Old Reading Matter

	Old Reading Matter
This page is archive material from the last century - 1998 & 9. It will be updated and better ordered when time allows, but basically from the top down are reading lists and the like, and from the bottom up, lists of all the major adult literary prize winners since they stopped giving out Crackerjack pencils - for a crackerjack awards listing site, try www.literature-awards.com excellent site for finding out who won what for writing what when - Smarties to Nobels and everything else inbetween. Also book reviews and .... For the best of the region's past click on West Midland Creative Literature Collection a century or more of regional writing from Jerome K Jerome to Jim Crace MORE OLDER NEWS FOR READERS Susan Hill, novelist and now editor/publisher, sends us news of her new web site. The new website for Long Barn Books and Books and Company is up and running. Please take a look. You can buy our interesting, intriguing and handsomely produced books direct using your credit/debit card via our secure server ; you can subscribe to the new quarterly magazine, BOOKS AND COMPANY, ` about books for those who delight in them.` I hope you will find much to interest you. Please re-visit from time to time for news of our latest titles and of the most recent issue of the magazine. And if you like it all, please tell friends who are interested in good books. We are small but the net is wide. Now go to www.longbarnbooks.co.uk Susan Hill Long Barn Books Publisher and Editor of Books and Company. 17th February 1999 Reviews The Swedish Cavalier by Leo Perutz (HarperCollins ISBN 0 00 271028 5) The Swedish Cavalier by Leo Perutz has been translated from the German by John Brownjohn. For me this novel has everything. There is a good plot (almost like a mystery or crime novel with some nice twists and turns). The early C18th setting is excellently evoked (with its background of Charles XII of Sweden's "religious" wars). On top of that there is humour and moral seriousness. I ended up reading it twice. G.W. (Stourport) Could it be Magic? by Paul Magrs (Chatto & Windus ISBN 0 7011 6694 0) A novel of English suburban domesticity where interpretations of normality go awry. Andy gets pregnant by a man tattooed with animals and gives birth to a leopard-skinned boy. Liz, the transsexual mother of the telekinetic Penny is the central figure of concern for the local neighbourhood. This is an everyday tale of their vigil as they wait to see what Liz brings back from "the other side". This book is the ordinary gone extraordinary with a highly developed and detailed cast. The most appealing aspect of the novel are the strong characters and the different magical qualities of their personalities. This is a feel-good book which will definitely make you smile. C.K. (Birmingham) The Salesman by Joseph O’Connor (Seckar & Warburg ISBN 0 436 20265 4) The hub of this novel is the complex, ambiguous and violent relationship between Sweeney and Quinn; as the novel opens Sweeney is the obvious victim and Quinn, unquestionably, the villain but as the story unfolds their roles begin to merge and the differences between them blur, as Sweeney plans his, inevitably botched, revenge. For me the appeal of Joseph O’Connor’s novel is the way the author manages to juxtapose scenes of bleak and relentless violence with moments of almost unbearable hilarity. I found Billy Sweeney’s narration of revenge and uneasy reconciliation and his mournful recollection of a lost love moving and darkly funny. The highlight of the novel is in O’Connor’s ability to turn the most seemingly mundane exchanges of dialogue into pieces of either lyrical beauty or high comedy. As Roddy Doyle writes, "Joseph O’Connor can conjure up poetry, hilarity and despair all in the same sentence." A. C. (Birmingham) The Boy Who Went Away by Eli Gottlieb (Jonathan Cape ISBN 0 224 04477 X) This novel of the baby boomer generation traces the devastating loss of an autistic brother and the desperate measures a mother is prepared to take to try and keep her family together against the clinical judgement of the medical profession, including her lover. The story is told from the point of view of Denny, brother of the autistic Fad, who spends a long hot summer spying on the disintegration of his family in an attempt to understand his feelings of sibling rivalry. As his mother and father are drawn together in their loss, Denny is left only with his remaining obsession, spying. C.K. (Birmingham)
Recommended Reading Clare Kelly recommends two books... "I have just finished reading two books, firstly 'A Certain Age' by Rebecca Ray. This book tells the story of a girl's teenage years and her relationship with an older man and all the conflicts she encounters with friends and family. I enjoyed this book because it wasn't just your average 'coming of age' novel with the obvious landmarks but instead it was shocking ina way that most young people could relate to. The author didn't censor one word so somehow it brough it to life, real life. The second book is 'Hidious Hinky' by Ester Freud. It was beautifully written and makes you really feel like travelling and exploring all the delights that other countries always have to offer. I really want to go to Morocco!" Thanks, Clare Kelly
