Tag Archives: Literature

eBooks in Libraries: Worth the Investment?

For the printed book purist, the mere suggestion of libraries lending eBooks conjures up images of empty shelves, redundant librarians and tumbleweeds drifting across abandoned buildings. However, leaving aside sentimental arguments about the superiority or inferiority of the different formats, the reality is that many libraries now offer a selection of eBooks available for download. Although eBook lending is growing, several questions need to be asked about the future development of this new technology. Most importantly, with so many libraries under significant financial pressure, are eBooks actually worth the investment?

eBooks and libraries

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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

AmericanahShortlisted for this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, ‘Americanah’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells the story of Ifemelu and her boyfriend Obinze who fall in love as teenagers in Lagos. During university strikes, Ifemelu leaves Nigeria to pursue her postgraduate studies in the United States. Meanwhile, Obinze has moved to England after graduating and is working in Essex using a false identity while attempting to secure a visa through an arranged marriage. The story follows the separate paths they take on different continents before they are reunited back in Lagos many years later. Continue reading

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Little Egypt by Lesley Glaister

Little Egypt‘Little Egypt’ by Lesley Glaister tells the story of twin siblings, Isis and Osiris, and their childhood in the 1920s. Living in a large family home called Little Egypt, their eccentric parents, Evelyn and Arthur, set off to search for the fabled tomb of Herihor, leaving the twins in the care of their housekeeper Mary and their uncle Victor. Many decades later, Isis and Osiris are now in their nineties and still living in their derelict house which Isis cannot sell for fear of someone discovering what happened there all those years ago.

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The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2014

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2014

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is one of the most interesting literary prizes but is also, unfortunately, one of the more overlooked. It probably hasn’t helped that the announcement of both the longlist and shortlist  has coincided with the announcement of the longlist and shortlist of the higher profile Women’s Prize for Fiction. The jury had a record number of entries to read before choosing this year’s shortlist which was revealed yesterday:

The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim (translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Wright)

A Man in Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard (translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett)

A Meal in Winter by Hubert Mingarelli (translated from the French by Sam Taylor)

The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke (translated from the German by Jamie Bulloch)

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa (translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder)

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami (translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell)
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The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

The Woman UpstairsLast summer, I read ‘The Last Life‘ by Claire Messud but gave it a mixed review.  I had expected a character-driven novel about French-Americans to be something I would really enjoy.  However, I didn’t really get on with it and I wanted to try Messud’s latest novel, ‘The Woman Upstairs’, so I could find out whether it was just that particular book which wasn’t for me or her work in general. Continue reading

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The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

The LowlandJhumpa Lahiri was one of my favourite new discoveries in 2013 so I have really been looking forward to reading her latest novel, ‘The Lowland’ which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize last year and has recently been longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. It tells the story of two brothers, Subhash and Udayan, who grow up in Calcutta in the 1950s and 1960s. While Udayan’s involvement in an underground Communist movement ultimately results in his death, Subhash starts a new life in the United States, later marrying his widowed and pregnant sister-in-law, Gauri, and taking her with him back to New England. Continue reading

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Books in Prisons

The Ministry of Justice has recently banned prisoners in the UK from receiving books sent by friends and relatives.  According to the Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, the new restrictions on parcels received by inmates are part of an “incentives and earned privileges” scheme and aims to prevent drugs and other illegal items being smuggled into prisons.

Shelfie

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New Books Coming Soon in 2014

One of of my reading resolutions this year has been to get through more of the books I already have on my shelves and Kindle.  I have been making some slow and steady progress recently but, as always, I still have my eye on the latest books.  Here are a few I am particularly looking forward to which have not yet been published:

The Paying Guests Frog Music The Silkworm

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The Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist 2014

The longlist for this year’s Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced today.  The twenty titles are:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Americanah
Margaret Atwood – MaddAddam
Suzanne Berne –  The Dogs of Littlefield
Fatima Bhutto – The Shadow of the Crescent Moon
Claire Cameron –  The Bear
Lea Carpenter – Eleven Days
M.J. Carter – The Strangler Vine
Eleanor Catton – The Luminaries
Deborah Kay Davies – Reasons She Goes to the Woods
Elizabeth Gilbert – The Signature of All Things
Hannah Kent – Burial Rites
Rachel Kushner – The Flamethrowers
Jhumpa Lahiri – The Lowland
Audrey Magee – The Undertaking
Eimear McBride – A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing
Charlotte Mendelson – Almost English
Anna Quindlen – Still Life with Bread Crumbs
Elizabeth Strout – The Burgess Boys
Donna Tartt – The Goldfinch
Evie Wyld – All The Birds, Singing

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Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

