Winner, Winner

LATE-DAY UPDATE: Well I'm shocked to say that I was right. That never happens. But Richard Flanagan deserved to win the Man Booker Prize for this amazing book! Congrats to him!

The reason that I love the Man Booker Prize over all other book award programs is that I always discover a book among its nominees that profoundly impacts me. A few years ago it was Pigeon English, an incredible story about a young immigrant boy in England that I still think of almost once a month - it was just that good.

This year, the book that knocked me for an emotional loop was definitely The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. More on that book - which also gets my vote to win the Prize when it's announced tonight - in just a bit. 

First, let's talk about the fact that, for the first time, the Man Booker Prize committee opened up the contest to English-language books from any country, rather than just the U.K. I had high hopes for that, imagining Hilary Mantel-like writers squaring up against Philip Roth-esque American authors. 

But the selection committee shortlisted two U.S. novels that I don't think are up for the challenge: To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris, and We Are Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler.

Fowler's previous novel was The Jane Austen Book Club, and her Man Booker contender is just as light and entertaining. I'm not knocking the fact that it's a less substantial book, but it doesn't offer anything new. And Ferris's book examines religion's role in today's tech-savvy world in a way that's supposed to be funny, but fell flat for me. In fact, it was an exasperating read. So these two books, out of all of the fabulous American fiction published this year, are what caught the eye of the Man Booker group? Hmmmm.

I also wasn't thrilled with Neel Mukherjee's The Lives of Others, a story of a '60s family in Calcutta that gets caught up in political uprisings. There were almost too many characters, leaving me little time or inclination to get to know any one of them well enough to engage with them.

Luckily, there are other (better) books on the short list. Ali Smith offers a really new way of telling a tale - or two - in How to Be Both. The novel centers on two characters who tell their own story, one a modern-day teenage girl and the other a female Italian Renaissance artist living as a man. Depending on which copy of the book you pick up, you will begin with one of the two characters first, and then wind your way through two stories that twist around each other. It's fabulous storytelling for a modern world.

Howard Jacobson takes on (yet another) dystopian society with his novel J. In the scary future imagined by Jacobson, no one is allowed to use words that begin with the letter J without making a motion like pulling a zipper across his or her lips. The fear of the unknown is the key to this novel, with some of the frightening shadows never fully explored. It's a good book, but I'm tiring of the "future is scary and vaguely Big Brother-ish" stories that are constantly fed to us through books, movies, and video games. The overabundance of similar story arcs kept me from really embracing this one.

And then we come to The Narrow Road, the lone Australian entry on the list. Flanagan tells the story of Australian POWs forced to build a road in Burma, a harrowing real-life event that involved some of the worst atrocities by the Japanese army. Yes, there are shades of Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken, but The Narrow Road goes deeper and is more visceral, giving us a visual imprint that's hard to shake off. Flanagan juxtaposes the darkness of the jungle with the bright light and sandy beaches of Australia, going back and forth between the POW camp and the love story of the central character Dorrigo Evans. It was a difficult story, but one that I could not put down. Flanagan is a master of pulling the reader in, and then never letting go. But it is a tough read emotionally; let's just say I had to have a palate cleanser of Philippa Gregory immediately after. 

So tonight, I predict that Flanagan will win the award. But if he doesn't (just as Pigeon English didn't), I'm still a winner for having read his novel.

My Pick for the Man Booker Prize

Pigeon English

by Stephen Kelman
When adults write in the voice of a child, it can come across as either patronizing or precious. Pigeon English, my pick for the Man Booker Prize, avoids either pitfall and instead captures all the innocence and cleverness of a young boy named Harrison, an 11-year-old Ghanaian refugee who lives in a housing estate in England (what we would call public housing).
Harri's voice is compelling and infectious as he tells his story with the patois of Africa mixed with the street slang of south London. After emigrating to his new home, Harri tries to decipher the strange surroundings. Some things are unfamiliar, like bullies, gangs, very tall buildings, and ultra-cool cell phones. Other things are only too familiar, like the bloodshed he witnesses after a teenager in his council estate is killed, which reminds him of the war at home.
Just like any other boy, Harri is a little frightened by the killing, but is also fascinated. He and his best friend decide that they will investigate and discover the killer, just like the TV show CSI.
Along the way, Harri talks to his guardian angel of sorts, a pigeon that lives in his neighborhood and watches him as he runs through the estate, dreams of being a superhero, and argues with his friends about "dope fine" trainers.
Kelman's writing often comes close to poetic, particularly when he describes Harri in the rain, or his complicated relationship with God. It's the type of writing that literally moved me to tears more than once.
But there is also a lot of gross-out humor, of the type that appeals to young boys, and many adults too. I will warn you that there also are some very adult subjects addressed, just as there are for too many children today, and the language can be rough-and-tumble, just like Harri's neighborhood.
But more than anything, this is the story of a young man right on the precipice of boyhood and manhood, of right and wrong, of home and away. (2011 - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Do Not Disturb - I'm Reading, Man

It's that time of year again, and I am equally giddy and nervous. Today, the longlist of nominees was announced for my favorite awards: The Man Booker Prizes. Awarded to the "best novel" of the year that was written by an author from the United Kingdom, these prizes have been my introduction to books I would not otherwise have heard about.