Booklists Sally Odgers (aka Tegan James) I am a professional writer, and I never follow fashion in my reading matter. That's probably because I'm forced to follow it in my writing matter! Sallyo. http://www.angelfire.com/hi/mygoodbooks AMMIE COME HOME - Barbara Michaels Fantasy - romantic suspense - horror elements. Set in Georgetown. Main characters - Ruth Bennet (a 40 something widow) and Pat McDougal (a 50ish anthropologist.) Haunting, possession, humour and romance. Look out for a menacing shadow and a lazy dog! AT THE SIGN OF THE DOG AND ROCKET - Jan Mark Contemporary, set in a British pub. Main characters - Lilian (publican's daughter) and Tom Collins (a student teacher working in the pub as a holiday job). Funny and unsentimental. Look out for a dog called "The Yak" and a mah jong set. . BEAUTY - Robin McKinley Fantasy - fairytale based.. Main characters - Charity (known as "Beauty") and The Beast/Prince Charming, magical and such a delight not to have "ugly sisters"! Look out for roses and invisible servants. THE BLUE CASTLE - L.M. Montgomery 1920s Canadian romance, more or less contemporary when written. Main characters - Valancy Stirling (a 29 year old spinster.) Bernard (Barney Snaith) Redfern (a prodigal son, a recluse, a writer) A real fairytale romance with all the right ingredients. Look out for a rose bush and a necklace of clover blossoms! THE CATALOGUE OF THE UNIVERSE - Margaret Mahy Mystery romance, set in New Zealand. Main characters - Angela May (a beautiful 17-year-old who has never met her father.) Tycho Potter (the bashful, studious boy who has loved her for years.) An odd-couple romance that's absolutely right. Look out for a tee-shirt and a very special book. THE CHANGEOVER - Margaret Mahy Fantasy romance, set in New Zealand. Main characters - Laura Chant (a fourteen-year-old) and Sorenson (Sorry) Carlisle (a teenaged male witch) A nasty demon, a lot of emotional baggage and wonderful descriptions. Look out for a robe and a reflection. THE CLIFFS OF NIGHT - Beatrice Brandon Romantic suspense, set in Ireland. Main characters - Grania Kirk (an American/Irish actress) and Tommy O'Flaherty (an Irish folk-singer archaeologist) Dripping with Irish atmosphere, treasure hunting and villainy. Look out for a giant dog, a chess-board and a battle chariot. THE CROWN OF VIOLET - Geoffrey Trease Historical adventure, set in post Periclean Athens. Main characters - Alexis (a young Athenian playwright) Corinna (a flute-player.) Plots and intrigue and a wonderful setting. Look out for a message and a grasshopper brooch. DEEP SECRET - Diana Wynne Jones. Fantasy adventure romance, set in London, Bristol and other worlds. Main characters - Maree Mallory (a witch who doesn't know it) and Rupert Venables (a witch who does!) Fast, furious, magical, wonderful. Look out for a wounded centaur and a witchy dance. THE DOOR INTO SUMMER - Robert Heinlein. Fantasy romance time travel. Written in the '50s, set in 1970 and 2001. Main characters - Daniel Davis (inventor) and Frederika Heinicke (his partner's daughter) Time travel, romance and betrayal! Old sci fi, but still fun. Look out for a robot and a self-opinionated cat. ENOUGH IS TOO MUCH ALREADY - Jan Mark. Linked short stories. Cock-eyed realism, tall-story tradition. Main characters - Maurice, Nina and Nadge, three teenagers resitting their exams. Odd, screamingly funny, original, intelligent. Look out for a radish and a hamster. ENVOY - Shannah Jay. Science fiction romance futuristic. Main characters - Channa (a peace envoy for her planet) and Joran (an interplanetary mediator) Science fiction, thoughtful, original, satisfying. Look out for a uniform and a chair. FIRE AND HEMLOCK - Diana Wynne Jones Fantasy romance, myth based. Main characters - Polly (a student) and Tom Lynne (a modern-day version of Tam Lin) An intricate fantasy of memory, music and manipulation. Look out for a horse and a car. THE HEROINE'S SISTER - Frances Murray Historical romance, set in Victorian Venice. Main characters - Mary (a very tall pianist) and Todara (a Venetian aristocrat/anti-Austrian activist.) Funny, exciting, full of wonderful one-liners. Look out for a gondola, a pig and a wig. HEXWOOD - Diana Wynne Jones Fantasy romance. With some sci-fi elements Main characters - Vierran (of the House of Balance, who believes she's someone else) and Mordion (an ex-assassin who has lost his memory) Intricate, puzzling, starry, full of magical echoes. Look out for a robot, a dragon and a forest. HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE - Diana Wynne Jones Fantasy romance, set in Wales and Ingary. Main characters - Sophie Hatter (a teenager who has been transformed into a very old woman) and Wizard Howl (aka Howell Jenkins) a wizard in Ingary, a human in our world. Joyful, puzzling, full of unexpected magic and power.. Look out for a skull, a castle and a staff. NIGHTFALL - Joan Aiken Thriller romance. Main characters - Meg (a young woman who is missing a piece of her past) and Toby, the young man who helps her to find it. A perfectly crafted little thriller, with romance, danger and heart. Look out for a cat and a villain. NIGHT TRAIN TO MEMPHIS - Elizabeth Peters Thriller romance, set mainly in Egypt. Main characters - Vicky Bliss (a doctor who works at a museum at Munich) and John Tregarth (a charming and slightly reformed thief). An adventure