2011 Pulitzer Prizes Announced

The Pulitzer Prize winners for 2011 have been announced (yesterday?), and these were the winners in the letters/drama categories:

• Fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Knopf)
• General nonfiction: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee (Scribner)
• History: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner (Norton)
• Biography: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow (Penguin Press)
• Drama: Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
• Poetry: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan (Grove Press)

As usual, I haven't read any of the award winners, and I have to say none of them really look like anything I'm going to be rushing out to buy. But I might look for Jennifer Egan's book at the library - I've been a little curious about that one, if only for the title.

Teaser Tuesdays: Art and Madness

This week my teaser lines come from Anne Roiphe's new memoir Art and Madness. I've just started the book so I don't know that much about it, but I've enjoyed the bit I've read. Seems like it should be a quick read, which is what I need right now. In this snippet from page 43, the teenaged Anne is out on a date with an Andover boy she's only recently met.

My date and I had both read The Grapes of Wrath. I knew there was sex in the book but I wasn't entirely clear about who did what with whom. I did not confide this to my date.

The book's subtitle is "A Memoir of Lust Without Reason." So far, I haven't encountered any lust or madness, or even art for that matter. And as for Steinbeck's epic, I don't really remember it being particularly sex-filled. Sounds like I wasn't paying close enough attention.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Well, last week I actually managed to finish a book for a change! I've been in a real reading slump for the last couple of months. Actually, though, I've been doing a lot of reading - blogs, magazines, journals, etc. Just not a lot of books. Which is not good, because I've got a lot of books that I need to read and that I want to read. So I've really gotta mend my ways soonish.

Here's the rundown:

• Finished last week:
  The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead, by Paul Elwork. Enjoyed this one quite a lot, and will try to get a review up later today.
  
  
  
• Reading this week:
  The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, by Elizabeth Stuckey-French. Started this one a month or so ago, but put it aside. Getting back to it now, and loving it so far.
  
  
  Art and Madness, by Anne Roiphe. Roiphe's new memoir is my latest Early Reviewer book from Library Thing (although the book has been out for a month now), so I need to get it read pretty quick.
  
  
  
• Next up:
  Haven't figured this out yet, but possibly something for the Once Upon a Time Challenge. A little fantasy sounds really good right now.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Time Garden

This week my teaser lines come from The Time Garden, Edward Eager's 1958 fantasy for young readers. It's the follow-up to his Knight's Castle, and I just finished reading both of them for the first time.

In the book, cousins Ann, Roger, and Eliza have discovered a magic garden that allows them to travel around in time and space, meeting both real and literary figures. In this snippet, they're in Civil War-era Concord, Massachusetts, meeting up with the characters from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. And I should probably add that if you've never read Alcott's classic, or don't know much about it, this might be a bit of a spoiler.

...in the book Beth dies, and there isn't much you can do about people who die in books except hope their days were happy though numbered, and that it was worth it. As for Amy, neither Ann and Roger and Eliza nor anyone else has ever yet forgiven her for marrying Laurie in the end, when anyone could tell he was meant for Jo! (p.87, paperback edition)

Well, I'm not so sure about that. If Jo had married Laurie, there never would have been a Little Men, and as a child I loved that sequel even more than Little Women.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

Booking Through Thursday: Visual

This week, BTT asks: "So … the books that you own (however many there may be) … do you display them proudly right there in plain sight for all the world to see? (At least the world that comes into your living room.)....Or do you keep them tucked away in your office or bedroom or library or closet or someplace less 'public?' "

We live in a relatively small space. We have many, many books (many, many, MANY!). It would be very difficult to keep them all hidden away. Even if we wanted to.

We have books "displayed" on shelves, in cabinets, in closets, on tables, on chairs, on the sofa, on the floor. We do have books hidden away in storage lockers, too - if we had more space in the apartment, those books would be "displayed" here, too.

Actually, there are so many books around here, sometimes I feel like the books are displaying me!

Teaser Tuesdays: Lost Things

Once again, I'm still reading the same books I was reading last week. Same old story. So for this week's teaser lines, I'm using a book that's on my list of possible reads for the Once Upon a Time Challenge - John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things.

This bit comes very early in the book. And the David mentioned is the book's twelve-year-old central character whose mother has just died (it's a teensy bit more than two lines - sorry):

...David's mother would often tell him that stories were alive....they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by flashlight beneath a blanket, they had no real existence in our world....Stories wanted to be read...They wanted us to give them life. (p.3, paperback edition)

This book has been on my TBR list for quite a while, but I've been reluctant to start it because it's a long one and as we know, I hold the record for being the world's slowest reader.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in your comment here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's been a few weeks since I posted a Monday reading list. Must admit I was in something of a reading slump all during March. But spring always makes me want to read more - new beginnings and all that - and I think I'm starting to get back on track here in April.

• In the last few weeks, I've only finished one book, Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys. Most of my time has been spent sorting through the junk in our closets and storage spaces (we're trying to get the condo in shape to sell a little later this year), and starting a brand new blog.
  
  
  
• This week, I'm reading The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead by Paul Elwork. I'm not very far along, but so far I'm enjoying it. Nice and spooky, but not terribly frightening up to now.
  
  
  
• Haven't decided yet what I'll read next. But I've got several ARCs I should have read already, including Prophecy by S.J. Parris, and Iron House by John Hart. So I have much to choose from. Too much, probably - I think that might be one of my biggest problems!
  
  
  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.