Date: May 4th, 2012

The Compulsive Reader News
maggieball@compulsivereader.com
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html

Volume 13, Issue 5, 4th May 2012
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IN THIS ISSUE

New Reviews at Compulsive Reader
Literary News
Survey News
Competition News
Coming soon

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NEW REVIEWS AT THE COMPULSIVE READER

A review of Real Writing: Word Models of the Modern World by Michael Lydon

Throughout Real Writing Michael Lydon creates a solid thesis for the power of realism. Though each of these writers are products of their own times, with settings and themes determined by the key concerns of the day, there is a timelessness to their themes and characters. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/7y6kkgw

A review of These Days Are Ours by Michelle Haimoff

To me this wasn't like reading a novel—it was like going back and re-reading my own journal from my early 20's, or eavesdropping on a conversation of recent college graduates at a bar. Hailey and her friends are facing an uneasy future in an uneasy world; a reality many of us in the same age bracket can relate to. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/7mjlcvm

A review of Acid Indigestion Eyes by Wayne Lockwood

Lockwood's writing is just the right mix of snark, sarcasm, and cynical observational humor to make it universally relatable to readers. He's the type of writer that points out the common everyday occurrences that happen to all of us, and as you read you find yourself slowly realizing, “Hey...that happened to me, too!” For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/6rqokn8

A review of One Moment, One Morning by Sarah Rayner

One Moment, One Morning gives readers the chance to do something few novels do—take a step back and really think of how delicate life is, and how quickly it can change from moment to moment. Rayner writes realistic, relatable characters who are simply trying to deal with the overwhelming feelings sudden change can bring, and she writes them well. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/6m2sehd

A review of The Last Storyteller: A Novel of Ireland by Frank Delaney

Each line that makes up The Last Storyteller is tight, poetic, and so delicately dense that I suspect I could go through the short chapters with the same careful attention that Delaney is showing James Joyce in his Re:Joyce unpacking of Ulysses, and continually find new references and rhythms. For the full reveiw visit: http://tinyurl.com/7blqyme

A review of Charles Dickens: A Life by Jane Smiley

The biography is drawn around Dickens' novels, which become the timeline for his life. This makes for fascinating reading, coupling literary criticism with a deep analysis of the relationship between life and art. In particular, the book explores the maturation of Dickens' vision and maps the development of his work to the events in his life, attempting to find answers to the question of who Dickens was, through the material he left us. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/7x3n8hc

A review of Ben's Challenge by L.M. Visman

Set in 1958 Australia, Ben’s Challenge is at its heart an historical coming-of-age story with a fair dose of mystery and intrigue thrown in. The story begins with news of thirteen-year-old Ben Kellerman’s father’s death in a hit and run. It’s an accident that remains unsolved until the end of the book and is the catalyst for Ben’s transition from childhood. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/7rrkc9w

A review of The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes

Hughes’ best known novel, In a Lonely Place, was made into a terrific film noir by Nicholas Ray; but this one is, if anything, superior to it. As a mystery, it satisfies; and it also gives the reader a compelling portrait of a particular time and place: Middle America during the era of the civil rights struggle. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/7ypaxbg

A review of Glorious Nemesis by Ladislav Klima

There are many striking passages in Glorious Nemesis and not a few obtuse reflections on the human condition. If a comparison is needed, I’d say that Klima, in Marek Tomin’s smooth translation, reminds me of Poe most of all. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/6n6v39o

A review of The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature by Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers Somehow the Steampunk aesthetic, whether it be a fondness for clockwork devices or an interest in dressing up in cravats and corsets, has extended to other areas of culture too - and the authors cover these also. They even compare Steampunk to Surrealism at one point, which strikes me as absurd: Surrealism was much more radical, an hard-edged beast. For the full review visit: http://tinyurl.com/86obve8

