In a reprise of this year’s Rooster final, Barbara Kingsolver’s Lacuna comes out on top this time, besting Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall (and four other finalists) for the Orange Prize.
Kingsolver Wins the Orange
The Experiment
“In the first few days of ‘publicly’ reading the book, I only received quizzical stares and saw people putting glasses on or slouching in their seats to better read the cover. It just so happened that it wasn’t until Black History Month that those silent stares turned into vocal encounters and my light commuter reading turned into a bit of a social experiment.” Recommended reading: Lauren A. White’s experience of reading How To Be Black in public.
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Hugh Grant in Cloud Atlas
Hugh Grant is the latest actor to join the cast of the move adaptation of David Mitchell‘s Cloud Atlas.
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Don’t Be Her
Want to be a female travel writer? That’s great, says Jessa Crispin, just please don’t be Elizabeth Gilbert.
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Which is Which
“Two writers guard an archive. One writes Fiction; the other writes Fact. To get past them, you have to figure out which is which.” Recommended reading: The New Yoker‘s Jill Lepore attempts to trace the “long-lost story of the longest book ever written,” Joe Gould‘s The Oral History of Our Time.
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Tuesday New Release Day: Rebeck; Ryan; Maynard; Simpson
Out this week: I’m Glad About You by Theresa Rebeck; Green Island by Shawna Young Ryan; Under the Influence by Joyce Maynard; and Cockfosters by Helen Simpson. For more on these and other new titles, go read our Great Second-Half 2015 Book Preview.
L.A. Times Book Prize Winners
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What’s Wrong with a Readable Book?
There is a controversy brewing right now in Britain about readability and excellence in literature. Apparently, being “readable” is no longer a compliment.
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