a quill and vellum

The Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge

Book Riot has just released information regarding The 2015 Read Harder Challenge (#readharder), in which I will be actively participating.  The premise of the challenge is to encourage readers to read more diversely in the new year by offering 24 reading challenges.  The challenges are amazing and I am looking forward to my participation.  There is even a Reading Harder group at GoodReads. Following are the challenges issued by Book Riot and the books which I will be reading to meet these challenges.  

1.  A book writtten by someone when they were under the age of 25.  White Teeth by Zadie Smith

2.  A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65.  The Lawgiver by Herman Wouk

3.  A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people).  Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout

4.  A book published by an indie press.  The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock by Lucy Worsley, Pegasus Books

5.  A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ.  The Color Purple by Alice Walker

6.  A book by a person whose gender is different from your own.  Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

7.  A book that takes place in Asia.  The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

8.  A book by an author from Africa.  No Longer at Ease by Chinua Achebe

9.  A book that is by or about somone from an inigenous culture.  Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

10.  A microhistory.  Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

11.  A young adult novel.  Legend by Marie Lu

12.  A sci-fi novel.  Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert

13.  A romance novel.  Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

14. A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade.  The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

15.  A book that is a retelling of a classic story.  Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde

16.  An audiobook.  Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

17.  A collection of poetry.  Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

18.  A book that someone else recmmended to you.  The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (recommended by Jo Lisa Way, RetiredBookNerd)

19. A book that was originally published in another language.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

20.  A graphic novel, a graphic memoir, or a collection of comics of any kind.  Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman

21.  A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure.  Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett

22.  A book published before 1850.  Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

23.  A book published in 2015.  The Porcelein Thief  by Huan Hsu

24.  A self-improvement book.   Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

The Gift of Rain, a review

Book:  The Gift of Rain

Author:   Tan Twan Eng

Published:  1 May 2008

Publisher:  Weinstein Books

Date Read:  14 September 2014

Format:  eBook

Source:  iPad Kindle app

First Line:  "I was born with the gift of rain, an ancient soothsayer in an even more ancient temple once told me."

Genre/Rating:  Literary Fiction, 5+

GoodReads Rating:  4.17

Awards:  2007 Man Booker Longlist, 2008 IndieFab Award Winner 

Plot:  The Gift of Rain relates the story of Phillip Hutton's experiences before, during, and after the Japanese-occupation of Malaya during World War II.  Born to an English father and a Chinese mother, Phillip sees himself as an outcast from his family and from the different communities that compose 1940's Malaya.  At the beginning of the narrative, as a contrast to Phillip's feelings of alienation, he is befriended by Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat who becomes Phillip's sensei in the instruction of aikido, as well as his dear friend and beloved mentor.  Told as a series of flashbacks, Phillip tells his story to Machiko Murakami, an aged Japanese woman who loved Endo-san as dearly as Phillip. 

Review:  The Gift of Rain is the best book I have read in the last fiften years and I am so lucky that I was able to stumble upon the author.  The words are beautifully chosen, the plot is mesmerizing, and love fills each and every page, whether it is love of family, love of friendship, love of country, love of ideals, love of duty, or love of honour.    Tan Twan Eng is an exceptional author and I look forward to reading his next work, The Garden of Evening Mists, which was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.

2014 Man Booker Short List Announced

 

 

 

The 2014 Man Booker Short List was announed this morning and I am surprised that I only got 40 percent of my predictions correct.

The 2014 Man Booker Short List will be revealed on Tuesday, 9 September 2014 and I am predicting the following five books will be included on that list:

1.  The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

2.  History of the Rain by Niall Williams

3. The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee

4.  The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

5.  The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedy

Needless to say, I was quite astonished that David Mitchell and Niall Williams were overlooked by the committee. 

The 2014 Man Booker Short List is composed of the following six books:

• To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (America)
• We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (America)
• J by Howard Jacobson (U.K.)
• The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee (U.K.)
• How to Be Both by Ali Smith (U.K.)
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Australia)

Based upon the short list, I am pulling for Neel Mukherjee to win the prize which will be announced on Tuesday, 14 October.

2014 Man Booker Short List Prediction

The 2014 Man Booker Short List will be revealed on Tuesday, 9 September 2014 and I am predicting the following five books will be included on that list:

1.  The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

2.  History of the Rain by Niall Williams

3. The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee

4.  The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

5.  The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedy

 

#FridayReads for 5 September 2014

 

The 2014 Man Booker Prize

Even though I have been familiar with the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for some time, it has not been a book award that I have closely followed because it was central to books published in the United Kingdom.  Beginning in 2014, however, the prize has been opened up to books published in all countries and the United States is being represented by five published works, which represents about 38 percent of the longlist.  

The longlist was announced on 23 July and it contained thirteen works of literary fiction.  The list, in its entirety, is as follows:

• History of the Rain by Niall Williams (Ireland)
• Orfeo by Richard Powers (USA)
• The Dog by Joseph O'Neill (USA)
• The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth (UK)
• We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (USA)
• How to be Both by Ali Smith (UK, Scotland)
• The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt (USA)
• The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee (UK)
• To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (USA)
• J by Howard Jacobson (UK)
• The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (UK, Ireland)
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (Tasmania)
• Us by David Nicholls (UK)

My intention is to read the entire list prior to the announcement of the winner on 14 October and I will begin my reading with History of the Rain by Niall Williams, which has the most appeal to me.

For more information on the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, I highly recommend that you visit Kirat at his YouTube channel, ObsessiveCompulsiveReader.  This young man has very sophisticated reading tastes and he is obsessed witht he Man Booker Prize.

-Joseph
Soli Deo Gloria