Sebastian Barry wins Walter Scott Prize!!!

Sebastian Barry!

How much data is created every minute?

Alice Walker refuses to publish The Color Purple in Hebrew

IL prosecutors refuse to defend gay marriage ban

 

Buzzzzzzz book of the fall:

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

September 11, 2012

"With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, THE YELLOW BIRDS is a groundbreaking novel about the costs of war that is destined to become a classic."

 

 Skin cancer: how to identify this avoidable killer

 

For book groups:

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

July 24, 2012

"Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn’t seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.

…

A novel of unsentimental charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller."

 

Air Guitar Championships. Must be seen to be believed:

 

 

http://player.ooyala.com/player.js?deepLinkEmbedCode=9mM203NTpact8sBsmEwUhmbIg0za_bz9&width=560&height=315&embedCode=9mM203NTpact8sBsmEwUhmbIg0za_bz9&video_pcode=RvbGU6Z74XE_a3bj4QwRGByhq9h2

 

Back to Blood by Tom Wolfe

October 23, 2012

"As a police launch speeds across Miami's Biscayne Bay-with officer Nestor Camacho on board-Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse by day, loin lock by night-until lately, the love of Nestor's life; a refined, and oh-so-light-skinned young woman from Haiti and her Creole-spouting, black-gang-banger-stylin' little brother; a billionaire porn addict, crack dealers in the 'hoods, "de-skilled" conceptual artists at the Miami Art Basel Fair, "spectators" at the annual Biscayne Bay regatta looking only for that night's orgy, yenta-heavy ex-New Yorkers at an "Active Adult" condo, and a nest of shady Russians. Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe's previous bestselling novels, BACK TO BLOOD is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times."

 

Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan (Official Cover Not Released Yet)

November 13, 2012

"Cambridge student Serena Frome’s beauty and intelligence make her the ideal recruit for MI5. The year is 1972. The Cold War is far from over. England’s legendary intelligence agency is determined to manipulate the cultural conversation by funding writers whose politics align with those of the government. The operation is code named “Sweet Tooth.”
 
Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is the perfect candidate to infiltrate the literary circle of a promising young writer named Tom Haley. At first, she loves his stories. Then she begins to love the man. How long can she conceal her undercover life? To answer that question, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage: trust no one.
 
Once again, Ian McEwan’s mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love and the invented self."

Also:

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz    (September 11, 2012)

Telegraph Avenue by Michael Chabon         (September 11, 2012)

NW by Zadie Smith     (September 4, 2012)

Another nutty week on the internets.