by Michael Janairo

Granta’s list

The British literary magazine has, for the second time, drummed up a list of the best young American novelists. The first list came out in 1996. So if you are looking for a new young writer to check out, this list can dish up some great ideas.

Of note to fans of the New York State Writers Institute are former visitors Nicole Krauss and ZZ Packer. Congrats all.

From the LA Times:

The British literary magazine Granta announced Thursday the 21 writers who have made its second Best Young American Novelists list. The authors include some of the rising stars in the American book world. They are Daniel Alarcon, Kevin Brockmeier, Judy Budnitz, Christopher Coake, Anthony Doerr, Jonathan Safran Foer, Nell Freudenberger, Olga Grushin, Dara Horn, Gabe Hudson, Uzodinma Iweala, Nicole Krauss, Rattawut Lapcharoensap, Yiyun Li, Maile Meloy, ZZ Packer, Jess Row, Karen Russell, Akhil Sharma, Gary Shteyngart and John Wray.

by Michael Janairo

“Extracts from Adam’s Diary”

Among the latest releases from LibriVox — the volunteer group that publishes free audio files of public domain books — is Mark Twain’s “Extracts from Adam’s Diary,” a fun and funny collection of ruminations from humanity’s first man.

Here’s a print excerpt:

Friday

The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I
had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty
–GARDEN-OF-EDEN. Privately, I continue to call it that, but not
any longer publicly. The new creature says it is all woods and
rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden.
Says it looks like a park, and does not look like anything but a
park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named
–NIAGARA FALLS PARK. This is sufficiently high-handed, it seems to
me. And already there is a sign up:

KEEP OFF
THE GRASS

My life is not as happy as it was.

by Michael Janairo

Brits top 100

The Telegraph out of Britain lists the top 100 books here.

The top book by an American author, at No. 5, is Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird.”

by Michael Janairo

Banks on Milan Kundera

From a review in the International Herald Tribune, Russell Banks writes about Milan Kundera’s third book of essays on the novel, “The Curtain.” And though the review is generally positive, Banks’ one criticism seems rather damning, as if he is suggesting the Kundera is out of touch with our times.

Here are excerpts:

“The novel alone,” he says, “could reveal the immense, mysterious power of the pointless,” in opposition to the “pre-interpretation” of reality. The novel, in Kundera’s view, is not a genre; it’s a way of busting through the myriad lies regarding human nature and our collective and individual fates, lies that serve the purposes of bureaucracy and greed and the joyless quest for power. The “pre-interpretation” of reality is the curtain referred to by the book’s title, “a magic curtain, woven of legends … already made-up, masked, reinterpreted. … It is by tearing through the curtain of pre-interpretation that Cervantes set the new art going; his destructive act echoes and extends to every novel worthy of the name; it is the identifying sign of the art of the novel.”

and then this:

If I have any quarrel with Kundera’s description of the history of the novel, it’s that he’s not inclusive enough. He does not discuss a single female novelist, even in passing. It’s as if no Western woman has ever tried writing a serious novel in 400 years. And, in his appreciation of non-European novelists like Fuentes, García Márquez and Chamoiseau, he colonizes them, as if culturally they gazed longingly toward their European mother- and fatherlands instead of their homelands. But then, he’s not writing literary criticism; he’s writing the secret history of the novels of Milan Kundera and teaching us how to read them.

by Michael Janairo

What are library patrons reading?

salslogo.gifHere are the top circulating items in the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondack Library System.

People weekly.

Cross by: Patterson, James, 1947-

Plum lovin by: Evanovich, Janet.

My sister’s keeper : a novel by: Picoult, Jodi, 1966-

Consumer reports.

Step on a crack by: Patterson, James, 1947-

Dear John by: Sparks, Nicholas.

The innocent man : murder and injustice in a small town by: Grisham, John.

Judge and jury by: Patterson, James, 1947-

Over the hedge [DVD] by: Johnson, Tim, 1961 Aug. 27-

The collectors by: Baldacci, David.

Good Housekeeping Country living.

Next : a novel by: Crichton, Michael, 1942-

Little Miss Sunshine [DVD]by: Dayton, Jonathan.

by Michael Janairo

Editor, wordsmith and my boss

Yes, Times Union Editor Rex Smith is all of the above, and here he is reading “Cat in the Hat”

by Michael Janairo

Audiobooks review: “I Like You”

“I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence” by Amy Sedaris. Read by the author. Unabridged, 5 hours, 4 CDs. Hachette Audio. $29.98.

