Difference between revisions of "Orange Prize for Fiction 2012"
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to search| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | The | + | The awards ceremony will be on on 30 May. |
| + | |||
__NOTOC__ | __NOTOC__ | ||
| − | '''Longlist''' | + | '''Shortlist''' |
| + | |||
| + | {{topten | ||
| + | |author=Esi Edugyan | ||
| + | |title=Half-Blood Blues | ||
| + | |rating=4.5 | ||
| + | |genre=General Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= Sid and his friend Chip are revisiting their youth, more than 50 years ago. They were jazz musicians, living and working in Berlin and Paris, until they had to escape Nazi occupied Paris in 1940 to return to Baltimore. Now it is 1992, and all the others they worked with are long since dead. They have just been involved in a documentary about their experiences, and are about to return to Germany (soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall) for a jazz festival in memory of the great Hiero Falk. Hieronymus Falk was a young black German musician with an exceptional musical talent, the star of their band, the Hot-Time Swingers. He was picked up by 'the Boots' as Sid refers to the Germans, in Paris in 1940, and disappeared into a concentration camp, then they heard he was released but died in 1948. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846687764</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
| + | {{topten | ||
| + | |author=Anne Enright | ||
| + | |title=The Forgotten Waltz | ||
| + | |rating=4 | ||
| + | |genre=Literary Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= Anne Enright's 2007 Booker prize winning [[The Gathering by Anne Enright|The Gathering]] addressed the gloomy subjects of the three D's; death, depression and dysfunctional families. Her latest book, ''The Forgotten Waltz'', set in Dublin in 2009, sees her turning her attentions to a love affair. A more uplifting subject you might think. Well only up to a point. The affair in question you see is that of her narrator, Gina, who is already married to the generally good, if undynamic, Connor, while on the other end, the subject of the affair is the older, Seán, also married and neighbour of Gina's sister. In case your moral compass isn't stretched quite enough by this, Seán and his wife Aileen, also have a young daughter who suffers from epilepsy. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099539780</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{topten | ||
| + | |author=Georgina Harding | ||
| + | |title=Painter of Silence | ||
| + | |rating=5 | ||
| + | |genre=Literary Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= A young, anonymous, vagrant collapses on the steps of a hospital in Romania. He doesn't speak and remains a mystery to the staff that tries to treat his obvious symptoms but can't seem to reach the silent person beneath. However, Safta, a nurse, suggests that he may be deaf and produces drawing materials. Coincidentally, the man is able to draw beautifully, but this is no coincidence to Safta. There are reasons why she can't disclose it, but she knows this man. They grew up together in pre-war Romania, a whole world away when the country had a king, beautiful cities untouched by bombing and being able to read a foreign language wasn't punishable by imprisonment in work camps... or worse. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408821125</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{topten | ||
| + | |author=Madeline Miller | ||
| + | |title=The Song of Achilles | ||
| + | |rating=4.5 | ||
| + | |genre=Literary Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= | ||
| + | Before I started the book, I looked out my copy of Homer's ''The Iliad'' and skim-read its one page introduction (yes, yet another book in my 'must-read' pile but it's been on it for about ahem, ten years). Having said that, it is rather dry and scholarly which didn't really inspire me to get on with this book as I wasn't really looking for a 'heavy' read, especially on a nice summer's day. Onwards ... | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408816032</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{topten | ||
| + | |author=Cynthia Ozick | ||
| + | |title=Foreign Bodies | ||
| + | |rating=4 | ||
| + | |genre=Literary Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= Bea Nightingale's brother Marvin wants her - is haranguing her - to retrieve his errant son Julian from post-war Paris, to where he has decamped in an effort to escape parental control. Bea, a New York high school teacher, is an unlikely candidate for the role of rescuer - she and her brother have been estranged for the best part of twenty years. But she capitulates to his demands and sets off on a journey in which her presence will affect not only Julian, but his sister who also runs off to Paris, his girlfriend, a displaced Eastern European Jew, his mother (also escaping Marvin, but this time in a psychiatric facility) and Bea's own ex-husband Leo. | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848877358</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