that's funny, exciting,frightening, touching and ultimately charming. Look out for a boat and a vicious villain. ON A PALE HORSE - Piers Anthony Fantasy, set in an alternative Earth. Main characters - Zane, (a suicidal young man who takes on the role of Thanatos, or Death personified), Luna, (his lady), and Mortis, (a horse who is sometimes a car). Bold, funny, and imaginative. Look out for a wealthstone, a carpet and a glorious set piece in a geriatric hospital. THE PERILOUS GARD - Elizabeth Marie Pope Fantasy historical romance - set in Tudor Britain. Main characters - Katherine (Kate) Sutton (a Tudor maid of honour) and Christopher Heron (a second son who is stolen by the "faeries") Magical, beguiling, perfect, a romantic brew of misdirection and sleight of hand.. Look out for a berry, a letter, a gown and a horse. PLAYING BEATIE BOW - Ruth Park * Fantasy - time-travel. Set in Sydney. Main character - Abigail (a Sydney teenager whisked into the past). Evocative, honest and, ultimately, reassuring. Look out for a lace collar, a game and a shop. POLYMER - Sally Rodgers-Davidson Science fiction romance, futuristic. Main characters - Polly Meridian (a student in the future) and Ray (the emotionally damaged son of a galactic Empress) Gutsy, exciting, fast-moving science fiction with plenty of heart. Look out for a collar and a villain who isn't. POPINJAY STAIRS - Geoffrey Trease Historical novel. Set in Pepys' England. Main characters - Denzil (assistant to Mr Pepys) and Deborah (a playwright) Historical adventure at its best, fast and furious and very accessible. Look out for a boat and a high window. THE PRINCESS WHO HATED IT - Robin Klein Picture Story Book. Main characters - The Princess and Polly Delightful, full of humour and happiness. Look out for a crown and some toes. THE TOLL GATE - Georgette Heyer Regency romance. Main characters - Nell (a Regency Miss) and Captain John Staple (her love at first sight.) Murder and mystery, danger, fun and laughter. Look out for a tunnel and a charming secondary odd-couple romance. TOUCH NOT THE CAT - Mary Stewart Fantasy romantic suspense. Main characters - Briony and Rob (her psychic lover). Mystery and danger, love and detection. Look out for a flood and a nightingale. TRANSLATIONS IN CELADON - Sally Odgers Fantasy romance. Set in Tasmania and Celadon. Main characters - Rosanna Hopestill (a student with more creative power than she realises) and Rafe Winter (a student who is a sometime werewolf) Something that turned out right for me! Look out for a pool and a wild cherry ledge. TRINITY STREET - Sally Odgers Sci/fi time travel romance. Set in Tasmania. Main characters - Estelle (Tell) Clancy (a girl with a great capacity for love) and Gerhardt Watchman (a timetraveller who needs it) Another one that turned out right! Look out for a yacht and a time veil. THE UNKNOWN AJAX - Georgette Heyer Regency romance. Main characters - Anthea (a Regency Miss) and Hugo (her North-country cousin) Plots and counterplots, danger, fun and laughter. Look out for a grouchy grandfather and a giant major. WITCHBANK - Catherine Jinks Fantasy. Set in an Australia bank. Main characters - Heather Gough (a girl with a talent for "invisibility") and Jasper (a computer technician with a difference) Witchcraft in the office! Fast-moving, fun and original. Look out for a paper knife and a computer disk. Castle Gates Reading Group - Shrewsbury This Booklist has been collated by members of the Castle Gates Reading Group in Shrewsbury (see "Writers & Readers" section for more details of this group). Surfacing by Margaret Atwood Behind the scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge A Visit from Don Octavio by Sybil Bedford Providence by Anita Brookner On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin St Agnes Stand by Thomas Eidson Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden A Personal History by Katherine Graham Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson Salvoes from a Stone Frigate by Major J S Hicks A Shropshire Lad by A E Housman Richard Thompson: Strange Affair by Patrick Humphries Prose by Rudyard Kipling The Orchard on Fire by Shena Mackay Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken Forsaking all Others and The White Cliffs by Alice Duer Miller Down by the River by Edna O'Brien Orwell by Michael Sheldon The Image by Isaac Bashevis Singer Last Master (Volumes I & II) by John Suchet The Beautiful Mrs Seidenman by Andrzej Szczypiorski South by Colm Toibin Openign the Book by Rachel van Riel A Peep Behind the Scenes by Mrs O F Walton A GOOD READ FOR �1 This Booklist was written by Mary Cutler, Literature Development Worker for Worcestershire Libraries, and was compiled from books in the Wordsworth �1 Classics series. Well-known authors/lesser known books Mansfield Park - Jane Austen Perhaps the most adult of the Jane Austen works; certainly the most sexual. The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett Reading this novel a miracle happens - before your eyes time passes as you live the heroine's lives along with her. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte What could a woman married to a violent alcoholic in Victorian England do about her plight? You'd be surprised. Vilette - Charlotte Bronte What happens to a Jane Eyre when Mr Rochester doesn't turn up? Dombey & Son - Charles Dickens His best examination of the unequal relationship between the sexes in Victorian England and the devastating social and psychological consequences. Felix Holt, the radical - George Eliot Electioneering in Victorian England - dirty tricks, sleaze, corruption, media manipulation - sound familiar? North and South - Mrs Gaskell The original mill there was trouble at. The Nice World of it’s day. New Grub Street - George Gissing If you think our press are reptiles - literary low life doesn't change. A Pair of Blue Eyes - Thomas Hardy The original cliff-hanger - our heroine finds a very original use for her bloomers. Best short stories - Rudyard Kipling Best short story writer - complex, compassionate, amused and amusing. Sons and lovers - D H Lawrence "And tha's never done a day's work in tha' life" said Lawrence's dad when he heard his son was getting paid for this book - see if you agree. Tristram Shandy - Lawrence Sterne Ends four years before it begins, contains black pages, marbled pages, diagrams and some of the funniest writing and characters in literature. The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope If you thought the 1980's were cut-throat, try the 1880's. As good a critique of Victorian capitalism as Das Kapital - and slightly more readable. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde Is there a picture in your attic? Wilde's sharp pen delineates horror - with terrifying results. Orlando - Virginia Woolf Starts as a man, finishes as a woman, born in one Elizabethan England, still alive in the next, Orlando is a hero/ine for all times and most seasons. European Selected Stories - Anton Chekhov As psychologically delicate, amusing and poignant a fiction writer as he is a playwright. The Idiot - Dostoevskii Compelling, hypnotic, terrifying - Russia and the Russian soul laid bare. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas One of the best plots you'll ever read and at 896 pages probably the best value for money. Madame Bovary - Flaubert The ultimate romantic novel - Emma Bovary lives her life like cheap fiction and it destroys her. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo You've seen the musical - compelling historic drama, Waterloo, revolution and the sewers. Best short stories - Maupassant Best short story writer : cold-eyed, maybe even coldhearted but never less than terrifyingly truthful. War and Peace - Tolstoy Lives up to its breathtaking title, the surprise is the 992 pages flash by as you are carried along by story and character. Fathers and Sons - Turgenev We didn't invent the generation gap - a Russian spin on the age old battle from one of their most gifted writers. Candide - Voltaire Everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Or is it? American The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane The classic examination of the true experience of the battlefield, far from glorious. The Great Gatsby - Scott Fitzgerald Another ultimate romantic novel - Gatsby lives the romantic myth and it destroys him too. The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne The dark secret at the heart of Puritanism - American hypocrisy laid bare. The Turn of the Screw and The Aspern Papers - Henry James The first and best psychological ghost and horror story - read only in broad daylight. Moby Dick - Herman Melville Captain Ahab thought it was safe to go back into the water.... The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton As psychologically complex and sociologically incisive as Henry James and twice as readable 3.) The shortlist for the 1998 Birmingham Cable Children's Book Awards Age Range: 7 - 11 Pirate Pandemonium by Jeremy Strong Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone by J K Rowling The Amazing Adventures of Soupy Boy! by Damon Burnard Operation X by Malaika Rose Stanley My Mum & Other Horrow Stories by Meg Harper Age Range: 12 - 16 Dancing Through the Shadows by Theresa Tomlinson Dreamstalker by Sue Welford Wastelanders by Ian Strachan The Track of the Wind by Jamila Gavin The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Literary Prizes - Winners & Shortlisted (with thanks to Shropshire Libraries for these lists) ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION Set up in 1996 to celebrate the best fiction written by women throughout the world. �30,000 prize + bronze figurine 'Bessie'. Anonymously endowed. Sponsored by Orange ( http://www.prize.orange.co.uk) 1996 Helen Dunmore A Spell of Winter (Viking) 1997 Anne Michaels Fugitive Pieces (Bloomsbury) 1998 Carol Shields Larry's Party Shortlisted: Kirsten Bakis Lives of the Monster Dogs Pauline Melville The Ventriloquist's Tale Ann Patchett The Magician's Assistant Deirdre Purcell Love like Hate Adore Anita Shreve The Weight of Water BOOKER PRIZE Established in 1968 by Booker McConnell Ltd to reward merit, raise the stature of authors in the eyes of the public, and increase sales of books. It is open to authors who are citizens of Britain, the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland, or South Africa, and whose book has been published in the twelve months to end of September. *1970 Bernice Rubens The Elected Member* (Eyre & Spotiswoode)** A L Barker John Brown's Body (Hogarth Press) Elizabeth Bowen Eva Trout (Cape) Iris