tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20577500271850093732024-03-13T05:30:13.461-07:00The Word's ShortlistThe Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.comBlogger333125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-29197473522277121962020-12-22T04:01:00.000-08:002020-12-22T04:01:19.956-08:00The December Shortlist<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9ay-Pm9gPM/X-Hb_02glaI/AAAAAAAAB0A/K9UKAmlabA8o1OVVyrKJNpSK4QvxCzU1wCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Dessert%2BAdventure%2BBlog%2BBanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9ay-Pm9gPM/X-Hb_02glaI/AAAAAAAAB0A/K9UKAmlabA8o1OVVyrKJNpSK4QvxCzU1wCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h360/Dessert%2BAdventure%2BBlog%2BBanner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px;">1. Earthlings by Sayaka Murata</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px;"> </span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">‘When I wasn’t using my magical powers, I really was a dead loss. I’d always been clumsy and ugly. From the perspective of the people in this Baby Factory town, my very presence must be a nuisance’</i></div></i></div><p></p><p class="p2" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Natsuki’s extra-terrestrial backstory is an effective allegory for the alienation that she feels from her family but the trauma she experiences at school only embeds her own myth even deeper.<br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="background-color: white;">2. Red Pill by Hari Kunzru</b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i style="background-color: white;">‘Plot is the artificial reduction of life’s complexity and randomness. It is a way to give aesthetic form to reality’</i></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The cult of Heinrich von Kleist looms large on the shores of Lake Wannsee as the narrator obsesses over tiny distractions that prevent him from focusing on work to the extent that his own reality becomes compromised. </span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p6" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Themes of surveillance, privacy and Alt-right conspiracy theories are bound up in one man’s experience on a writing fellowship at the enigmatic Deuter Centre. A clever take on the mid-life crisis novel that couldn’t be more relevant in 2020.</span></p><p class="p7" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p8" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0d1013;"><b>3. We’ll call you by Jacob Sundberg</b></span></p><p class="p8" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0d1013;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">9 short stories, each based on a job interview, unite to expose the unconscious bias, the indifference and the downright snobbery that sits behind the personas we create at work. </span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">The anxiety of living in the right area of Stockholm or of understanding the ‘symmetry, balance and harmony’ in Nordic design are uniquely Swedish dilemmas but the novel equally reveals universal themes; irrecoverable dreams, unrealised talents and isolation. Equally revealing and enjoyable. Perfect weekend read</span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="background-color: white;">4. Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri</b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">If the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 showcased the modernity of post-war Japan to the world what can we understand of Tokyo 2021? Yu Miri has a view in the story of Kazu who sleeps rough in the city’s Ueno Park.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="background-color: white;"> </span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Kazu’s life follows that of the Emperor’s family yet the comparisons couldn’t be further apart as Miri holds<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>up a mirror to society. Challenging, critical and seeking to shine a light on issues under explored in literature this is powerful stuff.</span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><b style="background-color: white;">5. Moonstone: The Boy who Never Was by Sjon</b></p><p class="p5" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><b style="background-color: white;"><br /></b></p><p class="p4" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="background-color: white;">For a slim novel Sjon packs a mighty punch! As Iceland is gripped by the threat of Spanish Flu in 1918 one boy escapes to a fantasy world within Reykjavik’s two new cinemas. Mani’s plight is so personal yet ‘Moonstone’ is a screen itself onto which readers project themselves<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Themes of fear, isolation and the need to escape are startlingly relevant today and delivered with real intensity in precise but elegant prose. Mani is a character you can’t forget and his place as a real outsider feels distinctly contemporary.</span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="background-color: white;">All reviews independent and books paid for :)</span></p><p class="p3" style="color: #0d1013; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9NWtvk0kd4/X-HcrRO_L9I/AAAAAAAAB0I/aSKz1y4w4Ys9gfjXMRAHC3dLDDKUz6k-QCLcBGAsYHQ/s293/download%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="183" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x9NWtvk0kd4/X-HcrRO_L9I/AAAAAAAAB0I/aSKz1y4w4Ys9gfjXMRAHC3dLDDKUz6k-QCLcBGAsYHQ/w250-h400/download%2B%25281%2529.jpeg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.027);"><br /></span><p></p>The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-61490151444540894882020-10-23T05:51:00.009-07:002020-10-23T07:03:42.586-07:00The October Shortlist<p><span style="font-family: arial;">This month's stack was literally toppling over after a number of visits to some of my favourite bookstores; Daunt Books of Marylebone and The Book House in Thame. With a slight lull in review copies (have I done something wrong??) I had the opportunity to crack the spines of some new fiction I'd long been looking forward too.</span></p><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: arial;">So here it is the latest shortlist with no spoilers...</span></div><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Kim Jiyoung, Born 1892</i> by Cho Nam-Joo</b></span></div><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Disappointment collected between them like dust on top of the refrigerator or medicine cabinet - spots clearly visible but neglected’ </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-4qtqp9 r-ip8ujx r-sjv1od r-zw8f10 r-bnwqim r-h9hxbl" dir="auto" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline-block; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0.075em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.2em;"><div aria-label="Flag of South Korea" class="r-xoduu5 r-1mlwlqe r-1d2f490 r-1udh08x r-u8s1d r-h9hxbl r-417010 css-1dbjc4n" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 1.2em; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1.2em; z-index: 0;" title="Flag of South Korea"><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1niwhzg r-vvn4in r-u6sd8q r-x3cy2q r-1p0dtai r-xoduu5 r-1pi2tsx r-1d2f490 r-u8s1d r-zchlnj r-ipm5af r-13qz1uu r-1wyyakw" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-image: url("https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f1f0-1f1f7.svg"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 100% 100%; border: 0px solid black; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 27.5938px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 27.5938px; z-index: -1;"></div><img alt="Flag of South Korea" class="css-9pa8cd" draggable="false" src="https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f1f0-1f1f7.svg" style="bottom: 0px; height: 27.5938px; left: 0px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 27.5938px; z-index: -1;" /></div><div aria-label="Flag of South Korea" class="r-xoduu5 r-1mlwlqe r-1d2f490 r-1udh08x r-u8s1d r-h9hxbl r-417010 css-1dbjc4n" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 1.2em; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1.2em; z-index: 0;" title="Flag of South Korea"><br /></div></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kim Jiyoung is a fascinating character though as unremarkable as they come. Her story is personal yer arguably the story of all women in South Korea at the end of the twentieth Century. At first, the gender inequality portrayed in the novel feels like Alice looking through the looking glass until you read the citations in the margin and realise, no, this is real. What a novel. </span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-4qtqp9 r-ip8ujx r-sjv1od r-zw8f10 r-bnwqim r-h9hxbl" dir="auto" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline-block; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0.075em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.2em;"><div aria-label="Flag of South Korea" class="r-xoduu5 r-1mlwlqe r-1d2f490 r-1udh08x r-u8s1d r-h9hxbl r-417010 css-1dbjc4n" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 1.2em; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1.2em; z-index: 0;" title="Flag of South Korea"><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1niwhzg r-vvn4in r-u6sd8q r-x3cy2q r-1p0dtai r-xoduu5 r-1pi2tsx r-1d2f490 r-u8s1d r-zchlnj r-ipm5af r-13qz1uu r-1wyyakw" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-image: url("https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f1f0-1f1f7.svg"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 100% 100%; border: 0px solid black; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 27.5938px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 27.5938px; z-index: -1;"></div><img alt="Flag of South Korea" class="css-9pa8cd" draggable="false" src="https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f1f0-1f1f7.svg" style="bottom: 0px; height: 27.5938px; left: 0px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 27.5938px; z-index: -1;" /></div></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-bc8cqmjmE/X5HBIMJDbQI/AAAAAAAAByM/BNdzuLJabhouQwLC29tX03a0VoDBR1_fQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/71zmnn94OVL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1290" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-bc8cqmjmE/X5HBIMJDbQI/AAAAAAAAByM/BNdzuLJabhouQwLC29tX03a0VoDBR1_fQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/71zmnn94OVL.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Breasts and Eggs</i> by Mieko Kawakami</b><br /></span><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Two novels in one, both pushing the boundaries of gender identity in Japanese fiction and challenging the status quo - the bookshelves will never be the same again. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">We know that Kawakami writes believable and unforgettable female characters from her landmark novel <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=mieko">Ms Ice Sandwich</a> but here we are taken further into what it means to be a woman in Japan.