Month: April 2012

Who will be shortlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize?

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 16, 2012
31 Comments on Who will be shortlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize?

The shortlist for the 2012 Orange Prize will be announced at 9.30am GMT tomorrow. I have tried all the books on the longlist and so, as usual, I will try to predict the judge’s choices.

A Year of Happy Books

This year the judges seem to favour happy books. Darker subject matters were occasionally approached, but when done so it was always at a tangent or through emotionally distanced writing. I didn’t need to get the tissues out at all and never had to confront a disturbing scene. This led to my general apathy towards the longlist as I tend to prefer darker reads.

Decisions, Decisions

I found narrowing down the 20 books to 6 a reasonably easy process. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright, There but for the by Ali Smith and Gillespie and I by Jane Harris cruised through to the final six and I’d be very surprised if any of these were missing tomorrow.

My only dilemma came between State of Wonder by Ann Patchett and Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan. I wasn’t a big fan of either, but both have the writing quality to justify a shortlisting. In the end I decided to include State of Wonder, because those who love it are very passionate and it seemed to dominate the top of many “Best of 2011” lists. In many ways Half Blood Blues deserves the place more because it has such an original tone and if I was on the judging panel I’d put it through. I could also see them both being included at the expense of either The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern or Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg, but as I don’t know the individual tastes of the judges I’ll avoid spending too long debating this with myself!

I also think that The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy is worthy of a space on the shortlist, but I can’t see them choosing two experimental novels and There but for the by Ali Smith is easily the superior of the two.

This means my prediction for the 2012 Orange shortlist is:

Who Will Win?

The winner of the Orange prize will be revealed on 30th May. I’d love to see Anne Enright take the prize, but I suspect that Ali Smith will be triumphant this year.

Who do you think will make it onto the Orange shortlist tomorrow?

2010 Non Fiction

The Great Singapore Penis Panic by Scott Mendelson

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 13, 2012
No Comments on The Great Singapore Penis Panic by Scott Mendelson

Five words from the blurb: Singapore, terrified, penis, psychiatric, hysteria

Every year The Bookseller award The Diagram Prize for the oddest book title of the year. I always enjoy looking at the shortlist, but normally just marvel at the variety of bizarre books out there. This year one title on the shortlist stood out and I was intrigued enough to try a sample chapter on my kindle. The introduction left me keen to understand why hundreds of men from Singapore thought their penises were shrinking, so I bought a copy.

In 1967 an outbreak of Koro occurred in Singapore. Koro is a frightening condition in which sufferers believe their penises are retracting.

Most often the men arrived at the hospital in a state of panic with their hand, or the hand of a loved one, firmly gripping their penis to prevent it from withdrawing up into the abdomen and killing them. Others came with their penis tightly anchored with ribbon or string.

The condition originates from Chinese folklore and isolated incidents are not uncommon, but it is unusual for so many people to succumb at once. The exact cause of this outbreak cannot be linked to a single event, but a combination of factors joined together to produce this strange reaction. The book describes the history of Singapore and all the important global events that resulted in “penis panic”.

The book goes on to describe similar conditions that arise in other countries around the world and it explains how cultural background has a strong influence on the nature of the problems experienced. Almost all of the conditions were new to me, but there was also a section on America and I was surprised to see that conditions like bulimia are specific to American society, or countries strongly influenced by it.

Unfortunately the book focused on things from a scientific perspective, noting the number of people affected on any given day and the extent of the epidemic. I longed for more personal stories and for some insight into what causes an individual to fear for their life, despite there being no real danger. I’d have prefered to read details about the situation in the hospital waiting rooms, rather than just the briefest details of which drugs the patients were given.

I also found the writing to be nothing special – it could have benefited from some editing as the same few facts were often repeated.

Despite these problems I’m pleased I read this book. It was fascinating to learn about the cultural influences on medical conditions and this final warning was particularly pertinent.

Absurd and dangerous culture bound notions are ever evolving in the United States. The use of the Internet and other lightening fast forms of social media and communication appears to be accelerating this process. There is not the slightest basis for Americans to be smug or condescending in their view of the culture bound syndromes of other societies, including Koro and the Singapore Penis Panic of 1967. In America, the next culture bound epidemic is a mouse click away.

Recommended to anyone interested in the origins of mass hysteria.

Tags Singapore

Orange Prize Other

Two More Oranges

The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard

Five words from the blurb: girl, Los Angeles, mother, photographs, men

The Pink Hotel is the story of a seventeen-year-old English girl who flies to Los Angeles for her mother’s funeral. Abandoned as a toddler, she knows little about her mother and so takes the opportunity to discover as much as she can about her life. She achieves this by finding the men her mother was close to and forming her own relationships with them.

The book started really well and was packed with vivid descriptions that gave an immediate sense of place:

Her bedroom reeked of cigarette ash and stale perfume. Two ashtrays were packed with lipstick-stained filters as if she’d just popped out for another pack. A suspender belt hung from a chest of drawers, a mink scarf was curled like roadkill at the floor next to her bed.

I connected with her and felt immense sympathy for her isolated position.

Unfortunately everything went down-hill after about 50 pages. She formed intimate relationships with one man after another – it was seedy and I became bored by the repetitive nature of the plot. It symbolised important things about personal discovery and growing up to be like your mother, but this storyline held no interest to me and I skimmed about 100 pages.

The ending was well done, but I’m afraid that books with this type of storyline rarely appeal to me.

