Neglected Gems ... Elizabeth TAYLOR

ELIZABETH TAYLOR (no, not the movie actress, the literary novelist) is known for her precise use of language and an understated, elegant prose style which she uses to great effect in her many portrayals of middle- and upper-middle-class English life in the mid-20th century.

Bibliography
TAYLOR Elizabeth [1912-1975] Novelist, short-story writer. Born Elizabeth Coles in Reading, Berkshire, England. Novels Blaming (1976); Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (1971: shortlisted for the 1971 Booker Prize for Fiction); The Wedding Group (1968); The Soul of Kindness (1964); In a Summer Season (1961); Angel (1957); The Sleeping Beauty (1953); A Game of Hide-and-Seek (1951); A Wreath of Roses (1949); A View of the Harbour (1947); Palladian (1946); At Mrs Lippincote’s (1945) Stories The Devastating Boys (1972); A Dedicated Man and Other Stories (1965); The Blush and Other Stories (1958); Hester Lily and Other Stories (1954) Children’s Mossy Trotter (1967)

Recommended
Novels Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (with an introduction by Paul Bailey) (1971); Angel (with an introduction by Hilary Mantel) (1957)

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR ... Emily BARTON

Bibliography
BARTON Emily [1969-] Novelist. Born in New York, New York, U.S. NOVELS Brookland (2006); The Testament of Yves Gundron (2000)

Recommended
Brookland (2006)

2006 MILES FRANKLIN LITERARY AWARD: Shortlist

AUSTRALIANS are doing it for themselves. Australian fiction never had it so good. Kate Grenville recently won the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize for her novel, The Secret River (2005). First-time novelist Carrie Tiffany has also been shortlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize for her novel, Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living (2005). And both of them have been shortlisted for the 2006 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the premier award in the Australian literary landscape. Grenville was last shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 1995 for her novel, Dark Places (1995). Tiffany has also been shortlisted for the 2006 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.

The Miles Franklin Literary Award, Australia’s premier annual literary prize, is an accolade for novels that focus on Australia and its unique identity. This year’s novels have plots firmly rooted in Australia’s early history, focusing on early settlement in New South Wales and life on the continent during the two world wars. “They are all profound evocations of this place we live in,” one of the judges of the award, Morag Fraser, said of the shortlisted novels. “They are not historical novels, but they do mine things that we thought we knew about the country, but [after reading them] we realise we didn’t really.”

Five novels have been shortlisted for the 2006 Miles Franklin Literary Award:

The Garden Book (Giramondo) / Brian Castro
The Secret River (Text Publishing) / Kate Grenville
The Ballad of Desmond Kale (Vintage/Random House Australia) / Roger McDonald
Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living (Picador/Pan Macmillan Australia) / Carrie Tiffany
The Wing of Night (Viking/Penguin Australia) / Brenda Walker

The winner of the 2006 Miles Franklin Literary Award will be announced on June 22, 2006

2006 ORANGE PRIZE for FICTION Shortlist

WHAT a strong line-up! Zadie Smith and Ali Smith face stiff competition from the likes of American Nicole Krauss, Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters for the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction. And there is a new lass on the block: West Yorkshire-born Australian Carrie Tiffany. The shortlist, though a tad predictable (and I mean this in a nice way), is one of the strongest in years and is both commercial and literary. Here is the shortlist:

The History of Love / Nicole Krauss (Viking)
Beyond Black / Hilary Mantel (HarperPerennial)
The Accidental / Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)
On Beauty / Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton)
Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living / Carrie Tiffany (Picador)
The Night Watch / Sarah Waters (Virago)

The winner will be announced on June 6, 2006

Allegra GOODMAN ... Intuition (2006)

READING the works of Allegra Goodman is time well spent. She is quite a consistent writer, especially when tackling the complexities and perplexities of contemporary Jewish life in America. If you enjoy the fictions of Cynthia Ozick, Grace Paley and Philip Roth, you will most probably enjoy Goodman’s novels and short stories because she has a style very reminiscent of them.

Bibliography
GOODMAN Allegra [1967-] Novelist, short story writer. Born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, U.S. NOVELS Intuition (2006); Paradise Park (2001); Kaaterskill Falls (1998: shortlisted for the 1998 National Book Award for Fiction) STORIES The Family Markowitz (1996); Total Immersion (1989)

Recommended
Novels: Intuition (2006)
Stories: The Family Markowitz (1996); Total Immersion (1989)

Neglected Gems ... William TREVOR

ANOTHER sadly neglected writer is the Irish writer William Trevor, whose powers of observation and compassion are remarkable, to say the least, especially in his short stories. The “elder statesman” of the short-story writing fraternity has a prose style reminiscent of the Russian masters Anton Chekhov and Ivan Turgenev: lean, precise, economical and tightly wound.