Last year's winner was the very well-known Hilary Mantel for one of my favorite books, Bring Up the Bodies. But the longlist included some of the most amazing books I'd never heard of: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Teleportation Accident, The Lighthouse. So good.

These are books that haunt me, to be honest, and that I call to mind often. In 2011, Pigeon English was on both the shortlist and the longlist. There is not a month that goes by that I don't at some point think of 11-year-old Harrison Opoku, the hero of that novel. The selection committee and the judges for these awards very rarely disappoint.

Therefore, I am putting you on notice: I am about to read these 13 books in a frenzy and I may not look up for weeks. You'll probably find many of the selections in my reviews later this year, if the past nominees are anything to go by.
At least I have until Sept. 10 to read them all. That's when the judges - who read 131 books to determine this list - will name their shortlist for the prize. The actual winner will be announced on Oct. 15.

Meanwhile, here is the longlist, just in case you want to put your eyesight in jeopardy, too. You can also find a Pinterest board of the nominees here.

Almost English, Charlotte Mendelson

Five Star Billionaire, Tash Aw

Harvest, Jim Crace

The Kills, Richard House

The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri

The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton

The Marrying of Chani Kaufman, Eve Harris

The Spinning Heart, Donal Ryan

A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki

The Testament of Mary, Colm Tóibín

TransAtlantic, Colum McCann

Unexploded, Alison MacLeod

We Need New Names, NoViolet Bulawayo 

You Do You

I've always been slightly rebellious (okay, my mom just laughed at the use of the word "slightly"), so I've never been one to read something because it's a best seller, or because someone else tells me that a book is "important."
In today's New York Times Book Review section, I loved reading a debate about this very idea: Is a book good because it's "LIT-ra-ture," or because it's just fun to read?
I believe that, much like a Twinkie, the middle is where the good stuff happens. On one end you have what you're supposed to read, and almost never do. And on the other end, the things that you're slightly embarrassed to admit you read. Much like admitting that you ever ate a Twinkie.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Henry James, William Faulkner, Plutarch, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen. And I also enjoy the books that I call "popcorn books," those by Dick Francis and Agatha Christie. They aren't on any classics lists, but I love them and gobble them down like popcorn. In fact, I have every single one of the Dick Francis books - 49 if you're counting.
But tell me that I have to read something just because everyone else thinks it's fabulous and I balk. Because I'm usually let down (thanks a lot, Dan Brown and Jonathan Franzen) and the attention is often not worth the blather.
Frankly, it's why I gravitate to book awards like the Man Booker and the Morning News Tournament of Books - the nominated books are usually good to fantastic, amazingly well written, and creatively entertaining (except for that John Irving thing, but more about that in another post).
The middle is occupied by wizards like Jo Rowling and Elizabeth George, who create indelible characters while pulling us completely into their worlds. Or by Jo Nesbo and Robert Harris, who paint mesmerizing visions of worlds we don't occupy.
And I've read breathtaking writing - crying (hard) over Harrison in Pigeon English, holding my breath over the pain suffered by Dorrigo in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and sighing when Marie-Laure finally meets Werner in All the Light We Cannot See. The middle even made me change my mind over apocalyptic novels after I read Station Eleven. The middle is really satisfying.
So don't let anyone tell you that your favorite author isn't a good one. Or that you aren't intelligent enough to "get it" if you don't like James Joyce. You read what you want. You do you. And we'll meet in the middle.

Man - That's a Lot of Books

There are two times a year when I am guaranteed a good case of eye strain - in the spring when I start my bracket for the Morning News Tournament of Books, and again through late summer and early fall with the Man Booker Prize nominees.
And today is the big day! They announced the longlist of nominees for the Man Booker early this morning in London, and it's a great baker's dozen of reads.
This year will be a tough one for me because I've only read one of the selections, The Sellout, which was part of the Tournament of Books. So that leaves me 12 books to get through before the short list of books is announced on Sept. 13, and the winner is named in October.
Spoiler alert - I never finish all 13 before the short list, and there's usually a great gnashing of teeth when I realize that I've read some that didn't make the short list. But I'm never disappointed that I've read them all. Some of my most favorite books of all time have come from the Man Booker lists, books that I probably would not have discovered otherwise. Like the one that still haunts me today: Pigeon English.
If you'd like to follow along this summer, below is the current list of nominees. Or you can watch this space for my reviews and predictions. Now I'm off to buy the 13 - it's like Christmas in July!

