aug; Amazon Kindle book)

2013 reading goals (✔ = completed goal):

1. Booker Prize group
     a. Finish reading the 2012 longlist
          8. Communion Town by Sam Thompson
          9. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
          10. Skios by Michael Frayn
     b. Read the entire 2013 longlist
          1. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
          2. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
          3. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
          4. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
          5. Harvest by Jim Crace
          6. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson
          7. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
          8. The Kills by Richard House
          9. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
          10. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

2. 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature ✔
     a. Finish the shortlist in advance of the award ceremony in late January
          Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
          The Walls of Delhi by Uday Prakash

3. Orange January/July group
     a. Read selected books from the shortlist of the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction (WPF) in advance of the prize ceremony
          Bring Up the Bodies by Hilarly Mantel (read in 2012)
          NW by Zadie Smith (read in 2012)
          Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
     b. Read 8-12 or more books nominated for the Orange Prize or the WPF in any year, or novels written by women which would be eligible for the prize
          Great House by Nicole Krauss
          Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
          The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna
          Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

4. Reading Globally group
     a. Read 3 or more books for each 2013 quarterly challenge
          *Central & Eastern European literature
               Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski
               The Other City by Michal Ajvaz
               Liquidation by Imre Kertész
          *Southeast Asian literature
               Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
               Burmese Days by George Orwell
               The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo
          *Francophone literature
               A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire
               The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal
               Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano
               Massacre River by René Philoctète
               The Return by Dany Laferrière
               Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty by Alain Mabanckou
          *South American literature
     b. Read 6 or more books for the 2012 4th quarter challenge, China & neighboring countries
          Vertical Motion by Can Xue
          Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke
          Pow! by Mo Yan

5. Author Theme Reads group
     a. Read 2-3 books by Simone de Beauvoir

6. Literary Centennials group
     a. Read books by Albert Camus throughout the year
          A Happy Death

7. Patrick White 100th 101st Anniversary challenge
     a. Read at least 1 of the 3 books that I own and was supposed to have read last year

8. Medicine group
     a. Read 12 or more books on medicine, science and public health throughout the year
          1. A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aranson
          2. Palliative Medicine in the UK c. 1970-2010 by Caroline Overy and E.M. Tansey
          3. Childhood Asthma and Beyond by Lois Reynolds and E.M. Tansey
          4. Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre
          5. The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level by Jessica Wapner
          6. The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby

9. African/African American Literature group
     a. Read 20 or more works of fiction from the African diaspora
          1. Big Machine by Victor LaValle
          2. Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman
          3. Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah
          4. All My Friends by Marie NDiaye
          5. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
          6. No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe
          7. The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna
          8. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
          9. The Amen Corner by James Baldwin
          10. A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire
          11. Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano
          12. Massacre River by René Philoctète
          13. The Return by Dany Laferrière
          14. Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty by Alain Mabanckou
          15. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

10. Read Mo Yan group
     a. Read 2-3 books written by Mo Yan
          Pow!

11. Other
     a. Read books longlisted or selected as finalists for these other literary prizes:
          * Wellcome Trust Book Prize (medicine in literature)
               Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
          * National Book Award
          * Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards (African diaspora)
     b. Read more books spontaneously from my TBR collection:
          The Chip-Chip Gatherers by Shiva Naipaul
          Damascus by Joshua Mohr
          The Jokers by Albert Cossery
          Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn
          Bad News by Edward St. Aubyn
          Some Hope by Edward St Aubyn
          A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis

Planned reads for September (subject to change):

Camila Batmanghelidjh and Kids Company, Mind the Child: The Victoria Line - completed
NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names - completed
Helen Bynum, Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis - reading
Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
Molly Caldwell Crosby, The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History - completed
Assia Djebar, Children of the New World - reading
Seamus Heaney, District and Circle - reading
Richard House, The Kills - completed
Abdellatif Laâbi, The Bottom of the Jar
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland
Patrick Leith, A Northern Line Minute: The Northern Line - completed
Yan Lianke, Lenin's Kisses
Alain Mabanckou, Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty - completed
Albert Murray, The Hero and the Blues
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being - completed

The image in the first message is from an album cover designed by Jim Flora for RCA Victor in 1955. Jim Flora wrote and illustrated 17 children's books, illustrated magazines, and illustrated jazz album covers during the 1940s and 1950s, including this Benny Goodman album:

Today's LT meet up in NYC began at Book Culture, a superb academic and general bookshop on 112th St between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is affiliated with nearby Columbia University. Jane, Judy and Jim bought only one book each. I, on the other hand, showed my usual lack of restraint and bought eight books:

Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou (a gift for my mother)
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
The Sculptors of Mapungubwe by Zakes Mda
Hypothermia by Álvaro Enrigue
Operation Massacre by Rodolfo Walsh
Rice: Poems by Nikky Finney
We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement by Akinyele Omowale Umoja
Unprecented: The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare by Josh Blackman

From there we took the 1 subway to 86th St station and walked to Jacob's Pickles, a Southern themed restaurant on Amsterdam Ave between 84th & 85th St, where we met Katherine, Peg and Zoë; Bob and Suz joined us later.

Here are the photos I took; Zoë took several others.



Left to right: Jane (janepriceestrada), Peggy (plt), Bob (vpfluke)



Left rear to right front: Bob, Katherine (qebo), Jim (magicians_nephew), Judy (ffortsa)



Left to right: Suz (Chatterbox), Zoë (_Zoe_)

It was a very busy and lively restaurant, and I think we all enjoyed our meals. I had the salmon platter, a Southern variation that consists of smoked salmon, cream cheese, onions, etc. on a biscuit pancake in place of a bagel, cheese grits, and Abita root beer.

Jane decided to get pickles to give to friends of hers, and I thought I would get some, too. I thought I had ordered a jar of four different pickles; however, our waiter brought a large bag which contained five jars of pickles (one jar served as lagniappe, since the restaurant was out of one type of pickle). So, my parents and I will be eating little more than pickles for the next week; all recipes containing pickles, including stews, soups, cakes and pies, would be greatly appreciated.

From there we walked to a secondhand bookshop (name?) on Broadway near 81st Street, and we all went our separate ways from there. It was a short meet up, but a very enjoyable one, on a perfect late summer Sunday afternoon in NYC.

Yesterday's Guardian Review featured a lengthy and very good interview of Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries, which is my favorite book from this year's Booker Prize longlist:

Eleanor Catton: 'I'm strongly influenced by box-set TV drama. At last the novel has found its screen equivalent'

The shortlist for this year's prize will be announced on Tuesday, and the winner on October 15th.

Gee, kidzdoc, sounds like you're in a bit of pickle. ;)

Love the Benny Goodman album cover!

Sounds like a great meet-up, and I love the Mambo for Cats album cover!

I love the Mambo for Cats cover too!

Definitely so, avidmom!

We did have a very nice time, Roni. I'm glad that you, avidmom and Rhian like these album covers. I saved the first image after I first saw it last year, as I knew I would want to use it to open a thread. I love some of the art work and photography of some of the jazz album covers of the 1950s and 1960s, and I'll post my favorites here in the future.

Thanks for sharing your meet-up story and photos, Darryl.

Happy new thread, with that beautiful album cover. Yeah, cats!

Happy new thread, Darryl, and thanks for sharing the meet-up with us!

Great new thread, Darryl. I love Mambo for Cats and the meetup photos! Will be curious to see what you think of The Kills.

>12 wilkiec: You're welcome, Diana. I'm glad that you enjoyed the album cover, too.

>13 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie. We had a nice time, although it was one of the shorter group meet ups I've attended.

>14 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. I'm glad that the Mambo for Cats album cover has been so popular. According to AllMusic, the best thing about the album was the cover, as the music was not particularly memorable.

The second book of The Kills has become a slog, although I did like the first book. I have 600 pages left to go, so I hope that the rest of the novel starts to improve soon. I hope to finish it by Wednesday at the latest.

BTW, the Booker Prize shortlist will be announced at 10:30 am BST (5:30 am EDT) tomorrow. I expect to see The Luminaries, Harvest, TransAtlantic and The Testament of Mary among the final six novels. I'm less sure about the other two, but I'll choose The Spinning Heart and The Lowland. Once I know what books are on the shortlist I'll focus on those books first, and save the longlisted novels I haven't read for last.

Strand Book Store in NYC, as I had hoped, does have half price advance review copies of The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri on sale (the hardcover and e-book editions won't be released in the US until September 24th). I reserved a copy online, and I'll pick it up when I return to the city on Wednesday.

Lovely new thread, Darryl. The jazz cover art is so bright and cheerful. I see you are reading some Seamus Heaney poetry. I heard a nice tribute to him on NPR at the beginning of the month. Sorry to say, I have never read any of his works. Your NYC meet up may have been short, but it looks like it drew quite a few people. Thanks for the photos, it's always so nice to put a face with a name.

Happy new thread, Darryl. Thanks for sharing the NYC meetup-pics!

I ended up quite liking the 2nd part of "The Kills" once I had gotten used to the time jumps and had grudgingly accepted the issue I complained about on the book thread in the Booker group.
However I don't get rid of the impression that the whole thing has been created with the hope to start a cult around it (you'll see what I mean when you're in part 3) and to sell the film rights for it asap. Lots of things imo don't work in this book and I'll certainly lower my rating at some point.

I was positively suprised by The Lowland, it's among my top 4 candidates now.

I want your meal from Jacob's Pillow, Darryl. Do they deliver cross-country?

Sounds like a fun meetup. Thanks for posting the pics.

That's Jacob's Pickles, Joe- or were you funning?

Hi Darryl- Congrats on the Mambo For Cats thread! Always lively around here. It looks like the Meet-Up was another resounding success. I wouldn't mind another Chicago version. I sure hate to wait until next Spring.
I wish there were LTers going to Booktopia, later this month. I'll be surrounded by Good Readers...OMG!

You might luck out, Mark. I think a lot of Good Readers jumped ship when Amazon bought them out and said they now own all the reviews. Many of them moved to LT, so you may find more kindred spirits.

I'll be watching for that Booker list in the morning!

Just picked up Harvest from the library.

Lisa- Good point! Plus, several people I attended the Vermont event with, will also be there, plus my wife and of course Ann & Michael. I don't think I'll get lonely.

"The Kills" is the one Booker nominee that I have zero interest in reading... I'm in a bit of a pickle (pun fully intentional) about the review I owe Amazon for The Lowland, as while I loved the writing, the plot and characters only engaged me in the first third and the final section. The intermediate part felt far too much like a (beautifully written) version of "and then this happened, and that happened, and time passed, and then this occurred." We Need New Names will be my next Booker nominee to be read.

>16 labfs39: Thanks, Lisa. We did have a nice turnout at yesterday's meet up in Manhattan, but it's quite easy to get a group of LTers to meet up in large cities like NYC, Philadelphia or London. Bob (vpfluke) asked me if I truly lived in Atlanta, since I've attended meet ups in several other cities but never in the ATL. After several failed attempts to recruit Atlanta LTers for a meet up I've given up trying to organize anything with anyone there, although I'll participate in one if someone else makes the effort to do so.

I'm glad that you also like the album covers; there will be more to come.

I'll have to listen to the NPR tribute to Seamus Heaney. Emory University in Atlanta, where a good portion of his papers are housed and where he spoke frequently over the past 30 years, is having a tribute to him this week, but I won't return there until Saturday. I'm still working on District and Circle, the first collection of poems by Heaney that I've read, as I haven't done as much reading as I had intended the past week and a half. I'll definitely finish it this week, though.

>17 Deern: Thanks, Nathalie. I'm glad to hear that the second half of The Kills is better. I'm only a few pages into The Kill, book 3 in The Kills, and I'm already enjoying it far more than book 2 (Sutler). Hopefully I'll finish it tomorrow, and The Hit (book 4) on Wednesday.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The Lowland. I'll pick up my copy when I go back to NYC on Wednesday, and I'll start reading it then if it's chosen for the Booker Prize shortlist. I probably won't be awake when the shortlist is announced (at 5:30 am local time), but I'll post it here once I wake up.

>18 jnwelch: Jacob's Pillow Pickles probably doesn't deliver, Joe, but I can definitely send you a jar of the restaurant's pickles if you'd like.

Glad you liked the meet up photos. Zoë should post additional ones soon, if she hasn't done so already.

>19 ffortsa: Jacob's Pillow sounds familiar...

>20 msf59: Thanks, Mark. It was a good meet up, and I'll also get together with a former LTer (Christopher, cwc0411 I think) on Wednesday and with Zoë on Thursday in NYC. Even though my parents live in suburban Philadelphia it's an easy trip from there to NYC by train from nearby Trenton (NJ) station to Penn Station, as the express train normally takes just over an hour.

I'd love to participate in a Chicago meet up in the near future, so keep me in mind if you guys hold one next year.

Where is the Booktopia meet up? Somewhere in Michigan?

>22 tangledthread: Same here, tangledthread. If I'm not awake at 5:30 am I'll post the Booker Prize shortlist ASAP.

I'll be interested to see what you think of Harvest.

>24 Chatterbox: The Kills has been a mixed bag so far, Suz; I'd give 4 stars to Sutler (book 1) and 2-1/2 to The Massive (book 2). If I had to rank it at the halfway point I'd probably place it sixth out of the eight books I read, ahead of only The Spinning Heart and Almost English.

I'd ideally like to read The Lowland next, but I'll put it off until later this month or October if it isn't chosen for the shortilst.

Excited! The shortlist is out soon. I just finished TransAtlantic and loved it. What a writer, I definitely have to read his other Let the Great World Spin asap. Pity I just started the yawn-tastic The Scarlet letter today (out of the need for a little edition to fit in my handbag when I was out).

The meet-up looks like it was fun and food-filled and socially pleasing. Your lack of restraint in book buying is admirable :) I aim to be even more un-restrained at the up coming Rotary Book Sale at the end of the month!

No Collum McCann.....

>28 wilkiec:, 29 Thanks for posting the shortlist here, Diana. I thought that Harvest, The Luminaries and The Testament of Mary would make the cut, and I'm pleased that The Lowland was also chosen. I'm very surprised that TransAtlantic wasn't selected, and that We Need New Names and A Tale for the Time Being were.

I'm halfway through The Kills, which is over 1000 pages in length. I'll probably put it aside for now, and focus on the three shortlisted books I haven't read. I have the Kindle versions of We Need New Names and A Tale for the Time Being and I ordered an advance review copy of The Lowland from Strand Book Store in NYC on Sunday, which I hope to pick up tomorrow.

Official release: Man Booker Shortlist 2013

The Guardian: Bookies' favourite Jim Crace leads shortlist

>27 LovingLit: I'm surprised but not shocked that TransAtlantic wasn't chosen for the shortlist, Megan. I ranked it third, behind The Luminaries and Harvest. Unless The Lowland is absolutely stunning I think one of those two books will win the Booker Prize, which will be announced on October 15th.

I enjoyed Let the Great World Spin, but not as much as TransAtlantic. I thought that TransAtlantic had moments of sheer brilliance, especially the first section about Frederick Douglass, but other sections were considerably less interesting to me.

I'll definitely re-read The Testament of Mary next month, and I'll probably give Harvest a second look as well. On second thought I think I'll continue reading The Kills for now, and start The Lowland once I pick it up from Strand Book Store tomorrow.

Yes, we all had a great time at Sunday's meet up. I think I'm almost always the LTer that shows the least restraint on book buying jaunts, although I think that Deborah (Cariola) bought more books than I during the Philadelphia meet up earlier this year.

As long as you don't drop any books on your repaired foot I hope that you make a killing at the upcoming Rotary Book Sale.

The only one I've read on the list so far is A Tale for the Time Being and I'm surprised that made the cut as well.

>32 SandDune: Assuming that I do get The Lowland tomorrow or Thursday I'll probably make A Tale for the Time Being the last shortlisted novel I read, and I may put it off until I return to London next month, since it's on my Kindle.

Both The Lowland and A Tale for the Time Being should be quick reads, if I remember well I needed just 2 days for each one. Re The Kills: parts 3 and 4 were also quicker reads for me than parts 1 and 2. On the other hand part 4 was so awful that I don't want to coax you into continuing with it. Maybe just read part 3 which is really gripping (it's the story about that basement room in Naples).