Bibliography
TREVOR William [1928-] Short-story writer, novelist: awarded the David Cohen British Literature Prize in 1998. Born William Trevor Cox in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland. NOVELS Love and Summer (2009); The Story of Lucy Gault (2002: shortlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize for Fiction and the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award); Death in Summer (1998); Felicia’s Journey (1994: winner of the 1994 Whitbread Novel Award and the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year Award); Nights at the Alexandra (1987); The Silence in the Garden (1988: winner of the 1988 Yorkshire Post Award for Book of the Year); Fools of Fortune (1983: winner of the 1983 Whitbread Novel Award); Other People’s Worlds (1980); The Children of Dynmouth (1976: winner of the 1976 Whitbread Novel Award; shortlisted for the 1976 Booker Prize for Fiction); Elizabeth Alone (1973); Miss Gomez and the Brethren (1971); Mrs Eckdorf in O’Neill’s Hotel (1969: shortlisted for the 1970 Booker Prize for Fiction); The Love Department (1966); The Boarding-House (1965: winner of the 1965 Hawthornden Prize for Literature); The Old Boys (1964: winner of the 1965 Hawthornden Prize for Literature); A Standard of Behaviour (1958); Low Sunday (1950) NOVELLAS Two Lives: Reading Turgenev and My House in Umbria (1991: shortlisted for the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award); Reading Turgenev (1991: shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize for Fiction) STORIES A Bit on the Side (2004); The Hill Bachelors (2000: winner of the 2001 Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction and the 2001 PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award for Short Stories); Ireland: Selected Stories (1998); Cocktails at Doney’s and Other Stories (1996); After Rain (1996); Outside Ireland: Selected Stories (1995); Ireland: Selected Stories (1995); The Collected Stories (1992); Family Sins and Other Stories (1989: shortlisted for the 1990 Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction); The News from Ireland and Other Stories (1986); The Stories of William Trevor (1983); Beyond the Pale and Other Stories (1981); Lovers of Their Time and Other Stories (1978); Old School Ties (1976); Angels at the Ritz and Other Stories (1975: winner of the 1976 Heinemann Award and the 1975 Royal Society of Literature Award); The Ballroom of Romance and Other Stories (1972); The Day We Got Drunk on Cake and Other Stories (1967); The Distant Past and Other Stories (1979) NONFICTION A Writer’s Ireland: Landscape in Literature (1984) MEMOIRS Excursions in the Real World (1993) CHILDREN’S Juliet’s Story (1991) EDITED The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories (1989)

Recommended
Novels: The Story of Lucy Gault (2002); Felicia’s Journey (1994); The Silence in the Garden (1988)
Novellas: Two Lives: Reading Turgenev and My House in Umbria (1991)
Stories: A Bit on the Side (2004); The Hill Bachelors (2000); After Rain (1996); The Collected Stories (1992)

Samuel BECKETT

WHAT I BOUGHT TODAY ...

AS ALWAYS, Kinokuniya never disappoints with their fine selection of books: both their fiction and nonfiction range were impressive. These are some of the books I would be proud to add to my library.

FICTION
This Blinding Absence of Light (2001; 2002) / Tahar Ben Jelloun (trans. from the French by Linda Coverdale)
To the Wedding (1995) / John Berger
Three Day Road (2005) / Joseph Boyden
The Closed Circle (2005) / Jonathan Coe
The Observations (2006) / Jane Harris
Black Swan Green (2006) / David Mitchell
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005) / Lisa See

NONFICTION
The Binding Chair: or, A Visit from the Foot Emancipation Society (2000) / Kathryn Harrison
The Hall of a Thousand Columns: Hindustan to Malabar with Ibn Battutah (2005) / Tim Mackintosh-Smith (with illustrations by Martin Yeoman)
A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveller (2006) / Frances Mayes

Anne TYLER ... Digging to America (2006)

PULITZER PRIZE-winning novelist Anne Tyler is a hard habit to break once you get hooked on her writing.

Bibliography
TYLER Anne [1941-] Novelist, short-story writer. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. Novels Digging to America (2006); The Amateur Marriage (2004); Back When We Were Grownups (2001); A Patchwork Planet (1998); Ladder of Years (1995); Saint Maybe (1991); Breathing Lessons (1988: winner of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction); The Accidental Tourist (1985: winner of the 1985 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction; shortlisted for the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction); Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982: shortlisted for the 1982 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction); Morgan’s Passing (1980: shortlisted for the 1980 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction); Earthly Possessions (1977); Searching for Caleb (1975); Celestial Navigation (1974); The Clock Winder (1972); A Slipping-Down Life (1970); The Tin Can Tree (1965); If Morning Ever Comes (1964) Edited The Best American Short Stories (with S. Ravenel) (1983) Children’s Tumble Tower (1993)

Recommended
Novels Digging to America (2006); Saint Maybe (1991); Breathing Lessons (1988); The Accidental Tourist (1985); Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982)

Charles FRAZIER ... Thirteen Moons (2006)

CHARLES FRAZIER’s second novel, Thirteen Moons (Random House, 2006), will be released on October 3, 2006. His new novel is also an epic in the mould of Cold Mountain (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997).