Man Booker Nominees

The Sellout, Paul Beatty (U.S.)
The Schooldays of Jesus, J.M. Coetzee (South Africa-Australia)
Serious Sweet, A.L. Kennedy (U.K.)
Hot Milk, Deborah Levy (U.K.)
His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet (U.K.)
The North Water, Ian McGuire (U.K.)
Hystopia, David Means (U.S.)
The Many, Wyl Menmuir (U.K.)
Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh (U.S.)
Work Like Any Other, Virginia Reeves, (U.S.)
My Name Is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout (U.S.)
All That Man Is, David Szalay (Canada)
Do Not Say We Have Nothing, Madeleine Thien (Canada)

Take It or Leave It

The Man Booker Prize will be awarded one week from today in England. It is presented to "the best novel of the year by a citizen of the United Kingdom." Well that's just a recipe for a fight.

Every literary prize, and prize winner, seems to spark fierce debate. Use the news about the Nobel Prize for literature this year as the perfect example.
But what was different about the announcement of this year's shortlist (aka nominees), was the quote from the judging panel's chair Stella Rimington. In true no-nonsense Brit fashion, she told the world to "take it or leave it." I love that. She followed that up with the comment that "there have been weirder judges than me." Oh Dame Stella, I am now a fan.
There are six books on the Man Booker Prize shortlist:

• The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes
• Jamrach's Menagerie, by Carol Birch
• The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt
• Half Blood Blues, by Esi Edugyan
• Pigeon English, by Stephen Kelman
• Snowdrops, by A.D. Miller (see my review here)

The money seems to be on Barnes, who has been nominated for the Man Booker Prize three times before and is one of Britain's most beloved writers. At the very least, being on the shortlist has definitely been beneficial to all of the nominees. According to Bookseller, the books on the list have broken sales records since the announcement (click here for the story).
I do have a favorite on the list. Tune in tomorrow for a review of the book that gets my vote ― take it or leave it.

A Few of My Favorite Things

As promised, and in time for your holiday gifting needs, here is a quick list of some of my favorite books. Not all of these were published in 2011, so many of these could be found in budget-friendly paperback versions.

Since this is the season of sharing, send me lists of your favorite books, too. My New Year's resolution is to read more, and I'll need all the suggestions I can get!

Favorite Fictions 
(in no particular order)
The Eight, by Katherine Neville ― Forget Dan Brown, this book from 1988 crackles with intrigue, with a woman in search of hidden chess pieces that give the players unbelievable power.

Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel ― Thomas Cromwell walked a tightrope of power in the 1520s between Henry VIII and everyone who wanted Cromwell's position and power. This incredible book tells Cromwell's story in an entirely fresh way.

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield ― A young woman is invited to the atmospheric and gloomy Yorkshire countryside to interview a famous, but reclusive, author. A dark and Gothic tale ensues.

Pigeon English, by Stephen Kelman ― This was my pick for the Man Booker Prize, with a captivating story of a young boy trying to navigate a violent life. Read my full review here.

Deception on His Mind, by Elizabeth George ― My favorite of the outstanding series of Detective Inspector Lynley mysteries by George, this edition focuses on Lynley's partner, Detective Sergeant Havers, who finds herself tangled up in tricky relationships and race issues while trying to solve the murder of a young woman.

Non-Fiction Notables
The Wave, by Susan Casey ― The spellbinding story of massive rogue waves, the super-surfers who chase them, the scientists that study them, and the ships that battle them.

The Sisters, by Mary S. Lovell ― A duchess, a Communist, a fascist, an obsessive, and a novelist...those are the eccentric Mitford sisters who blazed their own paths through British society in the early 20th century.

In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson ― Larson has a true knack for telling a historical tale. In this book, he tackles the story of William Dodd, the mild-mannered U.S. ambassador to Germany in the early days of the Third Reich. See my earlier review here.

Founding Mothers, by Cokie Roberts ― Although their husbands and sons garnered most of the glory, the women behind the scenes were notable in their own right. They ran businesses and farms while their husbands formed a new country, fended off the Redcoats in their own homes, and influenced the ideas and politics of the young United States.

The Perfect Summer, by Juliet Nicolson ― In 1911, England had a new king, the aristocratic set was on a non-stop whirlwind of parties, and the summer was suffused with a happy glow. Then the cracks began to appear as the summer heat took a sinister turn and the world began to spin out of control. This amazing book is told from the diaries and letters of people who lived on the cusp of WWI.

Teen Books You Need to Read
Radioactive, by Lauren Redniss ― This is an illustrated biography of Marie Curie, the first person to win two Nobel prizes for her work on radioactivity. Rather than just focusing on the science, Redniss brings Marie herself to life in a gorgeously detailed book.

Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater ― Every November, a group of youths ride the dangerous water horses in a race that is often to the death. When a girl enters for the first time to save her family, the game takes a new twist.

Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins ― In the first book of a trilogy, the government maintains tight control by demanding a harsh tribute of two children chosen by lottery from each territory who will fight in a televised gladiator game. Read my full review here.

Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks ― I realize that a book about the plague could be a downer, but this book is ultimately uplifting as a young girl deals with the disintegration of her village when the plague hits in 1666.

Belle Prater's Boy, by Ruth White ― In a Virginia coal town in 1953, Belle Prater disappears. Her niece Gypsy is determined to discover what happened to Belle. As she digs deeper into family secrets with the help of Belle's son Woodrow, Gypsy also begins to deal with the loss of her own parent.