JUST LISTS

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JUST LISTS

1dchaikin
Dic 20, 2023, 4:22 pm

The beauty and insanity of lists. Post a list, respond to a list. (hide under a pillow to avoid a list...)

2dchaikin
Dic 20, 2023, 4:32 pm

Just want to get this off to a good start, when visitors come with 2024 on their minds (care of a facebook post)

A LIST of 2023 AWARD WINNERS

Nobel for Literature - Jon Fosse for body of work.
Pulitzer - Trust by Hernan Diaz and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
National Book Award - Blackouts by Justin Torres
Booker - Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
International Booker - Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov
National Book Critics Circle Award - Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
Kirkus Prize - The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
Women's Prize for Fiction - Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Giller Prize (Canada) - Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
Miles Franklin Award (Australia) - Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran
Stella Prize (Australia women) - The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt
Irish Book Award - The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
British Book Award - Babel by R.F. Kuang
Goldsmiths Prize - Cuddy by Benjamin Myers
PEN/Faulkner Award - The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li
PEN Prize for Debut Fiction - Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty
Neustadt International Prize for Literature - Ananda Devi for body of work
International Dublin Lit. Award - Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp
Carol Shields Prize - When We Were Sisters by Fatima Asghar
Edgar Award (crime/mystery) - Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
Nebula Award (sci-fi/fantasy) - Babel by R.F. Kuang
Hugo Award (sci-fi/fantasy) - Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Bram Stoker Award (horror) - The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias

———————

More...

Caine Prize for African Fiction, winner - A Soul of Small Places by Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo (husband-wife team)
Aspen Words Literary Prize (fiction, contemporary issues), winner - The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and other stories by Jamil Jan Kochai
National Book Development Award (Philippines), winner - Path by Gundal Vijay Kumar (no touchstone)
South African Literary Award, last English winner - The Promise by Damon Galgut
Arthur C. Clarke Award (sci-fi), winner - Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman
CWA Dagger Award (crime), winner - The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green
Rathbones Folio Prize, winner - Constructing a Nervous System A Memoir by Margo Jefferson
Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize (humour), winner - The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer

3dchaikin
Modificato: Dic 20, 2023, 4:35 pm

Not enough?

how about a compilation of press 2023 bests-of lists
https://lithub.com/the-ultimate-best-books-of-2023-list/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp...

And, my inbox today had the Tournament of books short list
https://www.tournamentofbooks.com/the-2024-shortlist

4markon
Modificato: Dic 23, 2023, 2:18 pm

6dchaikin
Dic 25, 2023, 12:30 pm

>4 markon: thanks Ardene.

>5 ELiz_M: that's so clean and neat. And it's basically a list of lists, which is just lovely. Thanks!

7WelshBookworm
Dic 25, 2023, 2:45 pm

Well, you missed MY favorites: The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, and the Wainwright Prize...

8dchaikin
Dic 25, 2023, 5:19 pm

>7 WelshBookworm: what do they award for, and who won them? :)

9WelshBookworm
Dic 25, 2023, 7:04 pm

>8 dchaikin: Lucy Caldwell won the 2023 Walter Scott Prize (historical fiction) for These Days

The Wainwright Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of general outdoors, nature and UK-based travel writing. They also award a winner in conservation writing.
The nature writing award in 2023 went to The Flow: Rivers, Water, and Wildness.
The conservation award went to The Lost Rainforests of Britain

10dchaikin
Dic 25, 2023, 10:26 pm

11labfs39
Dic 26, 2023, 12:44 pm

12rocketjk
Dic 30, 2023, 12:17 pm

Here's my first list of 2024. I recently finished reading a 1998 edition of the Missouri Review (Volume 21, Number 2 for those keeping score at home). Here is a list of the books reviewed at the end of the magazine:

Night Train by Martin Amis
Riven Rock by T.C. Boyle
The Deep Green Sea by Robert Olin Butler
The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr
All Around Atlantis by Deborah Eisenberg
My Sister Life: The Story of My Sister's Disappearance by Maria Flook
The Next Step in the Dance by Tim Gautreaux
Clemency by Colette Inez
Pretending the Bed is a Raft by Nanci Kincaid
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
Mercy Road by Dalia Pagani
Truman Capote by George Plimpton
Orphan Factory by Charles Simic
Life Among the Trolls by Maura Stanton
Herb's Pajamas by Abigail Thomas
The Tent of Orange Mist by Paul West

13arubabookwoman
Dic 30, 2023, 12:59 pm

>12 rocketjk: Interesting to see a list of books from 1998. I recognize many of the authors (and have read other books by some of them), but haven't heard of many of the books. The only one I've read is Charming Billy, which was a prize winner (Pulitzer? I think), and I own Riven Rock (and probably have owned it since 1998 or so), but haven't read it.

14rocketjk
Dic 30, 2023, 5:12 pm

>13 arubabookwoman: That's funny, because Charming Billy is the only one I've read, as well. Quite a good book, in fact. Though I'd heard of Night Train, Riven Rock, Orphan Factory and The Angel of Darkness. Regarding Angel of Darkness, it's the sequel, I'm pretty sure, of Carr's The Alienist. I remember well when that book was all the rage (and also reading and enjoying it quite a lot).

15lisapeet
Modificato: Dic 30, 2023, 9:09 pm

>13 arubabookwoman: >14 rocketjk: Same here—Charming Billy is the only one I know for sure that I read. Maybe The Angel of Darkness? Because I also really liked The Alienist—old downtown NYC has always been a big draw for me as a subject.

That really highlights the difference in my reading life before and after I started discussing books online. Now there’s such a… reading zeitgeist, I guess?

16labfs39
Modificato: Feb 10, 9:37 pm

Kay/RidgewayGirl and I were discussing making a list of publishers who translate books into English, and lo and behold, thanks to the miracle of the internet and diligence of PEN America, such a list already exists (of course it does).

Publishers of Works in Translation

Transit Books: https://www.transitbooks.org/about
World Editions: https://worldeditions.org/about/
Margellos World Republic of Letters: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/books/series/margellos-world-republic-letters/
Charco Press: https://charcopress.com
Lolli Editions: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/lollieditions

It was, however, created in 2012. Do you see any omissions? I can add them to the end of this post. My favorites are Archipelago Press, NYRB, Europa Editions, Dalkey Archives, and Dedalus Books. What are yours?

17ELiz_M
Gen 1, 8:45 am

18arubabookwoman
Gen 1, 9:55 am

>16 labfs39: and >17 ELiz_M: My last book of 2023 was by Curaçao author Tip Marugg who wrote in Dutch but was a native Papiamento speaker. It was published by Margellos World Republic of Letters which publishes translated works from around the world.

19labfs39
Gen 1, 10:14 am

>17 ELiz_M: Thanks, Liz, I added them to the list in >16 labfs39:.

>18 arubabookwoman: Good call, Deborah. I've read books from this series as well. Technically it's published by Yale University Press, but that isn't on the PEN list either. I added it above.

20labfs39
Gen 1, 10:16 am

>18 arubabookwoman: P.S. I recently added like 40 more books to the Margellos World Republic of Letters series page in LibraryThing.

21dchaikin
Gen 1, 10:22 am

>12 rocketjk: well, how gorgeous is that. Thanks for posting!

>16 labfs39: cool resource!

22RidgewayGirl
Gen 3, 10:23 am

>16 labfs39: Don't forget Tilted Axis Press!

https://www.tiltedaxispress.com

23labfs39
Gen 3, 9:25 pm

>22 RidgewayGirl: I didn't add it because it was on the PEN list. I didn't want to replicate the ones they already had.

24dchaikin
Gen 6, 7:06 pm

Every year i keep a note on my phone called “Ideas for reading”, with titles that caught my attention for the moment. Then the next year i thin it out to what i think I’m really still interested in. Here’s what made my 2023 thinned out list. Sources are in parentheses

- Possession- byatt (Booker Prize Book Club on Facebook)
- The Children’s Book - Byatt (Booker Prize Book Club on Facebook)
- Yellowface - RF Kuang (Booker Prize Book Club on Facebook)
- The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy (LT reviews of Stella Maris)
- The Wren, the wren - Anne Enright (Booker Prize Book Club on Facebook)
- Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp (Booker Prize Book Club on Facebook, Dublin award winner)
- Beryl Bainbridge, The Dressmaker (Booker Prize Book Club on Facebook)
- Chretien de Troyes
- Tristan y Isolde
- c1200 Parzival by German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach
- c1200 Mabinogion - Welsh
- c1370 Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight
- c1377 Piers Plowman by William Langland
- c1400 alliterative Morte Arthure (author unknown)
- 1485: Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur
- Joseph Blotner’s biography of Faulkner (dianelouise100)
- Superinfinite: The Unique John Donne by ‪Katherine Rundell‬ (BLBera)
- Noopiming by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (Yells)

25kjuliff
Gen 6, 7:12 pm

>2 dchaikin: Thank you. This is such an interesting and practical list!

26dianeham
Modificato: Gen 6, 7:29 pm

I highly recommend- - Noopiming by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - very highly.

ETA: there are some interesting things to know about it too. Like how gender is used in the book. There are some very good articles about it.

27dchaikin
Gen 6, 7:31 pm

Does anyone else have ideas to read lists of any variation….that you want to share?

28labfs39
Gen 6, 7:55 pm

I read Parzival after reading Matterhorn, then reread Matterhorn. Very interesting things come out of a book written by a Yale-educated Rhodes Scholar and Vietnam Vet.

29rhian_of_oz
Gen 6, 10:51 pm

>27 dchaikin: I keep track of CR BBs so that when I finally get around to reading them, which may be years after, I know why.

The following list is from 2023 and is pretty modest because I didn't spend a lot of time here. Goodness knows how long this year's list will be.

All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg (bragan)
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet (RidgewayGirl)
I'm Off Then by Hape Kerkeling (cushlareads)
The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green (wandering_star)
Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson (RidgewayGirl)
The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye (BLBera)
Dinosaurs A Novel by Lydia Millet (avaland, BLBera)
Broken River by J Robert Lennon (arubabookwoman)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (rachbxl)
Pandora's Jar by Natalie Haynes (rachbxl)
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes (rachbxl)
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (shadrach_anki and Victorian Tavern)
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton (BLBera)
Sugar Street by Jonathan Dee (arubabookwoman)
Haven by Emma Donoghue (arubabookwoman)
This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear (labsf39)
Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson (wandering_star)
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (wandering_star)
The Employees by Olga Ravn (wandering_star)
A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly (WelshBookworm)
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (Simone2)
I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai (japaul22)
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Yells)
How Can I Help You by Laura Sims (RidgewayGirl)
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (Simone2)
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (Simone2)
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn (BLBera)
Kids Run The Show by Delphine de Vigan (Simone2)
Talking To The Dead by Harry Bingham (wandering_star)
Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce (WelshBookworm)
Berlin by Bea Setton (RidgewayGirl)
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue (RidgewayGirl)
Wellness by Nathan Hill (Simone2, RidgewayGirl)
House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J Klune (karspeak, labfs39)
Blackout by Connie Willis (Arubabookwoman)
All Clear by Connie Willis (Arubabookwoman)
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (series)
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (series)

30dchaikin
Gen 7, 8:34 am

>29 rhian_of_oz: terrific list. I’ll second All the Little Bird-Hearts.

31Ameise1
Gen 8, 6:13 am

>24 dchaikin: I read The Children's Book in 2013 and really enjoyed it (4½ stars). I can definitely highly recommend it.

32dchaikin
Gen 8, 9:06 am

>31 Ameise1: thanks! I’m thinking about it as an audiobook.

33Ameise1
Gen 8, 9:40 am

34AlisonY
Gen 10, 12:59 pm

>2 dchaikin: Can I add a couple of non-fiction 2023 prize-winners to your list? I seem to be increasingly reading NF these days:

Pulitzer General Non-Fiction - His Name is George Floyd - One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Robert Samuels
The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction- Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World by John Vailant

35dchaikin
Gen 10, 1:10 pm

37markon
Gen 19, 1:25 pm

And here are three awards I ran across on the '75ers nonfiction challenge thread this morning that will provide lists of books to read or gift about nature/the environment:

38dchaikin
Gen 21, 11:52 am

Whoa

BBC : Gabriel García Márquez, Stephen King and Elif Shafak: 45 of 2024's most anticipated books

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240111-gabriel-garcia-marquez-stephen-king...

