Month: December 2009

Categories
2010 Other Recommended books

The Best Books of 2010? Part 1: Authors We Know and Love

December 2010 UPDATE: See which 2010 books I actually enjoyed the most.

The lists for the best 2009 books are everywhere at the moment, so I thought it would be nice to have a look at some of the books which might make the same lists next year.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet – David Mitchell

I have loved all of David Mitchell’s books, especially Ghostwritten and Black Swan Green. His new book is set on the tiny island of Dejima, the Dutch East India Company’s remotest Japanese trading post in 1799. I am really looking forward to reading it and am hoping it is good enough to win him the Booker Prize, as it would be fantastic to see him win.

Trespass – Rose Tremain

Rose Tremain won the Orange prize in 2008 with The Road Home, so it is exciting to see that she has a new book out in 2010. Trespass is set in an isolated French farmhouse and is described as a powerful, unsettling novel. I can’t wait!

 

So Much for That – Lionel Shriver

If you loved  We Need To Talk About Kevin as much as I did, then you will be looking forward to reading her latest book. It focuses on a woman suffering from an aggressive form of cancer, so I’m sure it will be another emotional read.

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ  – Philip Pullman

This promises to be the most controversial release of 2010. I loved the His Dark Materials Trilogy and hope that this will be just as good. Either way, I’m sure this will be the most talked about book of 2010!

Beatrice and Virgil – Yann Martel

A book about a taxidermist, a howler monkey and a donkey called Beatrice doesn’t sound like the best book of the year, but the premise of Life of Pi didn’t look very good either. Another contender for the Booker prize?

The News Where You Are – Catherine O’Flynn

What Was Lost was a very promising debut, so I am looking forward to finding out what her second novel is like. She has originality on her side – I’ve not read a literary mystery focusing on a television anchorman before!

 

Shades of Grey – Jasper Fforde

I loved The Eyre Affair, but for some reason I haven’t got round to reading any more of his books. I need to fix that, but I know that all Fforde fans are getting excited about this release.

More 2010 Books….

Which books are you most looking forward to in 2010?

Read Part 2: The Best Books of 2010? Debut/Lesser Known Authors

Categories
1960s Other Prizes Recommended books Science Fiction

Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes

 < ?php echo amazonim('1857989384'); ?>Winner of the Nebula Award 1966

< ?php echo amazon('1857989384','Flowers for Algernon ‘); ?> was originally published as a short story which won the 1960 Hugo Award for best short fiction. It was later expanded to produce this fantastic piece of science fiction.

The book introduces us to Charlie, a 30-year-old man with a very low IQ. He is mocked by society, but his intelligence is such that he is unaware of the cruelty. Charlie yearns to be like everyone else – to able to read and write fluently, and to be successful. One day he is given the chance to make this happen when he is offered a place on a groundbreaking new experiment, which has the potential to turn him into a genius.

The book is written in the form of Charlie’s diary, so we are able to follow the changes in his intelligence by noting the quality of his spelling, grammar and comprehension. I thought that this showed an outstanding quality of writing. I found myself studying the differences in text on neighbouring pages and being very impressed by the subtle changes that were taking place. The personal nature of the diary also meant that it was easy to connect with Charlie – he is such a fantastic character that it was impossible not to fall in love with him

This is an amazing book and I was gripped from beginning to end. It was thought-provoking throughout, covering issues from the importance of intelligence, to what is needed to be happy. There was the odd occasion when I felt the text over-stepped the mark and lectured the reader, telling me things that I should have been shown, but I’m willing to forgive this, as the quality of the rest of the book was so high, and the messages that the text was conveying were very important.

How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes – how such people think nothing of abusing a man born with low intelligence.

The book takes you on an emotional roller coaster, which left me thinking about it for hours. I am sure that the powerful, original plot will remain with me for many years to come.

If you think that you don’t enjoy science fiction, then I challenge you to read this book and still say that.

Flowers for Algernon has just become one of my all-time favourite reads and I highly recommend it.

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I chose this book for our London book group. We all loved it! Savidge Reads, Reading Matters and Novel Insights have also written wonderful reviews.

