ORANGE JANUARY 2010

For those of you new to Orange January, it is a personal challenge to read one or more books that have been nominated for or have won the Orange Prize. No reviews necessary (unless you want to) but it's fun to trade titles on this thread. Please let us know what you have in mind for Orange January!

This page lists the winners and those on the short and long lists.

And we do this all again in Orange July!

Have fun!

Okay, here's what I got on my shelves to choose from:

WINNERS:
Larry's Party (1998)
When I Lived in Modern Times (2000)
The Idea of Perfection (2001) (review)

SHORT LIST:
The Poisonwood Bible (1999) ()review)
Purple Hibiscus (2004)
The Accidental (2006)
The Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (2007)
The Outcast (2008) (review)

LONG LIST:
The Lovely Bones (2003) (review)
What I Loved (2003)
The Flying Troutmans (2009) (review)

I am currently reading The Outcast - what an outstanding book so far! Several folks have recommended The Flying Troutmans and The Idea of Perfection so hope to get to these books too. So many books, so little time!

Thanks for creating this thread. I'm in, and I think I'll read at least one of the recent winners that I already have: On Beauty by Zadie Smith, Small Island by Andrea Levy, or Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Ooh, cool. I had never heard of this before.

I have a few on the Shortlist that are already on my TBR for 2010.

The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.) by Barbara Kingsolver (1999)
Amy and Isabelle: A novel by Elizabeth Strout (2000)
Purple Hibiscus: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2004)
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (2004)

I have The Poisonwood Bible on my desk so I'll probably start there. I planned to read Oryx and Crake for the Atwood in April read-along.

I'm game. I will read books by Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I'm in, but I'm waiting until the last moment to choose. I want to see what books others are choosing first.

Feel free to post a notice on the Message Board thread announcing this challenge - that's what it's there for!

I love Orange January (and Orange July) ! I'm planning to read 3 shortlisted works this month:
The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters
Amy and Isabelle, by Elizabeth Strout
The Wilderness, by Samantha Harvey

I'm currently reading Half of a Yellow Sun.

I'll be choosing 4 or 5 (I hope!) from these:

Home by Marilynne Robinson
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer
What the Body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin
Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
Ursula Under by Ingrid Hill

Welcome everyone! So glad to see people joining us! And I think kidzdoc may be the first male Orange January reader. Woot!

>7 drneutron: - took your advice and posted on the Message Board. Thanks for the heads up! Did Goddard give you that idea? =)

Are books shortlisted for the Orange New Writing Prize eligible? If so, I'll count Francesca Kay's An Equal Stillness.

I'm so glad you started this thread. I saw you mentioned it on your intro post, but I didn't know how it would "work".

One of my favorite books is We Need to Talk About Kevin, the 2005 winner. It was doubly interesting since the author is an American and the book takes place in the US, but she published in the UK because non of the US publishers wanted to deal with a book on teen shootings so soon after Columbine.

I'm glad to see so many links posted already. I can't wait to pick a book.

>7 drneutron: - FlossieT - yes, the new writing prize definitely counts!

I am going to choose a book soon - am surprised at how many Orange prize winners or finalists I have read. I just finished Half of a Yellow Sun on Dec. 30th. I have a number of others on my TBR pile to choose from, what a happy selection!

Hi, I'll probably read Small Island, but also have White Teeth and Horse Heaven for short listed. Longlist choices include The Bastard of Istanbul and The Electric Michelangelo.

I'm interested but I feel like I have already agreed to a lot of reading this month. My pick is Fugitive Pieces which is already high up on my tbr pile.

This is one of those challenges where we get to make up our own rules. My kind of challenge!

I already have The Idea of Perfection on my TBR, so if I participate that's what I'll read.

>>11 mrstreme: - Forgot to mention, kidzdoc, I'm here to keep you company. I guess I'm joining as Guy #2!

Jill,

The Idea of Perfection made my 2009 Top Ten so I hope you choose to read that one from your shelves. I have on my shelves Purple Hibiscus, Night Watch White Teeth and The Lizard Cage. A lot of my 5 star reads are Oranges:

Small Island, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Voyage of the Narwhal, The Inheritance of Loss, Home and Poisonwood Bible. I love ORANGE.

I've already said this in the girlybooks group but I thought I would add it here because of all of the interesting posts above.

My list, I doubt I will read them all but I love an Orange list!
In no particular order...

the Girls
Gilgamesh
Brick Lane
Fall on your knees
The Hundred Secret Senses
The Inheritance of Loss
Old Filth
White Teeth

From other people's lists
some of the books I've loved
The Poisonwood Bible - one of my favourite books of all times
Small Island - Another one that is one of my all-time-favourites.
Half of a Yellow Sun - an original story and an eye-opener
Fugitive Pieces - to me this read like poetry
Purple Hibiscus - I couldn't put this one down.
The Road Home - Another one I found hard to put down.

I don't think these have been mentioned but I really enjoyed these ones that I read in "orange july"
Bel Canto - another original story
Everyman's rules for Scientific Living loved the wry humour in this.

I've not enjoyed The lovely bones or The Idea of Perfection as much, but I think it was the mood I was in at the time.

#11, 20: I'm pleased to be the first guy, and that there will be at least another one participating. I'd be happier still if a few more men joined in (Richard? Mark? Any others???).

I have a dozen or more other Orange longlisted books, which I'll post here tomorrow.