39kidzdoc
Gen 21, 1:20 pm

Dang it, Dan. How am I supposed to catch up on the books I plan to read if shiny new ones are calling out to me?!

I'll definitely read Knife by Salman Rushdie once I can get my hands on it this spring. I read Joseph Anton, his account of living in hiding after the fatwa that was issued after he wrote Midnight's Children. He was a visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta, where I completed my residency in pediatrics, and I attended an unforgettable talk in which he discussed and read from his novel The Enchantress of Florence at the nearby Carter Presidential Center several years ago. Hearing him read from the book transported me, my companion, former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn from Georgia, who was two seats from me, to our childhoods when we were transfixed by being read to in grade school. I'm greatly relieved that he survived that horrific attack in upstate New York, and I'll be incredibly eager to read his account of the attack and his recovery.

40dchaikin
Gen 21, 2:33 pm

It gets overwhelming, right? I’m seriously thinking about Knife too.

41ELiz_M
Gen 21, 2:34 pm

Ten books that I discovered in 500 Great Books by Women that I probably would not have read/heard of outside of this list:

I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson
Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language by Eva Hoffman
Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
The Street by Ann Petry
Requiem by Shizuko Go

I have the complete list of 508 books tagged in goodreads

42dchaikin
Gen 21, 3:01 pm

>41 ELiz_M: i have The Bone People right here next to me. Haven’t read it

43arubabookwoman
Gen 21, 5:39 pm

>41 ELiz_M: >42 dchaikin: I loved The Bone People! Since it was a (surprise) Booker Winner, I think you would have heard of it Liz. That said, I do have 500 Great Books by Women on my shelf, and I've discovered many great books there.

44dianeham
Modificato: Gen 22, 1:00 pm

Questo messaggio è stato cancellato dall'autore.

45rv1988
Modificato: Gen 22, 11:24 pm

Here's my list of interesting titles from Singapore and Malaysia, for those interested. I'm going try and work my way through some of these, this year. This list is all fiction. I built based on online lists, as well as on recommendations from friends and colleagues from these countries.

Singapore

Clarissa Goenawan - Rainbirds (Soho Press, 2018)
Sharlene Teo - Ponti (Simon and Schuster, 2019)
Amanda Lee Koe - Ministry of Moral Panic (Epigram Books, 2016)
Meira Chand - A Different Sky (Vintage Books, 2011)
Balli Kaur Jaswal - Inheritance (Epigram Books, 2008), Sugarbread (Epigram Books, 2016)
Rachel Heng - The Great Reclamation (Riverhead Books, 2023)
Tan Kok Seng - Son of Singapore (Epigram Books, 1972, repub 2014), Three Sisters of Sze (1971, repub 2011)
Ming Cher - Spider Boys (Penguin 1995)
Goh Poh Seng - The Immolation (Heinemann 1977, repub Epigram Books 2011)
O Thiam Chin - Now That It's Over (Epigram Books, 2016)
Sebastian Sim - The Riot Act (Epigram Books, 2018)
Karina Robles Bahrin - The Accidental Malay (Epigram Books, 2022)
Darryl Yam - Kappa Quartet (Epigram Books, 2016)
Akshita Nanda - Nimita's Place (Epigram Books, 2018)
Jing Jing Lee - How We Disappeared (Hanover Square Press, 2019)
Jeremy Tiang - State of Emergency (via >46 labfs39:)

Malaysia
Vanessa Chan - The Storm We Made (Hodder & Stoughton, 2023)
Tash Aw - We the Survivors (4th Estate, 2019), The Harmony Silk Factory (Harper Perennial, 2005)
Tan Twan Eng - The Gift of Rain (Myrmidon Books, 2007); The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books, 2011); The House of Doors (Bloomsbury, 2023)
Rani Manicka - The Rice Mother (Penguin, 2004)
Yangsze Choo - The Ghost Bride (Harper Collins, 2014)
Selina Sian Chin Yoke - The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds (2016)
Li Zi Shu - The Age of Goodbyes (Feminist Press, 2022)
Faisal Tehrani - 1515
Shahnon Ahmed - Stumps (via >47 dchaikin:)

Also:
The Merlin and the Hibiscus: Contemporary Short Stories from Singapore and Malaysia

And a bonus section: books about Singapore and Malaysia, written by writers from elsewhere:
Somerset Maugham - The Casuarina Tree
Nevil Shute - A Town Like Alice
Anthony Burgess - A Time for for a Tiger
Henri Fauconnier - The Soul of Malaya
Han Suyin - And the Rain my Drink
Joseph Conrad - Lord Jim, The Rescue
Peter Carey - My Life as a Fake
James Clavell - King Rat
J.G. Farrell - The Singapore Grip
Jon Cleary - The Long Pursuit \

46labfs39
Gen 22, 7:32 am

>45 rv1988: An absolute treasure trove of a list. Thank you for sharing. Tan Twan Eng is a fantastic writer, IMO. I hope you enjoy him too. As I wrote on your thread, you might think about State of Emergency by Jeremy Tiang too. I loved it when I read it late last year.

47dchaikin
Gen 22, 8:34 am

>45 rv1988: this is terrific. Thanks for sharing. If you add more, let us know.

I was in KL in 2019 and picked up a book called Stumps by Shahnon Ahmad. Do you know anything about it? I was looking for a Malaysian perspective novel (i don’t know the ethnic terminology. But I mean not Chinese or Indian or Western, but Malay). I haven’t read it.

48kidzdoc
Gen 22, 1:12 pm

>45 rv1988: What great lists! Thank you for sharing those books with us, Rashdar; I definitely look forward to your opinions on the ones you get to.

Let's see...I've read Map of the Invisible World (4½ stars), The Face: Strangers on a Pier (4 stars), and Five Star Billionaire (4 stars), all by Tash Aw; The Gift of Rain, The Garden of Evening Mists, and The House of Doors (4½ stars for each), all by Tan Twan Eng; and The Singapore Grip) (also 4½ stars) by J.G. Farrell. I own A Different Sky by Meira Chand, and The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw, but I haven't read them yet.

49rv1988
Gen 22, 11:25 pm

>46 labfs39: Thanks. I'm really looking forward to the Tan Twan Eng books. I've added Jeremy Tiang to the list!
>47 dchaikin: I'm afraid I haven't read it, but I've added it to the list. I see what you mean: there's such a diverse and complex background to Malaysian and Singaporean fiction. I was reading up and very interested to see that Malayasian-Chinese writing is a distinct genre on its own, for example.
>48 kidzdoc: You've covered a fair bit of these books already! I'm going to try and catch up with you.

50rv1988
Modificato: Gen 23, 8:45 pm

Some lists of the "most anticipated" books of 2024.

BBC, From literary heavyweights and thoughtful non-fiction to crime thrillers, 45 of the most anticipated books of 2024 – including a new Stephen King and a look at how algorithms are shaping our cultureT
The Guardian, From Salman Rushdie to RuPaul: the books to look out for in 2024
Lithub, Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024T
Publishing Post, Translation Releases in 2024v

I'm sure everyone's looking out for different things, but a few that I wanted to highlight:

- Salman Rushdie - Knife - a memoir about the recent incident in which he was attacked and stabbed. He said he wasn't going to write about it in an interview some time back, but he has changed his mind. There's an ongoing legal battle about the publication of this book while the trial of his attacker is ongoing.
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Until August - a lost manuscript, rediscovered and translated by Anne McLean
- Percival Everett - James - a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim
- Alvaro Enrigue - You Dreamed of Empires (translated by Natasha Wimmer) - a historical novel, about Monteczuma, Tenochtitlan, and the colonization of Mexico
- Linnea Axelsson - Aednan (translated by Saskia Vogel) - a Sámi family epic novel, beginning in 1910s and stretching to the present day.
- Gregory Pardlo - Spectral Evidence - Pardlo is a wonderful contemporary American poet, and this is his latest collection
- Witold Gombrowicz - The Possessed (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) - one of Poland's big contemporary writers, a translation of one of his early works.
- Iman Mersal - Traces of Enayat (translated by Robin Moger) - a novella from one of Egypt's foremost poets, about the life of Egyptian author Enayat al-Zayyat
- Colm Toibin - Long Island (sequel to Brooklyn)
- Dino Buzzati - The Singularity (translated by Anne Milano Appel) - a famous work of Italian science fiction, now translated to English
- Armistead Maupin - Mona of the Manor (tenth in his Tales of the City books)
- Stuart Turton - The Last Murder at the End of the World - I know The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was well-liked here, so perhaps a new book from Turton may be of interest.
- Anita Desai - Rosarita - she hasn't published for adults in a long time, so I am looking forward to this new novel.
- Graeme Macrae Burnet - one of the more interesting crime/thriller writers, a new book from him is automatically on my list.

51dchaikin
Gen 23, 8:46 am

>49 rv1988: well, i should actually try reading it sometime 🙂 But there is all this -> >50 rv1988: - to read! 😳

52kidzdoc
Modificato: Gen 23, 11:42 am

>49 rv1988: The Guardian's book recommendations often make my blood pressure go up, as it never fails to list books I want to get to ASAP, whether in lists like this or the Saturday Book Review section. I started to write down books that I was interested in on a 5 x 7 writing pad, but once I got to four pages I knew that I had gone overboard. So, here's my list that I would be willing to sell my mother to the circus to read (sorry, Mom):

Knife, Salman Rushdie: for reasons I mentioned in >39 kidzdoc:
James, Percival Everett: one of my two favorite American novelists, along with Jesmyn Ward
An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Civilization to Independence, by Zeinab Badawi: I loved seeing her insightful reporting and interviews on the BBC, and I'm sure that I will love this book
Long Island, Colm Tóibín: I adored his novel Brooklyn, and this is a follow up to it
The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon, Adam Shatz: I've wanted to learn more about the great African physician, public intellectual and revolutionary, so this will be a must read
Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary V. Dearborn: Carson McCullers is at the top of my list of favorite American novelists — the only author I would place above her off the top of my head is James Baldwin — and I am beyond eager to learn more about her far too short life

I'll add four books by my most favorite authors that are scheduled to be released this year:

Every Wrinkle Has a Story, David Grossman: my favorite Israeli novelist, now that Amos Oz has sadly passed from us
Le dedico mi silencio, Mario Vargas Llosa: my absolute favorite living novelist
The House of Being, Natasha Trethewey: the former poet laureate of the United States and my favorite living American poet, this book is a meditation of her life and how it influenced her writing. I adored her previous book, Memorial Drive, so this is another title that I'll order as soon as it comes out
My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir, Sarah Moss: she is my favorite living British novelist, so this is a no brainer

(apologies for the extreme overuse of the word favorite)

53Willoyd
Modificato: Gen 23, 3:30 pm

Oh, goodness me! Another thread I've discovered, having just joined CR for the New Year. Just love lists, including keeping a fair number of my own!

>2 dchaikin:
Can I add another three more prizes which I follow closely?

1. The Wolfson History Prize. 2023 winner was Resistance: The Underground War Against Hitler by Halik Kochanski. It has provided very rich pickings for my reading!
2. The Women's Prize for Fiction. 2023 winner was Demon Copperfield. I often find this distinctly more interesting than the Booker, which was very disappointing this year. The WPF team are starting up a Women's Prize for Non-Fiction in 2024, shortlist coming up in February.
3. The Royal Society Trivendi Science Book Prize. 2023 winner was An Immense World by Ed Yong. Very much aimed at promoting good popular science books, and again has provided rich pickings.

>42 dchaikin: >43 arubabookwoman:
Bone People is on my all-time favourites list (currently at just under 150 books, fictio and non-fiction)! Outstanding read from a few years ago, even if it's not one I wanted to go back to anytime soon after. Far too emotionally exhausting for that! However, maybe soon.

>52 kidzdoc:
Carson McCullers is at the top of my list of favorite American novelists — the only author I would place above her off the top of my head is James Baldwin
I've discovered both in the past year or so, having read books by them for my Tour of the USA (another list!): Another Country for New York, and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter for Georgia. Both brilliant - I have already acquired a Baldwin volume from Library of America, and will be reading more McCullers too.