Honestly, I'm surprised that The Lowland made the longlist. The writing is astonishingly good, but the characters, as I have said, were strangely flat for much of the book. Harvest and The Testament of Mary are much better books, IMHO, and I'd be happy to see either win. Two books on which I have stalled are TransAtlantic (I've had the NetGalley version since March, and keep re-reading the first 20 pages or so) and Five-Star Billionaire, which I found so turgid that I bogged down halfway through. I started the Ozeki novel, but wasn't in the mood for the kind of narrative that it appeared to be, so set it to one side.

I received an e-mail message from Strand Book Store, which informed me that it cannot fulfill my order because it doesn't have any more ARCs of The Lowland. I'll go there tomorrow to see if any copies are on the shelves in the basement; otherwise I'll buy it when it comes out in two weeks. Assuming that I can't get it I'll finish The Kills, then start reading We Need New Names and A Tale for the Time Being, and read The Lowland early next month.

>34 Deern: Good to hear that A Tale for the Time Being is a quick read, Nathalie. I hope to read We Need New Names on Thu and Fri, and A Tale for the Time Being this weekend or later this month.

I'm enjoying The Kill, book 3 of The Kills, so far. I'm sorry to hear that you didn't like book 4, The Hit, but hopefully I'll blow through it tomorrow. Even though I have ~470 pages to go I can't imagine that it would end up in my six favorites, so it wouldn't have made my shortlist. Right now I'd rank it sixth or seventh out of the eight books I've read, behind Almost English (which will almost certainly end up in last place), and either just ahead of or behind The Spinning Heart.

>35 Chatterbox: I suspect that I'll like The Lowland more than you did, Suz, but I'll definitely keep your comments in mind when I do read it. The two stand out books from the longlist for me are The Luminaries and Harvest, and I doubt that any of the five books I haven't read yet will seriously threaten those two for the top spot on my list.

This year's judges have bucked convention, in their selection of the Booker Dozen and the shortlist. I predict that The Luminaries will garner one more vote than Harvest, which would make Eleanor Catton one of the youngest winners of the Booker Prize.

Darryl, I noted that they had said they were seeking originality in their selections -- whether that means originality of style, topic, structure or something else, I'd say that many of the books on the shortlist qualify. Ozeki's novel has an original structure, Toibin is taking risks with both topic and structure (the novella-ish length), Crace's elliptical style makes his work very original/fresh, at least to me. Although I haven't read it yet, what I have heard about Eleanor Catton's novel strikes me as the same -- an epic historical novel with a different approach -- many points of view, the organizing principle being the zodiac. I'm more curious to read We Need New Names now, just to see what about it might qualify! Not the topic -- there have been a # of such novels of people coming from conflict societies and building new lives -- so perhaps it's the voice.

I still rated Lahiri's novel highly as a work of art, because the prose was so unbelievably good. But I'm beginning to wonder if the short story isn't more her forte -- at times she delivered the total emotional punch that I think of as characteristic of an excellent novel, but then elsewhere fell flat. I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on the middle section -- the bit after the brother who goes to the US to study returns home and then goes back to the US. I won't give you any more info than that, for fear of spoilers! I found the part leading up to that to be compelling reading -- best of breed, really -- but then something happened and all the energy felt as if it had been drained out of it.

>>18 jnwelch:. 19, 25 I screwed up, I wasn't funning, Judy and Darryl. My wife is from the Berkshires, and my mind must have gone to Jacobs Pillow without my realizing it. (Yes, Jacobs Pillow is both a big rock landmark and a performance space in the Berkshires). Oops. Jacobs Pickles. Too bad neither one of them delivers. No need to send the restaurant's pickles, Darryl. It's your meal I wanted. I have to put that on the agenda for our next trip there.

I'm glad The Luminaries and The Lowland made the list, just based on what I've read about them. Can't wait to hear what you think of the Ozeki, as that seems to have gotten a remarkably divided response on LT.

THIS is why I haven't seen your thread lately. Oh!

>37 Chatterbox: Great comments, Suz. I agree with you on the Crace and the Tóibín, and as you said the Catton took a unique approach to the classic historical novel. And, as you said, I'm even more eager to read the Bulawayo than I was before, especially to see how it stands against other recent novels from Africa, including Americanah, and I'm interested to see how the Lahiri compares with similar novels from Asia that I've read recently, namely A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam. I'm a bit more interested in the Ozeki, but only because it made the shortlist.

I'll have to find out what time the prize will be announced in London. Rachael (FlossieT), Heather (souloftherose), Jenny (lunacat) and I have tickets to see Much Ado About Nothing that evening at the Old Vic. Rachael is a huge Eleanor Catton fan, particularly after she read her debut novel The Rehearsal and interviewed her for Belletrista a couple of years ago. Hopefully the prize will be announced after the play has concluded; otherwise the ushers may kick her out of the theatre if she shrieks in joy or screams in anger, depending on the outcome.

>38 jnwelch: I had heard of Jacob's Pillow before, but I couldn't remember where or what it was. I'd definitely recommend going to Jacob's Pickles, but I'd clarify any takeaway orders of pickles.

I'm a bit leery about the Ozeki, given its mixed reviews here and elsewhere, but I should be able to approach it with an open mind.

>39 richardderus: No te entiendo, Ricardo.

I had no idea where your thread had gone...you'd started another and I hadn't noticed. Nothing life-altering!

>41 richardderus: Ah. Te entiendo orita.

I know where to come for Booker talk.
I saw on our morning TV news just now that The Luminaries had made the cut (I was watching for news of the gale force winds we had in the night which caused some loss of power, fallen trees and fires).
It reminded me to come running here for news :)

The Rehearsal is fab. I may have to re-read that soonish.

>43 LovingLit: Yikes, Megan! I hope that you and your family didn't experience any of that wild weather.

I hope that you get to read The Luminaries soon.

>44 Chatterbox: I'll read The Rehearsal for Orange January next year, Suz.

If you enjoy a screaming teenage narrative voice, you will probably like A Tale for the Time Being. Somehow I don't think that's your style. I'm shocked it made the SL. I will get to Harvest in the next couple of weeks. And I want to read The Luminaries because I really like big, sprawling epics. I disliked the only other novel Lahiri wrote, The Namesake but I will probably read her book but I can't imagine it will win. I agree with Suzanne that the short story is more her forte but the judges must see something there.

>46 brenzi: If you enjoy a screaming teenage narrative voice, you will probably like A Tale for the Time Being.

Ack! That definitely isn't my style. I have to read this one, though. I'll hold my nose (and maybe shut my eyes) while I do so.

You know, Darryl, I still can't believe The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry made the Booker longlist last year. I liked it, but not that much.

I love the Mambo Cats cover and the photos you posted of the MeetUp. I sure hope your parents like pickles after you presented them with your NY gift. When in doubt, batter and fry slices of pickles. So glad you all had a great time. I wish I could have joined you. Maybe over the Thanksgiving break or Christmas holidays?

>48 cameling: I agree, Caroline. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was mildly interesting, but it didn't come close to meeting the quality of the rest of the books on last year's Booker Prize longlist.

I'm glad that you like the Mambo Cats album cover and the meet up photos. You would have had a good time, so I'm sorry that you weren't able to join us. I will be off for Thanksgiving, and it's very likely that I'll visit my parents then. So, I'll probably be free on Black Friday should be doable. Maybe we can meet up at Joe's Shanghai for soup dumplings?

Here's the cover of Song for My Father, the 1964 album by Horace Silver on the Blue Note label. It was the first jazz album I ever bought, and it remains one of my all time favorites. And, yes, it does feature Silver's father.

That's a beautiful photograph on the album cover of Song for My Father, Darryl.

Just caught up with the Booker SL. SO DELIGHTED to see both Toibin and Crace on it! (They're the only two I've yet gotten my hands on, and I thought they were both fabulous). I know you also spoke highly of The Luminaries.

Looks like a fun time was had by all. :)

>50 lit_chick: I'm glad that you also like that album cover, Nancy.

I'm with you; I'm pleased that the Tóibín and the Crace were chosen for the shortlist. I've read and enjoyable both, but the Catton remains my favorite Booker novel this year.

>51 TinaV95: Right, Tina.

Daryll, I'm glad I'll be retiring shortly so I will be able to read all the comments here. They do require a lot of time, perhaps should count as a book read!

31> Oh, no, you definitely topped me, as I did not buy a single book in Philly! I opted to avoid the book shop as I had been purging my shelves, and I sat with Belva while she had dinner instead (and we both enjoyed the Bailey's Irish Crème Cheesecake for dessert).

I'm greatly disappointed that TransAtlantic didn't make the Booker short list. I'm reading The Lowland now, and while it is good enough, it is far from stellar. My reaction to it has been much the same as Suz's--the characters just aren't doing much for me. I wonder if Lahiri has a reason for keeping them at such a distance . . . perhaps to reinforce the point of the long-term effects of violence? I have A Tale for the Time Being, but it's not exactly on the top of my "must read" list.

35> I did the same thing with Transatlantic; I found it very hard to get into the first section, which, ultimately, I thought was the weakest in the novel. Once I got past it, the book just blazed along for me.

>53 xieouyang: I agree. Similar to continuing medical education (CME) credits, anyone who reads a thread in its entirety will receive 1 continuing reading education (CRE) credit, which counts as one book in his reading tally.

>54 Cariola: Ah; it must have been someone else who bought more books than I did, Deborah. I suspect that it was Terri.

I'm sorry to hear that The Lowland isn't working for you, either. If I'm able to get it from Strand Book Store tomorrow I may read it this month; otherwise I'll wait until October. I still plan to read the entire shortlist before the prize announcement on Oct 15th, and the longlist by year's end.

>45 kidzdoc: we did experience some wild weather indeed Darryl! No loss of power for us though, or any damage apart from our chimney cap going for a wander.
My mum still has no power (she is 30 minutes drive north of where I live), and my sister had no power internet or phone for the whole day yesterday plus a demolished garden shed. A friends bard was destroyed, and another had the neighbours trampoline straddling their fence.

I don't want to think about book-buying indulgences. Someone needs to de-one-click Amazon before I one-click again.

Darryl - Shanghai Soup Dumplings sound like a good plan for a Black Friday meetup.... unless my in-laws decide to spend T'giving in Cooperstown this year. I hope not because I haven't been in Manhattan for quite a few months now and would like a couple of days to visit my favorite haunts, buy some goodies from Eataly and perhaps do the Highline.

#58: Nooooo.... I love my One-Click .... No taking that away from me! No, no, no, no!

Richard -- we'll just take Amazon off your computer altogether -- no probs! :-)

BACK AWAY FROM THE CHROMEBOOK AND NO ONE GETS DEAD.

I mean, hurt. Hurt. Not dead.

Who the hell am I trying to kid?! DEAD!!

Stay away from my One Click, Richard

Hi Darryl- "Song for My Father" is such a wonderful album. One of the best. Boy, I need to put it on. I haven't listened to it in a couple of years.
I was listening to the current Guardian podcast and they were discussing the Booker List. I have Harvest waiting in the wings and I HAVE to get to The Luminaries but since I am planning on tackling 2666 in a couple weeks, I might have to wait until November.
The Kills sounds very strong too!

I've finally finished The Kill, book 3 (of 4) of The Kills by Richard House, which appears to have absolutely nothing to do with the first two books in this mega-tome, except that it appears to be the crime novel of the same name that was read by several characters in those first two books, Sutler and The Massive. Thankfully the end is in sight, as I have roughly 215 pages to go (I'm on page 789 of 1003). This book felt like a less skilled version of 2666 by Roberto Bolaño as I was reading book 3, so I was interested to see this comment in an interview of Richard House in Litro, which was posted in the Mookse and the Gripes Man Booker Forum:

I read Bolaño’s novel 2666 and was inspired by how an idea can be extended across such a vast landscape. It seemed to me that that kind of enquiry was entirely worthwhile. As a reader I felt I was being engaged and entertained with a thriller, but also given a space where difficult ethical issues were being discussed. I loved how intelligent that was. I wanted to do that – to do something where a reader could be involved in the stories as thrillers, but also able to connect the pieces.

According to Nathalie, book 4 (The Hit) is the weakest of them all. If so, I will agree completely with one member of the Mookse and the Gripes forum, who described the book as "perhaps more 1333 than 2666".

>57 LovingLit: I'm glad that you and your crew emerged relatively unscathed from that storm, Megan.

>58 richardderus: If you won tonight's Powerball jackpot you could do the Amazon 1-Click to your heart's content, Richard.

>59 cameling: A Black Friday meet up at Joe's Shanghai sounds good to me, Caroline. Why don't we tentatively plan to do this, and anyone who can and wants to meet us there can join in.

>59 cameling:-65 *Sits back and munches popcorn while watching Richard and Caroline do battle with each other, again.*

>66 msf59: I couldn't agree more, Mark. I first heard the title track of Song for My Father as an adult in the early 1980s on WRTI, Temple University's radio station, and I bought the album shortly afterward. I wore out two albums, as I couldn't stop playing it, so I was glad when the CD version became available in the late 1980s.

Here's a link to a YouTube recording of Song for My Father: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWeXOm49kE0

I'm impressed that LT has a link for this album!

I think you'll enjoy Harvest and The Luminaries, along with 2666. I wouldn't bother with The Kills (2666 Lite), though; I doubt that it will receive more than 3 stars from me.

>67 kidzdoc: his quote is plausible, but from what you say it sounds like a poorer version of 2666. I will pass. Even though I saw it on the shelf at the library- one hold and all I could think was *wrist ache*!

1 click. Sounds very dangerous.
At least with mine (on Book Depo) I have to add my credit card security number in, and thanks to my slow computer there is plenty of time to bail out if I realise I am being silly.

Currently enjoying the words of Harvest- even if the style is quite distinctive.

A couple of weeks after having finished it I wouldn't even call it "1333", it clearly gets worse in my memory as time passes. I thought it had an interesting concept but was not that well written and in the end the story only worked (if you can call it "working" or "story") with the help of numerous characters doing increasingly stupid things. Absolute top stupidity happens in book 4 where the characters are almost all Germans. Should I feel offended? :-)

1-click is terribly dangerous, I agree. As is the free 3G function my Kindle has.

The Kills was the book that sounded the least interesting of any to me, in large part because it felt as if it was another one of those "great concept" books, in which the story, characters, etc. take a back seat. A pet peeve of mine. So glad you took the bullet on that one... And I love the description of it as "1333" -- or perhaps merely 666.5??

In the slightly modified words of the immortal Roy Orbison (with deep apologies):

It breaks your heart in two
To know he's been untrue
But oh what will you do?
Then he said to you
There's someone new
We're through We're through
It's over It's over It's oooooover

I'm finished with The Kills!!! My nearly two weeks of torture have finally come to an end, and I don't think I've ever been so happy to be done with a book. At 1003 pages it was about 700 pages too long.

Nathalie was right; The Hit, book 4 of The Kills, was terribly written, and it made for a deeply unsatisfying and painful end to a book which as a whole was neither unique nor meaningful and had very little literary merit. The moderately interesting first book, Sutler, is the only thing keeping it from slipping below Almost English for last place on my Booker rank list:

1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
2. Harvest by Jim Crace
3. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
4. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
5. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
6. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
7. The Kills by Richard House
8. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson

Darryl, can Sutler be read just on its own? I got a free copy and am wondering if I should read it or just delete it from my Kindle.

Onward to better books!

I had a pleasant morning in NYC. Zoë and I met for breakfast at Popover Café, one of my favorite restaurants in the city, located on Amsterdam Ave between 86th & 87th Sts in the Upper West Side. I had the Creole scramble, which consisted of three perfectly cooked scrambled eggs with andouille sausage, garlic, onion, horseradish, cheddar & tomato, along with a hot popover with strawberry butter; Zoë had an espresso milkshake. After we parted I went to Strand Book Store in the East Village, as I had hoped to find half price advanced review copies of The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon and Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward, whose novel Salvage the Bones won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2011. Unfortunately it had none of these books, and I didn't find any "must buy" books there, except for two non-fiction books by the recently deceased Albert Murray: The Omni-Americans: Black Experience & American Culture, and The Hero and the Blues.

>69 LovingLit: The Kills was a poor imitation of 2666, Megan. Roberto Bolaño's book was a bit uneven but well done overall, but Richard House's version seemed more like a Muzak version of it. I have no idea what the Booker judges saw in this one, particularly because it was not a unique work. It probably serves best as an exercise tool for your hand, wrist and forearm muscles.