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;">Is this the new benchmark by which all new Japanese fiction will be judged? Maybe. It’s a landmark novel from a female writer unafraid to challenge social norms and literary representation. </span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XUoaZIThmMQ/X5HCmV24iFI/AAAAAAAAByY/CEVOPdqdPTMHtADoIgzpoQDy3jL3lBAKACLcBGAsYHQ/s499/41kjojdfsQL._SX310_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="312" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XUoaZIThmMQ/X5HCmV24iFI/AAAAAAAAByY/CEVOPdqdPTMHtADoIgzpoQDy3jL3lBAKACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/41kjojdfsQL._SX310_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-4qtqp9 r-ip8ujx r-sjv1od r-zw8f10 r-bnwqim r-h9hxbl" dir="auto" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; height: 1em; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0.075em; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 1.2em;"></span></span><p></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i>Real Life</i> by Brandon Taylor</b></span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">'Memory shifts. Memory lifts. Memory makes due with what its given. Memory is not about facts. Memory is an inconsistent measure of the pain in one's life'</span></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-family: arial; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The campus novel of our time? College for Wallace is a another world that cannot ‘lay a claim on who you were before you arrived’ but there is no escaping the truth in Brandon Taylor’s brilliantly genuine novel. </span></p><p><span class="r-18u37iz" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; background-color: white; color: #14171a; flex-direction: row; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-family: arial; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘The past is not a receding horizon. Rather it advances one moment at a time, marching steadily forward until it has claimed everything’ </span><span class="r-18u37iz" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; background-color: white; color: #14171a; flex-direction: row; font-family: arial; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" data-focusable="true" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/amreading?src=hashtag_click" role="link" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1b95e0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: inherit;">#amreading</a></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-family: arial; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Brandon Taylor</span></p><p><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nxkPospqPx4/X5HC_jJnKXI/AAAAAAAAByg/ptdwAPEEsWMbu_DOm7Q2Kt4pT0B9vQuZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/81DWUuhlTIL.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1336" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nxkPospqPx4/X5HC_jJnKXI/AAAAAAAAByg/ptdwAPEEsWMbu_DOm7Q2Kt4pT0B9vQuZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/81DWUuhlTIL.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><div aria-label="Flag of Japan" class="r-xoduu5 r-1mlwlqe r-1d2f490 r-1udh08x r-u8s1d r-h9hxbl r-417010 css-1dbjc4n" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 1.2em; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1.2em; z-index: 0;" title="Flag of Japan"><div class="css-1dbjc4n r-1niwhzg r-vvn4in r-u6sd8q r-x3cy2q r-1p0dtai r-xoduu5 r-1pi2tsx r-1d2f490 r-u8s1d r-zchlnj r-ipm5af r-13qz1uu r-1wyyakw" style="-webkit-box-align: stretch; -webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; align-items: stretch; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-image: url("https://abs-0.twimg.com/emoji/v2/svg/1f1ef-1f1f5.svg"); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 100% 100%; border: 0px solid black; bottom: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; height: 27.5938px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; top: 0px; width: 27.5938px; z-index: -1;"><br /></div></div>The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-45589357067139135872020-09-08T07:31:00.001-07:002020-09-08T07:31:25.874-07:00The September shortlist<div class="separator"><p style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lS12x0cKXMw/X1Oe03SppxI/AAAAAAAABxU/ogmgHiLf5YoJhnrxBjzCfAwYKyiEOGvRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/9780241984994.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lS12x0cKXMw/X1Oe03SppxI/AAAAAAAABxU/ogmgHiLf5YoJhnrxBjzCfAwYKyiEOGvRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9780241984994.jpg" /></a></div><br />This month's stack was as varied as ever with award winners, books in translation from Gallic Books (thank you) and new reads from one of my favourite Japanese authors. Here's the shortlist, and what to read next, with no spoilers....</div><div class="separator"><br /></div><div class="separator">1. <i>Girl, Woman, Other</i> by Bernadine Evaristo</div><p>Rather than a single overarching narrative, it's the shared experiences of twelve black women that binds this novel so brilliantly together. Each character is expertly drawn from Evaristo's pen which never succumbs to cliche or stereotype. <b>Expertly conceived and completely unforgettable.</b></p><p>'Nobody talked loudly about feeling too uglystupidfatpoor or just plain out of place, out of sorts, out of her depth'</p><p>Enjoyed Bernadine Evaristo? Try <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/2057750027185009373/206284672676474553">Tayari Jones</a></p><p>2. <i>People from my Neighbourhood</i> by Hiromi Kawakami</p><p>Kawakami's new novel is a collection of extremely short stories that, together, depict the inhabitants of a small neighbourhood. Each story is essentially a vignette with a character introduced in a specific situation often whilst interacting with others. <b>Quite why or how this works is a mystery yet Kawakami manages to deliver an expansive novel from the fewest number of pages. </b></p><p>If this is how micro-fiction works then I'm hooked but I suspect that, rather than the genre being in the spotlight, its Kawakami's eye for detail and ability to present only the words that really matter in the page that is the real winner.</p><p>The dog school principle, the woman who ran The Love, Grandpa Shadows, Uncle Red Shoes or The Princess - who's your favourite character?</p><p>More work by Hiromi Kawakami <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/2057750027185009373/5673340568884388580">here</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vwkQkx8h4Xw/X1eQem8Tk5I/AAAAAAAABxk/2ZowDxh4j0kSdPD-_6sHKQAz6g-pmBuUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s475/53345896._SX318_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vwkQkx8h4Xw/X1eQem8Tk5I/AAAAAAAABxk/2ZowDxh4j0kSdPD-_6sHKQAz6g-pmBuUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/53345896._SX318_.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>3. <i>The Sleeping Car Murders (</i>originally published as<i> Compartiment Tuers)</i> by Sebastian Jaspirot</p><p>This 1962 novel was not the first to introduce the idea of a dead body on a train, indeed Agatha Christie got there in the mid-1930s, but <i>The Sleeping Car Murders</i> is a stylish and sophisticated take on the trope that is as much literary fiction as it is crime writing. Almost as soon as the body of a 'beautiful young woman' is discovered by a shocked train conductor the classic 'whodunit' narrative is subverted by Jaspirot who begins killing off the other passengers as quickly as Police Inspector Grazziani can interview them. <b>Cool mid-century noir brought write up to date in a new translation by Francis Price.</b><br /><br /></p><p> <span style="text-align: center;">'As soon as you accept the idea of killing someone, the number of people you kill becomes unimportant.'</span></p><p><span style="text-align: center;">Enjoyed Sebastien Japrisot? Try <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/2057750027185009373/8325704614245213396">Leila Slimani</a></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXa2KMER01o/X1eQv8sDvTI/AAAAAAAABxs/EBAabO98BF4-bWsGZT_xfO1VbFe3HwwoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1024/9781910477939_FC_RGB-667x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="667" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UXa2KMER01o/X1eQv8sDvTI/AAAAAAAABxs/EBAabO98BF4-bWsGZT_xfO1VbFe3HwwoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9781910477939_FC_RGB-667x1024.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p>The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-30980524454953967172020-08-04T08:39:00.001-07:002020-08-04T08:39:45.620-07:00The August Shortlist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_PmqRKzPdK0/Xylnip-bCqI/AAAAAAAABws/V0QRUXzsdwgLXQ6WhMRVIetjpaX6OWwigCLcBGAsYHQ/s1774/That-Reminds-Me-Derek-Owusu-1100x1774.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1774" data-original-width="1100" height="512" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_PmqRKzPdK0/Xylnip-bCqI/AAAAAAAABws/V0QRUXzsdwgLXQ6WhMRVIetjpaX6OWwigCLcBGAsYHQ/w318-h512/That-Reminds-Me-Derek-Owusu-1100x1774.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Discovering new reads to add to the stack is almost as exciting as actually breaking the spine on a new book. Besides regular visits to my local bookstore and library plus the review copies I am lucky enough to receive through my letterbox I am never without a healthy choice of new titles. This month’s stack however, came about thanks to few more tried and tested routes:</p><p>1. Advanced reviews in the Press. The FT Weekend and Monocle Reads are my top picks which this month led to Derek Owusu's Desmond Elliott Prize winning novel, <i>That Reminds Me</i>.</p><p>2. Books inspired by a previous read, i.e. when one book mentions or plays homage to another. Reviewing <i>Swimming in the Dark</i> by Tomasz Jedrowski led me to pick up James Baldwin's<i> Giovanni's Room</i>.</p><p>3. Following exceptional independent publishers. <i>Inlands</i> by Elin Willows is another title from the brilliant folk at Nordisk Books.</p><p>So what tops the August shortlist? Derek Owusu's stunning debut <i>That Reminds Me</i> from Stomzy's imprint #Merky. Here are some of my thoughts on the Owusu and the best of the rest this month with no spoilers…</p><p>Derek Owusu's debut is at once a simple coming of age tale and an epic drama about identity and belonging. In five briefest of chapters, framed by statements to Ghanaian deity Anansi, Owusu brings the narrator's truth to life in lyrical and rhythmic prose.</p><p>The novel blends the mundane, 'She separates the socks and tosses a bio capsule into the washing machine', with the profound, 'she trusted me to keep her alive, to deify, to render her an immortal' with the ease of a skilled storyteller. The story of K is unforgettable.</p><p>The pace is almost too fleeting in places but Owusu keeps moving forward with an urgency that pushes the limits of literary fiction. This is fresh writing that hints at even greater writing to come. </p><p>From Owusu's South London we head much further up North for another debut novel. Elin Willow's debut, <i>Inlands</i>, is set in a small town within the Arctic circle. For a girl from Stockholm the town holds an unexpected pull. For anyone who has ever imagined starting over this book is for you.</p><p style="text-align: center;">'Just before it lets winter in is when it's darkest'.</p><p>Willow's clipped prose and brief chapters allow us into the mundanity of life through the eyes of an outsider. The feeling of 'otherness' is pronounced by the implicit routines through which social order is maintained.It's bitterly cold for the most part yet heart-warming.</p><p>Finally this month, a novel I've wanted to read for many years. </p><p>James Baldwin broke the mould with his version of the American in Paris trope. <i>Giovanni's Room</i> is complex, character driven and rare as a portrait of a bisexual man and his infatuation with an Italian bartender.</p><p>In beautifully written prose, Baldwin evokes not only a specific time in the subculture of Parisian gay bars but a specific moment for masculinity in post war USA. Utterly deserving of a place on the bookshelf.</p><p style="text-align: center;">'I feel nothing now, nothing. I want to get out of this room, I want to get away from you, I want to end this terrible scene.'</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p>The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-5901617269067019462020-07-14T06:51:00.001-07:002020-07-14T06:52:00.528-07:00The July Shortlist