>27 dchaikin:
Does anyone else have ideas to read lists of any variation….that you want to share?
I've got several, mostly tied in with reading projects (tour of the USA, reading the world), but one specific one I've got is 'doorstoppers to read'. I seem to have largely abandoned big books since lockdown, even though I used to almost prefer big books, so I've put together a list of longer books that I really want to tackle over the next year or two (or three, or four!) I've got a list of fiction and non-fiction, single and multi-volume, but these are the two dozen single volume fiction books on the list (I've only allowed myself one book per author, so some authors will have another books added once the first one has been read - as long as the previous one went OK!)

Cecilia - Frances Burney
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
The Sorrow of Belgium - Hugo Claus
The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens
The Brothers Karamazov -Fyodr Dostoevsky
Daniel Deronda- George Eliot
Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellmann
Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
Stalingrad - Vasily Grossman
The Eighth Life - Nino Haratischwili
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
We, The Drowned - Carsten Jensen
Ulysses - James Joyce
Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
Life, A User's Manual - Georges Perec
The Good Companions - JB Priestley
Mason and Dixon - Thomas Pynchon
Berlin Finale - Heinz Rein
And Quiet Flows the Don - Mikhail Sholokhov
Tomb of Sand - Geentanjali Shree
Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne
The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

54kidzdoc
Gen 23, 3:37 pm

>53 Willoyd: Great! Which Library of America volume of Baldwin's works do you have, Will? I have James Baldwin: Collected Essays, but I don't yet own the Early Novels and Stories, or the Later Novels.

If you're interested in reading more of Carson McCullers's work I would highly recommend Carson McCullers: Complete Novels, which was also published by the Library of America. I've read it in full, and I'll certainly read it again in the not too distant future.

Another favorite Southern gothic author of mine is Flannery O'Connor, who was also from Georgia (I lived in Atlanta for 24 years) and died at an early age. Her novels are very good, but her short stories are outstanding, IMO. The Library of America also has a volume dedicated to her, titled Flannery O'Connor: Collected Works.

55Willoyd
Modificato: Gen 23, 4:07 pm

>54 kidzdoc:
I have Early Novels and Stories. The McCullers LoA volume is high on my want list! I've really discovered LoA in recent years, since I started my tour of the USA. Unfortunately, they stopped taking foreign subscribers during lockdown, and never reinstated, so I mainly have to rely on Blackwell's and Amazon to get hold of copies (even though I'd prefer not to use the latter!), although I've managed the occasional copy from second-hand independents. Willa Cather and Wendell Berry are other personal discoveries doing the tour whose LoA collections I now have (amongst others!).

56kidzdoc
Gen 23, 4:08 pm

>55 Willoyd: That stinks that LoA no longer takes subscriptions from abroad. I've seen numerous LoA volumes in the flagship branch of Foyles, and in the London Review Bookshop, but I haven't been to the capital since the pandemic.

57dchaikin
Gen 23, 5:52 pm

>53 Willoyd: oh, beautiful tomes. I’ve read a few and want to read several others

I’ve read these:
The Brothers Karamazov -Fyodr Dostoevsky - a tough one written under censorship scrutiny.
Ducks, Newburyport - Lucy Ellmann - takes some getting used to. But I took to thos
The Eighth Life - Nino Haratischwili - mixed for me
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - entertaining and exhausting
Mason and Dixon - Thomas Pynchon - I’m not a fan. (But I liked GR)

Ones I plan to read eventually:
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
The Mandarins - Simone de Beauvoir
Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens - actually never heard of this, but want to read more Dickens
Daniel Deronda- George Eliot
Tom Jones - Henry Fielding
Ulysses - James Joyce
Buddenbrooks - Thomas Mann
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
And Quiet Flows the Don - Mikhail Sholokhov

My own intimidating tomes include
- The Search for Modern China - Jonathan Spence
- Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
- Maps of Time : An Introduction to Big History by David Christian
- In Search of Lost Time - Proust

58Willoyd
Modificato: Gen 23, 7:09 pm

>57 dchaikin:
Barnaby Rudge - Charles Dickens - actually never heard of this, but want to read more Dickens
One of two historical novels he wrote (the other being Tale of Two Cities), based on the Gordon Riots. Not surprised you haven't heard of it. Not many have, unless a Dickens fan (which I am). I'm currently reading Dickens in chronological order of publication, including rereading those I've done before. Looking forward to Bleak House, which is perhaps my favourite!

My own intimidating tomes include....In Search of Lost Time - Proust
Not sure I'll ever revisit that one, but others rave!

59rocketjk
Gen 23, 9:59 pm

>53 Willoyd: Just chiming in to say that We, the Drowned is one of my favorite novels that I've read over the past 15 years or so. And I rate Don Quixote as one of the funniest books I've ever read. I loved it.

60rocketjk
Modificato: Gen 24, 9:43 pm

Here is a link to the list of the winners of the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards:
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/73rd-national-jewish-book-award-winne...
You have to scroll down a bit on the above linked page to find the list, which includes both the winners and other finalists.

Of note, as quote from the website:
"Time’s Echo: The Sec­ond World War, the Holo­caust, and the Music of Remem­brance by Jere­my Eich­ler (Alfred A. Knopf), . . . was named the Everett Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion Book of the Year and won both the His­to­ry - Ger­rard and Ella Berman Memo­r­i­al Award and the Holo­caust Award in Mem­o­ry of Ernest W. Michel. In Time’s Echo, Jere­my Eich­ler pays homage to some of the twen­ti­eth century’s most cel­e­brat­ed com­posers who memo­ri­al­ized the Sec­ond World War and the Holo­caust in their music as he uses their com­po­si­tions to illu­mi­nate the land­scape of post­war Europe and Amer­i­ca. With ​“the ears of a crit­ic and the tools of a his­to­ri­an,” Eich­ler intro­duces a new way of under­stand­ing his­to­ry – ​“lis­ten­ing with an under­stand­ing of music as time’s echo.” It is a ​“ground­break­ing achieve­ment in memo­r­i­al his­to­ry,” as not­ed by our judges.

James McBride wins his first two Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards, the JJ Green­berg Memo­r­i­al Award for Fic­tion, and The Miller Fam­i­ly Book Club Award in Mem­o­ry of Helen Dunn Wein­stein and June Keit Miller, for his nov­el The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store."

61markon
Gen 25, 12:55 pm

>60 rocketjk: Thanks for that link. There are several that look interesting, and a reminder that Kantika is on my list.

62arubabookwoman
Gen 31, 12:12 pm

Random List of Books Purchased at Powell's on January 23, 2009

I finished The Dream by Zola, and pulled the next book in the Rougon Macquart series The Beast Within (only 3 more to go!), off my shelf. Nestled inside was the receipt from Powell's. That was my first trip to Powell's, on a weekend trip down to Portland from Seattle.
Here are the books I bought (I've marked with a star * the ones I've managed to read:

1. The Beast Within by Emile Zola (will be a reread)
*2. Chicago by Alaa al Aswani
*3. Broken April by Ismail Kadare
*4. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates
*5. Poor People by William Vollmann
*6. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
7. Soldiers in Hiding by Richard Wiley
8. Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant
*9. Boy A by Jonathan Trigell
*10. The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig
*11. Isle of Passion by Laura Restrepo
12. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

63labfs39
Gen 31, 12:40 pm

>62 arubabookwoman: What a nice list and nice memory!

64ELiz_M
Gen 31, 2:26 pm

Books on the Oceanic shelves at McNally Jackson Bookstore (1 per author):

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
New Animal by Ella Baxter
The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
The Good Wife of Bath by Karen Brooks
Book of Colours by Robyn Cadwallader
Shanghai Dancing by Brian Castro
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton
The Mannequin Makers by Craig Cliff
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
Our Magic Hour by Jennifer Down
Scary Monsters by Michelle de Kretser
Careful He Might Hear You by Sumner Locke Elliott
The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan
Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame
My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
The Book of Ayn by Lexi Freiman
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Weyward by Emilia Hart
The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
The Glass Canoe by David Ireland
The Stone Road by Trent Jamieson
The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox
Crossings by Alex Landragin
The Swimmers by Chloe Lane
Gunk Baby by Jamie Marina Lau
The Boat by Nam Le
Others Were Emeralds by Lang Leav
All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
Madelaine Lucas by Madelaine Lucas
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
Strange Bliss: Essential Stories by Katherine Mansfield
Walkabout by James Vance Marshall
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
The White Earth by Andrew McGahan
The Passage of Love by Alex Miller
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Homecoming by Kate Morton
Stream System: The Collected Short Fiction of Gerald Murnane by Gerald Murnane
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Here Until August: Stories by Josephine Rowe
A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
A Little Tea, a Little Chat by Christina Stead
Tourmaline by Randolph Stow
The Performance by Claire Thomas
Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts
Riders in the Chariot by Patrick White
To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson
The Yield by Tara June Winch
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
I for Isobel by Amy Witting
City of Crows by Chris Womersley
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood

65dianeham
Gen 31, 2:53 pm

>64 ELiz_M: that’s a great list!. How did you do that?

66ELiz_M
Gen 31, 2:59 pm

>65 dianeham: The old-fashioned way -- I took photos of the shelves and typed in the titles. :)

67dianeham
Modificato: Gen 31, 3:07 pm

>66 ELiz_M: Oh wow! Thanks for doing that! I was imagining you standing there jotting them all down. I had to stop clicking on titles because I already got so many bb from it. I will definitely return to this list.

68labfs39
Gen 31, 4:36 pm

>64 ELiz_M: Immediately I have to count how many of these I've read. Is counting books a compulsion? I've read 6 and have a few more on my shelves, plus I've read a couple of the authors, but not the book you list. Were you thinking of your Oceania list on storygraph?

69ELiz_M
Gen 31, 4:56 pm

>68 labfs39: I was researching for it, yes. I think all of these books are Australia/New Zealand focused (author and/or setting). I think the M-J books in Brooklyn where I purchased They Who Do Not Grieve had a slightly larger/different selection.

70kjuliff
Gen 31, 5:31 pm

>64 ELiz_M: Thanks for this list. I’ve read only about half a dozen. Definitely recommend Helen Garner. I’m currently reading Enchanted April but do not count Elizabeth Van Arnin as Australian, as though she was born in Australia she left shortly after and never lived there. But I’m enjoying her book. V English.

71dchaikin
Gen 31, 10:25 pm

>62 arubabookwoman: >64 ELiz_M: two lists in one day! Fun discovery Deborah, and cool list Liz.

>69 ELiz_M: i was thinking it felt very Australian

72dchaikin
Feb 1, 12:24 am

>62 arubabookwoman:

Here are 45 books I bought at a Houston Public Library book sale on April 17, 2009. 12 are childrens books, as my kids were then ages 4 & 2. Of the other 33, I've read one - No Country for Old Men

Animal's People by Indra Sinha
Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, Edited by Conrad Aiken
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Atonement by Ian McEwan discarded 2022
Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Jim the Boy by Tony Earley
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy ==> read in 2015
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
The Sea by John Banville
Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber ==> discarded 2015
Wolves of the Crescent Moon by Yousef Al-Mohaimeed
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well by Tod Wodicka
The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart by M. Glenn Taylor
Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier
Love Marriage by V. V. Ganeshanathan ==> discarded 2022
Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Music & Silence by Rose Tremain
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
Cat's Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Lucky by Alice Sebold ==> discarded 2013
Fool by Christopher Moore

children's books:
Bing: Paint Day (Bing Bunny) by Ted Dewan ==> discarded 2011
There's a Wocket in my Pocket! by Dr. Seuss
Dolphins (Endangered!) by Casey Horton ==> discarded 2013
White Wave: A Chinese Tale by Diane Wolkstein
Tuesday by David Wiesner ==> discarded 2022
Rumpelstiltskin by Marie-Louise Gay ==> discarded 2022
Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 by Bill Jr. Martin ==> discarded 2014
Draw Me A Star by Eric Carle ==> discarded 2014
I Love Boats by Flora McDonnell ==> discarded 2014
The Starry Night by Neil Waldman
The Heart of Cool by Jamie McEwan ==> discard 2011
The Pop-Up Book: Step-by-Step Instructions for Creating Over 100 Original Paper Projects by Paul Jackson

73kjuliff
Feb 1, 12:40 am

>72 dchaikin: Interesting list. There are a few books there I’d recommend. Waiting for the Barbarians, The sea, Mister Pip and Disgrace for starters.

74rhian_of_oz
Feb 1, 4:23 am

>64 ELiz_M: I've read seven, plus I saw the stage version of Cloudstreet.

