Book News Vol. 5 No. 34

BOOK NEWS

Virtual Festival
The latest recording in our recently launched series of archived events from Festivals-past. Travel back in time to the mid-sixties, the height of Beatlemania, with Patricia Young. http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/multimedia/audio-archives

Twitter Contest
Win tickets to Festival events and untold fame and glory, just by tweeting! Details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/get-involved/twittercontest.

Special Events

Alexander McCall Smith
The Cellist of Sarajevo author Steven Galloway talks with Alexander McCall Smith, bestselling author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency about his forthcoming book, Corduroy Mansions. Complete details on our website, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/mccallsmith.

The Washington Post describes Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions as part Restoration comedy and part Victorian novel, tossed with a dash of mystery and a dollop of satire.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705064.html

John Vaillant
The author of the multi-award-winning The Golden Spruce will discuss his new book The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival, a gripping tale of man and nature in collision, that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the Siberian forest. Details here, http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/vaillant.

Alissa York and Richard Harvell
Please join us as Giller-shortlisted author Alissa York and debut novelist Richard Harvell read from their new works. Details at http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/events/yorkharvell.


2010 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
The following authors will be attending the Festival in October or participating in special events in the fall.

Lee Ferguson interviews David Mitchell for the CBC, about his novel The Thousand Autumns of Jakob De Zoet.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/07/29/f-david-mitchell-thousand-autumns-jacob-de-zoet.html

" 'Write what you know' will only carry you so far", says David Mitchell in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/22/NS271EFGM2.DTL&type=books

Lenny Abramov is old (he’s 39!) and he likes to read: two strikes against him. The LA Times finds Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story "devastatingly funny".
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-gary-shteyngart-20100725,0,4076018.story

Ron Charles says Shteyngart's novel follows today's most ominous trend lines to a post-literate America that abhors books, newspapers and even conversation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/27/AR2010072705665.html

Is it true that Shteyngart can't read, as he claims in the YouTube video that accompanies this CBC interview?
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/03/f-gary-shteyngart-super-sad-true-love-story.html

Emma Donoghue's novel is a gem, says Nicola Barr in the Observer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/room-emma-donoghue-review-fritzl

The Montreal Gazette says that Alissa York's Fauna is strange and disturbing in the best ways.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/Alissa+York+Fauna+strange+disturbing+best+ways/3338342/story.html

In The Star, Barbara Carey writes that Fauna presents a threatened sanctuary for humans and animals alike.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/bookreviews/article/841021--fauna-a-wounded-community-gathers-in-a-toronto-ravine

The Globe and Mail describes it as a rich novel layered with astonishing detail.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-fauna-by-alissa-york/article1656285/

In an interview, York discusses our changing relationship with nature.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/nurturing-inspiration-from-nature/article1656304/

NEWS & FEATURES

The Guardian has a podcast interview of P.D. James in honour of James' 90th birthday on Tuesday, August 3rd.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2010/aug/03/pd-james-crime

The privacy of reading e-books has an impact on social relationships.
http://www.slate.com/id/2261955/?from=rss

And on your trip to your local coffee shop.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/no-e-books-allowed-in-this-establishment/

A Globe and Mail editorial states that reports of the demise of the book are exaggerated.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/reports-of-the-demise-of-books-greatly-exaggerated/article1661588/

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince is being revived on TV, film, and in print.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/little-prince-return-multimedia

Is the Booker a barometer of the best literature? Novelist Patrick Neate and the Observer's associate editor Robert McCrum debate.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/01/debate-booker-prize-barometer-literature

This past weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the very first book to roll off the Penguin presses. It's also the seventh month of celebrations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/21/penguins-next-march

Colour-coded paperbacks launched in 1935 as cheap, disposable fiction have now become collectible items.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/30/penguin-books-turns-75-anniversary

Puffin's 70th anniversary celebrations include a new issue of a novel from its every decade.
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/article/841009--the-welcome-return-of-3-kid-lit-classics

While newspapers everywhere struggle to survive, Mon Quotidien, a French newspaper for children, is thriving.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/world/europe/27paris.html

Åsne Seierstad defends her approach to writing The Bookseller of Kabul.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jul/31/bookseller-of-kabul-interview-asne-seierstad

Neil Gaiman has won a second lawsuit based on a a comic series' use of characters derived from Gaiman's characters.
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/08/03/gaiman-spawn-lawsuit.html

