British Author Challenge December 2021: Awards & Honors

December: Awards & Honors



And for the final month of 2021 we'll be looking at books and authors that have garnered awards and honors. No need to stick to strictly British awards, as many of them are open to international authors anyway; just make sure the author of the work you choose has some claim to being British. I'm interpreting honors pretty loosely: it can mean longlisted for a prize, named a notable book by a major organization, or even listed as one of the 1001 books to read before you die. The only thing I'm specifically excluding is books whose only "honor" is that it made a bestseller list.

Suggestions
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
Arthur C. Clarke Award
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Guardian Fiction Prize/Guardian First Book Award
Booker Prize
Orange Prize for Fiction/Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die
1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award

British Nobel laureates in Literature
Rabindranath Tagore (India was still part of the British Empire when he won.)
Rudyard Kipling
George Bernard Shaw (Dual Irish/British nationality.)
John Galsworthy
T. S. Eliot (Naturalized British citizen)
Bertrand Russell
Winston Churchill
Elias Canetti
William Golding
V. S. Naipaul
Harold Pinter
Doris Lessing
Kazuo Ishiguro

I’d almost forgotten about this, but I’m happy to see that at least two of my planned reads for the month will fit into the challenge. There might be more than two, but if not I’m good with two.

Strike that, it’s at least four.

>2 PawsforThought: I took a look at the spreadsheet I keep of my yearly reading and discovered I've read four qualifying books that I hadn't already assigned to another month's challenge.

>1 amanda4242: Do any books by the Nobel Laureates count, or does it have to be a book by a Nobel Laureate that also won a prize? I have books by several of the laureates, but pretty sure the books I have didn't specifically win a prize.

Tagore!

>4 kac522: It can be any book by a laureate. You can pick books that have awards and honors, or any book by an author who's been awarded and honored for their body of work.

>5 m.belljackson: I doubt I'll get to him this year, but he's on my tbr list.

>6 amanda4242: Cool! Thanks. I will probably read An Unsocial Socialist, one of Shaw's few novels.

>8 kac522: I didn't know he had written any at all.

The only "British" Nobel laureate I haven't yet read anything by is Elias Canetti so I may shoehorn him in in December. I never thought to include him in the BAC!

My honored reading so far:

1. The Boggart and the Monster by Susan Cooper (Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award Nominee)

A delightful follow-up to the equally delightful The Boggart. This one has the titular boggart befriending the Loch Ness monster.

2. How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury by Cressida Cowell, read by David Tennant (Audie Winner)

I've listened to this series multiple times and will probably listen again for next year's challenge. The story is wonderful and Tennant's narration is superb.

3. Neonomicon by Alan Moore (Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Award Nominee)

It's Lovecraftian horror through the pen of Alan Moore, so full of madness, sex, and monstrosity. Jacen Burrows art is crisp and amazing.

4. Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell (British Science Fiction Association Award Shortlist, British Fantasy Award Nominee)

The first in a series of novellas about three women banding together to protect their village from supernatural forces. Quick and entertaining.

I am going to read Margaret Drabble, which I believe fits requirements. She has some honors listed on her author page. I am reading The Radiant Way.

I'll be reading Klara and the Sun, by Nobel author Kazuo Ishiguro.

For those who might be interested, Liz (lyzard) is leading a group read of Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope (1863). From the description on the book's LT page:

This is Trollope's most detailed and concise study of middle-class life in a small provincial community - in this case Baslehurst, in the luscious Devon countryside. It is also a charming love-story, centering on sweet-natured Rachel Ray and her suitor Luke Rowan, whose battle to wrest control over Baslehurst's brewery involves a host of typically Trollopian local characters.

And coincidentally, the book ends during the Christmas season.

Discussion begins Monday at 2 chapters per day--the book is 30 chapters long. Everyone welcome to participate here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/337237

I finished An Unsocial Socialist (1884), the last novel of George Bernard Shaw. It's very satirical, and actually would have worked out better as a play. I'm not sure what to take away from it, but there are some long socialist speeches and traditional love relationships between men and women are questioned.

I've managed two more for December's theme.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, read by the author (Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist)

A reread, but the first time in audio format. My original review still holds:

A very enjoyable look at the Trojan War and surrounding events as seen through the eyes of the female characters. Some parts don't work as well as others, but Haynes' stroppy muse and her increasingly frustrated Penelope are highlights, and there's an incredibly touching scene between Cassandra and Clytemnestra near the end.

I'd also like to recommend Haynes's podcast, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics. Her episode on The Iliad is, in addition to being a good primer for A Thousand Ships, very funny (spoiler: she really doesn't like Agamemnon. Haynes, like Clytemnestra, will never forgive him for what he did to Iphigenia.).

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano (Bram Stoker Award, Eisner Award, Hugo Nominee)

Gaiman retells the Japanese tale "The Fox, the Monk, and the Mikado of All Night's Dreaming" as a stand alone story in his Sandman world. Rather unsurprisingly, a story that involves dreams works very well as part of a series about Dream of the Endless. And Amano's illustrations make this one a must read.