I can highly recommend The Natural Way of Things.

75Willoyd
Feb 1, 4:48 am

>72 dchaikin:
An intriguing list. Two favourites there: Cold Comfort Farm, wonderful spoof/satire on a whole strain of writing. I found it funny in itself having said that. Also Ella Minnow Pea - very clever!

76rv1988
Feb 1, 7:30 am

>72 dchaikin: Such an interesting list. Did you make any of the paper projects? I am reading a book by V. V. Ganeshananthan right now.

77arubabookwoman
Feb 1, 10:34 am

>72 dchaikin: Of the "grown-up" books on your list Dan, of the ones i've read, the ones I'd recommend you get to immediately are: Animal's People (about the effects of the Bhopal chemical leak on the poor people living in the surrounding area), We Need To Talk About Kevin (the mother of a school shooter looks back); and I, Claudius (Historical Fiction I read after watching the PBS miniseries). There are lots of other good ones on the list too.
More about books on Dan's list:
>73 kjuliff: >75 Willoyd: I read and reviewed The Sea last year. I found it ok, but nothing special. I absolutely hated Cold Comfort Farm, but I probably just don't get that brand of British humor. But I did really like Ella Minnow Pea, and agree it's very clever.

>64 ELiz_M: I've read 16 of these and have 3 on my TBR shelves. Of these I'd especially recommend Riders in the Chariot (or basically anything by Patrick White, though Riders is my favorite). Many years ago (somewhere maybe 2011-2013 or thereabouts) CR did a year long focus on Patrick White which was quite interesting.
Other books on the list I loved are Careful He Might Hear You and The Bone People, which was a surprise Booker winner. Scary Monsters was one of the last books I read in 2023 and I reviewed it. I didn't much care for it. And everyone should read On the Beach (although I read it many years ago and perhaps it doesn't hold up?).

78kjuliff
Feb 1, 12:12 pm

>77 arubabookwoman: I think On the Beach wouldn’t hold up. I saw the movie but didn’t read the book. The movie was quite good, at the time. I think I was a young child and it scared hell out of me as it was set in my home town.

79KeithChaffee
Feb 1, 1:57 pm

For SF/fantasy/horror readers, Locus Magazine's annual recommended reading list is always a valuable resource. The 2023 recommendations are out:

https://locusmag.com/2024/02/2023-recommended-reading-list

80KeithChaffee
Modificato: Feb 1, 2:00 pm

Questo messaggio è stato cancellato dall'autore.

81japaul22
Modificato: Feb 1, 4:55 pm

On someone's thread (Lisa's?) there was discussion about women authors who write nonfiction. I read lots of nonfiction by women. Here are some of my favorites. I could go on and on, but I stopped with my 5 and 4.5 star reads that I thought would have widest appeal.

Authors who I've read several books by:
Jill Lepore - Book of Ages: the Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin is a favorite
Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - A Midwife's Tale is a must-read in my opinion!
Laura Hillenbrand - loved Unbroken
Isabel Wilkerson - The Warmth of Other Suns
Lucy Worsley - Jane Austen at Home
Claire Tomalin - Jane Austen: A Life (she's written several author bios)
Antonia Fraser - I think Mary, Queen of Scots is my favorite so far - she's written lots of history bios
Barbara Tuchman - loved A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century
Anne Applebaum - Gulag: A History
Megan Marshall - I loved both of her books, but especially The Peabody Sisters
Doris Kearns Goodwin - Team of Rivals is excellent

Biographies:
Georgina Howell - Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations
Harriet O'Brien - Queen Emma and the Vikings
Janice Hadlow - A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III
Laura Hillenbrand - loved Unbroken
Isabel Wilkerson - The Warmth of Other Suns
Jung Chang - Wild Swans
Helene Cooper - The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (a president of Liberia)

Caroline Moorehead - A Train in Winter
Tiya Miles - All That She Carried
Jennifer Homans - Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet
Mary Wellesley - The Gilded Page
Laura Cumming - The Vanishing Velazquez
Michelle Alexander - The New Jim Crow
Barbara Demick - Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Elizabeth Kolbert - The Sixth Extinction

82Willoyd
Modificato: Feb 1, 5:01 pm

>77 arubabookwoman:
Cold Comfort Farm is about as peculiarly English (not British) as they come. It parodies a very specific genre of writing prevalent in the 1930s - although it has a pretty good go at the rural memoir typified by Lark Rise to Candleford or Cider With Rosie (which IMO is a sitting target). The English still have a rather odd approach to the countryside: idolise it, romanticise about it, and yet are determined to trash it. - we are one of the most nature depleted countries in the world.

83dchaikin
Feb 1, 5:07 pm

>81 japaul22: good stuff. Lepore has a lot of books. i would add Stacy Schiff, although I find her books hit and miss. I’ll have to gosee what others I can add.

84japaul22
Feb 1, 5:18 pm

>83 dchaikin: Yes, I've read two of Stacy Schiff's books, but I didn't love them enough to put them on this list. This list is only 5 and 4.5 star reads, which I'm stingy with for nonfiction.

85japaul22
Feb 1, 5:20 pm

I also realized that I only looked under my books tagged nonfiction, so if I have books tagged under a more specific category, I missed them in that list. Like Rebecca Solnit, whose essays I love.

87labfs39
Feb 1, 6:45 pm

So I started a list of books that I have read and would recommend: Club Read's Recommended Nonfiction Written by Women. Please feel free to add books you would recommend, and we'll see if we can't create a nice resource. Keith has already found it and added some great books.

P.S. I didn't add memoirs, wasn't sure if we wanted to include those. What do folks think?

88rhian_of_oz
Feb 1, 8:38 pm

>87 labfs39: Whoops, I added a couple of memoirs and then got up to Becoming (in my NF books) and realised it wasn't already on the list and maybe we weren't including memoirs.

I'll leave the ones I've added in there but won't add any more until someone decides one way or the other.

89dianeham
Feb 1, 10:04 pm

>87 labfs39: what about authors who identify as non-binary like Masha Gessen?

90AnnieMod
Feb 1, 10:27 pm

>79 KeithChaffee: I was stopping by to post it and saw that you beat me to it. :)

91baswood
Feb 2, 8:21 am

>64 ELiz_M: Nice to see a Patrick White novel on those oceanic shelves. Here is a list of Patrick White books I have read and my ratings:

Voss - 5 stars
The Vivisector - 5stars
The Twyborn Affair - 5 stars
Tree of Man - 5 stars
A fringe of Leaves - 4.5 stars
The Solid Mandala - 4 stars
Riders in the Chariot - 4 stars
The Burnt Ones - 4 stars
The Living and the Dead - 4 stars
The Aunts Story - 4 stars
Eye of the Storm - 3 stars

92dchaikin
Feb 2, 8:36 am

>91 baswood: So, read pretty much any Patrick White?

93arubabookwoman
Feb 2, 8:38 am

>91 baswood: Patrick White is a favorite of mine too Barry. Were you a member of Club Read 10 or so years ago when there was a focus on reading him, sort of "author of the year"? My overall favorite of his is Riders in the Chariot. These are the ones I've read:

The Vivisector
Riders in the Chariot
The Solid Mandala
A Fringe of Leaves
Voss
The Tree of Man
Eye of the Storm
The Living and the Dead

I have on my shelf unread The Hanging Garden

Taking note of from your list:

The Twyborn Affair
The Burnt Ones
The Aunt's Story

94rocketjk
Feb 3, 9:44 am

I read Voss a few years back. I had to fight my way through parts of it, but I'm very glad I read it all in all.

95rocketjk
Feb 3, 10:16 am

>87 labfs39: I just went in and added 23 books to this list, although I did not see the "no memoirs" proviso. Memoirs count as non-fiction to me, but I can go back and remove those few memoirs I added if folks would prefer that.

96labfs39
Feb 3, 10:45 am

>95 rocketjk: I think memoirs are fine, Jerry. At first I asked the group what everyone thought, but I'm not sure why I singled out memoirs to ask about. It's okay if women write biographies, but writing about themselves is less worthy of inclusion? Whoa, that brought me up short. So I did an about face in my own mind, and it was never something that wasn't "allowed". It's a list for Club Read so add away!

97rocketjk
Feb 3, 11:26 am

>96 labfs39: fyi: the books I added were:

Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer by Kate Clifford Larson
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander**
The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir by Samantha Power
The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World―and Globalization Began by Valerie Hansen
Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins
They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather C. McGhee
Scoundrel Time by Lilian Hellman
Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara Ransby
Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life by Louise Aronson
Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein
The Norton Book of Women's Lives edited by Phyllis Rose
Women, Race, and Class by Angela Y. Davis
Canaries in the Mineshaft: Essays on Politics and Media by Renata Adler
The Incredible Human Journey by Alice Roberts
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
Still Talking by Joan Rivers
When Tenants Claimed the City: The Struggle for Citizenship in New York City Housing by Roberta Gold
Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall
Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine K. Albright
The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill
An Inn Near Kyoto: Writing by American Women Abroad edited by Kathleen Coskran
Madame Curie: A Biography by Eve Curie

There are all books I've read in the past 10 years or so, listed in no particular order. I left out all the Mary Roach books since they'd already been included.

** I'm not sure I'm the first to list this book here.

98labfs39
Feb 3, 1:22 pm

Club Read's Recommended Nonfiction Written by Women is going great guns: 180 books by 13 members. The books cover a wide variety of topics. Only 48 are in my library or even wish listed, so I know that I personally will be able to find some new works and authors. I hope others find it a good resource as well. Some non-Club Read members seem to have found it already. A nice addition to the list section of LT. Thanks all!

99dianeham
Feb 3, 5:02 pm

>98 labfs39: I asked a question in >89 dianeham: about non-binary - specifically Masha Gessen.

100labfs39
Feb 3, 5:39 pm

>99 dianeham: Sorry to have missed your question, Diane. I would be okay with including nonbinary authors, perhaps put a note in the "explain your choice" field? As I've said I think of this list as a Club Read list, not my own, so I'm happy with whatever direction it takes. More is better to my mind.

101dianeham
Feb 3, 6:19 pm

>100 labfs39: Thanks. I just went and added memoirs and books about myths and folklore plus a few female catholic mystics. Now I want to scan it for books to read. I love it.

102Willoyd
Modificato: Feb 3, 9:09 pm

> 98 Have added around 100 or so female authored non-fiction books that have scored well with me. The Pax Britannica trilogy and Venice were authored by Jan Morris under her male name of James, as these were published either side of her transition (see Conundrum).

103kjuliff
Feb 3, 8:54 pm

>91 baswood: I loved these books but read them a long time ago. Have you read any of them recently, and if so, how do they stand up?

104kjuliff
Feb 3, 9:23 pm

Does anyone know of a list of books published 1920-35? Or between the wars books.

105dianeham
Feb 4, 1:05 am

>104 kjuliff: there is a list here on LT - Best Books of 1926-1935 - https://www.librarything.com/list/11841/Best-Books-of-1926-1935

106rv1988
Feb 4, 4:41 am

>98 labfs39: Thanks for setting this up - I have added a few.

107rv1988
Feb 4, 4:56 am

Some lists via recent book awards (shortlists/longlists):

THE NERO BOOK AWARDS
These were set up to replace the Costa Book Awards, which were awarded for English language writing between 1971 and 2005 before being taken over by Coca Cola, and in their infinite corporate wisdom, shut down.

Winner, Nonfiction: Fern Brady - Strong Female Character
Shortlisted: Freya Bromley - The Tidal Year; Natasha Carthew - Undertow; Victoria Smith - Hags

Winner, Fiction: Paul Murray - The Bee Sting
Shortlisted: Eleanor Catton - Birnam Wood; Megan Nolan - Ordinary Human Failings; Karen Powell - Fifteen Wild Decembers

Winner, Debut Fiction: Michael Magee - Close to Home
Shortlisted: Stephen Buoro - The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa; Tom Crewe - The New Life; Chloe Michelle Howarth - Sunburn

Republic of Consciousness Prize
The prize is focused on fiction published by small independent presses. This year's longlist:
Cross Stitch, by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines Press)
The Long Form, by Kate Briggs (Dorothy)
Two Sherpas, by Sebastián Martínez Daniell, translated by Jennifer Croft (Charco Press)
Breaking and Entering, by Don Gillmor (Biblioasis)
Your Love is Not Good, by Johanna Hedva (And Other Stories)
Landscapes, by Christine Lai (Two Dollar Radio)
The Birthday Party, by Laurent Mauvignier, translated by Daniel Levin Becker (Transit Books)
Lojman, by Ebru Ojen, translated by Aron Aji and Selin Gökcesu (City Lights)
The Box, by Mandy-Suzanne Wong (Graywolf Press)
The Sorrows of Others, by Ada Zhang (A Public Space)

108dchaikin
Feb 4, 11:07 am

>107 rv1988: thanks. I wasn’t aware of the Republic of Consciousness Prize. I’m happy it exists and hope they manage it well. I’ll curious who wins.

