The Bookshelf

The 2009 Booker Prize committee has selected Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel as this year’s winner of best novel written by an author from Britain, Ireland, or the Commonwealth nations. James Naughtie, leader of the panel of judges, described Wolf Hall  as “a thoroughly modern novel set in the 16th century,” which “probes the mysteries of power by examining and describing the meticulous dealings in Henry VIII’s court, revealing in thrilling prose how politics and history is made by men and women.”

Every year, the Macarthur Foundation presents a series an award to a number of people who are making a huge difference in their field. Whether in science, art, community work, literature, or another field, this $500,000 “genius grant” is meant to represent a firm belief in the recipient’s contributions to our culture, and a strong encouragement to continue their great work.

The 2009 Macarthur Fellows were just announced this morning. Among them are creators whose work can be found in the library:

Edwidge Danticat; memoirist and chronicler of the Hatian immigrant experience. Her most recent work is Brother, I’m Dying.

Rackstraw Downes; landscape painter whose work often illustrates the intersection of man-made structures in a natural landscape. He has written and edited a number of works on contemporary art, one of which is in our collection.

Deborah Eisenberg; short story writer who creates intimate portraits of contemporary American life.

James Longley; filmmaker and director  of the Oscar-nominated documentary Iraq in Fragments.

Heather McHugh; poet known for her deftly constructed works focusing on intricate wordplay and the joys of language.

Elyn Saks; attorney and mental health rights advocate. Author of The Center Cannot Hold, a personal chronicle of her own struggle with schizophrenia.

The other Fellows include environmentalists, papermakers, and ornithologists, among other fields.

If you had the opportunity, who would you give a “genius grant” to? Let us know in the comments!

To publish anything – a book, an album, even a blog post – requires you to develop a pretty thick skin. Even a book as widely acclaimed as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (probably the closest thing we’ve had to a Great American Novel in quite some time, and loved by Oprah and the Pulitzer committee alike) has its detractors. Over 1600 people on Goodreads have given the book 1 measly star.

So if a work as widely acclaimed as The Road isn’t safe from this kind of vitriol, where does that leave everyone else?

Mystery author Brad Meltzer has one approach. His most recent title, The Book of Lies, was just released in paperback. To celebrate, he’s compiled some of the choicest nuggets from his harshest reviews – but presents them in a way that makes you laugh rather than cringe:

Great stuff, and proof positive that when life gives you critics, you make … critic-ade. What about you? Are there any universally-loved books that you can’t stand? How about “awful” books that you love?

There is a video conversation with popular author/funny lady Janet Evanovich in the New York Times today.  Here is the link:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/07/17/multimedia/1247463461442/a-conversation-with-janet-evanovich.html?8bu&emc=bub1

By now I’m sure many of you have heard about Twitter. Thanks to extensive media coverage and an endorsement from Oprah, its popularity has surged in unimaginable levels. In April the microblogging site received more visitors than both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

So why are we talking about Twitter on a reading blog? It turns out that many of your favorite authors are tweeting regularly. If you’re a Tweeter (you can follow us @skokielibrary), you can keep tabs on your favorite authors, see what authors they’re talking too, and get some unique insights into their lives. A few examples:

• Fantasy author Neil Gaiman recently won the Newbery Medal for his youth novel The Graveyard Book. He’s also written a number of books for adults, including future classic American Gods. Follow Neil @neilhimself.
• In addition to the popular Princess Diaries series for youth, Meg Cabot is also famous for contemporary chick lit, including the Queen of Babble series. Follow her @megcabot.
• Harlan Coben is known for his pulse-pounding mystery novels, and his novel Tell No One was just adapted into a thrilling French film. He’s tweeting @harlancoben.

You can find the full list of 100 literary Tweeters courtesy of tech blog Mashable. Who are your favorite author Tweeters? Is there anyone you’d like to see on Twitter? Let us know in the comments.

Do you ever wonder where writers create their works? Take a look at Maeve Binchy and her husband Gordon Snell’s cottage just outside Dublin.  It may look cluttered to some, but I could live there.

Here are just a few other books which capture writer’s rooms and haunts:

American writers at home

Novel destinations

Darwin’s garden

You’ve probably noticed a number of changes on the first floor. With an ever-growing collection, certain genres were starting to get too big for their britches. So we’ve moved some things around to make them more convenient, and to give everything a little more breathing room. Have a look:

As you can see, the graphic novels are now down on the parquet floor. Next to them are current editions of our most popular newspapers. (You can still find the newspaper upstairs, too.) The other side of that shelf is the new home of Westerns and Chick Lit.

If you go around the corner to the right, you’ll find our new coffee machine. Grab a cup, have a seat in one of our comfy chairs, and spend some time with us!

The Orange Prize shortlist for fiction has been announced. Three American women have been included in the annual British award for best novel of the year by a woman. The winner of the $43,000 prize will be awarded June 3 in London.

Home by Marilynne Robinson

Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey

Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie

Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden

Click on the links to search for the items, or to place a hold.

Do you tend to read only one kind of fiction–mysteries, sci-fi, or literary fiction, for example? Well, I go mostly for literary fiction (where the writing itself is the strong focus, as opposed to plot), and some mysteries. But what I’ve discovered, even sticking to the “regular fiction” shelves, is that some of the best books actually blend genres. One of my new favorite authors is Kate Atkinson, who, in her Jackson Brodie books, does a fabulous job of blending lit fic and mystery (with lots of lol humor). Another example of successful blending, this time of lit fic and fantasy, is The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. There are many many more examples, all of which add up to the fact that fiction can be whatever it wants to be. How did Neil Gaiman describe his novel Anansi Boys? “If you have to classify it, it’s probably a magical-horror-thriller-ghost-romantic-comedy-family-epic.” Sounds good!

Here are a few of my favorite authors and books that have helped lighten the load.

Meg Cabot – Known for her teen/Jr. high books (who can forget the Princess Diaries series), Ms. Cabot has also written several books for adults. Yeah it’s chick-lit city, but fun stuff! I recommend these titles:

The Boy series:

The Boy Next Door, audiobook

Boy Meets Girl

Every Boy’s Got One

The Heather Wells series:

Big Boned, audiobook

Size 12 Is Not Fat

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either, audiobook

The Queen of Babble series

Queen of Babble, audiobook

Queen of Babble in the Big City, audiobook

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched, audiobook

This one is not part of a series – She Went All the Way

Jasper Fforde – All his books are very clever. I love the idea that well-known literary characters have independent lives beyond the fictional world.

The Nursery Crime Series:

The Big Over Easy, audiobook

The Fourth Bear, audiobook

The Thursday Next series:

The Eyre Affair, audiobook

Lost in a Good Book, audiobook

The Well of Lost Plots, audiobook

Something Rotten, audiobook

Nick Hornby – His books are great, IMHO. He catches the humor of everyday life, mixed with a little obsessiveness and oddity. A few of his books have been made into movies. If I had to pick two favorites, I would go with High Fidelity (audiobook) and About a Boy (audiobook).

Alexander McCall Smith – A lot of people have read the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books (wonderful series!!), but I also recommend the 44 Scotland Street series and the Isabel Dalhousie Sunday Philosophy Club series. These are quirky and endearing, with a wonderful flavor of Scotland.