Best Reads

The Mark Twain Library staff has compiled a handy list of the best recent fiction and non-fiction.  The titles were chosen from among those that received starred reviews in among other sources Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

Like all lists, there are always some afterthoughts.   Here are two more great summer reads.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter 

Funny, campy and so very touching.  Effortlessly weeds its way from an tiny Italian coastline town in the 1960's to the present.   What do the famed actor Richard Burton and and a small village hotel owner have in common.  Read and enjoy.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Marriage can be a real killer. The author  takes that statement to a dark place in this fast paced work about a marriage gone terribly wrong.  One reveiw source thought it was a  mix of sharp-edged wit with deliciously chilling prose"  and " a nerve-fraying thriller that confounds you at every turn."

Short Reads for Summer

Looking for a good read that is not too long?  The Mark Twain Library has compiled a list of books under 200 pages.  The titles range from the classic to the currently popular.  These books are great to take to Topstone, relax by a pool or read on vacation. And, the teen in your life might enjoy their brevity if other summer activities are keeping them too busy to read longer books.  While the list contains a great number of titles, staff would love to hear about other titles that are short and sweet. We'll update the list and include your suggestions.

Don't forget to submit your review of any of these titles in our Summer Reading Raffle for adult readers to be eligible for prizes.  Submit your review online or at the library.

Between the Covers

The Library's new Summer Reading Club for adults begins June 25th.  The club is an informal way for Redding residents to share their love of books and reading with others in their community.  There are a variety of ways to participate.  Readers can also fill out brief reviews  of titles they've read.  Paper forms are avialable in the lbirary and the form will also be on the library's website.  Each review will be entered in a raffle for fun prizes such as tickets to Westport Playhouse preview performances and gift certicates to local merchants and restaurants. Here's our first staff prepared suggestions of the best fiction and non-fiction titles.


Best  Non-Fiction of 2011 and early 2012  - a selection of titles suggested by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews and MTL staff

Best Fiction of 2011 and early 2012  -a selection of titles suggested by the New York Times,
Booklist,  Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews and MTL staff

Good news, bad news

One of my favorite 2012 novels  - THE SONG OF ACHILLES by Madeline Miller - has just won the Orange Prize, a UK literary award for the best book written by a woman in English in a given year. A reinterpretation of the Iliad, THE SONG OF ACHILLES provides a fresh and emotionally enthralling perspective on the well-known story, and I am very glad that it is getting the recognition it deserves.

So that's the good news.  Here's the bad news.  The Orange Prize, "celebrating excellence, originality, and accessibility in women's fiction" around the world, has lost its sponsorship after 17 years.  That may not bother some people, who wonder about the legitimacy of a prize that champions the work of one gender by excluding the work of the other. (Interested in a discussion of the award's validity? See these articles by Joanna Trollope, chair of this year's judging panel; Cynthia Ozick, one of this year's nominees; and British critic Matthew Cain.)

But if one looks at the Orange Prize simply from the perspective of an avid reader, there's no question that it has achieved great success in identifying books worth reading. It wasn't until this year that I discovered the annual Orange longlist. Looking back over the 17 years of the award, I see in these twenty-title longlists an outstanding resource for book groups, who are typically looking for novels that offer both meat (literary substance) and drink (readability), and that's what these lists provide. Click here for the lists, divided into the long and short nomination categories.

For the sake of good reading, let's hope the prize continues!

Mary Hoskinson-Dean

Mysterious Update

   

Mystery lovers – have you noticed it’s getting to the point that you need a detective’s spiral pad to keep notes on all the mysteries (and thrillers, too) being rushed to publication.  A recent New York Times article shed some light on this publishing mystery.  Authors who could be counted on to bring out one new title in their series each year are now feeling strong pressure to publish more.  eBook formats have made readers eager to download the next title quickly. Authors are even producing short works just in eBook format for the most insatiable.  Take out your notebook and note these clues to upcoming titles.    You will be sure to find them all available at the Mark Twain Library in the months to come.  And subscribe to Wowbary to be alerted when your favorite title has arrived.  Look at a few due out soon.  

                 


                                           

Ready to Rumble?

The recent failure of the Pulitzer board to award a 2012 prize for fiction prompted quite an uproar.  The publishing industry put up its dukes and flailed away at the perceived insult to its 2011 fiction lists.

The brouhaha actually worked out in productive ways.  Many people (see And the winner isn't... and The Great Pulitzer Do-Over ) took the opportunity to champion their favorite 2011 novels, bringing attention to a wide range of worthwhile books.*  That's a good thing!

It made me reflect on the vagaries of the book prize process, though, and at the risk of being called unpatriotic, I'd say the British handle their literary awards system more efficiently.  They announce an initial 15-book "longlist", cut it down to a 5-6 book "shortlist", and then award the prize. Lots of publicity is focused on that extensive longlist, and being placed on the shortlist is seen as the real stamp of approval, with the actual award a bit of an anticlimax. (Similar to the Oscars.) Avid readers really appreciate those longlists.

Of course, the British do have their own controversies.  The judges for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, the UK's top literary award, noted that they were going to take "readability" into account in their deliberations.  Quel horreur! The literary community was incensed. It didn't help that the ultimate selection for the prize, THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, was widely seen as a tepid choice.

But I'm looking forward to next year's Booker Prize anyway.  Why?  Because I am so very amused that one of the five members of the 2012 judging panel is actor Dan Stevens, better known to many of us as Matthew Crawley of "Downton Abbey". (I kid you not. Oh, all right, he does have a degree in literature from Cambridge.) Those Brits sure know how to have more fun.

Mary Hoskinson-Dean

*It's not over 'til it's over? The Pulitzer jury describes "what really happened this year"

Poetry tells a tale

Contemporary poetry has a "serious" reputation; only by close and sustained analysis, it is said, can a reader discern a poem's true meaning. But how many of us can spare the requisite hours for such an activity (even if it is April, National Poetry Month)? Fortunately, limited time and energy may no longer be a problem if you've discovered one of the livelier genres of the form - the novel in verse.

Narrative poetry, particularly for young adults, is flourishing. This distinctive way of telling a story has been fairly described as "a quick read, with depth". Sounds promising to busy readers!

Click here for a select list of verse novels. One, Out of the Dust, won the 1998 Newbery Award for its poignant depiction of the Great Depression. A more recent title, The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic, has been described as a "masterpiece". While not every book listed deserves such high praise, each will provide reading (or listening) pleasure.

Mary Hoskinson-Dean