109arubabookwoman
Feb 4, 1:58 pm

>100 labfs39: Or Anyone who can answer this question. I just spent some time adding books to the list. I understand a green check means it's in my library. What does it mean if there is a heart placed on the book? What does it mean if there is a triangle composed of dots placed on the book cover?
Also, it says that books are listed in order of rank. The books I entered appeared in the exact order I entered them, although widely scattered among books already entered. I can't believe that the order in which I entered them exactly matched their rank. (And BTW, what ranking is that? It doesn't appear to be by stars or by number of LTers who have the book in their library.)

110labfs39
Feb 4, 2:16 pm

>109 arubabookwoman: I can answer some of this: the green check is for a book in your library, a purple heart is for a book on your wishlist, and a blue person holding a book is for a book that is in your Read but Unowned collection. The grey circle with three dots means it's in a collection you created (for instance, it my case it's on a book that I have in my LT account as being in Katie's Library).

111kjuliff
Feb 4, 2:23 pm

>105 dianeham: Thank you SO much. I’m currently interested in this period as there are some very interesting novelists here, some I’ve only just stumbled upon.

112labfs39
Feb 4, 2:25 pm

>109 arubabookwoman: And I found this to answer your question about how list rankings work: How is 'score' calculated on lists?

113arubabookwoman
Feb 4, 3:15 pm

>112 labfs39: Thanks Lisa for looking into this. Unfortunately the explanation was way too complicated for me to understand, and I don't think it can explain why the 100+ books I added appear in the exact order in which I entered them. I entered some very popular/well known books near the end (and they appear near the end of the list) and vice versa--some less well-known books entered near the beginning and appearing near the beginning. Just doesn't make sense. Don't waste any more time on this. I was just mildly curious about what the explanation was.

114dianeham
Feb 4, 3:40 pm

>110 labfs39: which are you interested in?

115dianeham
Feb 4, 3:43 pm

>113 arubabookwoman: if you enter a book that someone else also added then the book gets a higher "score" and moves higher up the list.

116japaul22
Feb 4, 3:57 pm

I have also tried the lists feature a few times and been frustrated by them. Maybe I’ll try again but they seem clunky.

117japaul22
Feb 4, 4:13 pm

You can go in to the list after you add them, click on your own list, and rank your entries. It will also say what the "global ranking" is. So my top rank would be A Midwife's Tale but globally it's 22. So I think the overall list compiles how everyone ranks their books to create an order. That of course assumes everyone has taken the time rank the books they've added. You can also click on anyone's name and see their personal list - I assume the way they've ranked them.

118arubabookwoman
Feb 4, 5:50 pm

>115 dianeham: Except that I deliberately did not enter any books that were already on the list.

119arubabookwoman
Feb 4, 5:52 pm

>117 japaul22: I did not rank my entries. I don't know how to do that, but maybe they thought I was ranking them in the order I entered them? This all seems way too complicated for everyday use.

120dchaikin
Feb 4, 5:58 pm

>118 arubabookwoman: Are the ones you did not enter in your library? You can see all the books on the list that are in your library and add any to "your" list. This doesn't add the book again, but merely adds you as a nominator.

121labfs39
Feb 4, 6:07 pm

I think you can just ignore the rankings, I am, and simply sort by author or title and browse.

122dchaikin
Feb 4, 6:14 pm

This is what I added to the CR Women Nonfiction list, not in any order

General Nonfiction
The Sea Around Us Rachel Carson
The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us Alice Roberts
Reading Dante: From Here to Eternity Prue Shaw
A Room of One's Own Virginia Woolf
The Secret History of Wonder Woman Jill Lepore
The Odyssey of Homer (The Great Courses) Elizabeth Vandiver
The Iliad of Homer (The Great Courses) Elizabeth Vandiver
The Story of America: Essays on Origins Jill Lepore
The Drunken Botanist : The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks Amy Stewart
Voices from Chernobyl Svetlana Alexievich
All Joy and No Fun : The Paradox of Modern Parenthood Jennifer Senior
Being Wrong : Adventures in the Margin of Error Kathryn Schulz
Mythology : Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes Edith Hamilton
Miami Joan Didion
Unfamiliar fishes Sarah Vowell
The Guns of August Barbara Wertheim Tuchman
Stonehenge (Wonders of the World) Rosemary Hill
The Everglades : River of Grass Marjory Stoneman Douglas
In the Rainforest: Report from a Strange, Beautiful, Imperiled World Catherine Caufield
The Warmth of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson

Biographies
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century Beverly Gage
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life Ruth Franklin
Véra : Mrs Vladimir Nabokov Stacy Schiff
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States Sarah Vowell
A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America Stacy Schiff
Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition Frances A. Yates
Woman of Rome : A Life of Elsa Morante Lily Tuck
The Shadow Man Mary Gordon
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Knock at the Door: A Journey Through the Darkness of the Armenian Genocide Margaret Ajemian Ahnert
Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, 1898-1976 Han Suyin

124labfs39
Feb 4, 8:56 pm

>123 dchaikin: Don't be afraid, Dan! Add away!

125dchaikin
Feb 4, 10:11 pm

>124 labfs39: done. :)

127rv1988
Feb 7, 9:06 am

Society of Authors (UK) Translation Prizes for 2023:

- Japanese: Alison Watts for translating The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase
- Swedish: Saskia Vogel for a translation of Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm
- Spanish: William Rowe and Helen Dimos for a translation of Trilce - Translations and Glosses by César Vallejo
- Arabic: Luke Leafgren for a translation of Mister N by Najwa Barakat
- German: Jamie Bulloch for a translation of Hinterland by Arno Geiger
- French: Frank Wynne for a translation of Standing Heavy by GauZ’
- First Translation Prize: Sophie Collins and editor Marigold Atkey for a translation from Dutch of The Opposite of a Person by Lieke Marsman
- Goethe Institut Prize for new and emerging translators: Rob Myatt

https://www2.societyofauthors.org/2024/02/07/alison-watts-wins-inaugural-great-b...

128dchaikin
Feb 7, 9:50 am

>127 rv1988: wow. Thanks for sharing!

129baswood
Feb 7, 5:57 pm

>103 kjuliff: The last time I read a Patrick White novel was 11 years ago, in fact I read most of them 11 years ago. I have no idea if my tastes have changed over that period of time.

There is a very good Biography Patrick White: A life but I read this eleven years ago as well

130arubabookwoman
Feb 8, 10:09 am

>129 baswood: That must have been when CR was doing its year long focus on Patrick White. That's when I read many of his books too.

131rv1988
Feb 13, 2:03 am

The 2024 Pen/Faulkner Award longlist. I haven't read any of these!

- Witness by Jamel Brinkley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- The Guest by Emma Cline (Random House)
- Monica by Daniel Clowes (Fantagraphics)
- Open Throat by Henry Hoke (MCD)
- The Best Possible Experience by Nishanth Injam (Pantheon)
- What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez by Claire Jimenez (Grand Central)
- Biography of X by Catherine Lacey (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead)
- Absolution by Alice McDermott (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Users by Colin Winnette (Soft Skull)

https://www.penfaulkner.org/2024/02/06/announcing-the-longlist-for-the-2024-pen-...

132japaul22
Feb 15, 3:45 pm

And (it's like they knew we were talking about it) the Women's Prize just announced its first ever long list of nonfiction by women authors. I've read All That She Carried and recommend it. I also already had Eve and How to Say Babylon on hold at the library. The rest are new to me and several look appealing.

https://womensprize.com/prizes/womens-prize-for-non-fiction/

133dchaikin
Modificato: Feb 15, 7:14 pm

>132 japaul22: the list

-Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood by Lucy Jones (320p, 11 hrs on audio)
-Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein (398p, 14:47 on audio)
-How to Say Babylon : A Jamaican Memoir by Safiya Sinclair (349p, 16:46 on audio)
-Intervals by Marianne Brooker (US release is Feb 28 (?), 192p, no audio)
-All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family’s Keepsake by Tiya Miles (377p, 9:29 on audio)
-Wifedom : Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder (464p, 12:39 on audio)
-Shadows at Noon : The South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji (864p, no audio)
-Code Dependent : Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia ( US release june 18, 304p, 9:30 on audio )
-Eve : How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon (596, 15:54 on audio)
-A Flat Place : A Memoir by Noreen Masud (253p, no audio)
-Some People Need Killing: A Memoir of Murder in the Philippines by Patricia Evangelista (433p, 11:25 on audio)
-Thunderclap : A Memoir of Art and Life and Sudden Death by Laura Cumming - (12 October 1654 gunpowder explosion in Delft and painter Carel Fabritius) (273p, 7:39 on audio)
-The Dictionary People : The Unsung Heroes who created the Oxford English Dictionary by Sarah Ogilvie (371p, 11:08 on audio)
-Vulture Capitalism : Corporate Crime, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom by Grace Blakeley (US release date March 12, 379p, 10:30 on audio)
-Young Queens: The Intertwined Lives of Catherine De’ Medici, Elisabeth De Valois and Mary, Queen of Scotts by Leah Redmond Chang (490p, 18:28 on audio)
-The Britannias : An Island Quest by Alice Albinia (US release date feb 27, 512p, no audio)

134dchaikin
Feb 15, 5:15 pm

It’s a really appealing list of titles. I think I’m most interested in Shadows at Noon for India history, Eve for the geology, Some People Need Killing for the immersive journalism and The Britannias for the trivia.

135Willoyd
Modificato: Feb 16, 5:12 am

I enjoyed The Dictionary People, but whilst I hugely admired the research it wasn't my favourite non-fiction last year. That was Amy-Jane Beer's The Flow. Thunderclap was a Christmas present from my OH, and having dipped in to it and loved On Chapel Sands, I can't wait to read it. I've also dipped into Eve, on my TBR shelf, and that also looks very strong. Same with the Masud. But then it looks a strong list. Over here, the Funder has received a lot of attention, including being Book Of The Week on Radio 4.

136dchaikin
Feb 15, 7:17 pm

I added page numbers, audio availability and length, and US release dates (per amazon). Shadows at Noon is the longest.

>135 Willoyd: cool info. Thanks!

Fyi - i tried to read Alice Albinia’s book on Pakistan, Empires of the Indus, but couldn’t get that interested in it. It was a sort of travelogue journalism.

137dianeham
Feb 15, 8:07 pm

>135 Willoyd: You need to check your touchstones.

138rhian_of_oz
Feb 16, 3:48 am

I'm currently reading, and thoroughly enjoying (though the treatment of Eileen is making me cross so maybe enjoying isn't the word) Wifedom. The Dictionary People is on my TBR shelves so I might add it to the planned reading list for March.

139Willoyd
Modificato: Feb 16, 5:16 am

>137 dianeham:
Will do, and thanks. Unfortunately, they don't render properly on my phone, so I have to edit them when back at my desktop.

Later edit:Have done now - only one of the four was correct! I'm probably not handling them properly, but I do wonder what sort of algorithm is being used where one types in "The Dictionary People", but "Chambers Encyclopedia" is preferred to "The Dictionary People" as the initial option.

140markon
Feb 16, 11:40 am

>136 dchaikin: I have that one on kindle app, and pick at it a little at a time (over several years). It's geographical travel on the Indus, and I'd hoped for something more coherent chronologically than just her travels and bits of history here and there.

141rv1988
Feb 18, 9:54 pm

>133 dchaikin: This is such an interesting list. I'm dreading what this will do to the looming TBR pile.

142dchaikin
Feb 18, 11:04 pm

>141 rv1988: they’re all tempting to me 🙂

>140 markon: me too. I tried to get into it. Maybe in a different mindset I would have.