Amazon's 1-Click feature is very dangerous. It allows you to purchase items with a single tap if you've already entered your address and credit card information. Online purchases in general are very convenient, often too much so, but Amazon makes it easy to do major damage to your budget.

I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying Harvest. I'll probably give it another go early next month, to see if it replaces The Luminaries as my favorite book from this year's Booker Prize longlist (although I doubt that it will).

>70 Deern: I completely agree with you, Nathalie; as Suz said in the following message, 666 is more like it. I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who thought its characters were incredibly stupid! And what the heck was the point of book 4, and book 3 for that matter? Richard House should never have tried to imitate 2666, and he should have stopped after book 1.

>71 Chatterbox: You're absolutely right in your assessment of The Kills as a concept novel, Suz. It had essentially no character development, and its plot was uninteresting, if not nonexistent after book 1. I've given it 2-1/2 stars for now, in part because I did like book 1, but that still may be 1/2 star too high.

I do disagree with your statement that I took a bullet in reading The Kills, though; I think Nathalie and I each took a torpedo for the team, if not a small nuclear bomb.

>73 katiekrug: I'd recommend deleting Sutler from your Kindle, Katie. You could read it on its own, but it might tempt you to read the other three books in The Kills, which would be an exercise in futility.

Glad I can take The Kills book off the list. Whew! LOL. I am also looking forward to the new Ward book. I loved Salvage the Bones.

>76 msf59: Definitely strike The Kills from your wish list and memory banks, Mark. Only Booker Prize longlist completists and severe masochists should consider reading this book.

Yum, popovers with strawberry butter... That is exactly what I feel like eating right now. But can't, because they're in NYC and I'm not. Oh well...

....made for a deeply unsatisfying and painful end to a book which as a whole was neither unique nor meaningful
Wow. That must make Almost English a terrible read! I am quite glad I didn't get it now and will remove it from my library WL. What a shame. What are the Booker selection committee thinking!??!

I love hearing what you order when you eat out! (and that you give the address, just in case we are in the area)

Oh dear - two and a half stars for a book that long is not good. I've had a couple of two and a half star ratings recently but at least they were short. I don't think I'll be reading The Kills anytime soon.

>78 Chatterbox: I would have enjoyed going to the Popover Café this past Sunday, Suz, but after we passed by it on our way from Book Culture and saw the long line of people extending outside the door I knew that we had no chance of getting a table for eight at that time, especially since it doesn't take reservations.

Zoë and I walked right in yesterday morning, as it was less than half full at 9 am on a weekday.

>79 LovingLit: I wouldn't be surprised if The Kills drops below Almost English on my final rank list, Megan, mainly due to its length. At least Charlotte Mendelson's book was a short means of literary torture, which took no more than two days to read, but it took me 13 days to finally kill The Kills. And, instead of finishing strong, the book ended with some of the most insipid and juvenile dialogue I've ever read in a Booker Prize nominated novel, such as this excerpt from pages 926-927:

He's ready for her after the lesson when she comes out of the building. Rike looks quickly up and down the street as if she might be ready for him also. As soon as she passes by the café he steps forward, strides, in pace, right behind her.
   'Take the book.'
   She turns to face him, rolls her eyes. 'You again.'
   'Take the book.'
   'No.'
   'Take it.'
   'No.'
   'Take it. Take it. Take it. Take it.'
   She doesn't respond. In fact, she's not even bothered by him. She isn't threatened at all.
   'Take the book. Take the book. Take the book.'

Argh! Take the &^%#(ß≈ book already!!!

I'm amazed that he didn't drop to the pavement and have a temper tantrum when she refused to take the book. I'm even more surprised that I didn't have one after I read this extraordinarily painful segment.

I have absolutely no idea what the Booker committee saw in this book, and I seriously doubt that any of the members read it in its entirety. I do suspect that one of them is BFF with Richard House, though. I think I'll find the judge who recommended this book when I go to London next month, extend my copy of it to him, and repeatedly ask him to "Take the book" in my most annoying voice.

I'm glad that you like hearing what I eat when I go to restaurants; I love hearing descriptions of meals here, especially the ones posted by Caroline.

>80 SandDune: I'd recommend Almost English over The Kills, Rhian, as that book is over 700 pages shorter.

I can resist One-Click because I'm so obsessed with making sure I've bought enough books to get free shipping! Of course, sometimes I just have to buy an additional book to qualify!

That quote is a great example and brings back painful memories, I was aggressive throughout that 4th part and hoped all characters would just die, which some of them later did, just 200 pages too late. Can you believe that woman walked through that door after having read the book?? Can you believe they never had the locks changed??

I don't know if you read the extremely positive Guardian review? One of the commentators said he doubted anyone of the magazine critics had fully read the book. A Times critic answered back angrily and then the first poster delivered a list of examples for the bad writing from the book's first 50 pages. That was when I realized that even book 1 is badly written, but at that point the story is still promising which makes a bit of a difference.

I think in the end I rated it with 3.5 stars mainly because it feels like a proof of time wasted to rate such a long book negatively. And as I was the first here to read it I thought it was maybe just me and not the book... :-)

I can accept books 1 and 2 as mediocre ... what is the genre? Thrillers? Part 3 as an okay stand-alone dark mystery. But part 4 should never have been published and it is unrelated enough to 1-3 that the publishing house could have refused it.
2.5 stars sound good...

>82 rebeccanyc:: making sure I've bought enough books to get free shipping!
Oh, but if you're subscribed to Amazon Prime, you can one-click and one-click and one-click and it all ships free. A very dangerous combination!

Thanks for sparing me from The Kills, Darryl. I would have been put off by the length and would only have read it if someone here loved it. Now I can put it completely out of my mind.

>84 lauralkeet: Laura, Having 7 grandchildren, Amazon Prime is oh so worth it. At Christmas time it saves me loads of money, and I can usually find the things I want to buy cheaper than I can find it anywhere else. But with one-click, I always make sure that it is also Prime eligible. It really is dangerous for my credit card.

They keep trying to sell me Amazon Prime, but I've resisted so far.

>86 rebeccanyc: Rebecca, Just as an example. I bought a new tv. It was on sale, I didn't pay shipping, and it arrived the next day.

I confess to getting the free trial of Amazon Prime, ordering a big ticket item, then cancelling.

You temptresses, you!

>82 rebeccanyc:, 84-89 I joined Amazon Prime earlier this year.

>83 Deern: I could barely stomach reading book 4 of The Kills, Nathalie, due to the tiresome dialogue and story line, which seemed to be irrelevant to the rest of the book, so I may have missed a lot of details (or not).

I did read that interview in the Guardian, but I didn't read the comments that followed. I was interested to see that the Times reviewer was John Self, who was one of the most active members of the former Discussion Forum in the Booker Prize's web site, which was disbanded after he, KevinfromCanada, and others began to post vitriolic comments and occasional personal attacks, which caused some people to leave the group and the site's moderator to step in to break up online fights. Most of the more active members have moved onto the Mookse and the Gripes Booker Forum. I'm a member of this forum, but I only post my longlist and shortlist rank orders there, as I don't want to get caught up in these unpleasant discussions, such as the one that Self posted in response to the person who made that comment beneath the Guardian review.

After reading that commenters comments and yours I'm going to drop my rating of The Kills further, to 2 stars for now, and I will rank it last, due to its length and awful last half. I didn't think that any book could drop below Almost English, but reading those comments about book 1, combined with the inordinate amount of time I wasted reading it, made me realize that it is one of the worst Booker nominated novels I've ever read. The Testament of Jessie Lamb still holds the "Worst Booker novel" title, though.

>84 lauralkeet: You're welcome, Laura. My father enjoys well written action novels by Tom Clancy and others, and I told him that he should avoid this book, which I'll leave at my parents' house for now. I'll review it later today, after I return from my endoscopy.

We've had Prime for quite a while. I love it. You can also link accounts for other family members, so our daughters also benefit from the subscription. We live a good 45 minutes from major shopping sources (ie a mall), so we use Amazon for all kinds of things besides books: printer ink, socks, knitting needles, kitchen items, etc. etc.

...wait...I thought Snowdrops was the worst Booker book ever. I remember much much contumely being heaped upon it. The Kills is even below that?! Cheepers. And since "Roberto Bolaño" is Mexican Spanish for "David Foster Wallace" in my dictionary, I can't see calling the latter an hommage to 2666 as a good thing.

>91 lauralkeet: We live a good 45 minutes from major shopping sources (ie a mall)

My parents, on the other hand, live a few minutes away from Oxford Valley Mall, and no more than 15 minutes away from Neshaminy Mall, close to my old high school (Neshaminy). Are you sure that you live in suburban Philadelphia and not in the middle of an isolated pumpkin patch in Maryland, Laura?

>92 richardderus: No, The Testament of Jessie Lamb was and still is my worst Booker nominated novel of all time, followed closely by Me Cheeta, which I couldn't finish, and Snowdrops, which I did. The Kills is over 1000 pages long, and unfortunately I decided to plow onward and read it in its entirety (although I largely skimmed the last 200 pages), hoping that it would eventually prove to be a worthwhile read. Wrong. So, because of its length, I would rank The Kills below Snowdrops.

If the author had concluded this omnibus at the end of book 1, Sutler, I would have given it at least 3-1/2 stars. Book 2, The Massive, was a 3 star read, but book 3, The Kills, was probably worth 2-1/2 stars, and The Hit wouldn't get any more than 1-1/2 stars from me. Let's see...that's a total of 10-1/2 stars, for an average of just over 2-1/2 stars. I've deducted 1/2 star for now, as a penalty for the lack of connection between the four books, and I may knock off another 1/2 star later.

I, on the other hand, did like 2666, although I haven't enjoyed any of Bolaño's books nearly as much.

All I see in Roberto Bolaño's books is self-congratulatory blither-blather. As I am an old grump, this should surprise no one. Sly, sidelong looks at the audience belong in French bedroom farces, not 1000-page forest-killing, soul-withering word salads.

>95 richardderus: All I see in Roberto Bolaño's books is self-congratulatory blither-blather.

IMO that would be an apt description for The Savage Detectives, a book which I was unable to finish. Bolaño is one of the most highly overrated authors of recent years (along with your beloved Jonathan Franzen), especially in comparison to the superb South American authors of his generation, but I still enjoyed 2666.

Amazon one-click is personally responsible for my overloaded Kindle books. I, of course, bear no responsibility at all. Corporate America is out to get us all;-)

I couldn't finish The Savage Detectives either Darryl.

I got The Kills out from the library when the Booker longlist first came out and after a couple of days looking at the size of it decided that it was better off back at the library.

Thanks for saving me some time on The Kills, Darryl. Seems there are always a couple of Booker choices, the appeal of which escapes me entirely.

The Kills is one of the Booker nominees that I did not put on my wish list--the blurb just didn't engender enough interest to make me want to read something that long. I have nothing against long books--but they had darn well better be worth it.

It's kind of like when my students ask if their essays can go over the page limit. My answer is always, yes, but make sure that it's really necessary. Eliminate the filler and repetition and digressions and make sure that what you are adding is essential.

Funny how, after that, they rarely go more than a few lines over the limit.

>97 brenzi: Amazon one-click is personally responsible for my overloaded Kindle books. I, of course, bear no responsibility at all.

I agree completely, Bonnie, and I suspect numerous other LTers would concur with that statement.

The Savage Detectives was overblown, and there was far too much navel gazing to hold my interest to the end.

>98 avatiakh: I bought The Kills from the London Review Bookshop the same afternoon that the Booker Prize longlist was announced, after I found out that it wasn't available in the US. My inner completist insisted that I should finish it, which was a mistake. Several of the commenters in the Mookse and the Gripes forum did like it, but it is currently ranked ninth among the 13 longlisted titles there. Here's the most recent longlist ranking from that forum:

1. Harvest by Jim Crace
2. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
3. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
4. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
5. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
6. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
7. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
8. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
9. The Kills by Richard House
10. The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris
11. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
12. Unexploded by Alison MacLeod
13. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson

I was surprised that The Testament of Mary was ranked so low.

There hasn't been a tally for the shortlist yet, but Harvest appears to be the leading choice so far.

>99 lit_chick: You're welcome, Nancy. I completely agree; since I started following the Booker Prize in 2007 there is always at least one book that has been a curious choice for the longlist, IMO:

2012: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
2011: The Testament of Jessie Lamb; Snowdrops; Half Blood Blues; Jamrach's Menagerie
2010: C
2009: Me Cheeta
2008: Child 44
2007: The Gathering

>100 Cariola: I agree, Deborah. Some of my favorite books have been tomes, including Wolf Hall, Don Quixote, The Luminaries and others, but The Kills was not worth the effort.

Book #81: The Kills by Richard House

   

My rating:

This omnibus consists of four books, which were released separately before this version was published. In book 1, Sutler, the main character is introduced: he is Stephen Lawrence Sutler, a British civilian contractor who works for HOSCO International, which builds facilities primarily in the Middle East and Asia, and is funded and supported by Western governments. He is sent to Amrah City in Iraq to oversee the conversion of a burn pit, used to incinerate waste from American and British military operations, into a free standing and fully equipped city, albeit one in the middle of the desert that is hundreds of miles away from other sizable cities in that country. Sutler, who uses an alibi given to him by his superior in place of his real name, is injured in an attack on the compound, and is ordered by his boss to make himself scarce, due to shady practices by HOSCO that leads the US and British governments and the media to charge him with the theft of over $50 million. He escapes to Turkey on foot, and begins a most unlikely misadventure that involves two journalists, a university professor capturing the Kurdish freedom movement in Turkey, and the professor's lover and student research assistant.

In book 2, The Massive, the focus is on the operation in Amrah City, along with the sad sack American men who work there. Book 3, The Kill, is a completely unrelated novel that is read by several characters in books 1 and 2, which is a gruesome murder mystery set in Naples in which several characters pay for their incredibly stupid choices with their lives. The last book, The Hit, involves a bizarre search for "Sutler Three", which contains some of the most insipid dialogue I've ever read in a Booker Prize nominated novel, such as this excerpt:

He's ready for her after the lesson when she comes out of the building. Rike looks quickly up and down the street as if she might be ready for him also. As soon as she passes by the café he steps forward, strides, in pace, right behind her.
   'Take the book.'
   She turns to face him, rolls her eyes. 'You again.'
   'Take the book.'
   'No.'
   'Take it.'
   'No.'
   'Take it. Take it. Take it. Take it.'
   She doesn't respond. In fact, she's not even bothered by him. She isn't threatened at all.
   'Take the book. Take the book. Take the book.'

The book is supplemented by online video and audio content, which is meant to provide insight into the characters' lives outside of the book's text.

In an interview, House mentions that he was inspired by Roberto Bolaño's novel 2666, a long work that consists of four major sections, and this book appears to be an attempt to duplicate its structure. Unfortunately it doesn't come close to 2666, as it is nearly completely devoid of any coherent plot or significant character development, and it is filled with uninteresting and at times poorly written dialogue that must make Bolaño spin madly in his grave at the thought of this book being compared to his. The last two books were almost completely irrelevant to the first two, and the supplemental multimedia content was an unnecessary diversion that added nothing to my appreciation of the novel.

The Kills is a curious and disappointing choice for this year's Booker Prize longlist, and at just over 1000 pages it was a complete waste of time, money and paper, making it one of the worst Booker nominated novels I've ever read.

One click = bad news for me

Thank you, Darryl. You saved me from reading The Kills. There's one other tome I can safely skip ;-)

>103 TinaV95: Same here, Tina.

>104 wilkiec: You're welcome, Diana. To be fair, The Kills does have its fans, along with several positive reviews in the British press. However, I'm not a fan of genre fiction (thrillers, SF, fantasy, etc.), so other readers may like it far better than I did. I don't think it was well written enough to warrant consideration for the Booker Prize, though.

>93 kidzdoc:: Are you sure that you live in suburban Philadelphia and not in the middle of an isolated pumpkin patch in Maryland, Laura?

It all depends on who I'm talking to, Darryl. If I'm away from home or interacting with geographically diverse groups like this one, I say I live "near Philadelphia". But the pumpkin patch in Maryland is actually not far away. While I live in Pennsylvania, it's just a few miles from the borders of both Delaware and Maryland, and I actually work in Delaware. Here's New London Township on the map.