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y4MbyK-TXIk/Xw2renIZ9lI/AAAAAAAABwI/zRQgbWiOJt05lu0AYZwIpVRPyTEySMrcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s639/9781509874637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y4MbyK-TXIk/Xw2renIZ9lI/AAAAAAAABwI/zRQgbWiOJt05lu0AYZwIpVRPyTEySMrcQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9781509874637.jpg" /></a><br /></div>
<p>This month’s stack was as varied and unpredictable as the weather – where did the British summer go? With fewer review copies landing on the doorstep I resorted to digging deep into my must-read pile with varying degrees of success. Elena Ferrante’s <i>My Beautiful friend</i> was a bit of slog, Ann Cleaves’ <i>The Long Call</i> presented a potentially interesting new protagonist in DI Matthew Venn and then there was Kerouac’s <i>The Big Sur</i> which reminded why I love beat writers and what a real summer looks like, California style.</p>
<p>‘And we come out on the highway and go right battin up to Monterey in the Big Sur dusk where down there on the faint gloamy frothing rocks you can hear the seals cry’</p>
<p>So what tops the July shortlist? Garth Greenwell’s <i>Cleanness</i>. Here are some of my thoughts with no spoilers…</p>
<p>If you were left wanting more after <i><a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=what+belongs+to+you" target="_blank">What Belongs to you</a></i> then this hardback release is for you. Greenwell’s new collection of short stories expands the world he created first time round with more layers of vividly poetic texture.</p>
<p>The stories cleverly inhabit the same world, and broadly the same characters, but the short story format allows for so much more to be packed in. In expert prose Greenwell simultaneously digs deeper and more widely to weave a richer and more complex tapestry. </p>
<p>Obsessive inclusion of Bulgarian phrases aside, <i>Cleanness</i> delivers an impressive follow up that cements Garth Greenwell’s talent as a storyteller unafraid of the truth.</p>
<p>‘The sound of the crowd grew louder, that inchoate sound, formless and primal, inhuman, hardly animal now but primordial, chthonic, like a sound the earth would make’</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ-zldQVy60/Xw2ujPWKXDI/AAAAAAAABwU/WpTNL2FGXBIPPSftwepuV9dmgk9jleISwCLcBGAsYHQ/s800/garth-greenwell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="800" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aZ-zldQVy60/Xw2ujPWKXDI/AAAAAAAABwU/WpTNL2FGXBIPPSftwepuV9dmgk9jleISwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/garth-greenwell.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-37471343922407674812020-06-02T06:40:00.001-07:002020-06-03T02:48:28.661-07:00The June Shortlist<div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">‘My memory has its limits, of course, it may occur in the blanks without admitting to it, dramatize or revise. I guess there is no photographic memory for emotions. But this is my truth right now, for better or worse’ Tomasz Jedrowski, <i>Swimming in the Dark</i></span><span style="background: white;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">This month's stack came about thanks to some much-welcomed review copies of new fiction from Fleet and from Gallic Books which made up for the agony of my local high street bookstore and library remaining closed. Thank you for bringing great literary fiction and books in translation through my letterbox!</span><span style="background: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;">Being unable to browse the physical stacks of late I’ve resorted to Instagram with serendipitous results having discovered Nordisk Books, an independent publisher specialising in contemporary Scandinavian literature. Let’s just say that they’ve helped me get over no longer travelling to Norway for work. I now have a handsome stack of new reads for next month.</span><span style="background: white;"> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: xx-small;">So, on with the shortlist for June. Here’s the best of the month’s reads with no spoilers.</span></span><i><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>⏩<i>Swimming in the Dark</i></b><b> by Tomasz Jedrowski (2020)</b> – bought online</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> ‘This is my truth right now, for better or worse’, Tomasz Jedrowski’s debut is honest, raw, and brave. In protagonist, 22-year-old Ludwik, the LGBTQ literary canon has a new icon. The 2nd person narrative perfectly captures the tenderness of the relationship between Ludwik and Janusz who first meet at a summer working camp in 1980. Beneath their intense chemistry is an ideological tension that charts Poland’s tumultuous political transformation. Available in bookstores now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">⏩</span><b><i>The Sea Wife</i> by Amity Gaige (2020)–</b> Review copy received from the publisher. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Tears or sweat – so many stories end in saltwater’. A family are out of their depth aboard their boat, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐽𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑡, off the coast of Panama. Through alternate 1st person narratives Gaige presents a couple at odds trying to chart a safe course. A tense psychological thriller about marriage, ambition and family. You’ll need a life-vest as the voyage is far from plain sailing. The plot is well-paced and little by little we learn more about exactly what rests on the success of this family adventure. Stylish literary fiction for the summer. Available in bookstores now.<span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">⏩</span><b><i>A Hundred Million Years and a Day</i></b><b> by Jean-Baptiste Andrea (2020)</b> – Review copy from Publisher</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: xx-small;">‘Two hours later, we reach the peak…my vertigo is no longer vertical, it is horizontal. I am like the prisoner who is suddenly set free, panicked by the absence of corridors and walls’</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;">I was unexpectedly </span>moved by this sublime story of a man on a mission in the frozen Alps. Standing on the ‘cliff edge of insanity’ he sees his past and his present through a lens of hunger, doubt and sheer grit. Concise yet epic. Tender but unbreakable. Available for pre-order <a href="https://belgraviabooks.com/product/a-hundred-million-years-and-a-day?i=1" target="_blank">here</a> now.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-size: 13.33px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">⏩</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Restless</i> by Kenneth Moe (2019)</b> – Purchased online as part of a bundle of new books in translation from <a href="http://www.nordiskbooks.com/" target="_blank">Nordisk books</a>. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">‘My room is as empty as the rest of my life’. Rejection, isolation and self-doubt fuel this letter to an ex-girlfriend. Pithy observations committed to paper reveal a raw truth ‘A book is an attempt to become a better person - or else it is nothing’</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">'What if literature is both symptom and cure? What if it shifts so imperceptibly between the two that when you believe it to be the one thing, it's actually the other? Kenneth Moe <i>Restless</i></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-13041327694878470422020-05-07T07:03:00.001-07:002020-05-14T02:03:10.767-07:00The May shortlist<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: &quot; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;">Virginia Woolf<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">, 'Orlando'</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">This month's stack came about thanks to curtailed visits to the bookstore and the enforced closure of the library. Armed with duster and polish I ventured into the deepest recesses of the bookshelves to rediscover those books that have travelled with me from student digs through to first flats and bank-breaking mortgages. The covers may have lost their lustre and the pages have developed an odd musty scent but there's a satisfying feeling in rediscovering a great book. </span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"> If lock-down has any upside, the chance to delve deep into the stacks has to be up there. For me, this meant a classic re-read from Jack Kerouac, a second attempt (after 20 years) of finishing Virginia Woolf's <i>Orlando</i> and another go at<i> Pride and Prejudice.</i></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>Orlando by Virginia Woolf (1928) - </b>first picked up in 1994</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Everyone's life is made up of distinctly different chapters but Orlando’s journey through time (and gender) is extraordinary. Virginia Wool’s fictionalized memoir is a completely unrestrained fantasy with a central conceit, a time-travelling narrator, which allows Woolf to comment on everything from class and social mobility to gender politics. A staggering literary achievement that’s as fresh in the 2020s as it was in the 1920s.<span style="border: solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid black .25pt; padding: 0cm;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957) - </b>first read and loved in 1997</span></div>
<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">In the same decade that Walt Disney presented Disneyland's 'Frontierland' and 'Main Street USA' Jack Kerouac gave us route 6, hipsters, beat-up jalopies, apple pie and dusty railway sidings. This paradox is alive and well in the USA today. A Ulysses for the Beat Generation or a rambling road trip? The truth is that 'On the Road' is both. Like Joyce, Kerouac captured generational anxiety that still continues today.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><b>Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813) - </b>first read and hated in 1995</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Fine country houses, assemblies and balls; Austen's rules of civility offer a welcome respite during the Corona lockdown. The plot is laboured in places but kept alive thanks to Mrs Bennett's relentless determinism and Lydia's immature gossipping which would be at home is any reality TV show!</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #14171a; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-35643865320072163512020-04-08T08:28:00.001-07:002020-04-08T08:28:33.333-07:00The April shortlist..<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The April shortlist....</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">‘This man was a vortex - all rationality was devoured within him’</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: black;">Dave Eggers<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">, 'The Parade' 5/5</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This month's stack includes a cracking dystopian fable from Dave Eggers, the hugely anticipated second novel from Women's Prize for Fiction winner Tayari Jones and the debut novel from Jeanene Cummins that saw Oprah Winfrey's book club under fire</span>.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The Parade by Dave Eggers</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">A dystopian fable set in a civil war ravished state where the Authorities commission a massive infrastructure investment to unify the country. Two men and a machine have the construction task. Read in one go for maximum impact!