143dchaikin
Modificato: Feb 22, 2:05 pm

The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 longlist

THE NEW LIFE Tom Crewe (Chatto & Windus)

A debut novel of forbidden love and new ways of living in 1890s London, with themes of love, guilt, shame and freedom at its heart, as men and women daringly re-shape the personal and political world in which they live

A BETTER PLACE Stephen Daisley (Text Publishing) - one copy on LY

New Zealand twin brothers Roy and Tony Mitchell are sent to fight in WWII in this melancholy novel exploring fraternal and romantic love and the brutal effects of war

HUNGRY GHOSTS Kevin Jared Hosein (Bloomsbury)

A Trinidadian novel about violence and religion, family and class in 1940s Trinidad, playing with traditional storytelling techniques, set around an evocative house on a hill and the people who live in the village below

FOR THY GREAT PAIN, HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN Victoria MacKenzie (Bloomsbury)

An exploration of grief, trauma and revelation through this epic yet intimate study of the hidden lives of two extraordinary women, Margery and Julian, whose meeting will change everything

MUSIC IN THE DARK Sally Magnusson (John Murray)

A story of unlooked-for love in later life, told through the brutality of the Highland Clearances and their lasting effects, this is a novel about resilience memory, resurrection, and the parts of us that nobody can take away

CUDDY Benjamin Myers (Bloomsbury)

A bold and experimental retelling of the story of St Cuthbert, unofficial patron saint of the North of England — told in four parts, spanning the seventh century to present day

MY FATHER’S HOUSE Joseph O’Connor (Harvill Secker)

A novel about faith, love, sacrifice and humanity in the most extreme circumstances, it tells the moving story of Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish priest in Vatican City who rescued victims of the Nazis under the nose of his SS officer nemesis Paul Hauptmann

THE FRAUD Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton)

An exploration of the nature of truth, and how to find it, in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, framed by the Tichborne Trial and told through the lives and testimonies of Mrs Touchet and Andrew Bogle

MISTER TIMELESS BLYTH Alan Spence (Tuttle)

A fictional autobiography of Reginald Horace Blyth, which straddles literature and philosophy, expressed through Blyth’s passions of hard work, books, music, spiritual questioning and a quest for inner peace and the essence of being alive

THE HOUSE OF DOORS Tan Twan Eng (Canongate)

An atmospheric tale of love, betrayal and morality in 1920s Penang, with Willie Somerset Maugham at its centre, exploring the vagaries of his life, his unique creativity, and the personal and political tensions at play in the sultry colony

IN THE UPPER COUNTRY Kai Thomas (Penguin Canada)

A sweeping debut telling the stories of two women — one at the beginning of a journey of self-discovery, the other fulfilling one last, vital act — set in the Black communities of Ontario, the last stop on the infamous Underground Railroad stretching from the south

ABSOLUTELY AND FOREVER Rose Tremain (Chatto & Windus)

A short novel exploring themes of thwarted love, true friendship and fate, through the parallel lives of teenage sweethearts Marianne Clifford and Simon Hurst, with Petronella, Marianne’s courageous Scottish friend, always by Marianne’s side

144baswood
Feb 22, 4:36 pm

>143 dchaikin: thats an interesting list

145rv1988
Mar 1, 3:36 am

>143 dchaikin: Thanks for posting this. I see the Tom Crewe book is getting a lot of good reviews, looks interesting, as does Zadie Smith's.

146rv1988
Mar 4, 3:13 am

English PEN's translation award winners:

- Mammoth by Eva Baltasar (Spain), translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches (And Other Stories).
- From Savagery by Alejandra Banca (Spain), translated from the Spanish by Katie Brown (Selkies House).
- Submarines in the Night by Chuncheng Chen (China), translated from the Chinese by Jack Hargreaves (Honford Star).
- Wolf Sanctuary by Zdravka Evtimova (Bulgaria), translated from the Bulgarian by Yana Ellis (Héloïse Press).
- My Favourite by Sarah Jollien-Fardel (Switzerland), translated from the French by Holly James (The Indigo Press).
- Tongueless by Yee-Wa Lau (Hong Kong), translated from the Cantonese by Jennifer Feeley (Serpent’s Tail).
- Why Did You Come Back Every Summer? by Belén López Peiró (Argentina), translated from the Spanish by Maureen Shaughnessy (Charco Press).
- Anomaly by Andrej Nikolaidis (Montenegro), translated from the Montenegrin by Will Firth (Peirene Press).
- Holy Winter by Maria Stepanova (Germany), translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (Bloodaxe Books).
- Purity by Andrzej Tichý (Sweden), translated from the Swedish by Nichola Smalley (And Other Stories).
- Rocket by Loranne Vella (Belgium), translated from the Maltese by Kat Storace (Praspar Press).
- A Programme of Absolute Disorder: Decolonising the Museum by Françoise Vergès (Reunion), translated from the French by Melissa Thackway (Pluto Press).

https://www.englishpen.org/posts/news/pen-translates-winners-announced-4/

147dchaikin
Mar 4, 7:41 am

>146 rv1988: Cool!

Busy awards week. Tomorrow is the Women’s Prize longlist. Pulitzers come out March 8, and the international booker prize longlist comes March 11.

148dchaikin
Mar 4, 9:36 pm

The Stella Prize is a major literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. The $60,000 prize is awarded annually to one outstanding book deemed to be original, excellent, and engaging

The longlist was announced today:

https://stella.org.au/2024-stella-prize/?fbclid=IwAR2P5LWW9C6o17BLLPwzro-jr62IKG...

149rv1988
Mar 4, 11:20 pm

>147 dchaikin: I enjoy reading these lists, but I dread what they end up doing to my TBR...

150labfs39
Mar 5, 7:17 am

>148 dchaikin: The book covers alone are interesting.

151dchaikin
Mar 5, 1:31 pm

The Women’s Prize Fiction longlist was released today

https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-fiction-longlist/

Hangman by Maya Binyam, published by ONE, Pushkin Press
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black, published by époque press
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott, published by Allen & Unwin
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright, published by Jonathan Cape
The Maiden by Kate Foster, published by Mantle
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan, published by Viking
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville, published by Canongate Books
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad, published by Jonathan Cape
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy, published by Faber & Faber
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee, published by Virago
The Blue, Beautiful World by Karen Lord, published by Gollancz
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, published by Picador
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie, published by Oneworld
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan, published by Jonathan Cape
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure, published by Duckworth Books
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams, published by Legend Press - No touchstone

152japaul22
Mar 5, 1:57 pm

>151 dchaikin: I think this is the first time in the decade or so that I've been following this prize that I haven't read a single book on the long list. And honestly, only one or two were even on my radar. Kind of exciting!

153dchaikin
Mar 5, 2:14 pm

>152 japaul22: I’m intrigued. I plan to read Western Lane next month - it will be my last from the Booker longlist. There’s a lot of chatter about The Wren, the Wren for the 2024 upcoming Booker. The only author i’ve read is Kate Grenville, but not that new book. Maybe it’s time I read Ganeshananthan. Everything else is completely new - author and title.

154dchaikin
Mar 5, 2:20 pm

I think Rasdhar reviewed Brotherless Night.

155raidergirl3
Mar 5, 2:34 pm

Thanks for posting the list Dan. I’ve read the Enright (I read her books ever since The Gathering). I was able to get 1 from Libby, Western Lane, and request 2 for a 21 week wait, but the rest weren’t available and I don’t think I’ve even heard of any of them.

156dianeham
Mar 5, 2:59 pm

>151 dchaikin: I tried to go to their website yesterday and got a warning that it was unsafe. Thanks for posting, Dan.

157dchaikin
Mar 5, 3:05 pm

>156 dianeham: they were concerned about your tbr? (Seriously, that’s weird. Hope the page is safe. I spent some time there. )

158dianeham
Mar 5, 3:49 pm

>157 dchaikin: I didn’t get the warning today. That first book The Hangman (how did you find the touchstone for that?) I started but didn’t finish. Maybe I’ll go back to it.

159rv1988
Mar 6, 3:44 am

I posted the USA Republic of Consciousness Prize longlist above (an award for fiction from small/independent presses). The Prize originates from the UK. Today the UK and Ireland shortlist is out as well. https://www.republicofconsciousness.com/2024-shortlist

- Out of Earth by Sheyla Smanioto (Translated by Laura Garmeson & Sophie Lewis, Boiler House Press)
- Avenues by Train by Farai Mudzingwa (Cassava Republic)
- Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia (Translated by Zoë Perry, Charco Press )
- The Zekameron by Maxim Znak (Translated by Jim & Ella Dingley, Scotland Street Press)
- The End of August by Yu Miri (Translated by Morgan Giles, Tilted Axis Press)

160markon
Mar 6, 8:21 pm

For those interested, the 2024 Audie Awards (best audiobooks in the USA) were awarded this week. List of awards, including finalists, is here.

161dchaikin
Mar 7, 12:48 am

>147 dchaikin: whoops. Pulitzer isn’t out until May 8 (not March). Hope i didn’t make anyone too excited….

162dianeham
Mar 7, 1:35 am

>161 dchaikin: I was anticipating it but I’ll live.

163Dilara86
Mar 7, 2:56 am

>159 rv1988: They're all going into my whishlist!

164ELiz_M
Modificato: Mar 8, 2:33 pm

Copied from Lisa's thread (because some non-award lists are nice):

Books to read on Chinese history:

famine (1958-1962)
Mao's Great Famine by Frank Dikötter
Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker (rec by mabith)
Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962 (rec by SassyLassy)
The corpse walker : real life stories, China from the bottom up by Liao Yiwu (rec by SassyLassy)

general
The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895-1980 by Jonathan Spence
The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence
Leaden Wings by Jie Zhang (rec by Eliz_M)
Zhou Enlai : the last perfect revolutionary by Wenqian Gao (rec by SassyLassy)

memoirs/bios
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang (rec by mabith, rec by cindydavid4)
Big Sister, Red Sister, Little Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China by Jung Chang (rec by mabith)
Half of Man is Woman by Xianliang Zhang (rec by Eliz_M)
No Wall Too High: One Man's Daring Escape from Mao's Darkest Prison by Xu Hongci (rec by lilisin)
Bullets and Opium: Real-Life Stories of China After the Tiananmen Square Massacre by Yiwu Liao (rec by lilisin)
A Chinese Life by Li Kunwu (graphic novel) (rec by avatiakh)
Feather in the storm : a childhood lost in chaos by Emily Wu
No tears for Mao : growing up in the Cultural Revolution by Niu-niu
Colors of the mountain by Da Chen
Chinese Lives: An Oral History of Contemporary China by Zhang XinXin
Red Scarf Girl : A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji-li Jiang

earlier
Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang (on shelves, rec by mabith)
Two Years in the Forbidden City by Princess Der Ling (rec by lilisin)

historical fiction
A Dictionary of Maqiao by Shaogong Han
Naked Earth by Eileen Chang (rec by SassyLassy)
Raise the red lantern : three novellas by Tong Su (rec by steven03tx)
Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin
The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Concert by Ismail Kadare

165dianeham
Modificato: Mar 8, 2:29 pm

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction’s longlist includes 15 authors from the United States and Canada, spanning novels, short story collections, and fiction in translation. On May 13, one of these writers will win the $150,000 USD grand prize, generously presented by BMO Financial Group.

Lisa Alward
Cocktail: Stories (Biblioasis)

Eleanor Catton
Birnam Wood: A Novel (McClelland & Stewart)

Nicole Cuffy
Dances: A Novel (One World)

Claudia Dey
Daughter: A Novel (Doubleday Canada)

Kim Coleman Foote
Coleman Hill (SJP Lit)

V. V. Ganeshananthan
Brotherless Night (Random House)

Aisha Abdel Gawad
Between Two Moons (Doubleday)

Tania James
Loot: A Novel (Alfred A. Knopf)

Juliana Lamy
You Were Watching from the Sand: Short Stories (Red Hen Press)

Catherine Leroux
The Future, translated by Susan Ouriou (Biblioasis)

Rebecca Makkai
I Have Some Questions for You: A Novel (Viking)

Janika Oza
A History of Burning: A Novel (McClelland & Stewart)

Mona Susan Power
A Council of Dolls: A Novel (Mariner Books)

Anuja Varghese
Chrysalis: Stories (House of Anansi)

C Pam Zhang
Land of Milk and Honey: A Novel (Riverhead Books

166Willoyd
Mar 8, 2:50 pm

>151 dchaikin:
I usually find a fair bit exciting in the Women's Prize, but absolutely nothing inspires this year, unlike the first-time Non-fiction long list, which is riddled with 'must reads'.