>106 lauralkeet: I didn't realize that you lived that far away from Philadelphia, Laura! It looks as though you're almost as close to Baltimore as you are to Center City. I'm completely unfamiliar with that area, but I understand that it's beautiful and very peaceful, whereas Middletown Township (where my parents live) is becoming increasingly more congested, due to the malls, businesses and major thoroughfares (they live very close to the intersection of I-95 and US 1, and not far from the PA Turnpike). I'm sure your commute to and from work is a pleasant one as well.

Is there room in your nearby pumpkin patch for a wayward pediatrician?

ETA: Boiler up! Beat Notre Dame! (I hate ND.)

Superb review of The Kills, Darryl. Take the book. Take it. Take it. Take it. Take it. Puh-lease! *rolls eyes*

That "take it" scene is a screenplay exchange lifted from and slapped into a novel. An actor could make that work as creepy and menacing; on the page it's annoying as hell and should've been recast for the prose medium.

Memo to authors: Don't repurpose between spoken and read media. It doesn't work.

>108 lit_chick: Thanks, Nancy. That was one of the most cringe worthy book excerpts I've ever read.

>109 richardderus: Ah; that makes sense, Richard.

>81 kidzdoc: I think I'll find the judge who recommended this book when I go to London next month, extend my copy of it to him, and repeatedly ask him to "Take the book" in my most annoying voice.
LOL
That is a brilliant idea.

I'm locking The Kills after Natalie and Darryl's disastrous experience. It will be in good company with Child 44 which I totally regretted reading.

I found myself quite liking child 44 for what it was -- which wasn't a literary novel belonging on the Man Booker longlist or shortlist.

I'm a fan of Amazon Prime. Now that I'm in Providence, I can combine that with the discount if you order repeat items once a month and bulk order cat food for about 20% less than I can buy it for in the stores, and have it delivered in two days for free. I've had air conditioners delivered for free, etc. And I also get free access to some movies/TV shows via the Roku. So over the course of the year, I'm more than getting my money's worth from it. I'm ordering far fewer books than I once did, but it's nice to know that I don't have to bring the order up to $25 to get free shipping.

All good things must come to an end (must they?). I flew back to Atlanta last night, after a very pleasant and relaxing two week visit at my parents' house. We didn't take any trips, as my mother was ill with bronchitis and an asthma flare up, but we enjoyed each other's company. My mother was fighting back tears when I left yesterday, and it is becoming progressively more difficult to leave on my visits, knowing that it will be at least a couple of months before my next visit and because we don't know how much more time we'll have together. The pull to relocate from Atlanta back to the Northeast grows ever stronger, and I suspect that in the next two or three years I'll make the move back home.

Earlier this morning I finished Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty by Alain Mabanckou, his latest novel to be translated into English, which was a perfect antidote for the literary soul sapping experience of The Kills. I'll review it later today or tomorrow.

>111 LovingLit: Unfortunately I can't carry out that plan next month, Megan, as I left my copy of The Kills at my parents' house. My father may give it a try, to see if he liked it more than I did, but I seriously doubt that he'll read all 1000+ pages of it.

>112 cameling: That's a perfect place for The Kills and Child 44, Caroline! Can I put The Testament of Jessie Lamb and Me Cheeta in there, too?

>113 Chatterbox: I expect Booker Prize nominees to represent the best of literary fiction in a given year, so I'm very disappointed when a book that doesn't meet that standard is chosen for the longlist, because I've wasted my time on a book that has no interest to me, and because a more deserving book was left off and its author didn't receive the acclaim that he or she deserved. In my admittedly narrow opinion there is (and should be) room for books like Child 44, The Kills and Snowdrops to receive recognition, but the Booker Prize is not the proper place for them.

It's tough when parents get older, Darryl, and you're certainly more devoted to yours than many people who live a lot closer to their parents than you do.

My partner who I share an office space with posted this message on her Facebook page yesterday, in regard to the mother of a child she is caring for in the hospital this weekend.

Never a dull moment at work.

A parent refuses to believe her son with fever and bloody diarrhea has salmonella enteritis, despite me showing her the positive stool culture results, because, in her words, "he ain't ate no chicken." I explain why that doesn't rule out salmonella (yes, I explain even though I've already shown her the culture results proving the diagnosis). She's been on google so she wants me to "check him for that dengue fever." {Dengue fever is a tropical illness that is essentially nonexistent in the US except for the southern tip of Texas.} Another long explanation as to why he does not have dengue fever. Then she tells me again it's not salmonella and "you need to get an ultrasound and look at his insides." By now I've run out of patience because we had a similar conversation the day before, so I ask "what are you looking for on the ultrasound?" Her reply "what you mean?" "Well, I've given you my diagnosis and you disagree, before I order an ultrasound I need to know what I'm looking for and how it will change my management."

Blank stare......."well I guess he got salmonella then."

My parents and I sputtering and coughing with laughter at this post, along with this reply from one of my favorite nurses: "How dare you question a Google medical degree!!!"

The profound level of ignorance of some people in the ATL can be mind boggling.

LOL! Haha! Too funny. Seriously. How dare you question Google?! Blasphemy! ;)

I learned a few summers ago to not google symptoms ....
By the time I got to a decent doctor ('cause I fired my old one), the internet's differential diagnosis for my pain was, let's see if I can remember 'em all: diabetes, MS, MD, fibromyalgia, oh, and cancer! That last one always shows up. I finally diagnosed myself with "acute internetitis," took a Tylenol, renewed my common sense and let the doctor decide.

Google is great for medical degrees, non? LOL.

Exerpts from The Kills don't prod me to seek it out I must say. Daytime soap dialogue it seems.

I did eat chicken today mate and I ain't got no salmonella.

Have a great Sunday.

Btw I loved Child 44 and (sorry) I liked Snowdrops but agree that neither were in any way deserving of a Booker longlist.

I know you didn't like Three Men in a Boat, but I did think one of the funniest scenes in it was the character who read a medical book and diagnosed himself with all the diseases -- Google is only the latest incarnation.

Hi Darryl, I've been lurking recently, and may have left off commenting on the NYC meetup. Looks like you all had fun, but in a way I was relieved when you mentioned it being one of the shortest meetups you've attended, because I felt justified in my decision not to attempt extending my line of credit for such a short affair, even though I'm sure seeing some of you face to face would have been worthwhile for sure.

Thank you for panning The Kills. I'm always happy to eliminate a book from my potential reads, all the more so when it's using up so much tree pulp. Speaking of which, when are you getting Lonesome Dove? ;-)

That exchange between your partner and the parent is priceless. Google can be a dangerous place with too much information of little relevance. I agree with Rebecca that the scene she describes from Three Men in a Boat was among the funniest. I remember taking a psychology course in college; one of the first things we were warned about was that we'd all be convinced we had each of the mental afflictions we covered during the course and that it was a normal reaction that we shouldn't take seriously.

My youngest tells me I'm a danger to myself because I know a little bit (emphasis on the little bit) about medicine now. And a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Forgot to mention I started on Harvest last night and really loving it so far, though am only 3 or 4 chapters in. I've seen some comments about the style being unusual, but I guess I haven't gotten far enough into the story to see evidence of that.

eta: fixed touchstone

LOL ... love the Google diagnosis story, Darryl. On the other hand, I think it's a nice change that this mother took the time to try and understand her son's illness, even if it's an odd second opinion to rely on. I'm sure you come across some parents who are neglectful of their child's health and don't always want to know what's wrong with them as long as doctors are there to cure them and cure them quick.

Darryl- Sorry to see the vacation come to a grinding halt. Hope you are relaxing today and watching some quality football. That Bears/ Vikings game was a wacky circus, but never boring and I loved the finale.

Bwahahaha re the google diagnosis. A little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing! (Well, that when combined with a complete absence of the ability to reason from A to B...) But what Caro notes is indeed significant -- the woman clearly wants the best care possible, and to understand what is going on. And there is enough out there about poorly-understood maladies (fibromyalgia?) that she may have heard to be skeptical of a diagnosis even when she has no grounds for that skepticism. It's our educational system...

I know we've had this discussion before, but... it's the judges who are chosen who interpret the mandate to choose what they consider to be the best of literary fiction. We may disagree, but ultimately (unless it's something absurd like James Patterson, Danielle Steele, etc.) there will always be those whose views of this differ. Personally, I don't think any one of us has been awarded the gift of perfect insight into the best of breed literary fiction -- we all come at the question with a set of preferences and preconceptions and have subjective responses to individual works. Given that you have had these disappointments, why focus so much on reading longlists/shortlists, and end up feeling frustrated? Why not winnow 'em down to those that you think are most likely -- based on your prior experience with a certain kind of book -- to be rewarding or interesting? For instance, I'd never suggest that you pick up any kind of literary suspense novel or a novel (however well written) that is written by a North American or British female writer focusing primarily on domestic experiences. I'd be surprised if you liked Unexploded, for example, and I think you would loathe The Marrying of Chani Kaufman, although I think that the former is better written than We Need New Names, based on what I have read in the latter thus far. (The theme of the latter is much more ambitious, however.) That's why I avoided The Kills: it struck me as the kind of novel I had zero interest in reading, since the concept seemed more important to the author than the basics of plot/character/writing, all of which I want to be present.

Ilana -- glad you are liking Harvest -- I was fascinated by it and now want to seek out some more novels by Jim Crace to read. Not sure what to start with, though. What is it that people find unusual about the style? The thing that struck me most was how elliptical Crace is when it comes to setting the story in time and place -- there's an almost 200-year timespan in which it COULD fit, although I'm betting it's the mid/late 16th century. (Too few references to God; that's when enclosure was a big issue) And it may even be the early 17th century, when an emphasis on fighting witchcraft became big under James I. Anyone else who has read it have any thoughts??

Just saw on The Daily Beast's Twitter feed that the Booker will no longer exclude Americans, starting next year.

Wow, that will be interesting! Although, in some ways, a bit disappointing. I liked the fact that by excluding such a large percentage of books published in English, it enabled the judges to look further afield in places that might otherwise be overlooked by readers here in the US & the UK -- Ireland, swathes of Africa, New Zealand, India. Some authors will always get an audience and be reviewed; what I'm most excited about is the newer folks that pop up on the list, or the lesser known names. I hope that including Americans doesn't mean will get more of the safe choices -- the established writers -- and fewer risky picks.

I'm 2/3 of the way through We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo, which was selected for this year's Booker Prize shortlist on Tuesday. With less than 100 pages to go I'll almost certainly finish it tonight. It's an okay read so far, but nowhere near as good as Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which several of us were disappointed to see excluded from this year's longlist. It's looking like a 3-1/2 star book at the moment.

The Sunday editions of the Times and the Independent are reporting that the Man Booker Prize administrators are planning to allow novels by authors from the US to become eligible for next year's prize. There hasn't been any confirmation of this on the prize's web site, though, and the person who mans the @ManBookerPrize Twitter account is also unaware of this decision. The Times article is not available to non-subscribers, but here's a link to the Independent article:

Shock as Man Booker prize plans to accept works by American writers

If this story turns out to be true, I think it would be a terrible decision by the prize's administrators. The Booker would lose its unique standing as the award for the best literary novel from Great Britain and the Commonwealth nations, and it would be, from what I understand, indistinguishable from the forthcoming Folio Prize (the new name for The Literature Prize, which was announced during the 2011 Booker Prize fiasco). Including American authors would mean that the judges would have to read even more books than they already are, or that some previously considered titles would no longer be considered; my fear would be that books by small and independent publishers would be squeezed out in favor of ones from the larger publishing houses.

I'm curious to see what the rest of you think.

ETA: I see that Katie has already posted a message about this announcement, and that Suz has replied to it. Let the conversation begin.

>117 avidmom: Right, avidmom. Who needs doctors when you have the Internet?

I learned a few summers ago to not google symptoms ....

To be fair, I should mention that one of my partners, who has been in practice for over 30 years, successfully used Google at least once to make a diagnosis of a particularly puzzling case. She performed a search on the child's three or four most prominent symptoms, and it pointed her to an obscure condition (I think a genetic disorder) that neither she nor I had heard of. She mentioned it to at least one subspecialist, who doubted that the child had that condition. My partner ordered one or more diagnostic tests, and it turns out that was exactly what the child had. I think there was an article in one of the major medical journals, which also mentioned the use of Google to assist in diagnosing particularly difficult cases; I'll look for that article during the week.

It's not at all unusual for parents and relatives of a hospitalized child to research their child's illness, whether it's a common or rare one. However, the vast majority of these parents are able to sift through information and eliminate conditions that would be highly unlikely, such as dengue fever. A common saying in medicine is "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras", meaning that common conditions, such as salmonellosis, which we see routinely in the summer months, are far more likely to be the cause of an illness than unusual ones, such as dengue fever.

When I was in my second year of medical school I developed extreme dizziness with slight head movement and vomiting that began after an exam on Friday and lasted through the weekend. I went to class on Monday, although I had a difficult time walking unassisted and had to be driven to the university by a classmate. Several of my classmates suggested that I had an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumor that could cause these symptoms, as we had recently studied that condition. Needless to say I was less than encouraged by their diagnoses, but I didn't realize until much later that second year medical students (except for those who were previously health care providers) have as much medical knowledge as the average village idiot (and probably less than the mother I mentioned earlier). A couple of them accompanied me to the dean's office, and when I told her secretary the symptoms I was having, she thought that it could be an inner ear infection, as her grandson had had a very similar illness recently. Naturally my classmates curtly dismissed her "diagnosis", implying that she was only a secretary and not a brilliant medical student, as we thought we were (I was secretly hoping she was right, though). So, after I saw an internist and an ENT specialist that afternoon, you can probably guess who was right. My classmates, still sure of their astute diagnostic abilities, insisted that the secretary made a lucky guess.

We teach the medical students and attendings to listen closely to the parents' account of their child's illness (known as the History of the Present Illness), as studies have shown that 80-85% of the time they will tell you what the child has; the sudden onset of fever and bloody diarrhea is almost always due to bacterial enteritis, with Salmonella being at the top of that list. The parents, especially mothers, who are far more likely to know the exact chronology of the child's illness than most fathers, don't have to have a particular level of education to be able to do this, and often times it's easier to get the story from a parent of modest education, rather than one who overthinks their child's illness and sends the medical staff on a wild goose chase.

>118 lit_chick: Right, Nancy. Apparently that mother earned a GMD (doctorate in Google medicine), although I suspect that she barely made it through high school.

>119 PaulCranswick: I expect to see an American movie or television series based on The Kills, Paul. It has Hollywood written all over it.

I'm glad that you ain't got salmonellosis, my friend. Watch out for turtles, snakes and iguanas; they can also transmit Salmonella to humans.

I know that several people liked Child 44 and Snowdrops. I'm not a fan of thrillers, so I wouldn't have been the right audience for either book. I'm not as critical of the books as I am the judges who selected them as finalists for the Booker Prize.

>120 rebeccanyc: I completely agree, Rebecca. That was easily my favorite section of Three Men in a Boat.

I loved your story--much time as I've spent in Atlanta, I can easily just hear a mother insisting to you that her child ain't no chicken!

>121 Smiler69: Good point, Ilana. I doubt that any of us were together for more than three hours, as everyone except Zoë and Bob (the only two LTers who went to the used bookshop on Broadway) went their separate ways after lunch. It would be far better to attend a weekend meet up, such as the one we had in Philadelphia in May, or the one in Washington next weekend that coincides with the National Book Festival.

It will be awhile before I get Lonesome Dove! I have a lot of planned reads for the fourth quarter of this year, and I'd like to make some progress on the books I've purchased but haven't yet read this year and in recent ones.

The tendency to diagnose oneself or others is very common in medical students as well, especially in the first two preclinical years when they are in the classroom and not seeing patients, for the most part. It's exciting to think about possible diagnoses such as dengue fever or acoustic neuroma, but the chance of seeing conditions like these are very rare.

>122 avidmom: That also holds true for all health care professionals when it comes to diagnosing themselves, their children or other loved ones. It's not unusual that I take care of a child whose parent is an HCP, and the vast majority of them behave like any other parent and don't try to inject their medical background into the decision making or treatment processes.

>123 Smiler69: I'm glad that you're enjoying Harvest so far, Ilana. It can be read on multiple levels and interpreted in a variety of fashions, but I didn't realize this until after I finished it. I think it's quite enjoyable as a straightforward novel, though.