Erudite, provocative and sophisticated <b>5</b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>/5</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #14171a; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Silver Sparrow<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is most successful in exploring the theme of bigamy from the perspective of the women most closely involved. Tayari Jones implicitly understands the way histories are shared and uses this technique to shine a light on the complicity that exists in bigamous relationships.
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">A convincingly messy family drama told with real class.</span> </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">4/5 </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #b00226;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: black; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: black; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: black; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3125; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">An epic (if over ambitious) story for our time. Lydia and her son flee Acapulco for the promise of the USA. The tension is nail-biting as 'La Bestia' transports its human cargo to El Norte and the taste of American Dirt.
Cummins has been equally praised and pilloried</span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border-bottom-color: black; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-image-outset: 0; border-image-repeat: stretch; border-image-slice: 100%; border-image-source: none; border-image-width: 1; border-left-color: black; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-color: black; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-color: black; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> 4</span>/5</span></span></div>
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<u></u><span style="color: #000120;"></span><br />The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-70304383697771829402020-03-20T05:52:00.000-07:002020-03-20T05:53:08.542-07:00Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">'My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist'</span><span lang="EN-US">, Tayari Jones begins as she means to go on by immediately dropping us in to the heart of the action with real urgency.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<i>Silver Sparrow</i> is the new and much anticipated novel from Tayari Jones who achieved massive success and critical acclaim with her novel <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><i>American Marriage</i> (2019<i>)</i></a>. Coming off the back of such a landmark novel was never going to be easy but in <i>Silver Sparrow</i> we are back in the type of domestic drama that Tayari Jones articulates so effortlessly.</div>
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For her epigraph, Jones choses a poem by Natasha Tretheway <i>A Daughter is a Colony</i> to set us up for a journey about what it is to be somebody's daughter and, furthermore, to be somebody's secret daughter. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like <i>American Marriage</i>, the narrative in <i>Silver Sparrow</i> is told through multiple voices but interesting in this new work is the way two half-sisters, Dana and Chaurisse, tell their own stories. In alternating chapters they tell the historic backstory of how their parents got together as if through their very own experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In concurrent stories of family secrets and deception the girls' own perspective on how they came to be in the world mythologises their father and highlights the heroism and self-curation that exists in the way we tell our own stories. Jones understands the way histories are shared and uses this technique to shine a light on the complicty that exists in bigamous relationships. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The novel is most successful in exploring the theme of bigamy from the perspective of the women most closely involved, in this case the second wife and 'secret' daughter. The parts in Dana's mother's salon, The Pink Fox, are particuarly immersive into the authentic world Jones creates. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Convincing messy family drama told with real class. 4 star</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Silver Sparrow</i> by Tayari Jones published by Oneworld Publications 368 pages</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thank you to One World for the advanced review copy and for supplying the below e</span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">xtract from an interview with Tayari Jones.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; letter-spacing: 0.3pt;">W</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b;">h<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">a</span>t<span style="letter-spacing: 1.1pt;"> </span>w<span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">a</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .65pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">yo</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">u</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: 1.2pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">ns</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">p</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">i</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">at</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">io</span>n<span style="letter-spacing: 2.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">f</span>or<span style="letter-spacing: .85pt;"> </span></span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">S</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; letter-spacing: 0.2pt;">i</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b;">lv<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: .65pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-font-width: 103%;">S</span>p<span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt; mso-font-width: 105%;">r</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt; mso-font-width: 103%;">w</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">?</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ThNORSnmiMw/XnI6EimGDzI/AAAAAAAABqI/PgC7GjxW9h0oCSkOuqqzO0DaolVbMY7rACEwYBhgL/s1600/SilverSparrow9781786077967%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1047" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ThNORSnmiMw/XnI6EimGDzI/AAAAAAAABqI/PgC7GjxW9h0oCSkOuqqzO0DaolVbMY7rACEwYBhgL/s400/SilverSparrow9781786077967%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="261" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; line-height: 105%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">av</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">y</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span>b<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>n<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>i<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>d<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">b</span>y<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">d</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span>a<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>f<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">“</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">l</span>f<span style="letter-spacing: -1.8pt;"> </span>”<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">te</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>s.<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span>I<span style="letter-spacing: .55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">av</span>e
<span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span>o<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">te</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span>h<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span>w<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ho</span>m<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span>I<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;">r</span>,<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> bu</span>t<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span>h<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">av</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">di</span>f<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span>t <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>s. <span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">T</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span>y
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span>e b<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>n b<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>y
<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>r <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>t <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>y
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;">r</span>,
<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d
<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span>y <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">e</span>w
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">u</span>p <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>n
<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">no</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>r s<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">at</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>d <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ompl</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">t</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">l</span>y
sep<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">at</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">v</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span>s <span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>m
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d <span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>m
<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span>h <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;">r</span>.