Murdoch Bruno's Dream (Chatto) William Trevor Mrs Eckdorf in O'Neill's Hotel (Bodley Head) T Wheeler The Conjunction (Angus & Robertson) *1971 V S Naipaul In a Free State* (Deutsch)** Thomas Kilroy The Big Chapel (Faber) Doris Lessing Briefing for a Descent into Hell (Cape) Mordecai Richler St Urbain's Horseman (Weidenfield & Nicolson) Derek Robinson Goshawk Squadron (Heinemann) Elizabeth Taylor Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (Chatto) 1972 John Berger G (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) Susan Hill Bird of Night (Hamish Hamilton) Thomas Keneally The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith (Angus & Robertson) David Storey Pasmore (Longman) 1973 J G Farrell The Siege of Krishnapur (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) Beryl Bainbridge The Dressmaker (Duckworth) Elizabeth Mavor The Green Equinox (Michael Joseph) Iris Murdoch The Black Prince (Chatto) *1974 Nadine Gordimer The Conservationist* (Cape)** Stanley Middleton Holiday (Hutchinson) Kingsley Amis Ending Up (Cape) Beryl Bainbridge The Bottle Factory Outing (Duckworth) C P Snow In Their Wisdom (Macmillan) *1975 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala Heat and Dust* (John Murray)** Thomas Kineally Gossip from the Forest (Collins) *1976 David Storey Saville* (Cape)** Andr� Brink An Instant in the Wind (W H Allen) R G Hutchinson Rising (Michael Joseph) Brian Moore The Doctor's Wife (Cape) Julian Rathbone King Fisher Lives (Michael Joseph) William Trevor The Children of Dynmouth (Bodley Head) *1977 Paul Scott Staying On* (Heinemann)** Paul Bailey Peter Smart's Confessions (Cape) Caroline Blackwood Great Granny Webster (Duckworth) Jennifer Johnston Shadows On Our Skin (Hamish Hamilton) Penelope Lively The Road To Lichfield (Heinemann) Barbara Pym Quartet in Autumn (Macmillan) 1978 Iris Murdoch The Sea, The Sea (Chatto) Kingsley Amis Jake's Thing (Hutchinson) Andr� Brink Rumours of Rain (W H Allen) Penelope Fitgerald The Bookshop (Duckworth) Jane Gardam God on The Rocks (Hamish Hamilton) Bernice Rubens A Five Year Sentence (W H Allen) *1979 Penelope Fitzgerald Offshore* (Collins)** Thomas Kineally Confederates (Collins) V S Naipaul A Bend in The River (Deutsch) Julian Rathbone Joseph (Michael Joseph) Fay Weldon Praxis (Hodder) *1980 William Golding Rites of Passage* (Faber)** Anthony Burgess Earthly Powers (Hutchinson) J L Carr A Month In The Country (Harvester) Anita Desai Clear Light of Day (Heinemann) Alice Munro The Beggar Maid (Allen Lane) Julia O'Faolain No Country For Young Men (Allen Lane) Barry Unsworth Pascali's Island (Michael Joseph) *1981 Salman Rushdie Midnight's Children* (Cape)** Molly Keane Good Behaviour (Deutsch) Doris Lessing The Sirian Experiments (Cape) Ian McEwan The Comfort of Strangers (Cape) Anne Schlee Rhine Journey (MacMillan) Muriel Spark Loitering with Intent (Bodley Head) D M Thomas The White Hotel (Gollancz) *1982 Thomas Kineally Schindler's Ark* (Hodder)** John Arden Silence among the Weapons (Methuen) William Boyd An Ice-Cream War (Hamish Hamilton) Lawrence Durrell Constance or Solitary Practices (Faber) Alice Thomas Ellis The 27th Kingdom (Duckworth) Timothy Mo Sour Sweet (Deutsch) *1983 J M Coetzee Life and Times of Michael K* (Secker)** Malcolm Bradbury Rites of Exchange (Secker) John Fuller Flying to Nowhere (Salamander Press) Anita Mason The Illusionist (Hamish Hamilton) Salman Rushdie Shame (Cape) Graham Swift Waterland (Heinemann) *1984 Anita Brookner Hotel du Lac* (Cape)** J G Ballard Empire of the Sun (Gollancz) Julian Barnes Flaubert's Parrot (Cape) Anita Desai In Custody (Heinemann) Penelope Lively According to Mark (Heinemann) David Lodge Small World (Secker) *1985 Keri Hulme The Bone People* (Hodder*) Peter Carey Illywhacker* (Faber) J L Carr The Battle of Pollock's Crossing (Viking) Doris Lessing The Good Terrorist (Cape) Jan Morris Last Letters From Hav (Viking) Iris Murdoch The Good Apprentice (Chatto) *1986 Kingsley Amis The Old Devils* (Hutchinson)** Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale (Cape) Paul Bailey Gabriels Lament (Cape) Robertson Davies What's Bred In The Bone (Viking) Kazuo Ishiguro An Artist Of The Floating World (Faber) Timothy Mo An Insular Possession (Chatto) 1987 Penelope Lively Moon Tiger (Deutsch) Chinua Achebe Anthills of the Savannah (Heinemann) Peter Ackroyd Chatterton (Hamish Hamilton) Nina Bawden Circles of Deceit (Macmillian) Brian Moore The Colour of Blood (Cape) Iris Murdoch The Book and the Brotherhood (Chatto) *1988 Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda* (Faber)** Bruce Chatwin Utz (Cape) Penelope Fitzgerald The Beginning Of Spring (Collins) David Lodge Nice Work (Secker & Warburg) Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses (Viking) Marina Warner The Lost Father (Chatto) *1989 Kazuo Ishiguro The Remains Of The Day* (Faber*) Margaret Attwood Cat's Eye* (Bloomsbury) John Banville The Book Of Evidence (Secker) Sybille Bedford Jigsaw (Hamish Hamilton) James Kelman A Disaffection (Secker) Rose Tremain Restoration (Hamish Hamilton) *1990 A S Byatt Possession* (Chatto)** Beryl Bainbridge An Awfully Big Adventure (Duckworth) Penelope Fitzgerald Gate Of Angels (Collins) John McGahern Amongst Women (Faber) Brian Moore Lies of Silence (Bloomsbury) Mordecai Richler Solomon Gursky Was Here (Chatto) 1991 