Early in this book about entertaining at home, Sedaris says, “Even though the word entertainment is commonly used today, to me it sounds charmingly old-fashioned, like courtship or back-alley abortion.” Those words give a pretty good sense that you are far from the world of Miss Manners.

Or are you? A lot Sedaris says is practical. She suggests that, when grocery shopping, you should buy things in boxes instead of bags, because boxes can be reused. Then again, one of her tips for a children’s party sounds like “Survivor”: drive them blindfolded about an hour away and see who could be the first to get back to the party.

Included in the book (and as a PDF) are her “self-award winning recipes.” Quirky if not always laugh-out-loud funny, “I Like You” is pleasantly twisted.

Sedaris, an accomplished performer, gives an assured reading.

Note: Can’t get enough of the Sedarises on audio? Hachette has also recently released “The Ultimate David Sedaris Box Set,” 20 CDs and 22 hours of Amy’s brother’s previously released audiobooks for $99.98.

Amy Sedaris’ official Web site.

by Michael Janairo

Mary Gordon wins $20,000 story prize

MARY GORDON WINS THE STORY PRIZE for her collection,
The Stories of Mary Gordon

New York, NY — The Stories of Mary Gordon, published in 2006 by Pantheon Books, is the winner of The Story Prize, as announced at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium in New York City on February 28. Two other books—The Lives of Rocks (Houghton Mifflin) by Rick Bass and In Persuasion Nation (Riverhead Books) by George Saunders—were contenders for the award. At the event on Wednesday night, the three finalists read from their books and discussed their work onstage with Larry Dark, the Director of The Story Prize, before Founder Julie Lindsey announced the winner at the end of the program.

Gordon received $20,000—the largest first-prize amount of any annual U.S. book award for fiction—and an engraved silver bowl. The other two finalists, Bass and Saunders, each received $5,000.

Written over the course of thirty years, The Stories of Mary Gordon collects twenty-two new stories and nineteen that appeared in a previous collection, Temporary Shelter. Mary Gordon is also the author of six novels, including Final Payments and Pearl; four books of nonfiction, including The Shadow Man; and a collection of novellas, The Rest of Life. Her short stories have twice been first-prize winners in the O. Henry Awards and she is the recipient of numerous other honors, among them an Academy Award for Literature from the American Academy of Arts
and Letters. She teaches at Barnard College and lives in New York City.

Established in 2004, The Story Prize annually honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction. Eligibility is restricted to
collections (containing at least two stories and/or novellas) by a
living author, written in English. Eligible books must be the first
publication of the work in the U.S. during a calendar year, in either
hardcover or paperback, available for purchase by the general public. Collections must also include work previously unpublished in book form.

The Director of The Story Prize, Larry Dark, served as Series Editor for six volumes of the annual Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards from 1997 to 2002 and has edited four other anthologies of short fiction. A fifteen-member Advisory Board, including prominent members of the literary community, offers support and advice to The Story Prize. The award was established by founder Julie Lindsey and is underwritten by a private donor.

The three finalists for The Story Prize were selected by Dark and
Lindsey from among 65 books entered for consideration in 2006,
representing 44 different publishers and imprints. Three judges read the books chosen as finalists to determine the winner of The Story Prize.

The judges were:

—Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning fiction writer and the first winner of The Story Prize for her 2005 collection of connected stories, The Dew Breaker (Knopf).
—Ron Hogan, of the literary blogs Beatrice.com and Galleycat, which covers the publishing industry.
—Mitchell Kaplan, an independent bookseller, past American Booksellers Association president, and founder of the Miami, Fla., area Books & Books stores.

by Michael Janairo

SouthWest Writers seeks entries for annual contest

Aspiring writers —

I’ve recently heard about this writing contest. Even though it comes out of Albuquerque and has the name “SouthWest” in it, it is a national contest open to all writers. For details about what genres are being accepted and entry fees, check out the Web site.

From the Web site, http://southwestwriters.com/index.php:

The 2007 SouthWest Writers Contest encourages and honors excellence in writing.

Editors and literary agents judge all entries in each category and critique the top three. All entries receive a written critique by a qualified consultant.

Highly qualified new critiquers have been selected for three categories in this year’s contest: Mainstream or Literary Novel, Screenplay, and Poetry.

Finalists are notified by mail and listed on the SWW website with the title of their entry.

First, second and third place winners receive cash prizes of $150, $100 and $50, respectively.

First place winners also compete for the $1000 Storyteller Award.