<span style="letter-spacing: .45pt;">W</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>n I <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>s a <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">tt</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">gi</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>,
<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span>h <span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">l</span>y
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">b</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>s, I <span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">u</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>d <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o
<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">iz</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">a</span>b<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ou</span>t <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">v</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span>g
<span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span>o
<span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">b</span>ig <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">te</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>s <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>r <span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">a</span>y
w<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>o <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>d
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">lo</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">v</span>e
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span>e, <span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">d</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">s</span>s <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span>e
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">p</span>,
<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">li</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">te</span>n
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span>e
<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">l</span>k, <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>t
<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">te</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">a</span>.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; letter-spacing: 0.15pt; line-height: 105%;">T</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; letter-spacing: -0.15pt; line-height: 105%;">h</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1d1d1b; line-height: 105%;">e<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">li</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">n</span>k<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span>b<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>n<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">m</span>y<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span>n<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span>p<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span>l<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">o</span>bs<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span>n<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">i</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.45pt;"> </span>f<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span>l
s<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .4pt;">r</span>y <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>s <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">in</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">p</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>d <span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">q</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">t</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">c</span>c<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">de</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.8pt;">y</span>. <span style="letter-spacing: .45pt;">W</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">hi</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>e
<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">j</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">y</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span>g a <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">n</span>i<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">h</span>t
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ou</span>t <span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span>h<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">b</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span>h<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>f<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">d</span>s,<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">d</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span>g<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>f<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>y<span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span>s <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">y</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>u <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>r
<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">a</span>b<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">out</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">—</span>a <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>n <span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">d</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span>s
<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d
<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">t</span>h<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>r
</i><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">ev</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span>g
<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">d</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>w
s<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ho</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">w</span>s
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">u</span>p<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">
</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span>h<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.5pt;">r</span>-s<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">t</span>ep<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">k</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">d</span>s.<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> O</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>f<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>y<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">gi</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">lf</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">d</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>o<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>k<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>d<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> u</span>p<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>m <span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">e</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>m<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">a</span>r<span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">t</span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">n</span>d<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>s<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">d</span>,<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>“<span style="letter-spacing: -.8pt;">Y</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span>u<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">k</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">no</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.7pt;">w</span>,<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">h</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>had<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">t</span>o<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span>h<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">av</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">l</span>p<span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span>m <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">in</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">s</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">d</span>e.<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.75pt;">Y</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>u<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">no</span>t<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span>g<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>t<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>o<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span>l<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">b</span>i<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>y<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">o</span>ff<span style="letter-spacing: -.5pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">un</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">s</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>e
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>f <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>n <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>s
<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">il</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">li</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span>g
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span>k
<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span>h <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">y</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.8pt;">.</span>” <span style="letter-spacing: -.3pt;">I</span>t
<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>s
<span style="letter-spacing: .35pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">l</span>l
I <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span>d
<span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">d</span>o <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o
k<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>ep <span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>m <span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">nni</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span>g <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ou</span>t
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>f <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">b</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>r <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o
g<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>t <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ho</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>d s<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">r</span>t
<span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">w</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;">t</span>-
<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">g</span>.<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">T</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span>e<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span>f<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span>st<span style="letter-spacing: -.65pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">li</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>e,<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">“M</span>y<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">f</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.55pt;">r</span>,<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">J</span><span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">e</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">W</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">r</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">s</span>po<span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>,<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>s<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span>a<span style="letter-spacing: -.35pt;"> </span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">b</span>i<span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">g</span><span style="letter-spacing: .3pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: .15pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span>st<span style="letter-spacing: -.7pt;">,</span>”
<span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">j</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>p<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span>d
<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o <span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>y
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">h</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">a</span>d, <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>s
<span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">c</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">l</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">rl</span>y <span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span>s
<span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">t</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">ho</span><span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">u</span><span style="letter-spacing: .2pt;">g</span>h
s<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">m</span><span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.2pt;">o</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">n</span>e <span style="letter-spacing: .05pt;">ha</span>d
<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">s</span>p<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">o</span>k<span style="letter-spacing: -.05pt;">e</span>n <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">i</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">n</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">t</span>o