Ben Okri The Famished Road (Cape) Martin Amis Time's Arrow (Cape) Roddy Doyle The Van (Secker) Rohinton Mistry Such a Long Journey (Faber) Timothy Mo The Redundancy of Courage (Chatto) William Trevor Reading Turgenev (Viking) *1992 Michael Ondaatjie The English Patient* (Bloomsbury)** Barry Unsworth Sacred Hunger (Hamish Hamilton) Christopher Hope Serenity House (Macmillan) Patrick McCabe The Butcher Boy (Picador) Ian McEwan Black Dogs (Cape) Mich�le Roberts Daughters Of The House (Virago) *1993 Roddy Doyle Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha* (Secker)** Michael Ignatieff Scar Tissue (Vintage) David Malouf Remembering Babylon (Vintage) Caryl Phillips Crossing The River (Picador) Carol Shields The Stone Diaries (Fourth Estate) Tibor Fischer Under The Frog (Polygon) *1994 James Kelman How Late It Was, How Late* (Secker & Warburg)** George Mackay Brown Beside The Ocean Of Time (John Murray) Romesh Gunesekera Reef (Granta) Abdulrazak Gurnah Paradise (Hamish Hamilton) Alan Hollinghurst The Folding Star (Chatto & Windus) Jill Paton Walsh Knowledge of Angels (Colt Books) 1995 *Pat Barker The Ghost Road* (Viking)** Justin Cartwright In Every Face I Met (Sceptre) Salman Rushdie The Moor's Last Sigh (Jonathan Cape) Tim Winston Riders (Picador) Barry Unsworth Morality Play (Hamish Hamilton) *1996 Graham Swift Last Orders* (Picador*) Margaret Atwood Alias Grace* (Bloomsbury) Beryl Bainbridge Every Man for Himself (Duckworth) Seamus Deane Reading in the Dark (Jonathan Cape) Shena Mackay The Orchard on Fire (Heinemann) Robinton Mistry A Fine Balance (Faber and Faber) BRITISH BOOK AWARDS Known as the 'Nibbies', the awards are the book trade's equivalent of the Oscars. They are awarded in February each year for several categories, including best author and the book of the year. Fiction 1950 The Man With The Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1951 The Collected Stories of William Faulkner 1952 From Here to Eternity James Jones 1953 Invisible Man Ralph Ellison 1954 The Adventures Of Augie March Saul Bellow 1955 A Fable William Faulkner 1956 Ten North Frederick John O'Hara 1957 The Field Of Vision Wright Morris 1958 The Wapshot Chronicle John Cheever 1959 The Magic Barrel Bernard Malamud 1960 Goodbye, Colombus Philip Roth 1961 The Waters Of Kronos Conrad Richter 1962 The Moviegoer Walker Percy 1963 Morte d'Urban J F Powers 1964 The Centaur John Updike 1965 Herzog Saul Bellow 1966 The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter Katherine Anne Porter 1967 The Fixer Bernard Malamud 1968 The Eight Day Thornton Wilder 1969 Steps Jerzy Kosinski 1970 Them Joyce Carol Oates 1971 Mr Sammler's Planet Saul Bellow 1972 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor 1973 Augustus John Williams & Chimera John Barth 1974 Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon & A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories Isaac Bashevis Singer 1975 The Hair of Harold Roux Thomas Williams & Dog Soldieres Robeert Stone 1976 JR William Gaddis 1977 The Spectator Bird Wallace Stegner 1978 Blood Ties Mary Lee Settle 1979 Going After Cacciato Tim O'Brien 1980 Sophie's Choice William Styron 1981 Plains Song Wright Morris 1982 Rabbit is Rich John Updike 1983 The Color Purple Alice Walker 1984 Victory Over Japan Ellen Gilchrist 1985 White Noise Don DeLillo 1986 World's Fair E L Doctorow 1987 Paco's Story Larry Heinemann 1988 Paris Trout Pete Dexter 1989 Spartina John Casey 1990 Middle Passage Charles Johnson 1991 Mating Norman Rush 1992 All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy 1993 The Shipping News E Annie Proulx 1994 A Frolic of His Own William Gaddis 1995 Sabbath's Theater Phillip Roth 1996 Ship Fever and Other Stories Andrea Barrett General Non-Fiction 1988 A Bright Shining Lie Neil Sheehan 1989 From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L Friedman 1990 The House of Morgan Ron Chernow 1991 Freedom Orlando Patterson 1992 Becoming a Man Paul Monette 1993 United States - Essays from 1952 1922 Gore Vidal 1994 How We Die Sherwin Newland 1995 The Haunted Land Tina Rosenberg 1996 An American Requiem James Carroll GUARDIAN FICTION PRIZE �1,000 prize for a novel published by a British or Commonwealth writer, selected by four Guardian reviewers and literary editor in November each year. 1965 Clive Barry Crumb Borne (Faber) 1966 Archie Hind The Dear Green (Hutchinson) 1967 Eva Figes Winter Journey (Faber) 1968 P J Kavanagh A Song and a Dance (Chatto & Windus) 1969 Maurice Leitch Poor Lazarus (MacGibbon & Kee) 1970 Margaret Blount Where Did You Last See Your Father? (Hutchinson) 1971 Thomas Kilroy The Big Chapel (Faber) 1972 John Berger "G" (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) 1973 Peter Redgrove In the Country of the Skin (Routledge & Keegan Paul) 1974 Beryl Bainbridge The Bottle Factory Outing (Duckworth) 1975 Sylvia Clayton Friends & Romans (Faber) 1976 Robert Nye Falstaff (Hamish Hamilton) 1977 Michael Moorcock The Condition of Muzak (Allison & Busby) 1978 Roy A K Heath The Murderer (Allison & Busby) 1979 Neil Jordan Night in Tunisia (Writers & Readers Publishers Corporation) Dambudzo Merechera The House of Hunger (Heinemann Educational) 1980 J L Carr A Month in the Country (Harvester Press) 1981 John Banville Kepler (Secker & Warburg) 1982 Glyn Hughes Where I Used to Play on