| + | {{topten | ||
| + | |author=Ann Patchett | ||
| + | |title=State of Wonder | ||
| + | |rating=5 | ||
| + | |genre=Literary Fiction | ||
| + | |summary= Anders Eckman is dead. The news has been delivered in the form an aerogram – remember those blue paper-cum-envelope things we used to use to write to foreign pen-pals when the notion of befriending a person you'd never met in a foreign country still seemed exotic? | ||
| + | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408818590</amazonuk> | ||
| + | }} | ||
| + | |||
| + | '''Other titles on the Longlist''' | ||
{{topten | {{topten | ||
| Line 37: | Line 96: | ||
|summary=If you are in the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, look no further than Emma Donoghue's The Sealed Letter. Set in 1864, it's based on the real life story of secrets and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codrington. There's added spice and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events of Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, an early mover in the rights of women movement and that good old standard, the Victorian spinster. | |summary=If you are in the mood for a deliciously scandalous Victorian page-turner, look no further than Emma Donoghue's The Sealed Letter. Set in 1864, it's based on the real life story of secrets and scandal surrounding Helen Codrington's divorce from her older husband, the rather dull Vice Admiral Codrington. There's added spice and intrigue provided by the unwitting involvement in events of Emily 'Fido' Faithfull, an early mover in the rights of women movement and that good old standard, the Victorian spinster. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447205987</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1447205987</amazonuk> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
}} | }} | ||
| Line 73: | Line 114: | ||
|summary=West Virginia, 1970. We're at a rundown race track, of the dusty kind rundown horses and their rundown owner/trainers fetch up living in, with the occasional race to interrupt the boredom. Into things comes a young upstart hoping to surprise all with his four unknown quantities and make a packet before fleeing. His girlfriend is here too to help out, and naively eager for success and knowledge, but old hands like Medicine Ed have seen it all before. Also in the background are some small-time gangsters who are not too keen at for once not knowing who is doing what and how races are going to be run and won. | |summary=West Virginia, 1970. We're at a rundown race track, of the dusty kind rundown horses and their rundown owner/trainers fetch up living in, with the occasional race to interrupt the boredom. Into things comes a young upstart hoping to surprise all with his four unknown quantities and make a packet before fleeing. His girlfriend is here too to help out, and naively eager for success and knowledge, but old hands like Medicine Ed have seen it all before. Also in the background are some small-time gangsters who are not too keen at for once not knowing who is doing what and how races are going to be run and won. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386697</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857386697</amazonuk> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
}} | }} | ||
| Line 119: | Line 151: | ||
The Night Circus moves from town to town; appearing with no warning, no announcements. The attractions seem impossible – a carousel with breathing animals, handkerchiefs that turn into birds in front of the watchful eyes of the audience, doors that appear and disappear. In the middle of it all are Celia, the daughter of a famous illusionist, and Marco, the apprentice of a mysterious magician. From a young age the lovers have been destined to compete against each other using their unusual skills to win a prize that neither of them understands; and an end that will leave only one standing. | The Night Circus moves from town to town; appearing with no warning, no announcements. The attractions seem impossible – a carousel with breathing animals, handkerchiefs that turn into birds in front of the watchful eyes of the audience, doors that appear and disappear. In the middle of it all are Celia, the daughter of a famous illusionist, and Marco, the apprentice of a mysterious magician. From a young age the lovers have been destined to compete against each other using their unusual skills to win a prize that neither of them understands; and an end that will leave only one standing. | ||
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184655523X</amazonuk> | |amazonuk=<amazonuk>184655523X</amazonuk> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
}} | }} | ||
Revision as of 09:28, 17 April 2012
The awards ceremony will be on on 30 May.
Shortlist
Other titles on the Longlist