<span style="letter-spacing: -.15pt;">m</span>y <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">e</span><span style="letter-spacing: .25pt;">a</span><span style="letter-spacing: -.4pt;">r</span>.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 105%;"></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span>The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-2062846726764745532020-03-01T07:04:00.001-08:002020-03-01T07:27:08.731-08:00The February Shortlist<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The February shortlist....</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">‘My key works but you won't let me in’</span></span><br /><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(20, 23, 26); white-space: pre-wrap;">T</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;">ayari Jones, 'American Marriage' 5/5</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Last month's stack featured award winning fiction from the USA's Tayari Jones, a debut novel from Chinese writer An Yu and a state of the nation tome from Jonathan Coe but first the follow up to </span><i style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The Atocha Station</i><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> (4 star review</span> <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-january-shortlist.html?spref=tw" target="_blank">here</a>) by Ben Lerner. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The 10:04 by Ben Lerner</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘Like a poem... neither fiction nor nonfiction, but a flickering between them’. Lerner’s autofiction is addictive but annoyingly slow in places. Mini essays on Whitman and Reagan’s address after the Challenger disaster standout </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>3/5</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #14171a; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Middle England by </span></span><span style="color: #14171a; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jonathan</span><span style="color: #14171a; text-align: left;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> Coe</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #14171a; text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;">A well-read romp through life from the 2012 Olympics to the referendum and beyond. Rich observation and wit make for a cosy suburban tonic to McEwan's 'The Cockroach'. Coe fans will meet old characters from 'The Rotters Club' but new fans will find faces they certainly recognise </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">4/5 </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">American Marriage by Tayari Jones</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap;">‘My key works, but you won’t let me in’ A brilliantly crafted story about being the ‘wrong race in the wrong place’. Nuanced, contemporary and relevant </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;">5/5</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">Braised Pork by An Yu</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">An Yu’s new novel portrays a young women alienated in Beijing following the unexplained death of her husband. With a debt to </span><span class="r-18u37iz" style="font-weight: normal;"><a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" data-focusable="true" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Murakami?src=hashtag_click" role="link" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1b95e0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: none; white-space: inherit;">Murakami</a></span><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> the journey from the city to Tibet is packed with magical realism and late night drinks. Succinct but never curt </span>5/5</span></span></div>
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<br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-__V-Gkuz-LM/XlvMWEyDmNI/AAAAAAAABpo/qdcOIxOJcoI-qSxxDj9zuXqGsppWQfTWwCEwYBhgL/s1600/51DvsFKOGWL._SX312_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-__V-Gkuz-LM/XlvMWEyDmNI/AAAAAAAABpo/qdcOIxOJcoI-qSxxDj9zuXqGsppWQfTWwCEwYBhgL/s320/51DvsFKOGWL._SX312_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-28634246499211567382020-02-11T11:32:00.001-08:002020-02-11T11:32:37.172-08:00The January shortlist<br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The January shortlist....</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XFch7UhIpyM/XkL-_pkTNsI/AAAAAAAABow/qdw0PVivH9cBH9Evj8jw2RR8Y1sfoq51ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/41ROdL38-BL._SX314_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XFch7UhIpyM/XkL-_pkTNsI/AAAAAAAABow/qdw0PVivH9cBH9Evj8jw2RR8Y1sfoq51ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/41ROdL38-BL._SX314_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="201" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace; font-size: large;">‘But when you boil a story down, you end up with something macabre. All stories end the same way, don’t they?’ </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rebecca Makkai</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>The Great Believers</i> by Rebecca Makkai (2018)</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Alternative chapters set in 1980s Chicago and Paris in the mid 2000s chart the AIDS crisis and the impact on one particular family. Epic in scale and forensic in detail yet not fully achieving the emotional depth the subject really deserves <b>3/5</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-p9EWkrdP4/XkL_2j3V_fI/AAAAAAAABo8/bEwSI3QzPdMqyYXMagLS6otGXCHtIA6GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/41Hartb4U1L._SX328_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="330" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-p9EWkrdP4/XkL_2j3V_fI/AAAAAAAABo8/bEwSI3QzPdMqyYXMagLS6otGXCHtIA6GgCLcBGAsYHQ/s200/41Hartb4U1L._SX328_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br />
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<b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
Until the Coffee Gets Cold</i> by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2018)</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A brilliant premise that shines a light on the challenges of an ageing society and the shadow of dementia. But the novel is flawed by a tripartite structure that feels written for the stage. Hoped for more from a Japanese be</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">stseller <b>2/5</b></span><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Td8mKmTPvtc/XkL-j8l5bFI/AAAAAAAABok/efYq64vK1-8uu998SfbZpE4YO-5kJc3EQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51qdusXOt9L._SX325_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Td8mKmTPvtc/XkL-j8l5bFI/AAAAAAAABok/efYq64vK1-8uu998SfbZpE4YO-5kJc3EQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/51qdusXOt9L._SX325_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="209" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Leaving the Atocha Station</i> by Ben Lerner (2011)</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ben Lerner’s brand of auto-fiction won’t be for everyone but this is an original novel about a poetry student (and flâneur) floating around Madrid, visiting the Prado, reading Lorca, faking Spanish and contemplating the purpose of life. What’s not to love? <b>4/5</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><b><i>Under The Net</i> by Iris Murdoch (1954) </b></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;">Iris Murdoch’s evergreen debut novel is as fresh today as when first published in 1954. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; white-space: pre-wrap;">Episodic comedy wrapped up in philosophical criticism; the novel explores the unexpected on the streets on London. One to read and read again <b>4/5</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk6S2al2XMQ/XkL-UzC6tbI/AAAAAAAABog/Nb6ahef1OXg0IpmPtkW0zfiCLZ8MGizSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/41HRQpcORDL._SX325_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="327" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uk6S2al2XMQ/XkL-UzC6tbI/AAAAAAAABog/Nb6ahef1OXg0IpmPtkW0zfiCLZ8MGizSwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/41HRQpcORDL._SX325_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #14171a; font-family: , , , "segoe ui" , "roboto" , "ubuntu" , "helvetica neue" , sans-serif; font-size: 23px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-61727572869495332702019-12-17T23:40:00.001-08:002019-12-17T23:42:19.413-08:00Find Me by Andre Aciman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nE9KhoxxKok/Xfeo66lV4jI/AAAAAAAABn8/apvWV63hfXETTiE1u_e-fDY0DF_4Vr2IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51AnUp1LtwL._SX324_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nE9KhoxxKok/Xfeo66lV4jI/AAAAAAAABn8/apvWV63hfXETTiE1u_e-fDY0DF_4Vr2IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/51AnUp1LtwL._SX324_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></span>We weren’t courting each other but an implicit something seemed to hover between us<span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The anticipation around Andre Aciman’s follow up his 1995
novel <i>Call Me By Your Name</i> was
palpable from the moment the work was announced. Not only did the film
adaptation fuel demand for more from Elio and Oliver but the excitement around
the possible film sequel sent fans into a frenzy. With the hard-back book now
published the question is whether all the hype is worth it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wwX8PeDRMA/Xfeq2ZGT77I/AAAAAAAABoI/vlN0Dz0I5CkXcEOIGCmz0Em6EoTYM6qywCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/download.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7wwX8PeDRMA/Xfeq2ZGT77I/AAAAAAAABoI/vlN0Dz0I5CkXcEOIGCmz0Em6EoTYM6qywCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/download.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In <i>Find Me</i> Aciman
tales us back into the cultured and acedemic world he first created in the original
novel but the first chapters pick up the story with Elio’s father at the
centre. On a train journey he meets and, almost unfeasibly, falls in love with
an enigmatic woman on the seat opposite. Admittedly this is literary fiction
but there is something unrewarding about a couple meeting in such a way. Its
almost lazy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later in the novel we catch up with Elio who is working as a
classical musician in Paris. He is lost and reflective about the relationships of
this past, most notably with Oliver, but nevertheless he meets and falls in
love with an older man who he meets at a concert. Again, a leap in imagination
is required to accept this relationship for what it is. Given the tenderness
and longing Aciman created in<i> Call Me By
Your Name</i> we know he can write beguiling prose but in <i>Find Me</i> such passages are few and far between.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It takes until the novel’s final chapter for Elio and Oliver
to meet up in scenes which are finally reminiscent of the original novel and the
subsequent film. The trouble is that it’s barely worth the wait. Is ‘Find Me’ a
bad novel? Perhaps not but it does suffer from over selling by the publishers
who are so desperate to give audiences what they want. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let’s hope the film adaption, which will certainly need a
more developed screen play, doesn’t suffer the same fate. 2 star<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Read a review of Aciman’s <i>Enigma Variations</i> <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=aciman" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;"><br /></i><i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Find Me </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Andre Aciman published by Faber and Faber 256 pages</span></div>
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-3352011983246437682019-11-26T12:17:00.002-08:002019-11-26T12:17:31.919-08:00Painter to the King by Amy Sackville<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yI1j_Azd3Wo/XdrDXuu96VI/AAAAAAAABnc/KQU1GCBXaUAVJ-cK3CXLyfSEg1XJW6JwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/9781783783922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yI1j_Azd3Wo/XdrDXuu96VI/AAAAAAAABnc/KQU1GCBXaUAVJ-cK3CXLyfSEg1XJW6JwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9781783783922.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amy Sackville's novel <i>Painter to the King</i> fictionalises the life and career of Diego Velasquez the official and favourite court painter to Spain's Philip IV.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i69UB-al_Tw/XdrG-zns3tI/AAAAAAAABno/sfnz-fFRTnUGy44v6gWurgqSnWOyxZ2SgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/6122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i69UB-al_Tw/XdrG-zns3tI/AAAAAAAABno/sfnz-fFRTnUGy44v6gWurgqSnWOyxZ2SgCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/6122.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Through both biographical and art history elements Sackville brings to life the meteoric rise of the talented painter who moved from Seville to the court of Madrid in pursuit of artistic success. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Enabled by the drama of the court and the audacity of the King, Velasquez has opportunity to paint quotidian scenes from the inner sanctum of the court as well as grand portraits of the King himself used to control the population and to raise funds for war. Sackville's portrayal of Velasquez is one of a confidante to a king with unlimited access to both the private and public life of the Monarch; "And somewhere the painter, still, observing".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Occasionally the narrative is interrupted by the voice of the author as she follows in Velasquez's footsteps through modern Madrid. This device is confusing at first but works in the context of a historical novel which never loses sight of its unique and distinct voice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Less successful are the thumbnail black and white details from the paintings which are reductive and unnecessary given that even the simplest of searches will reveal the world of Velasquez on screen</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> 4</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;"><br /></i><i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Painter to the King </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Amy Sackville published by Granta Books 336 pages</span></div>
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-12186339605703988512019-11-14T09:56:00.002-08:002019-11-14T09:56:20.519-08:00The Cockroach by Ian McEwan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-341ryD88cj0/Xc2QfbgUKMI/AAAAAAAABnQ/ML8ay8M5txsWfGZy1wwq8vaLPf2DVZqOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/41QpiuiIJFL._SX322_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-341ryD88cj0/Xc2QfbgUKMI/AAAAAAAABnQ/ML8ay8M5txsWfGZy1wwq8vaLPf2DVZqOgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/41QpiuiIJFL._SX322_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">'That morning, Jim Sams, clever but by no means profound, woke from uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a gigantic creature'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The Cockroach</i> takes Kafka's <i>Metamorphosis</i> as the starting point for a novel about a man who turns into cockroach, only in McEwan's world this man is the Prime Minister. With a country bitterly divided by an existential decision, in this case it's the economic theory of Reversalism, a dysfunctional government struggles to find any semblance of a solution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">If this all sounds familiar you'll enjoy McEwan's intelligent satire on Britain in 2019. For literary fans the Kafka adaptation is a bit of a misnomer as there is little beyond the opening scene. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So contemporary is this novella that the publishers must have literally been stacking the shelves as the ink dried. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;"><br /></i><i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">The Cockroach </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Ian McEwan published by Vintage 112 pages</span></div>