the Green (Gollancz) 1983 Graham Swift Waterland (Heinemann) 1984 J G Ballard The Empire of the Sun (Gollancz) 1985 Peter Ackroyd Hawksmoor (Hamish Hamilton) 1986 Jim Crace Continent (Heinemann) 1987 Peter Benson The Levels (Constable) 1988 Lucy Ellman Sweet Desserts (Virago) 1989 Carol Lake Rosehill (Bloomsbury) 1990 Pauline Melville Shape-Shifter (Women's Press) 1991 Alan Judd The Devil's Own Work (Harper Collins) 1992 Alasdair Gray Poor Things (Bloomsbury) 1993 Pat Barker The Eye in the Door (Viking) 1994 Candida McWilliam Debatable Land (Bloomsbury) 1995 James Buchan Heart's Journey in Winter (Harvill) 1996 Seamus Deane Reading in the Dark (Jonathan Cape) NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE Founded by Alfred Nobel, dynamite inventor, the Literature Award is for outstanding achievement. First awarded in 1901, the prize money in 1996 was �700,000. Winners Since 1951 1951 P�r Lagerkvist (Sweden) 1952 Fran�ois Mauriac (France) 1953 Winston S Churchill (United Kingdom) 1954 Ernest Hemingway (United States) 1955 Halld�r Laxness (Iceland) 1956 Juan Ramon Jim�nez (Spain) 1957 Albert Camus (France) 1958 Boris Pasternak (USSR - prize declined) 1959 Salvatore Quasimodo (Italy) 1960 Saint-John Perse (France) 1961 Ivo Andric (Yugoslavia) 1962 John Steinbeck (United States) 1963 George Seferis (Greece) 1964 Jean-Paul Sartre (France) 1965 Mikhail Sholokov (USSR) 1966 Schmuel Agnon (Israel Nelly Sachs (West Germany) 1967 Miguel Angel Asturias (Guatemala) 1968 Yasunari Kawabata (Japan) 1969 Samuel Beckett (Ireland) 1970 Alexander Solzhenitsyn (USSR) 1971 Pablo Neruda (Chile) 1972 Heinrich B�ll (West Germany) 1973 Patrick White (Australian) 1974 Eyvind Johnson/Harry Martinson (Sweden) 1975 Eugenio Montale (Italy) 1976 Saul Bellow (United States) 1977 Vincente Aleixandre (Spain) 1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer (United States) 1979 Odysseus Eltys (Greece) 1980 Czeslaw Milosz (Poland/United States) 1981 Elias Canetti (United Kingdom) 1982 Gabriel Garci� Marquez (Colombia) 1983 William Golding (United Kingdom) 1984 Jaroslav Seifert (Czechoslovakia) 1985 Claude Simon (France) 1986 Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) 1987 Joseph Brodsky (USSR) 1988 Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt) 1989 Camilio Jos� Cela (Spain) 1990 Octavia Paz (Mexico) 1991 Nadine Gordimere (South Africa) 1992 Derek Walcott (St Lucia) 1993 Toni Morrison (United States) 1994 Kenzaburo Oe (Japan) 1995 Seamus Heaney (Ireland) 1996 Wislawa Szymborska (Poland) 1997Dario Fo (Italy) 1998 Jose Saramago (Portugal) 1999 G�nter Grass (Germany) thanks to Jan de Geus from the Netherlands for reminding us about the last three. Who will win in 2000? PULITZER PRIZE Established in 1903 by the American journalist and publisher Joseph Pulitzer, founder of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. The prizes are awarded 'to encourage public service, public morals, American literature and the advancement of education' and are for published literature by American nationals. The Fiction Prize was first awarded in 1948. 1973 Eudora Welty The Optimist's Daughter (Random Century) 1974 No Award 1975 Michael Shaara The Killer Angels (McKay) 1976 Saul Bellow Humboldt's Gift (Viking) 1977 No Award 1978 James Allen MacPherson Elbow Room (Atlantic) 1979 John Cheever The Stories of John Cheever (Knopf) 1980 Norman Mailer Executioner's Song (Hutchinson) 1981 John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces (Allen Lane) 1982 John Updike Rabbit is Rich (Deutsch) 1983 Alice Walker The Colour Purple (Women's Press) 1984 William Kennedy Ironweed (Viking) 1985 Alison Lurie Foreign Affairs (Michael Joseph) 1986 Larry McMurtry Lonesome Dove (Pan) 1987 Peter Taylor A Summons to Memphis (Chatto) 1988 Toni Morrison Beloved (Chatto) 1989 Anne Tyler Breathing Lessons (Chatto) 1990 Oscar Hijuelos The Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love (Hamish Hamilton) 1991 John Updike Rabbit At Rest (Deutsch) 1992 Jane Smiley A Thousand Acres (Flamingo) 1993 Robert Olen Butler A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain (Minerva) 1994 E Annie Proulx The Shipping News (Fourth Estate) 1995 Carol Shields The Stone Diaries (Fourth Estate) 1996 Richard Ford Independance Day (Harvill) 1997 Steven Millhauser Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer (Crown) W. H. SMITH LITERARY AWARD Founded in 1959 for work by a citizen of the UK, Republic of Ireland or the Commonwealth and awarded for the most outstanding contribution to English literature. Open to any work, not just novels or poetry. Previous winners 1959 Patrick White Voss (Eyre & Spottiswoode) novel 1960 Laurie Lee Cider with Rosie (Hogarth Press) novel 1961 Nadine Gordimer Friday's Footprint (Gollancz) short stories 1962 J R Ackerley We think the world of you (Bodley Head) novel 1963 Gabriel Fielding The Birthday King (Hutchinson) novel 1964 Ernst H Gombrich Meditations on a Hobby Horse (Phiadon Press) essays 1965 Leonard Woolf Beginning Again (Hogarth Press) autobiography 1966 R C Hutchinson A Child Possessed (Geoffrey Bles) novel 1967 Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea (Andre Deutsch) novel 1968 V S Naipaul The Mimic Men (Andre Deutsch) novel 1969 Robert Gittings John Keats (Heinemann) biography 1970 John Fowles The French Lieutenants