>124 cameling: Right, Caroline. I love when parents are engaged in their child's treatment plan, as I firmly believe that they and I should work as partners during and after the hospitalization. However, every so often we run across a parent such as that mother, who is playing on a different ball field than we are, and that can make the care of the child extremely challenging and frustrating.

>125 msf59: Surprisingly I didn't watch much football today, Mark. The Falcons-Rams early game was of very little interest to me, and I only watched a little bit of the Manning Bowl, even though I'm a diehard Giants fan, as I wanted to finish We Need New Names today. I may watch a bit of the Sunday night game, depending on who is playing.

I did watch a bit of the Pirates-Cubs game, after I noticed that Francisco Liriano had a no-hitter going into the 6th inning.

Ooh, the 49ers and She-Hawks Seahawks are playing now; I'll have to finish We Need New Names so that I can watch the second half of that game. I'll respond to subsequent messages later tonight.

I'm so glad you didn't have an acoustic neuroma, kidzdoc! That's a funny story but I'm sure it didn't seem like that at the time!

>130 kidzdoc: On my favorite TV show, "Scrubs" one of the doctors had a patient who had been experiencing symptoms for years who he couldn't diagnosis. Dumb luck and Google came to the rescue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_2fk3bqMYw There was also an episode where one of the patient's had mono and had gone into a coma. The doctor's were stumped. It turned out to be he had suffered some blunt force trauma and his spleen had ruptured. One of the nurse's pointed it out but the doctors ignored her - at first. I felt pretty smart that day as I had made the DX at the very beginning of the show. My son had had mono when he was very little (I was pretty shocked when his pediatrician made that diagnosis!) so I had read everything I could at the time about it. Hey, I diagnosed one of the pretend patients in a pretend hospital before the pretend doctors did. Where is my pretend medical degree? ;)

We teach the medical students and attendings to listen closely ...
I wish all doctors would learn that. My sons' pediatrician was always great about listening to me and my kids and answering any questions we had. The doctor I picked for myself was simply based on one of his patient's saying "he listened to me!" And this is true - usually. But the last time I went to see him, after being in bed with a fever for more than week, he simply started asking questions off the ROS. I could almost see the doctor wheels spinning in his brain! If he would have just let me talk, it would have saved us both a lot of time! XD

I should be reading Harvestwithin the next week or so Darryl but I also have his Being Dead on my shelf that I want to read also.

I would rather the Booker didn't include books by American authors. There are enough American Prizes including the Pulitzer and the National Book Award. Would we be subjected to work by Jonathan Franzen or Thomas Pynchon? That would be a travesty. I don't have many American authors that I'm terribly fond of. I have to go read the article you linked to.

I did finish We Need New Names tonight, and I did find it to be rather ordinary and pedestrian in comparison to other novels from the African continent, and especially in comparison to the three other novels I've read from the current Booker Prize shortlist. The first half was far better than the second one, which ended with a whimper. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't one that deserved a place on this year's longlist, nonetheless the shortlist.

Here's my current shortlist ranking:

1. The Luminaries
2. Harvest
3. The Testament of Mary
4. We Need New Names

And, here's my longlist ranking:

1. The Luminaries
2. Harvest
3. TransAtlantic
4. The Testament of Mary
5. Five Star Billionaire
6. The Spinning Heart
7. We Need New Names
8. Almost English
9. The Kills

Given that it's nearly 11 pm I think I'll catch up here tomorrow.

128, 129> I don't think we need to worry about the Booker--anti-American bias will undoubtedly prevail, even if American writers are technically included.

Darryl, sorry you felt you had to spend so much time for such diminishing returns with The Kills. Completist on two counts - nomination list and book finishing. It's much better to eat popovers.

I'm a little surprised you are think of moving back north, although it would certainly be nice to see you more often.

And speaking of doctors who listen, my primary care physician spent an hour and a half with me on Friday, much of it listening and asking follow-up questions. These days, that's an amazing experience for a routine physical.

Hi Darryl - just popping in to catch up and I cannot believe the news about the Booker accepting American books!! Maybe I'm showing my Commonwealth (the British one, not your one) bias but I'd much rather they keep it how it is. (Hmmm...I also sound rather curmudgeonly for 42. Never mind). I just like the grouping of countries at the moment and feel like US books might swamp the longlist - even if they are only say 1/3 of it, that'd be a significant shift. Since I've started following it and the Orange Prize I've found so many great books from the longlists.

And the other thing I wanted to say was how much I am LOVING the Luminaries. 70 pages in and can't wait to see what happens next. Her writing is reminding me of Hilary Mantel a bit - there's so much attention to detail and the thoughts of the lead characters. It's a long time since I picked up a novel by a New Zealand author and didn't feel at least a little like I was doing my duty as a good New Zealander by reading it.

Glad you had a good visit with your parents but sorry to hear your Mum was so sad to see you head back to Atlanta.

>126 Chatterbox: Although I've read some bad books on Booker Prize longlists I've encountered far more new books and unfamiliar authors that I've absolutely loved, as I'm sure that I've mentioned previously, Suz. I enjoy the Booker season, and I'm willing to read a couple of unenjoyable books a year to be able to pick out the gems, such as The Luminaries and Harvest this year, and The Glass Room, The Children's Book, Animal's People and Wolf Hall in previous ones.

>131 whitewavedarling: I cringed when I saw that Facebook message, Jennifer, as it was a painful reminder that I would have to return to Atlanta and potentially have to deal with parents such as this one.

>133 avidmom: Nice story, avidmom; I'll look at that video tonight. ER was in its first season during my third year of medical school, and at least once a story on that show applied to a patient whose case was discussed in morning report or on hospital rounds.

>134 brenzi: I look forward to your comments about Harvest, Bonnie.

I agree with you; there are very few contemporary American authors that I like, and I don't want to see the Booker Prize longlist contaminated with authors like Jonathan Franzen, the most overhyped author of this generation of writers. There still hasn't been an official announcement on the prize's web site or Twitter feed, and the Guardian (which I think is the most reliable London daily newspaper) has nothing about this story in today's online Books section, so I hope that this report is a mistake.

>136 Cariola: I hope that you're right, Deborah, but I hope even more that the Times story is wrong.

>137 ffortsa: Reading The Kills was probably the biggest waste of time and effort I've ever spent on a book that wasn't required for a college course.

I've always known that I would return to the Northeast at some point, Judy, and my partners have known for years that I would relocate once my parents' health became a major issue. My mother also had to get a diagnostic biopsy for a concerning mass last week, so we're hoping that the pathology report, which should be available this week, will be a reassuring one.

>138 cushlareads: I agree, Cushla. I think the inclusion of American authors would dilute and cheapen the Booker Prize, and I'd much rather find out about the best American novels from the list of finalists for the National Book Award and, to a lesser extent, the Pulitzer Prize. I'm curious to see which books are chosen for this week's NBA longlist, although I doubt that I'll read the 10 books in the way that I plan to read the 13 Booker longlisted titles, since I'm nowhere near as fond of American authors.

I'm glad that you're enjoying The Luminaries, and I look forward to read your comments about it.

I was a bit down in the mouth yesterday about leaving my parents on Saturday, and worried about my mother's biopsy report and declining health. I was thinking about moving back to the Northeast in 2015 or 2016, but I might consider relocating there as early as next year, depending on how the next 6-9 months go.

Gotta run; I'll check back in tonight after work.

On the subject of the Booker including American authors ... Twitter was all abuzz about this but the official Man Booker twitter posted, "There are some changes afoot, under discussion for some time. More from us soon. Today's story was not run past us."

This didn't quiet the chatter, though.

ETA: The Guardian published an article today, quoting Ion Trewin, literary director of the Man Booker prizes:

"There are going to be some changes to the rules of the Man Booker prize for fiction which have been in discussion for some while. The information which is currently in circulation is incomplete." Full details are to be announced on Wednesday.

I read the article in The Guardian, too. Up front, I have to say that I like the idea of the Booker being a Commonwealth prize. If all of these literary prizes become all-inclusive, there is nothing to distinguish them one from the other IMO.

Folio Prize? Literature Prize? What happened to the Orange Prize, called some darn thing or another now...Girl's Trophy for Literary Effort? Whatever. Can't keep up. Booker plus Americans = trouble. Bad idea, if true.

I can totally understand why you're considering moving closer to your folks. It's why I'm back in the Atlanta suburbs... Life is too short to be far away when you're needed. Not true for everyone, but it was for me...

They always say "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses -- not zebras". All well and good.

The hardest part is to be flexible enough so that when the zebras fianally do show up, you can handle them.

I'm going to second Suz's comments about judges not picking safe works if they do make the move to include American writers into Booker nominations. I really hope it's merely a rumor that's soon squashed like a dizzy mosquito. With the American marketing machine, American authors and their works are much more readily available and marketed to the international market whereas publishers in other countries tend not to have the ability to make the same amount splash in the literary pond for their authors. Keeping the American authors out (and there are sufficient awards out there where American authors can and do participate) of the Booker gives a stage to these lesser known but often brilliant authors.

#140 -- I note that the Booker folks are being very careful NOT to issue a denial of the story there...

I wouldn't mind if they wanted to broaden the international award and make it an annual thing, to have two awards side-by-side.

American authors have access to plenty of awards, including the Nobel. No reason why they should automatically be included simply because they, too, write in English. After all, not only do you have to be American to win the Pulitzer, they express a preference for a book about an American theme. I see no reason at all to alter the status quo.

Taking a leaf out of your book and reading an underground book. Popped over just to let you and tell you it is all your fault. ;)

>140 lauralkeet: According to the Booker Prize's Facebook page there will be a press conference tomorrow at 1430 BST (9:30 am EDT) to announce the changes in full. I'll be in the midst of hospital rounds at that time, so I won't read about it until the afternoon or evening.

Hopefully this isn't as bad an idea as it sounds, Laura. I haven't read a single article that has been positive about this purported change in the prize's eligibility criteria.

>141 lit_chick: Up front, I have to say that I like the idea of the Booker being a Commonwealth prize. If all of these literary prizes become all-inclusive, there is nothing to distinguish them one from the other IMO.

I agree on both counts, Nancy. Most of the other major English language literary prizes, such as the National Book Awards, the Pulitzer Prizes, the Giller Prize (Canada), the Miles Franklin Award (Australia), and the New Zealand Post Book Awards, are specific to a particular country or region. I also like the focus on Commonwealth literature, which is even more important now that the Commonwealth Writers' Prize has devolved into a short story award. There are some subtle differences between what appears to be the inclusion criteria for the "new" Booker Prize and the Folio Prize, but apparently both awards will choose the best novels written in English and published in the UK in a 12 month period. Books translated into English are not eligible for the Folio Prize; its shortlist of eight will be released in early February, and the winning book will be announced in mid-March.

>142 richardderus: I still can't remember the new name of the Orange Prize without some effort, Richard; it's the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction (ugh). Bailey's has only agreed to sponsor the prize for two or three years, so it's possible that the name may change again in 2016 or 2017. I'll continue to refer to it as the Orange Prize.

I agree; I am firmly against the inclusion of American authors for the Booker Prize. This decision makes no sense to me at all.

>143 TinaV95: Right, Tina. Even though I've lived in Atlanta since 1997 it's never felt like home to me, and I don't have any family members or close friends from my past (pre-1997) life that live in or outside of the city. I am very fond of the people I work with at Children's, though, and it will be very difficult to leave them, whenever that takes place. I was very reluctant to return to work yesterday, after being off for the past two weeks, but after three of the nurses hugged me and welcomed me back and others greeted me warmly I felt back at home there (and this was before the 3rd floor staff found out that I brought them cannolis from an Italian bakery in Philadelphia).

>144 magicians_nephew: Very true, Jim. It's not uncommon for me and my partners to uncover zebras; one of my partners told me about a very surprising case yesterday afternoon, and we routinely see "fascinomas", a term we use for rare illnesses or unusual presentations of more routine diseases. However, common illnesses are still more common, and salmonellosis is at least a million times more likely to be the cause of fever and bloody diarrhea in a child from Atlanta than dengue fever. The child's stool culture also grew the bacterium, so it wasn't as if my partner was guessing when she told the mother the diagnosis.

>145 cameling: I completely agree with you and Suz, Caroline. In the Guardian article that Laura posted, author Linda Grant mentioned that 'for certain writers the requirement to be entered into the Booker is written into their contract with the publisher, and that US agents are likely to be robust in ensuring that this happens.' I also fear that books from small presses and from lesser known authors will be squeezed out, in favor of the big stars from the large publishing houses. In this regard the Folio Prize's award process would seem to be superior; 60 books will be selected by an Academy of writers and critics, and an additional 20 books will be called in by the judges. The judges will read the 80 books, choose a shortlist of eight, followed by a vote on the winning book. The 80 books represent a little more than half of the total number of books that the Booker judges read this year (152).

>146 Chatterbox: I agree, Suz. American authors have plenty of literary awards that they can compete for, and I see no reason why they should be eligible for the Booker Prize as well.

Speaking of American literary prizes, this week marks the announcement of the longlists for the National Book Awards. The National Book Foundation has adopted a Booker Prize like format for the first time this year, with longlists of 10 books to be released this week for each of the four awards, followed by a shortlist of five that will be released in mid October and the selection of the winning books in a prize ceremony in mid November. The longlist for the NBA for Young People's Literature was released yesterday:

   Kathi Appelt, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
   Kate DiCamillo, Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures
   Lisa Graff, A Tangle of Knots
   Alaya Dawn Johnson, The Summer Prince
   Cynthia Kadohata, The Thing About Luck
   David Levithan, Two Boys Kissing
   Tom McNeal, Far Far Away
   Meg Rosoff, Picture Me Gone
   Anne Ursu, The Real Boy
   Gene Luen Yang, Boxers & Saints

More info: 2013 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST FOR YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE

The longlist for the Poetry Award will be announced later today, followed by the Nonfiction longlist tomorrow and the Fiction longlist on Thursday.

>147 BBGirl55: Ha! Great minds must think alike, Bryony. I started reading Mind the Child: The Victoria Line yesterday, and finished it today. Although it had nothing to do with the Victoria Line it was a powerful short book about the horrific lives of at risk children in London, with first person accounts by several teens and young adults affiliated with the Kids Company, an organization designed to help them live more normal lives. I've given it 4-1/2 stars, and I'll review it later this week.

Just curious as to how the Booker people define nationality. Jhumpa Lahiri was born in London, but grew up in the U.S., and considers herself an American.

>150 laytonwoman3rd: The FAQ section on the Booker Prize web site indicates that the eligibile books must be 'Any full-length novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland and published in the United Kingdom for the first time in the year of the prize. The novel must be an original work in English (not a translation) and must not be self-published.'

Gotta get ready for work; I'll be back tonight, I hope.

The longlist for the NBA Award for Poetry was announced earlier this morning:

   Frank Bidart, Metaphysical Dog
   Roger Bonair-Agard, Bury My Clothes
   Lucie Brock-Broido, Stay, Illusion
   Andrei Codrescu, So Recently Rent a World: New and Selected Poems: 1968-2012
   Brenda Hillman, Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire
   Adrian Matejka, The Big Smoke
   Diane Raptosh, American Amnesiac
   Matt Rasmussen, Black Aperture
   Martha Ronk, Transfer of Qualities
   Mary Szybist, Incarnadine: Poems

More info: 2013 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST FOR POETRY

>126 Chatterbox: Suz, I've made a little headway into Harvest and just last night managed to narrow down the time frame to the 16th or 17th century thanks to the mention of onion pants and pilgrim hats (capotains). I usually read print books in bed before sleep which restricts my reading time, but will spend a nice chunk of time today with it to get further along. I wish I could tell you what people find different about his style, but when I went to the reviews section to look into it, found too many small spoilers at first glance so decided to put off my investigation till I'm done with the book. When I looked up "enclosure", the closest thing I found to what you might mean was the privatization of common land by fencing, with the mention that this was mainly an 18th and 19th century practice. In any case, still finding the book brilliant and I'll probably end up getting my own copy (this one is from the library) so I can read it again.

On the Booker front, I thought I'd copy here a section from a comment I made on my own thread this weekend about two audio books I'm excited about:

Then two great surprises, TransAtlantic, which I hadn't known was on audio and is narrated by Geraldine Hugues, an actress with a pleasing Irish brogue, and the other, The Testament of Mary, released this past week and narrated by none other than Meryl Streep!!!. I read it last month as a Kindle book [and absolutely loved it, and] when I saw that great dame was narrating I had to have it.