167labfs39
Mar 8, 6:34 pm

>164 ELiz_M: Goodness, let me just say that this list is not meant to be definitive of anything, just a list of suggestions and books that I have on my shelves to read.

168dchaikin
Mar 8, 8:18 pm

>164 ELiz_M: wow. And a list is a list. Add Red Star Over China for Communist China mythology ??

>165 dianeham: very interesting. Now We’ve seen Brotherless Night twice. I couldn’t finish A Council of Dolls. Just wasn’t enough going on there for me.

>167 labfs39: that works. I’m behind in your thread so seeing it here 1st.

169dchaikin
Mar 9, 2:49 pm

Books on Edith Wharton, checked out today from my library

170dianeham
Mar 9, 2:56 pm

>169 dchaikin: That’s a lot of books.

172dchaikin
Modificato: Mar 11, 1:56 pm

The International Book Longlist came out this morning (well, after GMT). Here is the list with my extra notes

Maybe helpful info:

Not a River by Setlva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott
- original language: Spanish
- OPD: 2021
- Number of pages: 104
- Audio: none
- birthplace: Villa Elisa, Argentina 1973

Simpatía by Rodrigo Blanco Calderón, translated by Noel Hernández González and Daniel Hahn
- original language: Spanish
- OPD: 2021?
- Number of pages: 240
- Audio: none
- birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela 1981

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann
- original language: German
- OPD: 2021
- Number of pages: 336
- Audio: 10:25
- birthplace: East Berlin 1967

The Details by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson
- original language: Swedish
- OPD: ??
- Number of pages: 144
- Audio: 3:54
- Nationality: Swedish ?, born 1967

White Nights by Urszula Honek, translated by Kate Webster
- original language: Polish
- OPD: 2022
- Number of pages: 162
- Audio: none
- Note: not on amazon. I couldn’t find a US release
- birthplace: Racławice, Poland in 1987

Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Youngjae Josephine Bae
- original language: Korean
- OPD: 2020
- Number of pages: 555
- Audio: none
- Nationality: South Korean, born in Xinjing (today Changchun), Manchukuo, China, during the period of Japanese rule in 1943

A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare, translated by John Hodgson
- original language: Albanian
- OPD: ??
- Number of pages: 240
- Audio: none
- birthplace: Gjirokastër in the Kingdom of Albania during the reign of King Zog I 1936
- Note: While not a proper sequel, this latest work is “in direct conversation with” his early novel Twilight of the Eastern Gods (1978), based on his time in Moscow from 1958 to 1960.

The Silver Bone: The Kyiv Mysteries by Andrey Kurkov, translated from Russian by Boris Dralyuk
- original language: Russian
- OPD: ??
- Number of pages: 304
- Audio: 8:50
- Nationality: Ukranian, born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia in 1961)

What l'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Havey
- original language: Dutch
- OPD: 2020
- Number of pages: 224
- Audio: none
- birthplace: Enschede, Netherlands 1974

Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo, translated by Leah Janeczko
- original language: Italian
- OPD: 2022
- Number of pages: 224
- Audio: 4:55
- birthplace: Rome 1978

The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone, translated by Oonagh Stransky
- original language: Italian
- OPD: 2000
- Number of pages: 480
- Audio: none
- birthplace: Saviano, near Naples, 1943

Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated by Johnny Lorenz
- original language: Portuguese
- OPD: 2018
- Number of pages: 288
- Audio: none
- birthplace: Salvador, Brazil in 1979.

Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener, translated by Julia Sanches
- original language: Spanish
- OPD: 2022?
- Number of pages: 192
- Audio: 4:10
- birthplace: Lima, Peru 1975

173dianeham
Mar 11, 5:39 pm

The older Booker International was awarded to an author - not a specific book. Anyone know why they changed it?

174AnnieMod
Modificato: Mar 11, 5:53 pm

>173 dianeham: https://thebookerprizes.com/international-booker-prize/the-international-booker-... ties the change to the expanded scope of the Booker award.

PS: The initial rules for the Booker were "Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens" only -- which sent everyone else into the International. When that changed to open the Booker to all English-language ones, the International one remained for translations only - and it made sense to move towards book-based and not author-based award (that way translators can be recognized as well).

Plus - a single work is a lot lower bar than body of work when translations are involved and a lot more open to diverse authors.

175dianeham
Mar 11, 6:00 pm

>174 AnnieMod: Thanks Annie. I’ve miss you.

176dchaikin
Mar 11, 7:19 pm

I think they kept the name but for a completely different award. They politely canned the Booker Nobel. 🙂 And then added a terrific award in its place.

177rv1988
Mar 12, 10:57 pm

>172 dchaikin: Thanks for posting this detailed rundown. Very useful.

178markon
Mar 13, 1:35 pm

>172 dchaikin: Kairos (Erpenbeck) is on my TBR, and I've requested The silver bone (Kurkow) at my library. Not sure why it's still in cataloging since it was published March 5, but I'm the only patron on the waiting list so far.

180labfs39
Mar 14, 8:50 pm

>179 dchaikin: These lists always make me scratch my head a bit.

181KeithChaffee
Mar 14, 9:15 pm

>179 dchaikin: I was surprised to see so many graphic novels on that list. It's not that I don't take them seriously -- it's an art form in its own right, with legitimate masterpieces that can stand alongside the best works in any other form -- but despite the name, a graphic novel isn't a novel.

182dchaikin
Mar 14, 9:29 pm

I thought it was pretty strong up to about 1980 or so. Last 10 years made no sense to me

183dianeham
Mar 14, 9:43 pm

>182 dchaikin: last 10 years was weird.

184rv1988
Mar 17, 11:45 pm

For SFF fans, here are the Nebula Award finalists. Note that Martha Wells was nominated for System Collapse but withdrew, apparently saying the Murderbot series "has already received incredible praise from her industry peers and she wanted to open the floor to highlight other works within the community.” https://lithub.com/here-are-the-finalists-for-the-59th-annual-nebula-awards/

Best Novel
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
The Water Outlaws by S. L. Huang (Tordotcom and Solaris UK)
Translation State by Ann Leckie (Orbit US and Orbit UK)
The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz (Tor and Orbit UK)
Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi (DAW and Gollancz)
Witch King by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)

Best Novella
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom)
Linghun by Ai Jiang (Linghun, Dark Matter INK)
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor; Titan UK)
Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee (Tordotcom)
The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older (Tordotcom)
Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)

Best Novelette
A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair”, Renan Bernardo (Samovar 2/23) http://samovar.strangehorizons.com/2023/02/27/a-short-biography-of-a-conscious-c...
I Am AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
“The Year Without Sunshine”, Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny 11-12/23) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/the-year-without-sunshine/
“Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down The Moon”, Angela Liu (Clarkesworld 6/23) https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/liu_06_23/
“Saturday’s Song”, Wole Talabi (Lightspeed 5/23) https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/saturdays-song/
“Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge”, Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9-10/23) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/six-versions-of-my-brother-found-under-t...

Best Short Story
“Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont”, P.A. Cornell (Fantasy 10/23) https://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fm/fiction/once-upon-a-time-at-the-oakmont/
“Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200”, R.S.A Garcia (Uncanny 7-8/23) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/tantie-merle-and-the-farmhand-4200/
“Window Boy”, Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 8/23) https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_08_23/
“The Sound of Children Screaming”, Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare 10/23) https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/the-sound-of-children-screaming/
“Better Living Through Algorithms”, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld 5/23) https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_05_23/
“Bad Doors”, John Wiswell (Uncanny 1-2/23) https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/bad-doors/

Andre Norton Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose (Del Rey)
The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, J. Dianne Dotson (Android)
Liberty’s Daughter Naomi Kritzer (Fairwood)
The Ghost Job, Greg van Eekhout (Harper)

Best Game Writing
The Bread Must Rise, Stewart C Baker, James Beamon (Choice of Games)
Alan Wake II, Sam Lake, Clay Murphy, Tyler Burton Smith, Sinikka Annala (Remedy Entertainment, Epic Games Publishing)
Ninefox Gambit: Machineries of Empire Roleplaying Game, Yoon Ha Lee, Marie Brennan(Android)
Dredge, Joel Mason (Black Salt Games, Team 17)
Chants of Sennaar, Julien Moya, Thomas Panuel (Rundisc, Focus Entertainment)
Baldur’s Gate 3, Adam Smith, Adrienne Law, Baudelaire Welch, Chrystal Ding, Ella McConnell, Ine Van Hamme, Jan Van Dosselaer, John Corcoran, Kevin VanOrd, Lawrence Schick, Martin Docherty, Rachel Quirke, Ruairí Moore, Sarah Baylus, Stephen Rooney, Swen Vincke (Larian Studios)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Nimona, Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor, Pamela Ribon, Marc Haimes, Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Keith Bunin, Nate Stevenson (Annapurna Animation, Annapurna Pictures)
The Last of Us: “Long, Long Time”, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin (HBOMax)
Barbie, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach (Warner Bros., Heyday Films, LuckyChap Entertainment)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Michael Gilio, Chris McKay (Paramount Pictures, Entertainment One, Allspark Pictures)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham (Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Avi Arad Productions)
The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki (Studio Ghibli, Toho Company)

185labfs39
Mar 18, 7:31 am

>184 rv1988: Martha Wells was nominated for System Collapse but withdrew, apparently saying the Murderbot series "has already received incredible praise from her industry peers and she wanted to open the floor to highlight other works within the community.”

How interesting (and considerate). I love the series. I looked it up and she has won four Hugos and two Nebula Awards for Murderbot.

186Julie_in_the_Library
Mar 18, 8:02 am

>184 rv1988: I wonder what her publisher thought of that decision. I was under the impression from a lot of the discussion around the Hugos that publishers tend to frown on authors rejecting awards like this.

187rocketjk
Mar 18, 8:14 am

>186 Julie_in_the_Library: Well, she will get plenty of publicity for turning the award down, particularly for the inclusiveness inherent in her reasoning. Plus they can still publicize the book as being the committee's choice for the award, or some wording like that.

188Julie_in_the_Library
Mar 18, 8:16 am

>187 rocketjk: That's a good point. I can't imagine that she did it without at least warning the publisher first, either, so they must be at least okay enough with it not to have stopped her.

189AnnieMod
Mar 18, 11:31 am

>186 Julie_in_the_Library: They would not print "the series won X Nebulas" and it already has one so the publisher is just fine. I suspect that the publisher was consulted long before she did it and they are on board with it.

Plus, that will possibly influence the position of Witch King - some people may decide to give it a boost because the Murderbot novel is missing from the list.

190Julie_in_the_Library
Mar 19, 8:18 am

>189 AnnieMod: That does track.

191dchaikin
Mar 26, 11:10 pm

Following up on >36 dchaikin:, the Dublin Literary Award shortlist was released today. Six books

Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, translated by Sean Cotter
Haven by Emma Donoghue
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright

Page link
https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/features/news/discover-the-2024-dublin-literary-a...

192rocketjk
Mar 27, 9:22 am

Of these, I've only read the Escoffery, which I thought was good but not great.

193dchaikin
Mar 27, 10:21 am

>192 rocketjk: yeah, that inclusion discouraged me too. I’ve also listened to Old God’s Time, which is strong.

194labfs39
Modificato: Apr 2, 7:29 am

I started a list of great history books by journalists on my thread, and SassyLassy added a couple of names. Who would you suggest?

Hiroshima by John Hersey
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret Famine by Jasper Becker
The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam

SassyLassy:
Joan Didion
I.F. Stone
David Halberstam
Gary Wills

Dispatches by Michael Herr (Jerry/rocketjk)

Rick Perlstein (KeithChaffee)

Eliz_M:
The 1619 Project
Empire of Pain
Random Family
The Omnivore's Dilemma
The Sixth Extinction
The Warmth of Other Suns
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

Willoyd:
Pretty much anything by Max Hastings, but particularly enjoyed his history of WW2, All Hell Let Loose
The Pax Britannica trilogy by James Morris - a bit old-fashioned but eminently readable
Under Another Sky by Charlotte Higgins
Thunderclap by Laura Cumming (art history)
High Minds, The Age of Decadence and Staring at Godby Simon Heffer
The Making of the Modern Middle East by Jeremy Bowen
Empire, The English, On Royalty by Jeremy Paxman
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan
Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed
The History of Modern Britain, The Making of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (lightweight but very readable)
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson
The Birth of the Modern, A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
Hiroshima by John Hersey

195KeithChaffee
Mar 27, 2:42 pm

Nominees for the 2024 Lambda Literary Awards have been announced. There are 26 different categories, so I'm not going to enter them all here, but you can see the full list at their website:

https://lambdaliterary.org/awards/current-finalists/

196rocketjk
Mar 27, 3:39 pm

>194 labfs39: The Vietnam War memoir Dispatches by Michael Herr comes to mind.