Woman (Jonathan Cape) novel 1971 Nan Fairbrother New Lives, New Landscapes (Architectural Press) landscape 1972 Kathleen Raine The Lost Country (Dolmen Press) poetry 1973 Brian Moore Catholics (Jonathan Cape) novel 1974 Anthony Powell Temporary Kings (Heinemann) novel 1975 Jon Stallworthy Wilfred Owen (OUP & Chatto) biography 1976 Seamus Heaney North (Faber & Faber) poetry 1977 Ronald Lewin Slim: the Standardbearer (Leo Cooper) biography 1978 Patrick Leigh Fermor A Time of Gifts (John Murray) travel autobiography 1979 Mark Girouard Life in the English Country House (Yale UP) social/arch. Hist 1980 Thom Gunn Selected Poems 1959-75 (Faber & Faber) poetry 1981 Isabel Colegate The Shooting Party (Hamish Hamilton) novel 1982 George Clare Last Waltz in Vienna (Macmillan) family history 1983 A N Wilson Wise Virgin (Secker & Warburg) novel 1984 Philip Larkin Required Writing (Faber & Faber) essays, articles 1985 David Hughes The Pork Butcher (Constable) novel 1986 Doris Lessing The Good Terrorist (Jonathan Cape) novel 1987 Elizabeth Jennings Collected Poems 1953-1985 (Carcanet) poetry 1988 Robert Hughes The Fatal Shore (Collins Harvill) history 1989 Christopher Hill A turbulent seditious and factious people: John Bunyan and his Church (OUP) biography 1990 V S Pritchett A Careless Widow & other stories (Chatto & Windus) short stories 1991 Derek Walcott Omeros (Faber & Faber) epic poem 1992 Thomas Pakenham The Scramble for Africa (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) history 1993 Michele Roberts Daughters of the House (Virago) novel 1994 Vikram Seth A Suitable Boy (Orion) novel 1995 Alice Munro Open Secrets (Vintage) short stories 1996 Simon Schama Landscape and Memory (Harper Collins) history THUMPING GOOD READ Established in 1992 to promote new writers of popular fiction, the prize is worth �5,000. 1996 Andrew Klavan True Crime (Warne) Shortlisted: Liz Rigbey Total Eclipse (Orion) David Ambrose Mother of God (Macmillan) Thomas H Cook Breakheart Hill (Corgi) Marcelle Bernstein Sacred & Profane (Bantam) P D James Original Sin (Penguin) WHITBREAD Established in 1971 for writers resident in Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland, the prizes are worth �21,000 for the Book of the Year, and �2,000 for all nominees. In 1996, the categories were altered to include a Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award. The awards are administered by the Booksellers Association. 1985 Novel Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd First Novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit Jeanette Winterson Biography Hugh Dalton Ben Pimlott Children's Novel The Nature of the Beast Janni Howker Poetry Elegies Douglas Dunn 1986 Novel An Artist Of The Floating World Kanzuo Ishiguro First Novel Continent Jim Crace Biography Gilbert White Richard Mabey Children's Novel The Coal House Andrew Taylor 1987 Novel The Child In Time Ian McEwan First Novel The Other Garden Francis Wyndham Biography Under The Eye Of The Clock Christopher Nolan Childrens Novel A Little Lower Than The Angels Geraldine McCaughrean Poetry The Haw Lantern Seamus Heaney 1988 Novel The Satanic Verses Salman Rushdie First Novel The Comforts Of Madness Paul Sayer Biography Tolstoy A N Wilson Children's Novel Awaiting Developments Judy Allen Poetry The Automatic Oracle Peter Porter 1989 Novel The Chymical Wedding Lindsay Clarke First Novel Gerontius James Hamilton Paterson Biography Coleridge: The Early Years Richard Holmes Children's Novel Why Weeps The Brogan Hugh Scott Poetry Shibboleth Michael Donaghy 1990 Novel Hopeful Monsters Nicholas Mosley First Novel The Buddha of Suburbia Hanif Kureishi Biography A A Milne Anne Thwaite Children's Novel A K Peter Dickinson Poetry Daddy, Daddy, Paul Durcan 1991 Novel The Queen Of The Tambourine Jane Gardam First Novel Alma Cogan Gordon Burn Biography A Life Of Picasso John Richardson Children's Novel Harvey Angell Diana Hendry Poetry Gorse Fires Michael Longley 1992 Novel Poor Things Alasdair Gray First Novel Swing Hammer Swing! Jeff Torrington Biography Trollope Victoria Glendinning Children's Novel The Great Elephant Chase Gillian Cross Poetry The Gaze of the Gorgon Tony Harrison 1993 Novel Theory of War Joan Brady First Novel Saving Agnes Rachel Cusk Biography Phillip Larkin Andrew Motion Children's Novel Flour Babies Anne Fine Poetry Mean Time Carol Ann Duffy 1994 Novel Felicia's Journey William Trevor (Viking) First Novel The Longest Memory Fred D'Aguiar (Chatto) Biography The Married Man Brenda Maddox (Sinclair-Stevenson) Children's Novel Gold Dust Geraldine McCaughrean (Oxford) Poetry Out of Danger James Fenton (Penguin) 1995 Novel The Moor's Last Sigh Salman Rushdie (Jonathon Cape) First Novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson (Black Swan) Biography Gladstone Roy Jenkins (Macmillian) Children's Novel The Wreck of the Zanzibar Michael Morpugo (Mammoth) Poetry Gunpowder Bernard O'Donoghue (Chatto) 1996 Novel Every Man for Himself Beryl Bainbridge (Duckworth) First Novel The Debt to Pleasure John Lanchester (Picador) Biography Thomas Cranmer: A Life Diarmaid MacCulloch (Yale University Press) Children's Novel Tulip Touch Anne Fine (Hamish Hamilton) Poetry Spirit Level Seamus Heaney (Faber and Faber)
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Last modified: January 26, 2001