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-50684543385294875132019-11-10T12:01:00.001-08:002020-03-23T04:11:55.232-07:00The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-do3yoYYDzS4/Xb8bPwXSm_I/AAAAAAAABm4/TAnToTTX9pgERxLrCV8TWqfg2Pj__xvjgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/9781473682146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="261" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-do3yoYYDzS4/Xb8bPwXSm_I/AAAAAAAABm4/TAnToTTX9pgERxLrCV8TWqfg2Pj__xvjgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/9781473682146.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Dark Scandi-Noir through unique, and authentic, lens"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Niklas Natt Och Dag's debut novel was a huge hit when published at home in Sweden as <i>1793</i>. The novel's success with readers is doubtless Natt Och Dag's blend of the darkest elements of Scandi crime thrillers with the best aspects of historical fiction. The result is a detective novel like no other on the bookshelves.</span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3DPCtrYTWZQ/Xb8b-gZM9QI/AAAAAAAABnA/eXqDrXSAx8Etsx8kRkD3AlEjRe5EBTRHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/140261400_hr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1600" height="217" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3DPCtrYTWZQ/Xb8b-gZM9QI/AAAAAAAABnA/eXqDrXSAx8Etsx8kRkD3AlEjRe5EBTRHQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/140261400_hr.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Natt och Dag is uniquely positioned to write a novel set in 18th Century Stockholm given that he can trace his own lineage to one of the oldest aristocratic families in Sweden. These are dark times for Stockholm, with Europe gripped by the aftermath of the French Revolution, the establishment is rocked and social unrest creates an atmosphere of fear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Stockholm presented in the novel is a filthy city of crime, filth and poverty brought to life credibly in settings such as 'The Perdition', a pub with a mural on the wall barely visible through the soot in which 'Peasants and burghers, noblemen and priests, join hands around a skeleton who is playing a fiddle as black as tar'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The story is told from the perspectives of several characters whose truths overlap in the narrative. Amputee war veteran Mickel Cardell is first to discover a body in 'The Larder', a lake just South of the city walls. This macabre scene sets the tone for a story that is brutal, violent and horrific throughout. Mickel's investigative partner is brilliant young lawyer Cecil Winge who is so ill with consumption that this case could be the one and only chance for him to make a name for himself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At times the story loses track at it wends and weaves through Anna Stina's story in the workhouse but stick with it as the plot neatly comes together when the identity of the body is revealed. A strong stomach is required for some of the most macabre scenes, make no mistake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dark Scandic-Noir with through a unique and authentic historical lens 4</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;"><br /></i><i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">The Wolf and The Watchman </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Niklas Natt Och Dag published by John Murray 416 pages</span></div>
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-17508281880604961232019-10-29T10:54:00.001-07:002019-10-29T10:54:05.539-07:00Quichotte by Salman Rushdie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h0TQtj98vkU/Xbb7E_IbfKI/AAAAAAAABmk/9ldkFpRz8Cgs8dXDz11UV1iKTrmSbCi4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/411Zp8f99wL._SX326_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="328" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h0TQtj98vkU/Xbb7E_IbfKI/AAAAAAAABmk/9ldkFpRz8Cgs8dXDz11UV1iKTrmSbCi4wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/411Zp8f99wL._SX326_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize nominated novel Quichottte (pronounced key-SHOT) is a contemporary road-trip novel inspired by Cervantes' <i>Don Quixote</i> (1605). In Rushdie's update a pharmaceutical salesman 'of Indian origin, advancing years and retreating mental powers' sets off, with his son Sancho, across America in search of his obsession, Bollywood actress turned TV star Salma R.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The road-trip itself takes in myriad towns across the US allowing Rushdie the perfect opportunity to use his literature to comment on Trumpism, celebrity culture, climate change, xenophobia and the opioid crisis. As a state of the nation piece this is insightful, intelligent and, at times, highly entertaining writing with level of satire that Cervantes would doubtless applaud. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yet with Salman Rushdie there is typically more at play. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The road-trip is framed as a story within a story about a second rate spy writer, with the pen name Sam DuChamp, who creates the character Quichotte and his son Sancho who is invisible to everyone but his father. This narrative flourish, with a</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> nod to the Cervantes source text, proves essential as the story becomes increasingly fantastic - at one point a talking cricket appears to console Sancho in a tribute to Pinocchio, later the inhabitants of one town transform into mastodons, the mammoth like creatures whose fossilised remains turn up across North America, as their ideology becomes increasingly prehistoric. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If there is a problem with Quichotte it is that Rushdie tries to do too much with the story. Though there are road trip elements the novel has more in common with the surrealist melancholy of Haruki Murakami or Franz Kafka; 'I'm black and white in a full colour universe' Sancho realises as he tries to understand his nature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are times when Rushdie's own voice becomes over-bearing as the writer of the novel speaks about the spy thriller writer who has written a story about a salesman, its exhausting. Nontheless, overall Quichotte is an expertly told story that rides the zeitgeist like a modern day Don Quixote. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Remarkable, challenging and thought provoking 4.5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; cursor: move; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;"><br /></i><i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Quichotte </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Salman Rushdie published by Jonathan Cape 416 pages</span></div>
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-51262574192041180502019-10-26T07:07:00.000-07:002019-10-26T07:07:01.783-07:00The Need by Helen Philips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A desperately busy mother finds herlself stretched to the limits. Childcare and breast-feeding demands vie for attention with the strange fossils she is unearthing at work as a paleobotanist; an ancient coke bottle, toy soldiers with monkey tails, a bible with all devine pronouns changed to 'she'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">When an intruder enters the family home we're left wondering ,is this the reality or the work of an over whelmed mind?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Disturbing, fascinating and utterly unique</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> 4</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /><br />
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">The Need </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Helen Philips published by Chatto and Windus 272 pages</span></div>
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-23607942850279802392019-10-19T01:44:00.001-07:002019-10-19T01:44:17.887-07:00Lie With Me by Philipe Besson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3-K9OsQxIEg/XaNe-ENQGeI/AAAAAAAABmM/xg8zgShcdjc15to65xZq_svcLx0fgpHLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51TsCJVm70L._SX324_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3-K9OsQxIEg/XaNe-ENQGeI/AAAAAAAABmM/xg8zgShcdjc15to65xZq_svcLx0fgpHLQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/51TsCJVm70L._SX324_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: helvetica neue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"I am this young man there, in the winter of Barbezieux"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Philippe Besson's <i>Lie With Me</i> is a beautifully written love story told from the perspective of a writer who is transported back to school by a chance encounter in the bar of a hotel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The flashback part of the story is set in a small town, Barbezieux, in France in 1984 where an awkward seventeen year old boy Philippe gazes at his school mate Thomas as he leans against a wall with his 'shaggy hair, the hint of a beard and a serious look'. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Barbezieux is 'from a bygone era, a dying city, a past without glory' yet in this unlikely setting a passionate relationship develops between the boys. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The structure of the novel is well conceived. A middle aged Philippe spots a young man who immediately transports him back to his first experience of love at school. The young man, Philippe discovers, is Thomas's son Lucas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">hat such events were to unfold in this unremarkable town to this unremarkable boy are told with innocence by Besson whose prose is never over the top. Both passion and shame are vividly portrayed with understated intimacy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact that the novel is translated from the French by Eighties movie icon, and francophile, Molly Ringwald is a boon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A tender and innocent book you'll want to read in one sitting 4</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /> </div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Lie with Me </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Philippe Besson published by Penguin 160 pages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-55552262945420257662019-10-14T09:07:00.003-07:002019-10-14T09:07:59.862-07:00Moby Dick by Herman Melville<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbdTyBzhmQo/XaIOsmevF9I/AAAAAAAABl4/OK4afH4lHIM7n4lTGjBoY2FX44KaIbd7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Unknown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="189" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbdTyBzhmQo/XaIOsmevF9I/AAAAAAAABl4/OK4afH4lHIM7n4lTGjBoY2FX44KaIbd7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Unknown.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Herman Melville's literary landmark novel, Moby Dick (1851), is a whale sized read. Not only are the 720 pages themselves daunting but a cursory flick through reveals just how dense Melville's writing is combing literary fiction with essay and encyclopaedia in a unique tome. So what is the experience of cracking the spines on a novel like Moby Dick today?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First up the novel is a classic adventure story with action, heroes and episodic thrills as novice seaman Ishmael joins an experienced whaling crew lead by Captain Ahab. From Nantucket to the South China Sea Captain Ahab obsessively leads his crew across the globe in search of the legendary great white whale Moby Dick.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The crew of The Pequod itself are a diverse group of men. Whalers from New England work alongside harpooners from the Pacific and sailors from Asia. For a novel set in the 1850's Melville's cast are drawn from especially distinct backgrounds but its the relationship between narrator Ishmael and crew mate Queequeg which is the most interesting. Early in the novel the pair agree to share a bunk and to essentially live together in a same sex marriage; "He pressed his forehead against mine, clasped me round the waist, and said that henceforth we were married". Over 100 years before the US Enterprise, The Pequod was leading the way on diversity and inclusion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps the most memorable element of the experience is losing yourself in a truly immersive book. Melville expertly allows the reader to see the world through the eyes of Ishmael whose naivety and youth permit the switch from prose fiction style chapters to the essays. In this way we learn about the World, about the 'taxonomy of cetecea' and the intricacies of whaling through the eyes of a young man who is literally a sponge.