197labfs39
Mar 27, 3:54 pm

>196 rocketjk: That's one that I have, but have not read. I need to get to it.

198rocketjk
Mar 27, 4:15 pm

>197 labfs39: The movie Full Metal Jacket is, at least in part, based on Herr's memoir.

199KeithChaffee
Mar 27, 4:15 pm

>194 labfs39: Rick Perlstein's superb books on the history of the American conservative moment from Goldwater to Reagan: Before the Storm; Nixonland; The Invisible Bridge; and Reaganland.

200dchaikin
Mar 27, 4:23 pm

Women’s Prize Nonfiction Shortlist

Thunderclap, Laura Cumming
Doppelganger, Naomi Klein
A Flat Place, Noreen Masud
All That She Carried, Tiya Miles
Code Dependent, Madhumita Murgia
How to Say Babylon, Safiya Sinclair.

https://womensprize.com/prizes/womens-prize-for-non-fiction/

201dchaikin
Mar 27, 4:24 pm

>194 labfs39: if i have time, I’ll come back to this

203labfs39
Mar 27, 9:11 pm

Thanks for the suggestions. We are going to end up with another nice list.

>202 ELiz_M: The only one I've read is Spirit Catches You. It was excellent.

204Willoyd
Modificato: Mar 28, 9:16 pm

>194 labfs39:

A few off the top of my head:
Pretty much anything by Max Hastings, but particularly enjoyed his history of WW2, All Hell Let Loose
The Pax Britannica trilogy by James Morris - a bit old-fashioned but eminently readable
Under Another Sky by Charlotte Higgins
Thunderclap by Laura Cumming (art history)
High Minds, The Age of Decadence and Staring at God by Simon Heffer
The Making of the Modern Middle East by Jeremy Bowen
Empire, The English, On Royalty by Jeremy Paxman
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan
Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed
The History of Modern Britain, The Making of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr (lightweight but very readable)
The Ghose Map by Steven Johnson
The Birth of the Modern, A History of the American People by Paul Johnson
Hiroshima by John Hersey

205kjuliff
Mar 28, 10:51 pm

>151 dchaikin: I just finished Brotherless Night which I reviewed here

206dchaikin
Apr 1, 6:19 pm

ok. It's my birthday. Here's what I just ordered, 16 books (thoroughly mashing all TBR plans)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers => not ordered. I bought this at a used bookstore.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight => Simon Armitage translation
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
A Backward Glance by Edith Wharton
Treasures of Time by Penelope Lively
Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge
Possession by A. S. Byatt
The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy
Giving Up the Ghost : A Memoir by Hilary Mantel
There But For The by Ali Smith
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie
Knife by Salmon Rushdie => preordered, no touchstone
Undiscovered by Gabriela Wiener
Not a River by Setlva Almada => preordered

207rv1988
Apr 2, 3:51 am

>206 dchaikin: Happy birthday! And what a nice present for yourself. Happy reading.

208labfs39
Apr 2, 7:23 am

>206 dchaikin: My favorite type of list. I have, but have not read, Giving Up the Ghost. I'll look forward to your thoughts on it and Knife when you get to them.

209lisapeet
Apr 2, 2:40 pm

Great haul! And a very happy birthday to you.

210thorold
Apr 2, 2:49 pm

>206 dchaikin: Excellent! That sounds like a well-deserved haul. At least four favourites of mine there, too.

212dchaikin
Apr 9, 9:15 am

>172 dchaikin: the International Booker Prize shortlist was announced today

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/six-things-you-need-to-k...

I’m excited that I’ve read two (The Details and Kairos) and have Crooked Plow on library loan and Not a River pre-ordered. That covers 4 of 6… The other two are Mater 2-10 and What I’d Rather Not Think About

213rocketjk
Apr 9, 9:51 am

I subscribe to the usually entertaining blog, Crime Reads. Here is their list of Best Psychological Thrillers of April:

Sara Koffi, While We Were Burning
K.T. Nguyen, You Know What You Did
Laura McHugh, Safe and Sound
Kellye Garrett, Missing White Woman
Alyssa Cole, One of Us Knows
Megan Miranda, Daughter of Mine

Link, including short descriptions of the books, here:
https://crimereads.com/the-best-psychological-thrillers-of-april-2024/

214kidzdoc
Apr 9, 10:50 am

>212 dchaikin: As I mentioned on my thread I'll finish The Details this morning (I'm on page 93 of 137), I'll start What I'd Rather Not Think About later today (I fetched the copy I ordered from my nearest branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia yesterday afternoon), Kairos is on my Kindle, and I placed a hold for Crooked Plow from the same library. The UK edition of What I'd Rather Not Think About, the one I have, has 203 pages, with a smaller than usual font size, but the chapters are short, so it shouldn't take more than two days to read.

215kjuliff
Apr 9, 11:05 am

>212 dchaikin: I had The Details in my tbr and have read Kairos. Unfortunately for me none of the others have been published in English in audio. :(

216KeithChaffee
Apr 9, 4:26 pm

Compiled by the books and entertainment writers of The Los Angeles Times, a list of the 50 best Hollywood books:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2024-04-08/the-50-best-ho...

217Willoyd
Apr 9, 4:38 pm

>212 dchaikin:
Read Not A River as my book for Argentina in Reading the World. Fascinating read - I'm not surprised it made the shortlist.

218SassyLassy
Apr 9, 4:44 pm

>216 KeithChaffee: Pay wall. Is James Elroy on the list?

219KeithChaffee
Apr 9, 5:39 pm

>218 SassyLassy: Sorry; I didn't realize it was a paywalled article. Yes, Ellory's L.A. Confidential is at #30.

220dianeham
Modificato: Apr 9, 11:09 pm

>212 dchaikin: I’ve been waiting for Crooked Plow ebook from the library. I read the sample and really liked it. Today the kindle book was only $7.99 so I bought it.

221kjuliff
Modificato: Apr 9, 11:18 pm

>220 dianeham: I wish I could read Crooked Plow Maybe now it’s on the international Booker longlist it might get published in audio.

223kjuliff
Apr 24, 9:52 am

>222 dchaikin: Paywall :(

224dchaikin
Apr 24, 12:38 pm

Paywall for The Guardian? Hmm

Here’s another link: https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist/

225kjuliff
Apr 24, 12:50 pm

>224 dchaikin: Thanks. So pleased to see that Brotherless Night is there. It just has to win.

226Willoyd
Apr 25, 8:41 am

>223 kjuliff:
Paywall? The Guardian doesn't have paywalls. Just clicked on that link and took me straight through.

227AnnieMod
Apr 25, 10:20 am

>223 kjuliff: >226 Willoyd: It looks like a paywall but allows you to opt out of it and still read the article (unlike a lot of other newspapers).

228lisapeet
Apr 25, 10:51 am

One Thing After Another: A Reading List for Lovers & Makers of Lists
Five stories celebrating the power and beauty of lists.

229kjuliff
Modificato: Apr 25, 11:15 am

>226 Willoyd: >227 AnnieMod: The Guardian definitely does have a paywall in the USA at least.. It allows you to read 20 articles a month. Once you reach that you have to wait or pay. This is where the link given takes me.

230dchaikin
Apr 25, 11:17 am

231AnnieMod
Apr 25, 11:21 am

>229 kjuliff: I think it is an app limit and not the website itself - I had not done it in the last few weeks but I had been through more than 20 articles in a single day in the past.

232kjuliff
Apr 25, 11:39 am

>231 AnnieMod: Oh, I see. Yes I have the app. I might delete it as I rely a lot on The Guardian for news and book reviews. Thanks for clarifying.

233AnnieMod
Apr 25, 11:41 am

>232 kjuliff: You can try at least - worst case scenario you hit the limit on the website as well and then we all know? :)

234kjuliff
Apr 25, 12:17 pm

>233 AnnieMod: Yes, it worked. Instead of clicking, I copied the url and pasted into the browser’s address bat and it worked fine. Now I feel a bit silly….

235kjuliff
Apr 25, 12:32 pm

>233 AnnieMod: I spoke/posted too soon. As the guardian link worked - well it delivered the Women’s Prize List information - I answered you in >232 kjuliff:. Then, thinking I’d read more of the Guardian I looked for the menu and found I’d been redirected to
https://womensprize.com/announcing-the-2024-womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist/
Not a Guardian page. I’ve since tried typing in the guardian.com blah blah, but it’s hard to navigate after using the app and keeps defaulting to the app with the limit exceeded page anyway. I’ll probably use the url when necessary and go to the webpage after my article limit is reached. The solution I suppose is to delete the app but I like it.

236icepatton
Modificato: Apr 25, 11:46 pm

Fivebooks.com is a website of lists made by various authors. Each list features five books that the authors deem to be the best about a given subject and their explanation as to why. You may find new books to read this way or see what established authors have said about books you like or dislike.

237rv1988
Apr 25, 10:38 pm

>236 icepatton: Fivebooks is fun. I've browsed through quite a lot of their lists.

238dchaikin
Apr 25, 10:57 pm

>236 icepatton: I'm excited that i've read all five of The Best 20th-Century American Novels, well, according to David Hering : https://fivebooks.com/best-books/best-twentieth-century-american-novels-david-he...

239AnnieMod
Apr 26, 3:55 pm

>235 kjuliff: Make sure you copied the URL from Message 222 https://www.librarything.com/topic/356056#8517544 and not from Message 224 https://www.librarything.com/topic/356056#8517885 (the latter is the non-Guardian link that Dan posted as a response to you).

240kjuliff
Apr 26, 4:35 pm

>239 AnnieMod: Thanks, but I can’t test the url now as I am back able to view the Guardian articles now anyway, as my limit was rest - it’s reset monthly.

241AnnieMod
Apr 26, 4:38 pm

>240 kjuliff: Well, later in the month then :) If you can get into articles now, it is all good :)

242kjuliff
Apr 30, 3:45 pm

>241 AnnieMod: it’s later in the month already. I can’t use the app anymore but the url w. I was using the incorrect url as you suspected. Thanks or your help on this and accessing The Guardian generally.

243rv1988
Mag 1, 12:27 am

Couple of recent prize lists:

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2024
Winner: A Mask, the Colour of the Sky by Basim Khandaqji

Shorlist:
Osama Al-Eissa, The Seventh Heaven of Jerusalem
Eissa Nasiri - The Mosaicist
Rima Bali - Suleima's Ring
Ahmed al-Morsi - Gambling on the Honour of Lady Mitzi
Raja Alem - Bahbel: Makkah Multiverse 1945-2009

The RSL Ondaatje Prize 2024
( instituted in 2004 to celebrate outstanding works of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that best evoke the spirit of a place)

Shortlist:
Falling AnimalsSheila Armstrong (Bloomsbury)
Enter GhostIsabella Hammad (Vintage)
A Flat PlaceNoreen Masud (Penguin Random House)
CuddyBenjamin Myers (Bloomsbury)
No Man’s Land – David Nash (Dedalus)
Fassbinder Thousands of MirrorsIan Penman (Fitzcarraldo Editions)

EBRD Literature Prize finalists 2024
"awarded to the year's best work of literary fiction translated into English, originally written in any language of the regions in which the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development currently invests and published for the first time by a European (including UK) or North American publisher in the period in question"
Finalists:
Barcode, by Tóth Krisztina (tr. Peter Sherwood)
The End, by Bartis Attila (tr. Judith Sollosy)
The Wounded Age, by Ferit Edgü (tr. Aron Aji)

244Willoyd
Modificato: Mag 2, 7:46 am

>229 kjuliff:
Well, that's certainly improved my learning - including your subsequent efforts! Apologies though for my misunderstandings and assumptions.