Book News: Big Names And A Few Surprises Among National Book Award Finalists
On The Road With Booker: Richard Flanagan has taken home the Man Booker Prize for his World War II novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Announced Tuesday night at a ritzy ceremony broadcast on the BBC, Flanagan's win spells an award of about $80,000 and inclusion on a list of popular past winners, such as Hilary Mantel and Eleanor Catton.
Flanagan's win also means that fears of an American conquest of the Booker have so far proved unfounded. Despite expanding to include American authors for the first time, and even featuring two on this year's shortlist, Britain's most prestigious literary prize has instead gone to an Australian writer for just the third time in the award's 46-year history.
A.C. Grayling, the chair of the Booker judges, commended Flanagan's account of a prisoner of war working on Japan's "Death Railway" between Burma and Thailand. "Written in prose of extraordinary elegance and force, it bridges East and West, past and present, with a story of guilt and heroism."
In Flanagan's acceptance speech, the writer declared that he doesn't share the pessimism voiced by others about the contemporary novel. "Novels are not content. Nor are they a mirror to life or an explanation of life or a guide to life," Flanagan said. "Novels are life, or they are nothing."
From Clicks To Bricks: Amazon's going brick-and-mortar — at least for a little bit — with plans to open two pop-up shops in California for the holidays, according to GeekWire. News of the shops, which will be located in San Francisco and Sacramento, comes on the tail of rumors that the online retailer also has designs on opening a similar store in Manhattan.
West In Ferguson: Scholar and activist Cornel West was among more than 40 protesters arrested during demonstrations Monday outside the police department in Ferguson, Mo., as NPR reported.
Ferguson, Mo.
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