The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy

Five words from the blurb: Atlantic, liner, fake, affection, deceiving

The Blue Book is set on a liner that is heading towards America. On board are a varied group of people, including Elizabeth and her boyfriend Derek, and by coincidence, Elizabeth’s ex-boyfriend, Arthur. Arthur is a magician and con-man and throughout the book it is difficult to establish exactly who is telling the truth and who is being conned….

I initially loved the structure of the book and the way the narrator directly addresses the reader:

And you’re a reader – clearly – here you are reading your book, which it was made for. It loves when you look, wakes when you look, and then it listens and it speaks. It was built to welcome your attention and reciprocate with this: the sound it lifts inside you. It gives you the signs for the shapes of the names of your thoughts in your mouth and in your mind and this is where they sing, here at the point where you both meet.

Unfortunately things degenerated quickly and I became frustrated by the experimental structure. I couldn’t work out what was happening and the long stream-of-consciousness sections only deepened this problem.

I found it impossible to bond with any of the characters and so I began to skim read – especially the stream-of-consciousness sections. I know this means I’ll have missed some of the more subtle aspects of the story, but it was the only way I made it to the end, which was as clever as I expected it to be.

If you enjoy puzzling over complicated books then you’ll find a lot of rewards in this book, but it was all too much for me.

2012 Crime Mystery

Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 5, 2012
25 Comments on Every Contact Leaves a Trace by Elanor Dymott

Five words from the blurb: wife, murdered, Oxford, mystery, past

Every Contact Leave a Trace is an atmospheric murder mystery set within the grounds of an English University. The book begins with Alex discovering the body of his wife, Rachel, by a lake in Worcester College, Oxford. Access to the college is restricted so only a limited number of people were capable of committing the crime, but police investigations draw a blank. Stricken with grief, Alex sets out to discover the truth behind her death, leading him to realise that he knew far less about his wife’s life than he thought.

The enclosed setting reminded me of The Moonstone; the pace and writing style also shared similarities with this classic piece of crime fiction. Anyone looking for a fast paced thriller will be disappointed as this is a carefully constructed book that demands concentration.

The majority of the plot is revealed through Alex’s interviews with the other characters. The reader must decide whether discrepancies between the stories are due to lies, attempts to protect others from hurt, or simply different perspectives of the same event. The solution to the crime isn’t really the point of this book, the main emphasis is on relationships formed at university and how people can display different aspects of their personality depending on which situations they are faced with.

The pace is very slow and I want to criticise this, but I grew to love its teasing nature. The continual stalling lead to a gripping narrative, perfectly crafted to keep the reader hooked and guessing until the final pages.

He asked me if I’d like something to eat with my tea before he began again, seeing as it was lunchtime, and when I said yes, he went off into his side room to prepare it. I sat back in my chair and listened to him moving about, clattering a knife on a plate and opening and closing the door of his fridge. I allowed my mind to become a blank canvas once more, ready for him to take his brushes to it.

The central characters all studied English so there are plenty of literature references to satisfy those looking for deeper symbolism, especially those with a knowledge of Robert Browning.

My only real criticism is that the book gives no real descriptions of Oxford. Trees are beautifully depicted, but the spires of Oxford are almost entirely ignored – the college setting being a convienient plot device rather than a vivid backdrop to the story.

On a more positive note, this book has a striking design and the deep red page edges are hard to ignore.

This is a compelling mystery and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an intelligent page turner.

2012 Books in Translation Memoirs

A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 3, 2012
1 Comment on A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Five words from the blurb: childhood, teenage, Norway, father, death

Karl Ove Knausgaard is a publishing phenomenon in Norway. His controversial fictional memoir has dominated the best seller lists there for the last three years. The discussions about this book intrigued me and so I made a note of the title, keen to read it once the English translation appeared. An unsolicited review copy dropped through my letter box and so I was lucky enough to read this before publication, but it was only once I’d finished reading it that I discovered that this is actually the first of six books, totalling over 3000 pages.

A Death in the Family covers Karl Ove Knausgaard’s childhood and teenage years. Very little happens, but the writing is so vivid that this doesn’t really matter. I’m normally bored by simple coming-of-ages stories, but the insight and tiny details brought this book to life. I think this is one of the best pieces of writing I’ve ever come across and I can only imagine the fantastic book he’d produce if the subject matter was more exciting.

The quality of the writing is so good that it is possible to open the book randomly and find a good quote. On top of the realistic portrayal of family life there are thought provoking philosophical questions and advice about being a writer:

You know too little and it doesn’t exist. You know too much and it doesn’t exist. Writing is drawing the essence of what we know out of the shadows.

I think this book will have greater appeal to men because they’ll have experienced most of the events and so have the ability to reminisce about their childhood. The masculine outlook on life will be of interest to women, but there wont be the same level of connection.

I wouldn’t knowingly start a 3000 page autobiography about a Norwegian writer, but now that I’ve read the first section I am keen to read the rest. I’m sure that his adult life will contain more complexity than his childhood, but even if it doesn’t I’ll be happy learning about Knausgaard’s outlook on life.

Recommended to anyone who appreciates great writing.

After reading this book the majority of Knausgaard’s family no longer have anything to do with him. You can read more about the controversy surrounding this book here.

Tags Norway, Norwegian

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March Summary and Plans for April

Post author By Jackie
Post date April 1, 2012
23 Comments on March Summary and Plans for April

I’ve had a fantastic reading month, with a record three 4.5 star reads. The number of books that I finish has dropped massively – last year I occasionally read 15 books a month. This is because I’m sampling a far wider range of books and only selecting the most interesting ones for completion. The three books with the lowest rating are still worth reading (especially as part of a book group) because I guarantee they will divide opinion and their flaws make great talking points!