Categories
2009 Memoirs Orange Prize

An Equal Stillness – Francesca Kay

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Winner of the Orange Award for New Writers, 2009

< ?php echo amazon('0297855492','An Equal Stillness ‘); ?>is the biography of a fictional artist. It is a simple book about the life of a painter, her family and her passion for art.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me – I’m not a big art lover and rarely read biographies. If this had been a real biography then it would have been OK, but I just don’t see the point of a fictional one – I was bored throughout. Very little happened and her life seemed very ordinary to me.

The fact it was written in the style of a biography meant that I was distanced from the character and so failed to develop any emotional connection with her. Any attempt to guess at her feelings just annoyed me, as I don’t think it is really possible to know what someone else is thinking and so I’m afraid this book went further downhill, the more I read.

It was a quick, easy read and the writing was poetic in places, but I’m afraid I just didn’t care.

The final years of Jennet Mallow’s life were fruitful. After the colour blocks she returned to the more nearly monochrome, making seven large pictures which are untitled, but again evocative of air and water.

If you love art and gentle prose then I’m sure you’ll love this book, but it was just too ‘still’ for me.

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I have seen lots of positive reviews for this book, so if you’ve read it:

Why did you love it?

Do you enjoy fictional biographies?

Categories
Booker Prize Other

The Complete Booker 2010 Challenge

The Complete Booker originated in August, 2007 to bring together book lovers and bloggers interested in reading winners of The Man Booker Prize for Fiction. 

This year the blog is hosting a challenge – it runs from January 1 – December 31, 2010.

There are several levels of participation:

Winners Circle: read at least 6 winners

Contender: read at least 6 short listed nominees

Longshot: read at least 6 long listed nominees

Booker Devotee: choose a year, and read all 6 shortlisted works from that year

Booker Fanatic: choose a year, and read all 13 long- and shortlisted works from that year

I love the Booker prize and so I am going to try to be an over-achiever for this challenge. I plan to complete all the levels of participation!

I am going to read all 13 books longlisted for the prize in 2010 and will hopefully manage to strike off the other levels at the same time. It is going to be a challenge, but hopefully one I’ll manage.

Here is my list of the Bookers I’ve read so far.

Are there any years you’d prefer me to complete?

Which is your favourite Booker book?

Categories
1990s Other Prizes

Fall on Your Knees – Ann-Marie MacDonald

Winner of the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book, Shortlisted for the 1997 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Shortlisted for the 1996 Giller Prize

Fall on Your Knees is a long, complex story about 4 sisters living on Cape Breton Island in Canada. The sisters’ parents regret their marriage, as Materia was just a child when she married James. They are clearly mis-matched and Materia struggles to cope with being removed from her Lebanese family. The book begins in 1898 and follows the family as they deal with secrets, betrayal and tragedy.

It took me a long time to read this 560 page epic, but it was worth the effort. I loved the sisters and the complex relationships between them. All the characters were well developed, flawed and steeped with intrigue. I admit that I became confused on several occasions and had to re-read sections in order to understand what was happening. This was due to the fact that the book switched between several narrators and jumped forward and back in time, with no indication of who I was now reading about. I think that this confusion was key to the plot though – not knowing who was speaking at several points helped to maintain the secrets and meant the reader had a more interesting mystery to solve.

The atmosphere of the book was excellent. It had the feel of a Gothic novel, but the Canadian setting made it different from anything I’ve read before. The writing was of a very high standard, so I’m not surprised that it received so much recognition from the world’s book awards.

I must warn you that this book deals with some difficult subject matters: paedophilia, incest and rape are all present in this book along with discussions on religion and war. I thought it was all handled sensitively though, showing the shocking truth about what occurs in society, without sensationalising it.

Fall on Your Knees had me gripped throughout. I am very impressed with Ann-Marie MacDonald’s writing and will try to get hold of all her other books as soon as possible.

Highly recommended to anyone with the patience to understand what is happening!

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Have you read anything by Ann-Marie MacDonald?

Which is your favourite?

Claire: Thank you for lending me your copy of this book!