All of the reviews listed above are on the front page, so if you have any problems getting directly through to them, or if you want to browse, just drop by. Older reviews (all 3,037 of them, including film reviews, the best collection of chess books reviews on the internet, an extensive and eclectic music review section, and more) are kept indefinitely in our categorized archives, which can be visited here: http://tinyurl.com/eex

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LITERARY NEWS

In the literary news this month, the winners of the 2012 Indies Choice Book Awards have been announced. The award honors books members of the American Booksellers Association most enjoyed selling, and include The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton (Random House), The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (Random House), and Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel). For a full list of winners,including honor recipients, visit: http://news.bookweb.org/news/winners-2012-indies-choice-and-eb-white-read-aloud-awards-announced

Henri Cole has won the $50,000 Jackson Poetry Prize, sponsored by Poets & Writers and honoring "an American poet of exceptional talent who deserves wider recognition" and "designed to provide what all poets need: time and the encouragement to write." Cole has published eight collections of poetry, including Touch (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Middle Earth (FSG), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Cole has won the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Lenore Marshall Award. He teaches at Ohio State University and is poetry editor of the New Republic.
Nominees for the 2012 Hugo Awards and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer have been named. Winners will be announced September 2 at Chicon 7 in Chicago. Finalists for best novel are Among Others by Jo Walton (Tor), A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra), Deadline by Mira Grant (Orbit), Embassytown by China Miéville (Macmillan/Del Rey) and Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Orbit). The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer nominees are Mur Lafferty, Stina Leicht, Karen Lord, Brad R. Torgersen and E. Lily Yu.

10 novels have been shortlisted for the International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, managed by Dublin City Libraries. The IMPAC DUBLIN Award is worth €100,000 and is the world’s most valuable annual literary award for a single work of fiction published in English. The shortlisted titles include Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer (British / Australian). Scribe Publications (First Novel), The Matter with Morris by David Bergen (Canadian). Harper Collins, Canada, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (American) Alfred A. Knopf, The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Born in Britain, raised in Sierra Leone) Bloomsbury Publishing, Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor (Scottish) Bloomsbury, Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes (American) Atlantic Monthly Press (First novel), Landed by Tim Pears (British) William Heinemann, Limassol by Yishai Sarid (Israeli) Translated from Hebrew by Barbara Harshav Europa Editions, The Eternal Son by Cristovão Tezza, (Brazilian) transl ated from Portuguese by Alison Entrekin, Scribe Publications, and Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin (American) Faber & Faber.

Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith has been selected as the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The winners were announced by the Pulitzer Prize Board and Columbia University. Of her win, Tracy K. Smith said, "This news is particularly elating, because I think of the book as a tribute to my father, who passed away in 2008." Meanwhile, for the first time in 35 years, there is to be no Pulitzer winner for fiction.Publishers, authors and booksellers howled in outrage, attacking the Pulitzer board on Twitter and on blogs.

Finalists for the £30,000 (US$47,687) Orange Prize for Fiction, which "celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world," were named earlier today. The winner will be honored May 30 in London. This year's shortlist included Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright, Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick, State of Wonder by Ann Patchett.

The international and Canadian shortlists for the 2012 Griffin Poetry Prize have been announced. Judges Heather McHugh, David O'Meara and Fiona Sampson each read 481 books of poetry from 37 countries, including 19 translations. The winners of the $65,000 international and Canadian prizes will be named June 7. This year's finalists include, for International, Night by David Harsent (Faber & Faber), The Chameleon Couch by Yusef Komunyakaa (FSG), November by Sean O'Brien (Picador), Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Różewicz, translated from the Polish by Joanna Trzeciak (Norton) and Canadian, Methodist Hatchet by Ken Babstock (House of Anansi Press), Killdeer by Phil Hall (BookThug), and Forge by Jan Zwicky (Gaspereau Press)

Matt Rasmussen has won the 2012 Walt Whitman Award, given by the Academy of American Poets and selected by poet Jane Hirshfield. The award is for a first collection by an American poet who has never published a book of poetry and includes a $5,000 cash prize and a one-month residency at the Vermont Studio Center. Rasmussen's collection, Black Aperture, will be published next spring by Louisiana State University Press.