Must be my lucky day. I just put holds on The Testament of Mary, and the audio version of The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp (read by Lyle Lovett!), and I'm No. 1 in the queue for both of them! I feel so...so...avant. The audio book of Testament isn't in our catalog, unfortunately.

152> Wow, Frank Bidart is still around? He must be ancient. In fact, a number of the poets on that list are "old-timers." Glad to see that they are still writing.

153> I was excited about the audio version of The Testament of Mary--until I listened to the sample on audible.com. I decided I'd much rather read that one in print copy. I know that Mary must be sad, but the droning, weary monotone Streep employed did not encourage me to want to listen to the book.

#149 look forward to the review :).

>153 Smiler69: Glad to hear that you're enjoying Harvest so far, Ilana.

>154 laytonwoman3rd: I'll re-read The Testament of Mary next month and submit a review of it then. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did, Linda.

>155 Cariola: Other than Andrei Codrescu I'm unfamiliar with all of the other poets. Are there any that you're particularly familiar with, Deborah?

>156 BBGirl55: Will do, Bryony. I'm on the teaching service (supervising pediatric residents and medical students) all week, so I probably won't get to the review until the weekend.

Darryl

I haven't been on LT for awhile and miss it.

Thanks for the photos of the meet up. I confess that seeing some of the smiling faces of those I know made me long to have been there.

Hugs to you gentle soul!

>158 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda!

Here's the longlist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction, which was announced earlier today:

   T.D. Allman, Finding Florida: The True Story of the Sunshine State
   Gretel Ehrlich, Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami
   Scott C. Johnson, The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA
   Jill Lepore, Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin
   Wendy Lower, Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields
   James Oakes, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865
   George Packer, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America
   Alan Taylor, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832
   Terry Teachout, Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington
   Lawrence Wright, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief

So, let's see if I have this right:

• Starting in 2014, the Man Booker Prize will be open to any books that are written in English (no translations from another language) and are published in the UK, regardless of the author's country of origin. Previously, only authors who were citizens of the British Commonwealth, Zimbabwe or the Republic of Ireland were eligible.

• To prevent the judges from being overwhelmed by this rule change, the number of books that a UK publisher can submit for consideration will be based on the success of that publisher in having books chosen for the Booker longlists over the previous five years. The more longlisted books a publisher has had, the more entries they will receive, up to four entries for the most successful publishers, and as few as one entry for publishers who have not had any books chosen for longlists in the previous five years.

• The other features of the award will remain the same, including the requirement that all of the judges read all of the books, the longlist and shortlist announcements, and the ability for judges to choose books that weren't submitted by publishers that they believe are worthy of consideration for the prize.

Clear as mud?

At first glance I'm still opposed to the inclusion of American authors for consideration of the Booker Prize, and I fear that the longlists will be heavily tilted toward books that come from the most popular or well connected authors in the US and UK, and those that have been published by the larger houses, and that lesser known authors and books by small independent publishers will be given short shrift. I think we'll have to wait for at least two or three years to see how this plays out, and even though I'm not in favor of these changes I still plan to follow the Booker Prize closely, at least for the short term.

I don't like that second rule. I understand the bit about overwhelming the judges, but that seems like an unfair advantage to certain publishers. Who's to say that a small, new, or little know publisher might not have four gems fall in their lap one year? Those books would be disqualified simply because other (most likely larger) publishers had more books selected in previous years?

There's also something that smacks too much of profit-making in it for my taste. I know I'm being naïve, but I'd like to think that quality has an edge over popularity (read: sales). I guess I want the 'power,' so to speak, to be between the judges and the books, not the publishers and the judges.

Edited to add: 157> Diane Raptosh was in Michigan's MFA program while I was there. I vaguely remember her name, but I can't say that I'm familiar with her poetry. I gather that she writes a lot of prose poems, which I'm not overly fond of. Codrescu was teaching there at the time as well; I quite like some of his work. Martha Ronk has been around for a long time, and I find her work interesting as well, especially the series about photographs. I can't say that I've ever been a big fan of Frank Bidart. I'm somewhat familiar with Brenda Hillman's poetry and have mixed feelings about it. I think the shorter poems that deal with nature can be quite lovely, but some of the 'found poems' are a little too quirky for my taste. None of the other poets on the list are familiar to me.

And how are we defining "publisher" here? The conglomerate that owns the label? The imprint that produced the nominated book? I see many possible ghastlinesses here. "Random House" the imprint in Canada and the UK have some noms; does that mean "Random House" the imprint in the USA will have the ability to nominate four books, as they have UK distribution...does that count as publication in the UK? In that event, there are a mind-boggling number of US presses that can nominate books for the Booker--all of Turnaround, the UK distributor's, client list...there's another one whose name escapes me.

Hm. This bodes ill, in my opinion.

Hmmm .... I don't have anything to add about book prizes but that Wright book certainly looks interesting!

I just looked...Turnaround distributes Dafina Books, publishers of African-American romances in multiple subgenres, in the UK...so theoretically, if the pub date for Thugs and the Women Who Love Them was 2013 and not 2010, it would be eligible for Dafina Books's nomination. Only one, since they've never had one (!) before.

I've never seen horrified goose-pimples this big before.

165> They'd have to be sending their books solely to torture the judges (which some of late certainly deserve), knowing that they wouldn't have a prayer in you-know-where of winning. That might be kind of fun, actually--to imagine them committed to reading teen romances, the latest version of Fifty Shades or the next Twilight clone, or something equally un-Bookerish.

*note to self: When made Empress of Known Space, assign Deborah to the Eternal Torment Squad*

I'm with Deborah in #162 .. I don't like criteria #2 either for the same reasons. It will be such a shame if future Booker longlists are overwhelmed with American writers. :-(

Good Morning Darryl

Now that fall is upon us here in NE PA, the air is crisp and rather cool this morning with heavy dew on the grass.

Here is an image of summer. That time of year flies by too quickly. This was taken in my garden.

I'll bet the British press and book bloggers are abuzz about the changes.

Shiver me timbers, I just noticed that it must be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Argh!

Aye, me hearties, 'tis a bad decision made for the Man Booker Prize. Why did they do it? What happened to, if it ain't broke, don't fix it? They may end up having judges bail out if the quantity shoots up like it seems it might.

And, finally, here's the longlist for the National Book Award for Fiction:

Tom Drury, Pacific
Elizabeth Graver, The End of the Point
Rachel Kushner, The Flamethrowers
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland
Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
James McBride, The Good Lord Bird
Alice McDermott, Someone
Thomas Pynchon, Bleeding Edge
George Saunders, Tenth of December
Joan Silber, Fools

Off hand, Darryl,I would love to see A Constellation of Vital Phenomena win. It was a 5 star read for me and has a combined LT rating of 4.4. Not too many books reach that level. It's set in Chechnya between the two Chechen wars and really has nothing to do with American life at all. Alice McDermott is often uneven but w/o reading a single word of her new book I would be willing to bet it's set on Long Island and concerns Irish Americans. Thomas Pynchon is unreadable IMHO. Rachel Kushner's last novel was pretty good but this new one has gotten very mixed reviews. Heh, maybe Jhumpa Lahiri will win both the NBA and the Booker haha.

Well, I'm doing a bit better with the National Book Awards. I'm almost finished with both The Lowland and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, and I have copies of The End of the Point and Fools on my TBR shelf. (What? Transatlantic didn't make this list?)

Interesting...I'm only on message 172, yet I see the "Continue this topic in another topic" hyperlink at the bottom of this thread. I thought that the current threshold for starting a new thread was 200 messages.

I received the FluLaval quadrivalent influenza vaccine in Employee Health yesterday. Hopefully it will kick the tails of the influenza viruses I will certainly be exposed to this season as much as it's kicking my tail at the moment (sore arm, swelling at the injection site, fatigue and muscle ache). As long as it keeps me from getting the flu it will be well worth it.

>162 Cariola: I was originally opposed to the second change in the format of the Booker Prize, Deborah. However, the more I think about it, the more I'm in favor of it. I think it's far more likely that a large publishing house, such as Penguin, or a medium sized one that consistently puts out quality fiction, such as Bloomsbury, will put out multiple longlist quality books than a smaller company would. So, I think that a lesser known Bloomsbury author, especially one that doesn't have a contract requiring the publisher to submit his books for the longlist, would be much more likely to be overlooked in the old format as compared to one from a smaller publishing house such as Salt or ...And Other Stories. The judges will retain the ability to call in books on their own, so smaller and less historically successful publishers will still have the opportunity to place multiple books on the longlist.

>163 richardderus: Good question, Richard. Apparently the publisher must be a UK one, but I don't undertand the subtleties to make a more educated comment about this.

>164 avidmom: Let us know if you decide to read Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, avidmom.

>165 richardderus: If books such as Thugs and the Women Who Love Them appear on the Booker Prize longlist then I'll stop following the award.

>166 Cariola:, 167 Yikes. I don't think anyone in the right mind would want to be a Booker judge if they had to read dozens of rubbish books like Fifty Shades of Grey.

173> After your comment on McDermott, I just had to look up the book on amazon. Irish-American--yep. Long Island--so close (Brooklyn).

Did you see Nickelini's post about Fifty Shades of Grey in the Club Read "Interesting Articles" thread yet? It's pretty funny. :)

>168 cameling: It will be such a shame if future Booker longlists are overwhelmed with American writers. :-(

I agree; I think a lot of readers will be upset if books by American authors dominate the Booker Prize longlists. However, I find that very few American novels compare well to the best ones from the British Commonwealth, so I think (or hope) that only a small number will appear there.

>169 Whisper1: Nice photo, Linda! It's starting to cool down here in Atlanta, although the high temperatures have been mainly in the upper 70s to low 80s.

>170 Cariola: I'll bet the British press and book bloggers are abuzz about the changes.

Right, Deborah. And you can add British authors as well. Philip Hensher wrote a fairly scathing column in the Guardian yesterday:

'Well, that's the end of the Booker prize, then'

Shiver me timbers, I just noticed that it must be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Argh!

I thought pirate-speak was cute the first time around, but I'm a bit tired of it now. I selected the "Turn OFF pirate-speak" option soon after I logged onto LT.

>171 jnwelch: In yesterday's press conference the administrators specifically mentioned the committee's concern that the judges would have to read more books in future years than they do now (they read 151 this year), Joe, and that was the reason for making the second change to the format of the prize. I doubt that anyone will be able to predict what next year will be like until the process actually begins, and for the time being I'll continue to follow the Booker Prize as I do now.

>173 brenzi: I had hoped that A Constellation of Vital Phenomena would make the NBA fiction longlist, Bonnie, as this gives me a good reason to read it. Ideally I'd like to read all 10 longlisted books before the NBA ceremony in November, but I doubt that I'll read more than half of the books before then. I'll buyThe Lowland next week, and I'd like to read these two books, along with The Good Lord Bird, and possibly Bleeding Edge (as I haven't read anything by Thomas Pynchon) and Tenth of December (to see what the Franzenesque hype was about earlier this year).

>174 Cariola: You're right, Deborah; why wasn't TransAtlantic chosen for the NBA fiction longlist? That's more of a surprise than its exclusion from the Booker shortlist.

>176 Cariola: I'll scratch the McDermott from my reading list, then.

>177 avidmom: I didn't see Joyce's post about Fifty Shades of Grey; I probably won't catch up with LT messages until this weekend. Fortunately I'm off from Saturday through Tuesday.

ETA: I take that back; I did read the article about Fifty Shades of Grey that Joyce posted earlier this week.

#178 I'm just reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena now. So beautifully done! It would be great to see it appear somewhere!

Thanks for posting all the news about the good awards, Darryl. I just bought We Need New Names since it's the Kindle Daily Deal and I could get it cheap. Now I'm almost wishing that I had saved my $.
I'll be on the lookout for A Constellation of Vital Phenomena for sure! It sounds wonderful.

>180 lit_chick: I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Nancy. I'll buy it either this weekend or early next week.

>181 LizzieD: You're welcome, Peggy. The three or four other LTers who have read We Need New Names and commented about it in the Booker Prize group have all had essentially the same opinion about it, as did nearly everyone in the Booker thread in the Mookse and the Gripes forum. It was a disappointing choice for the Booker Prize longlist.

Hmm. I installed iOS7 onto my iPad this morning, which includes a new version of the Safari browser. The always troublesome LT touchstones don't seem to work with this version, at least not yet.

I haven't tried the touchstones on the iPad yet. I installed iOS7 on Wednesday, even though I told myself I should wait a few days till they release 7.01 and iron out whatever bugs need getting rid of. But I was too taken up with the hype. Now I'm looking forward to the new OS on the laptop too.

Thanks for dropping by my thread this evening, I'm glad my Harvest review is being seen and read. As I mentioned in my answer to you, since I haven't read The Luminaries yet, I'm not in a position to determine which of the two I find more deserving though I definitely look forward to reading it, especially having read your glowing review.

I really don't know why they felt they need to include the US for the Booker Prize, but somehow I doubt American books will dominate the Longlists. I guess we shall see. Will read that Guardian article this w/e.

Hi Darryl,
I finally got my first Booker nominee from the library: Harvest by Jim Crace. I'm excited to read it, as I have tremendous respect for Crace based on his earlier works.

Today will be a good day to stay inside and read; it just started raining here a few minutes ago, and it will probably continue until late afternoon or evening. I'm off for the next four days, so I should be able to finish at least two or three books.

I started A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki last night, which made this year's Booker Prize longlist. It looks to be a quick read, even though it's nearly 450 pages long, so hopefully I can finish it today.

>183 Smiler69: I see that iOS 7.01 is already available for the iPhone, but the iPad version isn't ready yet, Ilana. This new operating system will take a while to get used to, as it seems quite different than the previous version. I have an Android smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S3), so I'll have to ask my friends and partners how they like iOS 7.0/7.01 when I return to work next week.

I enjoyed your review of Harvest, so I hope that others read it, too. I'd be pleased if it won this year's Booker Prize, but I'd still prefer for The Luminaries to come out on top. Both books are equally deserving, IMO.

I'll finish A Tale for the Time Being this weekend, and I'll buy The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri after its release in the US on Tuesday, which I should be able to read it before the end of the month, or in early October at the latest. That will complete the shortlist for me. I'm nearly 50 pages into A Tale for the Time Being, and I suspect that it will challenge We Need New Names for last place on my Booker shortlist rank order.

I hope that future Booker longlists aren't dominated by American authors. Now that the National Book Award has adopted a Booker-like format this year I think the best American fiction has a sufficient presence in this country, although I don't know if readers in other countries, especially those in the UK and Canada, pay much attention to this award or to the Pulitzer Prize.

>184 EBT1002: Good news, Ellen! I look forward to your comments about Harvest, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I, Ilana and others did.

>185 kidzdoc: A rainy day inside reading! Sounds wonderful.

#185 I suspect that it will challenge We Need New Names for last place on my Booker shortlist rank order - glad that it's not just me who has doubts about that one.

Darryl, as I'm much less active on the threads this year, and didn't write reviews for the better part of the year, I don't get very many visitors either, understandably enough, and consequently those reviews I do write aren't seen much. But that's fine--I get satisfaction out of writing them.

I saw We Need New Names on the suggestion shelf at the library today and wasn't tempted. On the other hand, I did purchase the eBook for The Luminaries and am very much tempted to start in on it. eta: largely because of your comments on it, I should add.

Just thought I'd mention too I'm typing this on the iPad and touchstones are behaving just fine.

>130 kidzdoc: My classmates, still sure of their astute diagnostic abilities, insisted that the secretary made a lucky guess.
LOL
That is a priceless story. I love it. It also highlights one of the reasons why I disliked being a receptionist....

>161 kidzdoc: the number of books that a UK publisher can submit for consideration will be based on the success of that publisher in having books chosen for the Booker longlists over the previous five years
Hm. I dont think I like this.
And you mentioned earlier that judges could be swamped and so fall back on the big publishers works. I think it spells trouble.

*still waiting for my copy of The Luminaries to arrive*

Another not really in favour of the Booker changes - are they trying to kill of The Folio Prize before it gets started?

There is room for a prize celebrating the novel written in English, irrespective of origin, but I'm not sure that it should be the Booker which is well established in the form we mostly know and love.

