Man Booker International Prize Finalists

The Man Booker International Prize finalists were announced back in January.  Somehow this flew under my radar.  Better late than never, I suppose!

According to the Man Booker Prize website, "the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language."  Past winners/nominees included such well-known authors as Milan Kundera and Joyce Carol Oates.  But, as the press release states, this year's list does not include many famous authors, aside from Marilynne Robinson and Aharon Applefield.  I see this as a strength rather than a weakness.  Readers will be introduced to authors they have never previously read.  That is something to celebrate!

Check out this year's finalists:

U R Ananthamurthy
Aharon Appelfeld
Lydia Davis- Check out Varieties of Disturbance to get a taste of this magnificent short story author.
Intizar Husain
Yan Lianke
Marie NDiaye- Three Strong Women has been on my "to read" list for way too long.  The reviews I have seen have been stellar.
Josip Novakovich- Terrific essayist is also known for his novel, April Fool's Day.
Marilynne Robinson- Check out popular works Home and Gilead.  Her book of essays, When I Was a Child I Read Books, is a solid collection.
Vladimir Sorokin
Peter Stamm- I really enjoyed Seven Years and We're Flying.

Canadian Authors

Our neighbors to the north have produced some of the greatest literature in history.  I was recently researching some authors for a friend and realized how many of them were from Canada.  That got me thinking that it would be fun to do a blog post strictly on Canadian literature.

There are many classic works by Canadian authors.  Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery penned the classic Anne of Green Gables, a beloved story for generations.  Consider The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, which is one of the most well known titles from up north.  Michael Ondaatje became the first Canadian to win the Booker Prize for his classic, The English Patient.  A few recent titles that come to mind are Room by Emma Donoghue, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay.

My all-time favorite short story author, Alice Munro, isn't the only short story specialist from Canada.  W.P. Kinsella penned Shoeless Joe, which was later adapted for the big screen as Field of Dreams.  Caroline Adderson has written novels as well as short stories.  Stuart McLean, a Canadian Authors Association Award recepient, is another popular choice.

Do you have any favorite Canadian authors?

A History of the Present Illness

I just finished A History of the Present Illness: Stories by Louise Aronson, due out later this month.  Wow.  This is a fantastic debut work of fiction by a very talented author.  Aronson not only holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson College Program for Writers but also an MD from Harvard.  That is talent on another level.

The stories are centered in the hospitals, nursing homes, neighborhoods, and sights around San Francisco.  We follow the lives of random individuals affected by disease in different ways.  The elderly deal with the loss of freedom.  Doctors and nurses come to terms with the horrific things they see day in and day out and the cost of making a mistake.  Medical students make the tough decision of becoming a doctor or having the luxury of not being on call 24/7. 

I was intrigued and a bit nervous going in to this one.  Would the book be too technical?  I am not exactly an expert on medical procedures.  Fear not as Aronson writes with beautiful clarity and focuses on the human struggle of patients as well as doctors and nurses.  I found myself re-reading passages which is a rarity.

"Becoming a Doctor" is a particular interesting tale of a young woman going through her medical training.  She details her relationships with the members of her class.  The mix of compassion, competition, understanding, and sexism show how truly difficult it is to train for this profession.  "Lucky You" shows us an extremely talented medical student who, despite being perhaps the most worthy of her group, drops out of med school and spends her days walking dogs.  Her reaction to an accident shows why she may have made the right decision.  "Vital Signs Stable" is a heartbreaking story of a family making a decision about its matriarch. 

Aronson has written a beautiful selection of short stories that are sure to make you think.  It will stick with you long after you finish the final page.

Most Anticipated Books of 2013

2013 is finally here and with it comes a crop of new books!  I have been seeing quite a few lists making the rounds of the most anticipated books of the new year and I wanted to share some of those with you.

BookPage has their list of the 20 most anticipated titles.  I'm intrigued by a few of these, namely The Love Song of Jonny Valentine and Schroder.  The Huffington Post has a terrific list of potential 2013 blockbusters.  NPR has some great info on 2013 releases as well as their favorite books from 2012.  Publishers Weekly always has new book announcements, too.

For a look back at 2012, check out the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2012.

There are several titles I cannot wait to read in 2013.  I am currently reading an advance copy of Ten White Geese by Gerbrand Bakker.  This title was actually published in 2010, but this is the first English translation.  I just finished reading A History of the Present Illness by Louise Aronson, slated for a late January release.  A full review of this will be published here soon, but I will tell you now that I was very impressed with this short story collection.  The Dinner by Herman Koch will be available in English for the first time later this year.  You should definitely put that on your list as it does not disappoint.  It is along the lines of The Good Father and We Need to Talk About Kevin, but this one had a bit more substance.  The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, due for a late March release, is one of the best debut novels I have read in some time.  This could be an addition to the Coffee By the Book series later this year.

What books are you looking forward to in 2013?

Alice Munro- Short Story Genius

I mentioned my love for Alice Munro's short stories in a previous post and feel the need to elaborate further with an entire post devoted to her work.  I'm only halfway through her most recent work, Dear Life: Stories, and have, as expected, fallen in love with her writing all over again.

Munro is able to tell seemingly unimportant tales in such a way that we are left with the feeling that every little interaction in our lives is dipped in meaning.  In the story "Haven" we have a young girl staying with her aunt and uncle while her parents are on a mission trip in Ghana.  The differences between her parents and the aunt/uncle are striking, specifically the fact that her Aunt Dawn lives in a household in which she is not able to speak her mind, due to the way Uncle Jasper talks down to her.  But what happens when the aunt decides to do something on her own, without him knowing?   "Leaving Maverly" is a story about a night policeman who accompanies a quiet, shy girl home from her job at the local theater every night.  Her religion does not allow her to listen to the films, let alone see them, and the policeman is left wondering if his telling her about the films leads to her sudden disappearance.

Munro's other short story collections are just as solid as Dear Life.  Try Too Much Happiness (which is anything but), Runaway, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, and The Love of a Good Woman.

As always, check us out on Goodreads for more book recommendations and reviews.