Can we have a thread like this once this year's Orange Prize longlist is announced?

Orange is a beautiful color. I plan to read The Girls which was longlisted in 2007. If I have time, I will do a reread of Homestead, on the short list in 2001.

According to my tags, I've read ten Orange Prize Books. On Beauty got 3.5 stars, Home got 4.5 stars, Half of A Yellow Sun got the coveted 5-star rating, with the other seven books rated at 4 stars by me. Go Orange!

Oh, groan. I have many OP books on those short and long lists in my library that haven't been tagged as such. All of mine are winners except for Scottsboro. It looks like I may have a week end project ahead of me.

The Girls is a fabulous book Donna. One of my favorites.

>23 kidzdoc: - We sure can!

Currently reading Old Filth by Jane Gardam - an Orange nominee

How's everyone doing on their OJ reading? I just finished the quirky The Flying Troutmans and about to start the long-awaited The Poisonwood Bible. I've read a lot of Kingsolver's non-fiction, but this will be my first of her fictional books. Can't wait to delve in!

I started The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver and if I can get my todos done and get off the computer, that's where I'll spend some time this evening.

I have Purple Hibiscus on the desk so it's up next.

I got a good start on Scottsboro this afternoon. It's very good so far.

I just finished Purple Hibiscus and will write my review tonight. It was excellent.

>31 laytonwoman3rd:: good to hear, I'm thinking about reading that one in July.

I finished The Mammoth Cheese and reviewed it here. It was quite good!

If you're interested in reading my review of Purple Hibiscus which was on the 2004 shortlist it's here.

Great review, Bonnie. I loved that book too.

I finished The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
I posted my review.

Will step away from Africa for a book or two, then back to read Purple Hibiscus

Edited Trying to fix review link.

Finished Scottsboro this afternoon.

My review is here.

>37 lauranav: Great review Laura. fyi the link you posted isn't working. I'll be re-reading The Poisonwood Bible sometime this year - I loved it the first time 'round.

I think you'll like Purple Hibiscus too.

OK, maybe I'm in too many challenges, but after checking off a bunch of other titles for this month, I finally get to start something for Orange January. I chose Old Filth based on the posts here, so I'm excited to see how it goes.

The rest of my list might have to wait until Orange July - I've started Wolf Hall, does anyone think it is eligible for entry to the Orange Prize for 2010?

ETA Loved Old Filth - just finished it.

>41 KimB: Definitely, Kim.

Kim, I haven't read Wolf Hall yet, but based on everyone's comments, it does sound like a contender!

I just finished Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden. ( on the shortlist for the 2009 Orange Award)

This is not a post about a book, but is related to Orange January. I'm currently researching a piece on the Orange Prize (a sort of 'retrospective'). If anyone has any burning questions, or insights they'd like to share, please do drop me a PM on my profile! It would be great to get a reader's perspective on how they feel about the prize - whether about individual experiences of books selected, how you feel it's changed (or not) what's on offer, and so on. Thanks! And sorry for the slight hijack.

Okay, I'm game. I have a couple of Orange Prize books on the shelf, but I'm going to try for The accidental.

I read Purple Hibiscus
I will probably look for other works by this same author.

Try Half of a Yellow Sun which won the Orange Prize. Very good in my estimation.

>48 brenzi: That's the second recommendation for that one, I've put it on the list for this year. Thank you!

As others will probably tell you, I've been singing the praises of Half of a Yellow Sun ever since it came out! I thought it ws a remarkable book.

I finished my third Orange January book - The Poisonwood Bible - last night. It was a good book though the ending dragged for me.

ETA: I've read a book from short or long lists, so now it's time for an Orange Prize winner. I will be reading The Idea of Perfection next.

Finished the wonderful The Idea of Perfection! Loved it!

I finished my fifth and final book for Orange January - The Lovely Bones.

This was a great reading month. Hands down, my favorite was The Outcast, but every book offered something special:

WINNERS:
The Idea of Perfection (2001) (review)

SHORT LIST:
The Poisonwood Bible (1999) ()review)
The Outcast (2008) (review)

LONG LIST:
The Lovely Bones (2003) (review)
The Flying Troutmans (2009) (review)

See you all in Orange July!

Thank you for the introduction to a prize and authors I didn't know. I've already collected a list for July (and in between). This was fun.

I finished Small Island, the 2004 Orange Prize winner, and reviewed it here.

I am madly reading The Girls trying to get it finished before the end of the month. Terri, you were so right in Msg. 26. I love it!

I just finished Orange book #2 for January. The Septembers of Shiraz - long listed, 2008. Excellent. My review is here.

I have one more I'm reading, but doubt I'll finish it by Sunday night! The Voyage of the Narwhal.

Dang, I just discovered this thread and I just started Fingersmith which was an Orange prize finalist. I love it but I'll definitely not finish it by tomorrow!

>58 Copperskye: - ah, but you may not be able to put it down! It is definitely a page turner.

Whew! Finished The Girls with a day to spare. I don't know why I dragged my feet on this one, guess I thought it would be too depressing. It wasn't exactly a day at Disney World, but the warmth of the writing and the gentle humor made it a compelling read. My review is here.

Donna, great review of The Girls. I loved that book!

Finished The accidental. Success!

I managed to finish Fugitive Pieces last night.

edit: my review is here