I am worried that the judges will either be unduly xenophobic or ridiculously fawning to the US newcomers. There is also a very real danger that authors from emerging locales, especially Africa and the Caribbean may not get their voices heard above the clamour of the American writers trying to glean another payday.

National Book Longlist is interesting with Lahiri proving why she shouldn't have been on the Booker list. Favourites?

Have a great weekend Darryl.

I finished A Tale for the Time Being early this morning. I didn't like it. Toward the end of the book one peripheral character said to Ruth, the novelist who is one of the two most central characters of this book, and her husband "Excuse me for asking, but have you guys been smoking pot?" I smirked, as I had wondered earlier if Ruth Ozeki was on something when she wrote this book. I'll give it 2½ stars and rank it just ahead of We Need New Names on my Booker shortlist ranking, as it was slightly more accomplished than that one. Neither book deserved to be on the longlist, nonetheless the shortlist, IMO.

Longlist ranking:
   1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
   2. Harvest by Jim Crace
   3. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann
   4. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
   5. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
   6. The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan
   7. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
   8. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
   9. Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson
   10. The Kills by Richard House

Shortlist ranking:
   1. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
   2. Harvest by Jim Crace
   3. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín
   4. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
   5. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

The Lowland will finally be released in the US on Tuesday, so I'll get it then, and complete the shortlist by the end of the month. My inner completist is urging me to read the other two longlisted books, Unexploded by Alison MacLeod (which I own) and The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris (which I don't have), but based on comments from Nathalie, Suz and others I seriously doubt that I'll like either book.

So far I'd say that this year's longlist is a disappointing one overall, as I've only liked five of the 10 books I've read so far.

Darryl - I have to say that I was surprised by your enthusiasm for this years list upon its announcement as I was disappointed at the overlooking of a number of obvious worthies, especially Forna and Adichie.

I don't particularly like to be proven right when it means that you've read a number of books that you'd rather not have bothered with.

>186 avidmom: Yesterday was a very good reading day, avidmom, as I read nearly 375 pages of A Tale for the Time Being. It wasn't as bad as a read as I had feared, considering that the other main character was a marginally likeable 16 yo girl, but it certainly wasn't memorable, and I didn't find it as thought provoking as other readers did.

>187 SandDune: Right, Rhian. I had my doubts about it, but I did approach it with an open mind and still didn't like it. Ozeki tried to connect different phenomena and events, including the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, 9/11, Zen Buddhism, quantum physics, the ecosystem and metaphysics into a coherent whole, but it didn't come together for me at all.

>188 Smiler69: I agree, Ilana. I do like it when others comment on my reviews, but I'm also pleased if I write what I think is a good one, even if it goes largely or completely unrecognized (although that doesn't happen often).

I wouldn't recommend reading We Need New Names, unless you're driven to complete the Booker shortlist as I am; there are several far better books written by African authors that cover similar territory.

I'm glad that you purchased The Luminaries, and I look forward to your comments about it.

I'm typing this on my Windows based laptop, as LT touchstones still aren't recognized by the new version of Safari on my iPad (everything else seems to work fine, though). When I type a touchstone nothing happens, and when I post the message there is no hyperlink for the book or author. Are you using the new operating system (iOS 7.0) yet?

>189 LovingLit: The medical students were very fond of the dean's administrative assistant, Megan, as she was a motherly figure to most of us and helped us on numerous occasions. I did go back to tell her that she was right, and we had a good laugh when I told her that my brilliant classmates doubted her diagnosis.

Next year's Booker season should be a very interesting one, as I suspect that far more readers, authors, publishers and members of the media in the UK and abroad, especially in the US, will pay attention to it than in years past. There have been many more articles written about the prize here in the past two weeks than in any normal year, as most American readers (non-LTers, anyway) are unfamiliar with this award.

It's disappointing that Victoria University Press, the NZ publisher of The Luminaries, hasn't been able to keep up with the book's demand. Out of curiosity I went to the VUP web site, which lists the following message: 'The Luminaries is being reprinted now, more stock due in late September and in early October. Paperback and Hardback copies still availbale from this website.' (availbale?) I'm also disappointed that the US publisher of The Lowland refused to move up the publication date, now that it has been chosen for the National Book Award longlist as well as the Booker Prize shortlist.

>190 PaulCranswick: It does seem as though the changes in the format of the Booker Prize are directly linked to the announcement of the Folio Prize in 2011, Paul. Ironically, that prize was created in response to the dreadful 2011 Booker Prize longlist and to disappointing longlists in recent years. I'd say it's a clear case of the chickens coming home to roost.

I still don't see the point of the Booker Prize changing its eligibility to mimic or match the Folio Prize, unless the administrators were concerned that this new award could overtake the Booker in importance in future years.

I suspect that the judges will be influenced by external factors, but I suspect (or at least hope) that the American books that appear on next year's longlist will be of the highest quality. Otherwise there will likely be a firestorm of criticism from readers, authors and the media in the UK and elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

I haven't read any of the NBA longlisted books yet. Several LTers have written glowing reviews of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, and Tenth of December was highly praised by critics early this year, so I'll list those as potential favorites. I'll probably read both books next month.

>192 PaulCranswick: I was also surprised and disappointed that The Hired Man and, to a lesser extent, Americanah weren't chosen for the Booker longlist, Paul. I was excited when it was announced, in part because I was in London at that time. I went to the London Review Bookshop barely an hour after the longlist became public and had lunch with Rachael (FlossieT) shortly afterward. We talked a little about the longlist, and she was excited to see that The Luminaries was chosen. I was also enthused after I first thought that TransAtlantic didn't make it, then found out that it did (thanks to Diana, I think).

I'm very glad that I read The Luminaries and Harvest. I probably would have read these two anyway, but probably not this summer had they not made the longlist. I would have read TransAtlantic and The Testament of Mary and The Lowland this year, ad I had already read Five Star Billionaire, as I received an Early Reviewers copy of it this spring. However, five of the longlisted books were duds, and I suspect that Unexploded and The Marrying of Chani Kaufman will also fit in that category, and I was lukewarm about The Spinning Heart. I definitely expected better than that from this year's judges, and I disagree with the pronouncements in the British media that this year's longlist was a particularly enticing one.

Today's Sunday Telegraph includes a nice interview of Eleanor Catton:

Eleanor Catton interview: fortune favours the bold

Good morning, Darryl. I don't think I like the Booker changes.
I am about 1/3 into Harvest and I can see why it's so high on your (and Paul's) ranking list. I'm loving it.
I can't wait to get my hands on The Luminaries.

ETA: Wonderful interview. I love the following quote:
"I think it’s more optimistic about human nature to acknowledge that people are the products of their time but then to see that they have moments of grace and dignity that everybody has.”

I have been wanting to wait until The Luminaries comes out in softcover because it's so wieldy, but now I want to get it sooner rather than later.

Now that the National Book Award has adopted a Booker-like format this year I think the best American fiction has a sufficient presence in this country, although I don't know if readers in other countries, especially those in the UK and Canada, pay much attention to this award or to the Pulitzer Prize.

Not this Canadian reader, that's for sure ;-)

>196 EBT1002: Good afternoon, Ellen. Other than those of the Booker Prize administrators I haven't read any comments that were in favor of these changes, other than an editorial in Friday's New York Times.

I'm glad that you're enjoying Harvest. Except for Megan (who is clearly biased in favor of Eleanor Catton, her fellow New Zealander) I don't know anyone else who didn't have a positive opinion about it. (I do hope that Catton wins the Booker Prize, though.)

The only disappointing thing about that interview of Eleanor Catton in the Sunday Telegraph is that she isn't working on anything at the moment.

I'd rather have the hardback versions of tomes and books that I may want to read again, so I'm glad that I bought the UK hardback edition of The Luminaries. I ordered it from Amazon UK, and I was only charged a total of 17 pence above its list price of £20, including the shipping fee from England.

>197 Nickelini: Unfortunately that sentiment is probably more true of nearly all American readers toward the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Awards, Joyce. I doubt that the average American bibliophile could name more than three or four Canadian authors offhand (and I have to admit that I'm not much, if any, better than average).

all American readers toward the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Awards

That doesn't bother me in the least. Besides (painting with a broad brush here) the general tendency for people in the US to be culturally isolationist, some of the books that end up on these prize lists are strange choices indeed. There are always one or two that are very good, but I never automatically read anything just because it has won.

>200 Nickelini: some of the books that end up on these prize lists are strange choices indeed

I would have to agree with that statement. I've wanted to read more Canadian literature, but I've been less than impressed with the books that have been chosen for the Giller Prize and the Governor's General Award in the past couple of years, particularly 419, Half Blood Blues and The Sisters Brothers.

the general tendency for people in the US to be culturally isolationist

No argument here. It's even more true in the Deep South, especially amongst the born and bred Southerners down here who aren't fond of Yankees, nonetheless 'foreigners'.

Are you following this disaster of a Giants game? So disappointing...

>202 katiekrug: Fortunately it isn't being televised in Atlanta, Katie. FOX has the Falcons-Dolphins game at 4 pm, and the CBS game has the Ravens hosting the Texans. I just updated my post on your thread, and I see that the Panthers have scored again, making the score Panthers 38, Giants 0. The NY press should have a field day with this game, especially since Carolina was winless and one of the worst teams in the league.

Disappointing is a good description. I can think of other ones, most of which shouldn't be uttered in a public setting.

Yeah, they aren't showing it here in Dallas either, but my husband keeps "helpfully" updating me... Sigh...

>204 katiekrug: Can you smack your husband in the head for both of us? TYIA.

From ESPN: "since the current playoff format began in 1990, 115 teams have started 0-3 and only three of those made the playoffs. None since 1998." I think it's safe to say that the Giants' season is essentially over.

particularly 419, Half Blood Blues and The Sisters Brothers.

I haven't read any of those, so I can't comment. I am vaguely interested in 419 based on its premise, the other two haven't interested me in the least. I don't think these prize lists is automatically the place you will find the best books (as with any prize list). Also, every year wonderful books are published that don't fit the literary prize mold. After you read all the books in your TBR and want to read some excellent CanLit, ask a Canadian LTer who has similar tastes to yours--I'll bet you'll find something you really like. (and I'll insert another book plug for Kiss of the Fur Queen here--definitely one of my all time favourites, Canadian or otherwise.

No argument from me regarding 419; that did nothing for me. Haven't read Half Blood Blues, but I did thoroughly enjoy The Sisters Brothers, very witty and humourous. That said, not sure it was deserving of all the buzz/awards. There is a lot of better Canadian literature out there, IMO. All time favourite Canadian reads: certainly Alistair McLeod's No Great Mischief would be on that list.

There were parts I found interesting in 419, but I didn't think it worked well as a book.

I totally loved Sisters Brothers. Maybe because I live in the Pacific Northwest, and it was close to home? I haven't read 419 or Half Blood Blues, although Half Blood is definitely on my radar.

Nickelini, thanks for the plug of Kiss of the Fur Queen. I hadn't heard of it and it sounds right up my alley.

One of my fave Canadian reads was Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor, but that might be another book needing a Pacific NW sensibility.

ETA: How could I forget one of my favorite books of last year? Mercy Among the Children by David Richard Adams.

>206 Nickelini: After you read all the books in your TBR and want to read some excellent CanLit, ask a Canadian LTer who has similar tastes to yours--I'll bet you'll find something you really like.

This sounds like a great idea to me! I think I'll make it a challenge for 2014: I'll read at least one book recommended by a Canadian LTer whose tastes are similar to mine, up to a total of six, not including ones that are already in my library. I'll start with Joyce, Ilana, Suz, Cyrel, Cait (Cait86 from Club Read), Nancy, Tui and Zoë, but any other Canadians who I've accidentally left out are also welcome and encouraged to make recommendations. I'll compile a list, and then request those books for Christmas or buy them in 2014.

I'll also go back to one of my earlier threads, in which Suz and others recommended their favorite CanLit books.

I'll also plan to read at least four books by Canadian authors that are high on my TBR list: Family Matters and Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.

>207 lit_chick: I liked The Sisters Brothers far better than 419 or Half Blood Blues, Nancy, but as you said I didn't think it was deserving of the numerous accolades it received.

I think that Suz recommended No Great Mischief too, so I'll add that to the list.

>208 rebeccanyc: I agree with your assessment of 419, Rebecca.

>209 banjo123: Thanks for those CanLit recommendations, Rhonda. Although I'll limit my proposed challenge to the Canadian LTers I'll keep those books in mind.

One of my fave Canadian reads was Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor, but that might be another book needing a Pacific NW sensibility.

Banjo- what a great way to put it. I loved that book, but I'm not sure I'd get it if I didn't live in Vancouver.

I'll also plan to read at least four books by Canadian authors that are high on my TBR list: Family Matters and Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.

Interesting and most excellent list. I haven't read Such a Long Journey, and probably won't as I think I'm done with Rohinton Mistry. This is not because he's not a fabulous writer--he really is. But after reading A Fine Balance and being so devastated I didn't know whether to give it 1 star or 5 , and then reading Family Matters (which is also very well written), I've realized that his viewpoint just makes me too depressed about the human condition. It was really clear with Family Matters--the exact same story could be told by another author and could be darkly funny, but Mistry instead slayed me with his grim reality. My mental health can't take it.

The Blind Assassin is complex and very well done too, although not my favourite Atwood. And Anil's Ghost is my favourite Ondaatje and also one of my favourite books. So great choices. However, you would never know that you're reading a Canadian author with the Ondaatje or Mistry books. The Canadianess of those books ends with the author's adopted citizenship.

So you still need to make room for books that have some actual Canadianess to them!

I'll look forward to seeing what you think of Anil's Ghost. I thought it was great when I read it, but that was some time ago. It's funny, but I don't think of Ondaatje or Mistry as Canadian authors since they write about their country of origin so much.

>212 Nickelini: I'll pass on Stanley Park, since I haven't visited Vancouver yet.

>213 Nickelini: I loved A Fine Balance, the first novel by Mistry that I've read, so I'm eager to read more by him.

Which is your favorite novel by Margaret Atwood, Joyce?

Interesting comment about the lack of Canadianess of Ondaatje and Mistry. I was also going to mention books by other similar 'Canadian' authors that I own and would like to read soon, namely De Niro's Game and Cockroach by Rawi Hage, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam, and I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière. I also own Inside by Alix Ohlin, which I bought in anticipation of it possibly being selected for last year's Booker Prize longlist, and I'd like to get to it next year as well.

>214 labfs39: I loved The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje, Lisa, and was very disappointed when it wasn't chosen for last year's Booker Prize longlist, so I'm looking forward to reading Anil's Ghost.

Still would aim you at Mordecai Richler, Darryl. Gloom, doom, despair, soul-sucking sadness...in Canada! St. Urbain's Horseman is my favorite, but The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is equally caustic. You won't like 'em, though, because they's also funny.

If my recollection is correct, you weren't exactly fond of Annabel, another by a Canadian author that got high praise in certain quarters.

He's long gone, but I've always loved Robertson Davies.

I am a fan of several Canadian writers, including Mordecai Richler who I haven't read in twenty years but used to love (my favorite was Solomon Gursky Was Here), two short story writers who you probably wouldn't like (Mavis Gallant, Alice Munro), Robertson Davies, and some of Margaret Atwood's novels. Probably could think of more if I put my mind to it.

I've not read No Great Mischief yet but Alastair MacLeod's short stories are perfect.

The Colombian author Álvaro Mutis died yesterday in Mexico City, at the age of 90. The winner of the 2001 Miguel de Cervantes Prize and the 2002 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, he was best known for his work The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll, published by New York Review Books in the US, a collection of seven novellas about Maqroll the Gaviero, a bumbling but lovable wanderer. I read this omnibus several years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Guardian: Álvaro Mutis Jaramillo, Colombian writer and poet, dies aged 90

>216 richardderus: Thanks for recommending Mordecai Richler, Richard. Suz recommended him as well, so I'll add his name to my list of possible authors to read next year.

>217 Cariola: You're right, Deborah; I strongly disliked Annabel, due mainly to the highly inaccurate medical information that it contained. You'd have to pay me to get me to read anything else by Kathleen Winter.

Suz also recommended Robertson Davies, so there's a good chance I'll read something by him.