Bibliography
FRAZIER Charles [1950-] Novelist. Born in Asheville, North Carolina, U.S. NOVELS Thirteen Moons (2006); Cold Mountain (1997: winner of the 1997 National Book Award for Fiction) NONFICTION Travel Guide to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the Amazon Basin, and the Galapagos Islands (1985)

2006 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize: Longlist

THE LONGLIST for the 2006 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize has been announced. The shortlist will be announced in July 2006 and the award will be presented during the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Festival in September 2006. Last year Yiyun Li received the inaugural prize for her début collection of short stories, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2005).

A Life Elsewhere / Segun Afolabi
The Young Apollo and Other Stories / Louis Auchincloss
Untold Stories / Alan Bennett
Invisible Islands / Angus Peter Campbell
Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead / Alan DeNiro
Touchy Subjects / Emma Donoghue
Twilight of the Superheroes / Deborah Eisenberg
The Good Works of Ayela Linde / Charlotte Forbes
I Could Ride All Day in My Cool Blue Train / Peter Hobbs
Joyce’s Pupil / Drago Jancar
Year of Fire / David H. Lynn
Matters of Life & Death / Bernard MacLaverty
The Unfinished Novel & Other Stories / Valerie Martin
Gallatin Canyon / Thomas McGuane
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman / Haruki Murakami (trans. from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel and Jay Rubin)
To The World of Men Welcome / Nuala Ní ChonChúir
Notes from A Turkish Whorehouse / Philip Ó Ceallaigh
Between Here and the Yellow Sea / Nic Pizzolatto
The Unsettling / Peter Rock
The First Hurt / Rachel Sherman
Constitutional / Helen Simpson
Drowning in Gruel / George Singleton
In Strange Gardens and Other Stories / Peter Stamm (trans. from the German by Michael Hofmann)
Is This the Way You Said / Adam Thorpe
The Darkness of Wallis Simpson / Rose Tremain
The Royal Ghosts / Samrat Upadhyay
No Paradiso / William Wall
The Magician's Beautiful Assistant and Other Stories / Rachel Wyatt
Kafka in Bronteland and Other Stories / Tamar Yellin

2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction ... Geraldine BROOKS

CONGRATULATIONS to Australian novelist and journalist Geraldine Brooks for being awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her second novel, March (2005). By taking the largely absent father, Mr. March, from Louisa May Alcott’s beloved Civil War classic, Little Women (1868), and putting him in a novel of his own, Brooks has crafted one of the year’s best historical fiction.

Claudia Emerson was awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection, Late Wife (2005).


Bibliography
BROOKS Geraldine [1955-] Novelist, journalist. Born in Sydney, Australia. NOVELS March (2005: winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; shortlisted for the 2005 Age Book Prize for Fiction); Year of Wonders (2001) NONFICTION Foreign Correspondence: A Pen Pal’s Journey from Down Under to All Over (1999); Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women (1995)

EMERSON Claudia [1957-] Poet. Born in the U.S. POETRY Late Wife (2005: winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry); Pinion: An Elegy (2002); Pharaoh, Pharaoh (1997)

Richard FORD ... The Lay of the Land (2006)

Bibliography
FORD Richard [1944-] Novelist, short-story writer. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. Novels The Lay of the Land (2006); Independence Day (1995: winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 1996 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction); Wildlife (1990); The Sportswriter (1986); The Ultimate Good Luck (1981); A Piece of My Heart (1976) Stories A Multitude of Sins (2002); Women with Men: Three Stories (1997); Rock Springs (1987) Play American Tropical (1983) Screenplay Bright Angel (1991) Nonfiction My Mother in Memory (1988) EDITED The Granta Book of the American Long Story (1999); The Granta Book of the American Short Story (1992)

Recommended
Novels The Lay of the Land (2006); Independence Day (1995); The Sportswriter (1986)
Stories A Multitude of Sins (2002); Rock Springs (1987)

Neglected Gems ... Richard YATES

Bibliography
YATES Richard [1926-1992] Novelist, short-story writer. Born in Yonkers, New York, U.S. Novels Young Hearts Crying (1986); Cold Spring Harbor (1986); A Good School (1978); The Easter Parade (1976); Disturbing the Peace (1975); A Special Providence (1969); Revolutionary Road (1961: a finalist for the 1961 National Book Award for Fiction) Stories The Collected Stories of Richard Yates (2001); Liars in Love (1981); Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (1962)

For those who would like to read more about Richard Yates, his books and his life, read Blake Bailey’s A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates (2003)

Recommended
Novels Young Hearts Crying (1986); The Easter Parade (1976); Revolutionary Road (1961)
Stories The Collected Stories of Richard Yates (2001)