Commonwealth Writers has announced shortlists for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Writers from around the world have been shortlisted for each prize in anticipation of becoming a regional winner on 22 May and ultimately competing for overall winner which will be announced at Hay Festival on 8 June. Commonwealth Writers is a new cultural programme within the Commonwealth Foundation which develops, connects and inspires writers. By awarding prizes and running on-the-ground activities, it works in partnership with international literary organisations, the wider cultural industries and civil society to help writers develop their craft in the fifty four countries of the Commonwealth. www.commonwealthwriters.org is a forum where members from anywhere in the world can exchange ideas and contribute to debates. A regional winner for each prize will be awarded in five regions: Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific. The full sh ortlist can be found here: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/NewsArticle.aspx?articleID=214

The shortlist for the 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing has been announced. The Caine Prize, Africa's leading literary award, is now in its thirteenth year. Involved from the beginning, Ben Okri, the internationally acclaimed Nigerian writer was announced as the Vice President of the Prize last week (26 April 2012). Ellah Allfrey OBE, deputy Editor of Granta magazine is the new Deputy Chair. Selected from 122 entries from 14 African countries Bernardine Evaristo said, "I'm proud to announce that this shortlist shows the range of African fiction beyond the more stereotypical narratives. The winner of the £10,000 prize is to be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, on Monday 2 July. A full list of shortlisted entrants including the full stories themselves can be found here: http://www.caineprize.com

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Bestsellersworld.com is the place to go for all your reading needs. We have book reviews, book giveaways and many other interesting places to visit. Visit: http://www.bestsellersworld.com

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"Ball writes in a clear, flowing style marked by her poet’s ear for the brilliant image, and we are carried along as James and Freya make the impossible decision to leave their affluent city life and escape to what they hope will be a self-sustaining farm life in rural Tasmania."

For a free sample visit: http://www.bewritebooks.com/mb/BlackCow/BlackCow.html

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SURVEY NEWS

Our current poll which picks up on both the issues raised by the cancellation of Salman's Rushdie's proposed visit to a literary festival in Jaipur India earlier this year, as well as the brewhaha surrounding paypal's prohibition against online retailers selling certain types of "obscene" content. The poll asks if there such a thing as literary free speech?

Just tick your answer, press enter, and results will appear instantly. If anyone wants to suggest topics for our poll, please drop me a line anytime. If you’ve got a comment, send it to me so I can publish it (with your permission and link) in the newsletter.

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COMPETITION NEWS

Congratulations to Patti DelValle, who won a copy of Helen Keller in Love by Rosie Sultan.

We have a copy of Guilt by Degrees by Marcia Clark to giveaway. Winners will be chosen at random from subscribers.

We also have a copy of Strindberg's Star by Jan Wallentin. To win, me an email (maggieball@compulsivereader.com) with the subject line Strindbergs' Star and your postal address. I’ll pick the winner from the first 200 entrants.

Good luck everybody!

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COMING SOON

We will shortly be featuring reviews of Curses and Wishes by Carl Adamshick, Cocoa Almond Darling by Jeffra Hays, Camera Obscura by Rosanne Dingli, Fraulein by Ellen von Unwerth, and lots more reviews, interviews, and giveaways.

Don’t forget to drop by our all new revised Compulsive Reader talks (see widget on upper left hand side of the site - now ad free) or at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/compulsivereader to listen to our latest interview with Unaccountable Hours' author Stephen Scourfield. Coming up is an interview with Urban Biology author Ian Gibbins. If you like The Compulsive Reader talks and use iTunes, you can also subscribe to the show and get updates automatically. Just find us under podcasts by searching for Compulsive Reader – we’re the first result that will appear, and then click subscribe. Then you’ll never miss a show.

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(c) 2012 Magdalena Ball. Nothing in this newsletter may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher, however reprint rights are readily available. Please feel free to forward this newsletter in its entirety