>218 rebeccanyc: So that makes three recommendations for Mordecai Richler. It looks as though he'll make the cut for 2014.

>219 SandDune: And another vote for Alistair MacLeod.

Here's my current list of CanLit, with the Canadian LTers who recommended these authors and books. I've bolded the books that I'll probably read next year, using my rule of one book per Canadian LTer to a maximum of six eight books.

   Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace (Joyce, Nancy and Cyrel)
   Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride (Joyce and Nancy)
   John Bemrose, The Island Walkers (Lori)
   Marie-Claire Blais (Suz)
   Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road; Black Spruce (Suz and Cyrel)
   Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony
   Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy (Suz and Zoë)
   Suzanne Desrochers, Bride of New France (Zoë)
   Timothy Findley, The Last of the Crazy People (Lori)
   Timothy Findley, The Wars (Suz and Joyce)
   Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen (Joyce)
   Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Cyrel)
   Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water (Joyce)
   Mary Lawson, Crow Lake (Lori)
   Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man (Suz)
   Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief (Nancy)
   Beatrice MacNeil, Where White Horses Gallop
   Rabindranath Maharaj, The Amazing Absorbing Boy (Cyrel)
   Mordechai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (Cyrel)
   Kim Thúy, Ru (Suz)
   Michel Tremblay, The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Lori)

Anyone who wants to join me in reading CanLit next year is more than welcome!

I see that Kenyan author Kofi Awoonor was killed in the ongoing terrorist/hostage situation in the Kenyan mall. It looks like he has a fairly large body of work, although very little of it is represented here on LT. Are you familiar with him at all? ETA--looks like he was from Ghana, not Kenya.

I may join in on some of the Canadian literature. I had to cheat and look at my catalog to see what I have read by Canadian authors in the last few years.

If you or anyone else would like a mass market copy of The Wars, pm me. I have one looking for a home.

Which is your favorite novel by Margaret Atwood, Joyce?

Interesting comment about the lack of Canadianess of Ondaatje and Mistry. I was also going to mention books by other similar 'Canadian' authors that I own and would like to read soon, namely De Niro's Game and Cockroach by Rawi Hage, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam, and I Am a Japanese Writer by Dany Laferrière. I also own Inside by Alix Ohlin, which I bought in anticipation of it possibly being selected for last year's Booker Prize longlist, and I'd like to get to it next year as well.

My favourite Atwoods are The Robber Bride and Alias Grace. I'm not sure if the first would appeal to you, and the second is historical fiction (with a twist).

The only book from your list I've read is Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures which I liked but didn't love. At the time I read it, it reminded me of the TV show ER--different episodes of odd things that occur in a hospital. It definitely felt Canadian though, since it's set in Toronto during the SARS epidemic.

I'll second Atwood's The Robber Bride and Alias Grace. Think you would really enjoy the latter.

Must offer up a couple more recommendations on CanLit: Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony is a fabulous read on one Vancouver family's immigrant experience Chinese/Canadian. And Beatrice MacNeil's Where White Horses Gallop is a heart wrenching account of the families of several young Cape Breton soldiers. MacNeil is one of our Maritime storytellers. While I am not a Maritimer, I think these authors are some of our best; they have a gift that is all their own.

>222 streamsong: I saw the article in today's Guardian about Kofi Awoonor's murder at the Westgate Mall in Kenya this weekend, but I didn't comment about it, as I hadn't heard of him before. He was visiting Nairobi to attend a literary festival, and was shopping at the mall with his son when the attack took place. According to this article he was a renowned Ghanian poet and experimental novelist, who was best known for his novel This Earth, My Brother. I'll look for this book when I go to London next month.

I'm glad that you're considering joining me in my CanLit challenge for next year, streamsong; I hope that others decide to participate as well. Since I've asked 8 Canadian LTers to propose books that I would like, I'll plan to read eight books, one from each of them, along with four books from my library that I'm eager to read: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood; De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage; Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry; and Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje. I'll plan to read one book a month for the year.

Thanks for your kind offer, but I think I'll pass on The Wars, unless one of the five Canadian LTers who I haven't yet heard from recommends it.

>223 Nickelini: I'll keep Alias Grace in mind, Joyce, and I'll add it to the recommended books list. I'll also post this list prominently in my future threads this year and in 2014.

I'd like to read Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures but I'm not chomping at the bit to get to it.

>224 lit_chick: Thanks for your additional recommendation of Alias Grace, Nancy. I'll add The Jade Peony and Where White Horses Gallop to this list.

Here are Cyrel's recommendations:

The Amazing Absorbing Boy by Rabindranath Maharaj - story about new immigrant experience in Toronto- I think that it won the Toronto Book Award a few years ago.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler - a classic- a world now gone by the way - set in Montreal and Quebec.

The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston - wonderful fiction about Newfoundland and Joey Smallwood-first premier

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - I think already mentioned!

Three Day Road has already been mentioned-excellent!

Since four Canadian and non-Canadian LTers have recommended Mordecai Richler I'll read The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, which is available for the Kindle in the US.

I know I've had my say, but I also recommend The Wars. Just sayin.

Sorry, Lit_Chick, I know that Jade Peony is highly acclaimed and much loved, but it was a complete and total fail for this reader. I usually have a soft-spot for novels set in Vancouver, but I thought it was horrible. Just had to say that . . . I know my opinion isn't shared by most readers. (Darryl, you can put in a note: "everyone loves this except Joyce")

Overall I think the list you have in post 221 is excellent.

Darryl - Mordecai Richler is one of my gaps in my CanLit education, although I have three of his books in my TBR. Just thought I'd point out that St. Urbain's Horseman and Solomon Gursky was Here were both nominated for the Booker Prize. The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, which is probably his most famous book, was first published in 1959, so it was too early for the Booker prize.

>227 Nickelini: Thanks for that additional recommendation of The Wars, Joyce. I'll plan to read it even if I don't get to it next year.

Uh oh; now I'm curious to read Jade Peony to see why you hated it!

Thanks for inspiring me to come up with this idea! Once the list is complete I'll post it to my Club Read thread and mention this challenge.

ETA:

>228 Nickelini: Thanks for mentioning those other two books by Mordechai Richler. I'll keep them in mind if I like The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Care to read it with me?

I liked The End of the Point but it struck me as an ideal "summer read", not so much a National Book Award book. Ed Goldberg wrote a review that I just couldn't best: http://www.librarything.com/work/13096450/reviews/96510849

. . . The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Care to read it with me?

Sure! My copy is just sitting there collecting dust. Just let me know when.

Three Day Road is excellent! And Alias Grace is another of my favorites...but you have to go visit Kingston, Ontario upon reading it.
I would also add Frances Itani and Anne Marie MacDonald (I preferred Fall on Your Knees to The Way the Crow Flies) and Robertson Davies......

I just read through all the suggestions after posting my own on your profile, and I think this challenge is shaping up to be really interesting. I'm tempted join you next year, at least on a reduced scale, but only after first completing at least four American classics (another of my goals).

It seems like several other people have already recommended Robertson Davies, who was my first selection.

And then, for a super-Canadian theme (though a less familiar and less literary author), I also suggested Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers, set in seventeenth-century New France. It mentions a lot of major people and places of early Canadian history.

> 221 - Great list so far! Delurking to add some Canadian authors/books I gravitate towards that also bring 'Canadianness', as Joyce mentioned in #213 above, to their stories:

Timothy Findley, in particular, The Last of The Crazy People ( I haven't read The Wars, that one is still on my TBR bookcase)
John Bemrose, The Island Walkers
Mary Lawson, Crow Lake
Michel Tremblay, The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant - an iconic representation of 1942 Montreal.

I second Rhonda's suggestion at post #209 of Mercy Among the Children by David Richard Adams.... an absolutely brilliant story!

Speaking of reading challenges, I would like to mention the upcoming Reading Globally fourth quarter theme, which will focus on South American literature. Steven (StevenTX) and Sassy (SassyLassy) have done an outstanding job of providing background information for each country and region, along with a list of recommended authors. I have over two dozen unread novels, novellas and short stories in my library that fit this theme, and yesterday I created a list of the ones I'm most interested in reading (I'll probably only read half of them at most):

Argentina:
   Adolfo Bioy Casares, Asleep in the Sun; The Invention of Morel
   Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciones
   Julio Cortázar, Blow-Up and Other Stories; Hopscotch
   Juan Filloy, Op Oloop
   Ernesto Sábato, The Tunnel
   Juan José Saer, The Sixty-Five Years of Washington

Brasil:
   Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Quincas Borba
   Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, Anonymous Celebrity; Teeth Under the Sun

Chile:
   Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
   Roberto Bolaño, The Third Reich
   José Donoso, Taratuta and Still Life with Pipe; The Lizard's Tale
   Diamela Eltit, E. Luminata
   Alejandro Zambra, Ways of Going Home

Colombia:
   Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (I haven't read this yet!)
   Evelio Rosero, Good Offices

Ecuador:
   Ernesto Quiñonez, Chango's Fire

Guyana:
   Oonya Kempadoo, All Decent Animals

Peru:
   Mario Vargas Llosa, The Green House; Captain Pantoja and the Special Service; The Way to Paradise; The Bad Girl; The Dream of the Celt

Uruguay:
   Juan Carlos Onetti, Let the Wind Speak

Venezuela:
   Alberto Barrera Tyszka, The Sickness

>230 tangledthread: Thanks for your comments about The End of the Point and directing me toward Ed Goldberg's excellent review of it, tangledthread. I'd like to read five or six of the NBA for Fiction longlisted books, so I'll strike this one from my list. I downloaded A Constellation of Vital Phenomena onto my Kindle this morning, and I'll also plan to read The Lowland (which will be sent to my Kindle tomorrow), The Good Lord Bird, Bleeding Edge and Tenth of December. I may consider reading the entire shortlist, so if The End of the Point makes the cut I might read it then.

>231 Nickelini: Do you want to read The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz in January, Joyce?

>232 tangledthread: Thanks for those CanLit recommendations, tangledthread. I'll make a note of them, but I won't add them to the official list, since I'm restricting it to recommendations from Canadian LTers.

>233 _Zoe_: Thanks, Zoë; I'll add your recommendations to the list shortly. Since you also recommended The Deptford Trilogy I'll choose that book from you, and select another book that Suz liked.

>234 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! Since you're Canadian I'll add your recommended books to the list.

I'm not Canadian but I live on the border and my husband's extended family lives in and around Toronto, Darryl and I've read quite a few Canadian authors so I might join you for the gaps that are left in my reading of CanLit. I will say that I loved The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Alias Grace, The Deptford Trilogy, No Great Mischief and both the Boyden books.

Hi Darryl- Just checking in. Always something interesting going on over here. Hope you had a good weekend. I plan on finally getting to Harvest, as my next print read. It's received a couple mixed LT reviews lately, so I have to see for myself.

ETA- I adore those Canadian authors! I still need to get to The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, which Bonnie highly recommended to me years ago AND I have on shelf.

>235 kidzdoc: your South American reading challenge looks great. I don't read nearly enough from the South Americas. Or anywhere outside Europe or the North Americas really. I like seeing the lists, they are in themselves inspiring!

Do you want to read The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz in January, Joyce?

Yep, I'm in!

>237 brenzi: Thanks for those CanLit recommendations, Bonnie. I might create a second list of Canadian literature recommended by non-Canadians, for future reference.

>238 msf59: I did have a good weekend, Mark, and I hope that you did as well. I look forward to your comments about Harvest; at first I was only mildly positive about it, but as I realized that there were deeper themes and that it could be read and interpreted on multiple levels I gained a much greater appreciation of it. I suspect that I would gain further insight from a second and third reading of it, which is something I look for in the best examples of literary fiction. Although I was slightly more fond of The Luminaries I suspect that Harvest will be awarded this year's Booker Prize.

I'm glad that Cyrel also recommended The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, as it appears on the CanLit list that the Canadian LTers are helping me create. I'll feature this list throughout 2014, and hopefully encourage others in this group to read more CanLit.

>239 LovingLit: Thanks, Megan! I love South American literature, so I'm eagerly looking forward to the upcoming Reading Globally quarterly theme, although I'll be sorry to leave the current theme on Francophone literature. Hopefully I can read another two or three Francophone books before the end of the month.

I should create a list of novels by South American authors that I've read and enjoyed. I'll do that tomorrow.

>240 Nickelini: Great, Joyce! Hopefully others will join us in reading The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz in January. The Kindle version costs only $7.99 in the US, so I've just purchased it.

I've been reading Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum, which I'll finish tomorrow. It started out slowly and a bit drily, but I'm quite infected by it now (cough, cough).

I could definitely get into a CanLit challenge. I've long thought that Canadian literature is under-appreciated here in the states. I need to read Atwood's latest, though I was hoping to get to that in 2013. I have a dozen or so Canadian books on my to-read list; so maybe 2014 will be the year to put a dent in those.

I'll join you and Joyce for Duddy Kravitz in January God willing, Darryl.

Lists of Canadian writers seem to have missed out two or more of the better ones:

M.G. Vassanji - two times Giller winner and whose Vikram Lall is a delight; and
Alice Munro - Short story writer extraordinaire (to be fair Rebecca did mention her in passing).
Carol Shields is worth a mention although sadly no longer with us
Emma Donoghue just about qualifies on citizenship grounds
Jane Urquhart is another purveyor of precise prose
Guy Vanderhaeghe writes quality western, frontier history.
Yan Martel brought Pi to life; and
Brian Moore is a particular favourite and can be classed as Canadian just as Bellow could be called a USA writer.

As you may recall Mistry has been lauded in my place since I landed in LT two and a half years ago.

One a month should be good.

Canada year in 2014 sounds a good idea.

>242 banjo123: I could definitely get into a CanLit challenge. I've long thought that Canadian literature is under-appreciated here in the states.

I agree completely, Rhonda; this was one of the main reasons that I wanted to read more CanLit. I hope that you and others, Canadian and non-Canadian, will join me in my CanLit 2014 challenge.

I realized last night that I also want to read Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill, which won or was chosen as a finalist for several literary awards and has been in my library for nearly five years. I don't want to substitute it for any of the four TBR books I mentioned yesterday, so I'll plan to read 13 books in 2014 (a CanLit dozen).

>243 PaulCranswick: Great, Paul! The more the merrier. I hope that you also participate in CanLit 2014.

I didn't realize that M.G. Vassanji resided in Canada. I have The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, and I've wanted to read it for several years. Hmm...maybe I should save it and Someone Knows My Name until 2015; I suspect that I'll have plenty of CanLit books that I'll want to read in upcoming years.

Thanks for those additional Canadian author shout outs. I was in the minority about Room, which I did like, but I wasn't overly fond of Life of Pi. I'm not familiar with the other authors, though.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who clinched their first playoff appearance since 1992 after they defeated the Chicago Cubs last night 2-1. The Bucs are still in contention for the National League Central title, but they probably will earn a wild card spot along with the Cincinnati Reds, barring a late collapse by the front running St. Louis Cardinals.

Maybe you know this, but Someone Knows My Name was published as The Book of Negroes in Canada. That title doesn't come up under LH's name.....but the US title comes up if you search the Canadian title.
Canadian Lit. trivia.....

Morning Darryl- Have you heard anything about Five Days at Memorial? It's been buzzing around lately and it looks fantastic. Fortunately I snagged an ARC and plan to read it soon. She is supposed to be a phenomenal writer.

>246 tangledthread: Yes, I did know that Someone Knows My Name was published as The Book of Negroes in Canada, tangledthread, but thanks for mentioning it. I bought my copy in the US, so I used the title that it was given here.

>247 msf59: I have heard about Five Days in Memorial, Mark; it has received excellent reviews on LT and in The New York Times. I won an Early Reviewers' copy of it in August, and I'm (im)patiently waiting for my copy to arrive. I'm planning to read it in October.

Woo, that's an ambitious tour of South American literature you're taking, Darryl. I've read some of those authors, but there are many I haven't. I look forward to hearing your reactions. No Jorge Amado?

I think you'll like The Deptford Trilogy, although it has been many a year since I read it.

>249 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. I'd like to read three or four books in each of the three upcoming months of the year, so I probably won't read half of the books I listed.

I don't own anything by Jorge Amado, unfortunately.

I'm looking forward to reading The Deptford Trilogy. I probably won't get to it until the late spring or summer, though.

I just finished Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum. It was a bit dry in parts, but it was a good read overall; I'll give it 4 stars.