TBR (AUGUST 2017)

 if you're not familiar with Goodreads.com you're missing out! It's a great way to share books, keep track of books you've read, and is the world's  largest site for book recommendations.

The following two books caught my eye. Recipients of excellent reviews, they're on the top of my TBR list.

Home Fire
by Kamila Shamsie 
In this modern-day take on the classic tragedy Antigone, two Pakistani Muslim families in London find their lives entangled in love, politics, and conflict.
Amirah says, “I tore through this, literally could not tear my eyes away from this brave, searing novel.”Nominated for the Man Booker Prize

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The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne (Goodreads Author) 
This sweeping novel by the author of The Boy in Striped Pajamasbegins in 1940s Ireland, when Cyril Avery is born to an unwed teen mother, and follows his journey of self-discovery.
Caroline says, “There’s little about this deeply moving and immersive story that isn’t perfect. Boyne realized an ambitious premise, and he did so with a thoughtful touch.”

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BOOK NOMINEES....SOUND FAMILIAR?

Booker Prize Nominees Are Released!

The administrators of the Man Booker Prize released its longlist for this year’s award, a list of 13 novels that was notable for its diversity.

The Booker is Britain’s most prestigious literary award, given to an author in the former British Commonwealth and Ireland for what the judges consider the finest novel of the year.
Watch for the winner on October 15, 2013.




The Books On The Longlist Are:

“Five Star Billionaire” by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate)

“We Need New Names” by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)

“The Luminaries” by Eleanor Catton (Granta)

“Harvest” by Jim Crace (Picador)

“The Marrying of Chani Kaufman” by Eve Harris (Sandstone Press)

“The Kill” by Richard House (Picador)

“The Lowland” by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)

“Unexploded” by Alison MacLeod (Hamish Hamilton)

“TransAtlantic” by Colum McCann (Bloomsbury)

“Almost English” by Charlotte Mendelson (Mantle)

“A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)

“The Spinning Heart” by Donal Ryan (Doubleday Ireland)

“The Testament of Mary” by Colm Toibin (Viking).

What do you think of these nominees?  Some of them I'd never heard of...  Leave a comment below...
(Click on "comments" and express yourself!)



(For more information, a version of this article appeared in print on July 24, 2013, on page C3 of the New York edition of the New York Times with the headline: Booker Prize Nominees Are Named in Longlist.)

THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE (09/13/12)

If an author wants to become wealthy fast, winning the Man Booker Prize will do it. Of course it's not all about money.. this award is for the best contemporary fiction of the year, a coveted prize. 

First there is the Longlist announcement in July, then the Shortlist in September, and finally the winner in October.

Here's the 2012 Shortlist and a very brief description:

• Umbrella by Will Self    (A dark story of WW1)
• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil    (A poetic journey into Bombay)
• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy  (Click on the title listed in the Book Index on the Sidebar.)
• The Garden of Evening Mists by T. T. Eng   (A magic, misty read)
• The Lighthouse by Alison Moore  (Reads like a very dark comedy)
•  Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (More Cromwell or click on the title in the Book Index on the Sidebar.)

My bet is on Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel ( again..). What about you?
(If I'm wrong I can always delete this....I have no shame.)