‘Sisterland’ by Curtis Sittenfeld tells the story of identical twin sisters, Violet and Kate, who have both had psychic powers of intuition, or “senses” as they call them, since childhood.  While Violet continues to embrace this power as an adult and becomes a medium, Kate is a suburban housewife who has tried her best to suppress these senses.  However, when Violet goes on television to share her premonition of a catastrophic earthquake which she says will strike the St. Louis area where they both live, their relationship is seriously tested in the days leading towards the predicted event. Continue reading

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The Folio Society Spring Titles Launch

Founded in 1947 by Charles Ede, the Folio Society is an independent publisher with a reputation for producing beautifully illustrated books.  This week, I was lucky enough to attend their spring titles launch event at the British Library in London.

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The Folio Prize

Folio Prize 2014

The shortlist for the first Folio Prize was announced today.  The eight nominated books are:

Red Doc by Anne Carson
Schroder by Amity Gaige
Last Friends by Jane Gardam
Benediction by Kent Haruf
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava
Tenth of December by George Saunders

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The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton

The RehearsalI thought I would try Eleanor Catton’s first novel ‘The Rehearsal’ before tackling her Man Booker Prize-winning epic ‘The Luminaries’ at a later date.  Although difficult to summarise the plot as such, ‘The Rehearsal’ is essentially about the aftermath of an affair between a music teacher and one of his seventeen year old students, Victoria.  The story behind the scandal is later turned into a play by a local drama school known as the Institute and one of its stars, Stanley, has unknowingly become involved with Victoria’s younger sister, Isolde. Continue reading

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A Death in the Family by Karl Ove Knausgaard

A Death in the FamilyRegarded as a national obsession in his native Norway, ‘A Death in the Family’ is the first book in the six volume ‘My Struggle’ series of autobiographical novels by Karl Ove Knausgaard.  Despite being marketed as fiction, ‘My Struggle’ is an unflinchingly honest and controversial memoir which explores both the mundane everyday details and the more significant events in Knausgaard’s life.

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Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Burial Rites

‘Burial Rites’ by Hannah Kent is a novel based on the true story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir who was convicted of murder and was the last woman to be executed in Iceland in 1830 at the age of 33.  Sentenced to death along with Fridrik Sigurdsson and Sigrídur Sigga Gudmundsdóttir for killing Natan Ketilsson and his neighbour, Agnes is sent to live with District Officer Jón Jónsson, his wife Margrét and their daughters Steina and Lauga while she awaits execution.  However, it is gradually revealed that her story is more complex than the original version of events presented in court. Continue reading

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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The GoldfinchI love ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt which is one of my all-time favourite books and also really enjoyed ‘The Little Friend’ so one of the books I had been looking forward to reading the most is her new novel ‘The Goldfinch’ which I recently received as a Christmas present.  Given that Tartt only publishes novels approximately once a decade, I expect nothing less than Great Things from her workIn other words, I can’t remember the last time I had such high expectations for a book.

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The 2013 End of Year Book Survey

2013 book survey

I did this survey last year so here it is again….

1. Best Book You Read In 2013? (You can break it down by genre if you want)  This is hard… in terms of fiction, highlights definitely include ‘A Tale for the Time Being‘ by Ruth Ozeki, ‘Life After Life‘ by Kate Atkinson and ‘Red Joan‘ by Jennie Rooney. The best non-fiction book was probably ‘Quiet‘ by Susan Cain.  I don’t give books star ratings in my reviews so it is difficult to judge and compare a whole year’s worth of reading.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? I was not so much disappointed but just rather perplexed by ‘The Orphan Master’s Son‘ by Adam Johnson.  I was intrigued by the story’s setting in North Korea but it didn’t really grab me as much as I thought it would. Continue reading

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Caboodle National Book Tokens Competition

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend and want the chance to win a year’s supply of books (£250 token), why not enter the Caboodle National Book Tokens Competition?  All you have to do is guess the 20 book titles hidden in the pictures below. There are two games to play on the website to double your chances of winning.

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Other Books I Read In 2013 But Didn’t Review

When I first started this blog, I reviewed more or less everything I read in the order that I read them.  However, I am no longer quite so organised.  I still review the majority of the books I read but this year, I read quite a few other books which I didn’t write about on my blog for the following reasons: Continue reading

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Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Crossing to SafetyOnce again, I was lucky enough to win another book to review from the Pot Luck draw for Waterstones cardholders a few weeks ago. This time, it was ‘Crossing to Safety’ by Wallace Stegner which was first published in 1987 a few years before his death and has recently been reprinted by Penguin Classics featuring an introduction by Jane Smiley.  You can read my brief review here on the Waterstones website under the name Clare90.  Continue reading

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