• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2008

Stewart

Stewart

Active Member
The longlist has been announced;

  • The Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani
  • The Room of Lost Things, Stella Duffy
  • The Keep, Jennifer Egan
  • The Gathering, Anne Enright
  • The Clothes on Their Backs, Linda Grant
  • The Master Bedroom, Tessa Hadley
  • Fault Lines, Nancy Huston
  • Sorry, Gail Jones
  • The Outcast, Sadie Jones
  • The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, Lauren Liebenberg
  • When We Were Bad, Charlotte Mendelson
  • In The Dark, Deborah Moggach
  • Mistress, Anita Nair
  • Lullabies for Little Criminals, Heather O'Neill
  • The Bastard of Istanbul, Elif Shafak
  • The Septembers of Shiraz, Dalia Sofer
  • The End of Mr Y, Scarlett Thomas
  • Monster Love, Carol Topolski
  • The Road Home, Rose Tremain
  • Lottery, Patricia Wood
Can't say any tempt me. I've only read one, the Booker winning The Gathering by Anne Enright. Has any one read any of the others?
 
A couple of snippets about this year's prize:

The much derided "misery memoir" has infected fiction authored by women, according to the chair of judges of the Orange Broadband Prize.

"Reading 120 books I did find myself thinking, 'Oh god, not another dead baby'," said Kirsty Lang, as the longlist for the prize was announced. "There were a hell of a lot of abused children and family secrets."

Last year's chair, Muriel Gray, provoked controversy when she criticised women's writing for addressing domestic themes rather than working on a broader canvas. Lang said: "Yes, there were a lot of domestic dramas. Do I have a problem with that? Not really. Most fiction readers are women and we like our reading to reflect our experience. Women will write about domestic life because that is the reality of women's lives. I'd like to say the opposite, but it wouldn't be true."
Click to expand...

"Lily Allen really did read the books," said Lang. "And I could tell she wasn't bullshitting. I was quite worried because there were one or two headlines [about her]. But she was very much part of the email correspondence between the judges.

"And she is quite well-read generally. Two of the books are on the longlist because Lily batted for them."
Click to expand...

I forgot Lily Allen was involved.

And might as well add Tim Lott's rant about how the Orange is a "sexist con-trick

Women are predominant, in terms of number and power, in most of the major publishing houses and agencies. They sell most of the books, into a market that largely comprises female readers...Girls in schools are more literate than boys, and pupils are taught reading mainly by female teachers promoting mainly female writers.
Click to expand...

With a response from Tom Gatti in the Times.
 
I found The Bastard Of Istanbul at Borders over the weekend and it looked good enough, I wrote it down to check on for interlibrary loan...which I'm now reminded I ought to do...wish me luck!

update: Found it; with 25 holdings in the state, I should be able to get it easily.
 
I am halfway through reading The End of Mr Y and it is fabulous! I hope it continues to be so for the rest of the book.
 
This was my review of The Gathering and I've just blogged at length on this year's prize here.

I doubt I'll be going out of my way to read any of the other titles on the list, even if I have surreptitiously eyed up a couple of them recently in book stores.
 
Everytime I click on your link, Stewart, the more staggered I am by what I find there. I mean - holy cow - it's more information I would ever expect to find in one place (never mind its being provided free of charge and by just one person.) Thank you so much for the hours you must spend in researching and compiling it and for making it so readily available to us.
 
A life of reading, examining what you've read and also sharing the wealth with others can't be called 'no life'. Not in my book.
 
Stewart:
The much derided "misery memoir" has infected fiction authored by women, according to the chair of judges of the Orange Broadband Prize.

"Reading 120 books I did find myself thinking, 'Oh god, not another dead baby'," said Kirsty Lang, as the longlist for the prize was announced. "There were a hell of a lot of abused children and family secrets."
Click to expand...

Stewart, I feel so much like that in every cultural aspect. I'm a great fan of a Berlinale Film Festival, held in Berlin every February.

And I have a feeling that each year it gets more and more depressing: more movies about abused children, smugglers, gangs, love which leads to death - it seems that we all live in a terrible, terrible world! Help!

I just wondered why Berlinale actually presents all that stuff - but now I realize that may be they do not have much choice - it is the recent trend! It's simply that everybody is into depressed wives and poor kids! In cinema AND in books!
 
I meant to come back regarding this one as the shortlist was announced back on 15th April. Those still in the running are:

  • Fault Lines, Nancy Huston
  • The Outcast, Sadie Jones
  • When We Were Bad, Charlotte Mendelson
  • Lullabies for Little Criminals, Heather O'Neill
  • The Road Home, Rose Tremain
  • Lottery, Patricia Wood
 
Hi All,

Im new to this forum, but I love it already!

I am reading the Orange List! I have read the following:

  • The Blood of Flowers, Anita Amirrezvani
  • The Keep, Jennifer Egan
  • The Gathering, Anne Enright
  • Fault Lines, Nancy Huston
  • Sorry, Gail Jones
  • The Outcast, Sadie Jones
  • When We Were Bad, Charlotte Mendelson

Personally I first think the long list was too long! They should limit it to about 13 like the Booker as it doesn't really encourage anyone to read them all!

So far I rank them:
* Fault Lines
* The Outcast
* The Gathering
* Sorry
* The Keep
* Blood of Flowers
* When we were Bad

Right now I'm reading Lottery by Patricia Wood, and I am struggling with it. It is the story of an almost retarded person who wins 12 million in the lottery. My partner found his observations in the book amusing, but I just find it sad! Anyway I'll push through as I have both the other two waiting for me to read.

Rach
 
Rach said:
Personally I first think the long list was too long! They should limit it to about 13 like the Booker as it doesn't really encourage anyone to read them all!
Click to expand...
Yes, the Booker Dozen was a nice list to read through last year. But it was only the first time they've had a longlist of thirteen books, and that's an award that is forty years old. The Orange is younger and no longer relevant, in my opinion, but it seems to try and encompass as many women as possible rather than pick a finite number of good ones.
 
Hi Stewart, I've never read the Orange Prize list before, and now that I'm four books through the short list, I would have to agree, I thought Fault Lines and The Outcast were both great books, but I would never have put in When We Were Bad or Lottery which I just finished yesterday (a struggle).

It seems a really mixed bunch, like they were trying to capture books that covered different subjects and styles rather than the actual quality of the book itself! I've now just started 'The Road Home' which I'm hoping will be better.

I have to say I wasn't disappointed with any of the Booker list (definitely some were better or more enjoyable than others) but they were all I think worthy of being there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top