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everything about <i>Moby Dick</i> is exceptional no less its legacy given that Melville himself died in obscurity in 1891 before the book was celebrated as a classic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Broad in ambition and rich in achievement </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /> </div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Moby Dick </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Herman Melville published by Penguin Classics 720 pages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-75503102141270558662019-09-28T09:40:00.000-07:002019-09-28T09:40:17.226-07:00Frankissstein: A Love Story by Jeanette Winterson<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FA6PjUz6Tf4/XYeK7DaZxfI/AAAAAAAABlg/pP-6Ec9VWUoBoCplLa8p_KHckbSbnvdSACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/41fdM2S9eEL._SX312_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FA6PjUz6Tf4/XYeK7DaZxfI/AAAAAAAABlg/pP-6Ec9VWUoBoCplLa8p_KHckbSbnvdSACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/41fdM2S9eEL._SX312_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hot on the heels of Ian McEwan's <i>Machines Like Me</i> Jeanette Winterson turns her hand to the theme of</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> artificial intelligence and transhumanism in new title<i> Frankissstein</i>. Rather than set in an alternate version of Britain, Winterson weaves a contemporary story about medical science and ethics around a fictionalised account of Mary Shelley's time on Lake Geneva in 1816 where she original told her ghost story that would become <i>Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The flashbacks to the circumstances that led to Mary Shelley creating the most famous gothic horror story in history are expertly told through her relationship with husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and with their vacation buddy Lord Byron. Likewise Shelley's journey back to London and visits to the Bedlam Hospital are a great build on the Frankenstein myth but it is the contemporary story that really stands apart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ry Shelley is a young transgender doctor who falls in love with AI expert Victor Stein whilst investigating the medial ethics around Stein's work. In this adaptation Mary Shelley herself becomes the protaganist, in Ry, which enables Winterson to authentically weave together gender politics and transhumanism in a way that is characteristically thought provoking,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like McEwan's <i>Machines Like Me</i> the story raises questions about the role of AI and the relations we form with them. In <i>Frankissstein</i> most research and development revolves around the Chinese sexbot industry which drives exponential growth in the development of AI like a turbo charged Prometheus. The unintended consequences are articulated with realistic danger in this cracking read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The reinvention of a classic story brought right up to date </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /> </div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Frankissstein: A Love Story </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Jeanette Winterson published by Jonathan Cape 352 pages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-22689062761834490612019-09-21T11:02:00.001-07:002019-09-21T11:02:15.071-07:00How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EL3bZVFIt7A/XX6RGQyrNtI/AAAAAAAABlU/9qjuZFzQAOMLz9iziYU_NEf5u2GR1UcYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/51k94zybxGL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EL3bZVFIt7A/XX6RGQyrNtI/AAAAAAAABlU/9qjuZFzQAOMLz9iziYU_NEf5u2GR1UcYQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/51k94zybxGL.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Though the paperback cover looks more like an advert for a Bollywood movie this novel is actually a well crafted work of literary fiction in the guise of a self-help book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the title suggests, Hamid parodies the step by step approach of countless business books in this tale about a boy born into poverty who moves to the city in search of fame and fortune. The story is packed with romance and humour which balances the sheer hard work required to 'get filthy rich'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The narrative is told in the awkward second person which some readers will find off putting. The omnipresent narrator's use of 'you' keeps us as readers at some distance to the main character which ultimately risks any opportunity for empathy. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily Mohsin Hamid understands the risk and more than compensates with the self-help conceit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Read right now for maximum impact</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> 3.5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /> </div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Mohsin Hamid published by Penguin 240 pages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-73142473261817479492019-09-13T09:13:00.000-07:002019-09-13T09:13:18.094-07:00The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yV-CvJKtjpc/XXttRhKaWlI/AAAAAAAABlI/eHjZGn-sDRcTexnBGRerncnrgokfIk91wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/XEBN46VSJAI6TCKJL43P7ETQNY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yV-CvJKtjpc/XXttRhKaWlI/AAAAAAAABlI/eHjZGn-sDRcTexnBGRerncnrgokfIk91wCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/XEBN46VSJAI6TCKJL43P7ETQNY.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">On a Japanese island, in a dystopian near future, the population are fiercely governed by The Memory Police who enforce social order in a world where things simply evaporate. Disappearances come suddenly and unannounced; flowers, birds, calendars, simply vanish without a trace along with the memories associated with them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Seen through the eyes of an unnamed novelist this is a story about the unreliability of memory. Though there is hope in the clues concealed within the sculptures created by her mother and love in the relationship she has with her editor there is an inevitability to life on the island; "After these relatively uneventful weeks, another disappearance occurred..... but this one was more complicated; this time novels disappeared. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Stephen Snyder translates Ogawa's original mid-nineties prose and is able to maintain the crisp and minimal style that Ogawa is known for in works such as <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=ogawa" target="_blank">Revenge</a> and <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=ogawa" target="_blank">Hotel Iris</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether as a cautionary tale about enjoying what you have before its gone or as a meditation on growing old and the cruelty of Alzheimer's, <i>The Memory Police</i> is hugely successful. The image of the <i>Memory Police</i> maintaining pervasive surveillance in a world that changes overnight seems as relevant and prescient as John Lanchester's <i><a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=the+wall" target="_blank">The Wall</a></i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">All that's missing is more world building; who governs the Memory Police and who decides what and when disappears? The lack of answers if frustrating but then again, when it comes to Yoko Ogawa, where's the fun in full resolution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Read right now for maximum impact</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> 4.5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /> </div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">The Memory Police </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Yoko Ogawa published by Pantheon 288 pages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-81437974429598331322019-09-02T06:31:00.001-07:002019-09-02T06:31:31.279-07:00Brother by David Chariandy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A story deeply influenced by the setting</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">David Chariandy's new novel has already won a sack full of awards at home in Canada, including the Toronto Book Award, and is now available in the UK published by Bloomsbury. The novel is told by Michael who looks back on the series of events that led up to him losing his older Brother, Francis, when they were young men in the 1980s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is a story deeply influenced by the setting of Scarborough, a poor migrant neighbourhood in Toronto sometimes referred to by the monikers 'Scarlem' or 'Scardistan'. It is Scarborough that drives the extreme work ethic in the boys' Trinidadian mother who works double shifts to raise her children. It is Scarborough that taints the expectations of the boys who are acutely aware of the social order; </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">'Even as kids, we learned to be gentle with each other's hoped and dreams'. It is Scarborough that defines the response to a key incident that is described in the first quarter of the novel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The novel pivots on the murder of a boy at a local convenience store. The neighbourhood becomes a scene of danger and fear which is described effortlessly; </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">'Even the ordinary clothes that people hung out to dry on laundry lines suddenly looked suspicious. Conspiracies in the open hanging of slacks and saris, in the headless baby jumpers'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Chariandy's prose is elegant yet contemporary. His characters are believable and authentic yet there is something that gets in the way of the narrative being truly immersive. Mother is the best formed and most memorable character but Michael's childhood girlfriend, Aisha, is less fully fledged . Like Aisha, as a reader we feel slightly too removed from the world of Scarborough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A thin novel that packs a bigger punch 3.5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.098) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /> </div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Brother </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by David Chariandy published by Bloomsbury 249 pages</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><br /></span>
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";"><span style="background-color: white;">For a similar read try <i><a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=mad" target="_blank">In Our Mad and Furious City</a></i> by Guy Gunaratne</span></span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-43696893856561600472019-08-27T05:52:00.001-07:002019-08-27T05:52:27.497-07:00Exit West by Mohsin Hamid <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Exit West</i> is a story about the migrant experience, specifically that of the large scale displacement played out on TV news as countless families flee from countries such as Syria for a better life in Europe. But Mohsin Hamid does something remarkable in this novel which sets out to tell an intimate version of the story through speculative fiction rather than news reel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Everything about <i>Exit West</i> challenges perceptions of the migrant narrative in the media. In Hamid's tale the couple at the centre of the story, Nadia and Saeed, meet at an evening class about 'corporate identity and product branding'. Nadia is an accountant and Saeed works for an ad agency. They smoke pot and listen to music as the city around them starts to rumble with violence and rebellion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Their decision to flee comes from the fear of what's to come and when the opportunity of a 'door' to the west is opened to them they grab it with both hands. Initially they arrive in Mykonos, as a stepping stone to mainland Europe, and ultimately London. Nadia and Saeed pass from country to country as if by magic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The trauma of the journey itself is retained in the imagination with space on the page devoted to the experience of being displaced amongst an, at time, hostile community. The tension between 'native' and 'migrant' is played out brilliantly. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At times Hamid includes vignettes of other characters across the globe dealing with their own specific dilemmas. These parallel encounters serve to support the assertion that 'we are all migrants through time'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Exit West</i> is profoundly memorable, exquisitely written and truly provocative. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">Exit West </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Mohsin Hamid published by Penguin 240 pages</span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2057750027185009373.post-56733405688843885802019-08-22T08:23:00.000-07:002019-08-22T08:23:02.256-07:00The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino by Hiromi Kawakami<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Kawakami packs a punch with this new story that fans of </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Strange Weather in Tokyo</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> will especially enjoy</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/search?q=strange+weather" target="_blank">With <i>Strange Weather in Tokyo</i></a> (2013) and <a href="https://wordsshortlist.blogspot.com/2016/08/mr-nakano-had-screwed-up.html?spref=tw" target="_blank"><i>The Nakano </i><i>Thrift Shop</i></a> (2016) Hiromi Kawakami has established herself as a highly idiosyncratic writer. Early on in <i>The Ten Loves of My Nishino</i> you realise we are on similar ground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kawakami's narrative presents various aspects of the titular Mr Nishino from the perspectives of different women with whom he has had relationships throughout his life. Each chapter is told, in the first person, by a different women. This is a slightly tricky approach though, when combined with the non-linear timeline, adds to Kawakami's quirky style.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mr Nishino himself is an unremarkable, and typically Kawakami-esque, salary man with an incredible knack for having women fall in love with him. At times he is charming but at others borders on the creepy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nevertheless, there are hints at the motivation behind Mr Nishino's inability to fully give himself to any women. Flashbacks reveal the death of his sister when he was a young man but Kawakami devotes more time to the women in his life making this story more about the '10 loves' than Mr Nishino himself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For a short novel Kawakami packs a punch with this new story that fans of <i>Strange Weather in Tokyo</i> will especially enjoy. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">3.5</span><img alt="⭐️" aria-label="Emoji: Medium star" class="Emoji Emoji--forText" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/2b50.png" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.0980392) 1px 1px 5px; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui", arial, sans-serif; height: 1.25em; letter-spacing: 0.27px; padding: 0px 0.05em 0px 0.1em; vertical-align: -0.2em; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 1.25em;" title="Medium star" /></div>
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<i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;"><br /></i><i style="color: #212121; font-family: helvetica, serif, emojifont;">The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #212121; font-family: "helvetica" , serif , "emojifont";">by Hiromi Kawakami and translated by Allison Markin Powell published by Granta 208 pages</span><br />
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The Word's Shortlisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00044008719379392121noreply@blogger.com0