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This book had us at the cover, but clearly it’s got even more going for it; the International Assoc. of Culinary Professionals named Rose’s Heavenly Cakes the Cookbook of the Year.
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Perhaps the judges feel the need for more sweetness in life; baking books won in two other categories (view the full list here):
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2009 was the year of “the sudden and splendid blossoming of the short story,” declared the Guardian, observing that women have picked up three major UK prizes this year. Two of the three have been published in the U.S.
Why would women’s work stand out in this short form, when women are less often awarded major prizes for their novels? Guardian critic Sarah Crown speculates that
Short stories…are famously uncommercial; that, coupled with the perceived exactingness of the form and its heavyweight literary lineage, means that short stories by women are taken seriously – and awarded accordingly.
Most recently, Zimbabwean author Petina Gappah claimed the Guardian’s First Book award for fiction, for her collection, An Elegy for Easterly. “Gappah’s deep well of empathy and saber-sharp command of satire give her collection a surplus of heart and verve,” said the PW review. According to World Cat, 336 libraries have it, with those we checked showing modest numbers of copies.
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Last May, Alice Munro won the £60,000 Man Booker International prize, for a body of work the judges described as “practically perfect.” The Canadian author’s most recent collection is Too Much Happiness, which up to seven holds per copy on hand, or more, in several libraries we checked.
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Available in Large Print from Center Point Platinum Fiction on January 1, 2010
Also available from Random House Audio
This week, because of the controversy over eBook pricing, the general public was introduced to the concept of “windowing,” or deciding when to release books in cheaper versions.
Conventional wisdom says that publishers should try to get as much out of hardcover sales as possible, which is why the paperback release of The Help was moved from January to June, 2010.
Sometimes a publisher breaks rank with this thinking and decides to move the paperback release date earlier, to take advantage of publicity and give a price incentive to readers to take a chance on a book.
The unconventional approach seems to have worked for Colum McCann’s National Book Award winner, Let the Great World Spin. It was published in hardcover in June and as USA Today notes in their “Book Buzz” column, Random House decided to release the trade paperback several months earlier — on Dec. 2nd, rather than late Spring 2010. This week, the book jumps from #351 on the USA Today bestseller list to #126.
USA Today also notes that the movie option has been sold and McCann is at work on the screenplay.
Many libraries are continuing to show heavy holds on the book; here’s an opportunity to get through that list less cost.
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In case you haven’t heard already, the National Book Award Winners were announced last night.
In the L.A. Times “Jacket Copy” blog, Carolyn Kellogg reports on the event; the dinner was “dwonsized” from last year’s lamb to chicken. The New York Times‘ book beat reporter Motoko Rich not only tweeted as the NBA was in progress, she posted interviews and stories in the “Arts Beat” blog (her full story in the newspaper is here).
Claudette Colvin, the subject of the winning Young Adult Literature title was at the dinner and joined author Phillip Hoose on stage.
Book TV will be running video of the event on Sat 8pm & Sun 10am ET
Winners:
Fiction
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eBook downloadable from OverDrive
Nonfiction
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Books on Tape; UnAbr; 9781415965917; $100
Audiobook and eBook downloadable from OverDrive
Poetry
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Young People’s Literature
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Brilliance Audio
Audiobook downloadable from OverDrive
The bookie’s favorite is the winner; just in time for its US debut next week.
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Downloadable eBook from OverDrive available next week.
The Times of London says the book was the “hottest favourite in the 40-year history” of the prize and notes it’s the first favorite to win since Yann Martel’s Life of Pi in 2002 (making you wonder why people continue to bet on the favorite). However, prior to the book appearing on the Booker longlist, it was considered a “mid-ranking outsider.” In a very short time, it leaped to being the favorite.
The Guardian also notes that has attracted greater attention – and greater sales – than the award has seen for many years.” This is the intent of the prize, says the Times of London,
Despite its highbrow reputation, the prize was founded to sell books. Mr Trewin [the prize's director] said that it was achieving its original purpose: “not only to reward superb fiction but to encourage people to go out and read it”.
Critics from The Guardian discuss the book in a podcast, which includes a rather gruesome excerpt read by the author.
According to London’s bookies, the front runner for the Man Booker prize, to be announced at 10 p.m., London time, is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Judging by the number of holds and copies in American libraries, the front runner on this side of the ocean is The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters
Wolf Hall isn’t scheduled for publication in the U.S. until next week. Janet Maslin rushed the first US consumer review into the NYT yesterday (it received high praise in all four prepub journals; Library Journal declared, “There will be few novels this year as good as this one.”)
Although Maslin praises the book, she admits,
This witty, densely populated book may experience a rough passage when it crosses the Atlantic. For readers not fully versed in the nuances of England’s tangled royal bloodlines, not amused by Ms. Mantel’s deliberate obliqueness…Wolf Hall has its share of stumbling blocks.
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Downloadable eBook from OverDrive available next week.
Nonetheless, the book rose to #134 on Amazon, outstripping the other titles on the short list.
The front runner for American readers, as shown by the number of holds and copies in four large libraries, is The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters — 426 on 206 copies
The Children’s Book, A.S. Byatt — 346 on 78 copies
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel — 194 on 43 copies (on order)
Summertime, J.M. Coetzee — 44 on 51 copies (on order)
The other two titles on the Booker short list will not be released in the U.S. for several months.
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Downloadable eBook currently available on OverDrive [UPDATE: it is only available to UK libraries at this point]
Michael Thomas’s debut novel, Man Gone Down, has won the Impac Dublin Literary prize, according to the Associated Press. Thomas, a teacher at New York City’s Hunter College, edged out writers like Joyce Carol Oates and Phillip Roth for the world’s richest literary prize, which carries a purse of $140,000. The Irish award, which is open to any novel published in English, is already sparking media attention and has prompted the publisher to start planning an author tour. Libraries interested in hosting events with Thomas can contact Deb Seager at dseager@groveatlantic.com. Libraries we checked showed 7-15 copies of the book on hand.
Man Gone Down received major publicity when first published as a paperback original in 2007, including a New York Times Book Review cover essay, which described Thomas’s protagaonist as “a black man living in Brooklyn and struggling to write while supporting his blue-blooded white wife and their three children,” and also as a man “fighting a fate preordained as much by his genes as by his country.”
Named one of 2007’s 10 best books by the New York Times, Man Gone Down also received other major reviews in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, and was on the IndieBound list of “great reading group books.”
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