Francine Prose argues that Anne Frank's diary is a work of art by a precocious young writer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/anne-frank-diary-robert-mccrum

BOOKS & WRITERS

Steven Hayward describes David Nicholls' One Day as "like Groundhog Day with a touch of Jane Austen".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-one-day-by-david-nicholls/article1656349/

Sam Sifton, the NY Times' restaurant critic describes Paul Greenberg’s Four Fish as "a necessary book for anyone truly interested in what we take from the sea to eat, and how, and why".
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Sifton-t.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema1&pagewanted=all

Ian Sansom is exhausted just reading about Jack London's eventful life in James L Haley's Wolf: The Lives of Jack London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/wolf-jack-london-haley-review

Graham Greene's five brothers and sisters were all, in their different ways, involved in acts of subterfuge. Jeremy Lewis' Shades of Greene: One Generation of an English Family fills a number of the blanks in the life of the author of The Third Man.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/shades-greene-jeremy-lewis-review

Helen Dunmore's The Betrayal is a sequel to the The Siege, recently longlisted for the Man Booker prize. Both take place in Leningrad, the first during the 1941-42 siege; the second, exactly 10 years later. The narrative is compelling.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-the-betrayal-by-helen-dunmore/article1656258/

Niall Ferguson's High Financier takes us to a time when bankers thought of themselves as rather like family doctors. The NY Times concludes that "The man who emerges from "High Financier" is more interesting for who he was than for what he did."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/books/review/Ahamed-t.html?ref=books

The Globe and Mail review of High Financier sees Siegmund Warburg differently, as someone for whom "money was never the end but always a means to a more abstract intellectual purpose".
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/review-high-financier-the-lives-and-times-of-siegmund-warburg-by-niall-ferguson/article1656057/

Christos Tsiolkas' Man Booker-longlisted novel The Slap is the most divisive Booker novel in years, described as "offensive", full of "unbelievable misogyny", and commendable author bravery in tackling uncomfortable truths.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/the-slap-christos-tsiolkas-booker

American short story writer Lydia Davis is famous for writing short pieces that are sometimes only a sentence long; still, they are stories.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/01/lydia-davis-interview-reaction-proust

COMMUNITY EVENTS

SUNSHINE COAST FESTIVAL OF THE WRITTEN ARTS
Join Canada's longest-running summer gathering of Canadian writers and readers, featuring established literary stars and exciting new voices, with opportunities for writers and readers to mingle amidst Rockwood's heritage gardens. August 12-15, 2010. Tickets are now on sale by phoning 1-800-565-9631 or 604-885-9631. Details at www.writersfestival.ca.

Upcoming

SUMMER DREAMS AWARDS CEREMONY
Celebrate those in the writing community who deserve to be honoured. Friday, August 20 at 7:00pm. Jacana Gallery (2435 Granville Street).

SUMMER DREAMS LITERARY ARTS FESTIVAL
Annual one day event showcasing and celebrating the on-going literary events, programs and resources available to the community. Features Evelyn Lau, Brad Cran and many others. Saturday, August 21. Complete details here, http://sites.google.com/site/summerdreamsfest/home.

JILL EDMONSON
Author reads from her new novel, Blood and Groom, part of the Castle Street Mysteries. Saturday, August 28 at 1:00pm. Indigo Marine Drive (1025 Marine Drive).

GARY GEDDES
Reading by the author from his latest book of poetry, Swimming Ginger. Monday, September 13 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen Room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3603.

SUSAN BOYD
Join the author as she reads from her book Hooked: Drug War Films in Britain, Canada and the United States. Wednesday, September 22 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen room, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information, phone 604-331-3738.

EVOLVE: VAMPIRE STORIES OF THE NEW UNDEAD
Listen to Vancouver writers Mary Choo, Sandra Wickham and Celdae (Colleen) Anderson, 3 of 22 Canadian authors featured in this most unusual and compelling collection as they re-imagine the future of vampires. Monday, September 27 at 7:00pm, free. Alma VanDusen & Peter Kaye rooms, lower level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia Street. For more information phone 604-331-3691.

MICHAEL NICHOLL YAHGULANAAS
Reading by the author of Red. Thursday, September 30 at 1:00pm, free. Lillooet Room (level 3), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall, Vancouver. More information at www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca.