On Tuesday, singer/songwriter Patti Smith won the National Book Award for nonfiction for Just Kids, a memoir about her friendship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The fiction award went to Jaimy Gordon, for Lord of Misrule, a novel set in the world of horse racing. The poetry prize went to Terrance Hayes for Lighthead, his fourth [...]
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The 2010 National Book Award nominees were announced today in Savannah, Georgia, at the childhood home of 1972 winner Flannery O’Connor. A notable surprise in the eyes of many was the exclusion among the finalists of Jonathan Franzen, for his critically praised novel Freedom. Nominees include: FICTION Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America Jaimy [...]
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Novelist and newspaper columnist Howard Jacobson, who has called himself the Jewish Jane Austen, was named winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize yesterday in London for his darkly comic novel The Finkler Question. Jacobson beat out such favored books as Peter Carey’s Parrot and Olivier in America, and Tom McCarthy’s C. Jacobson is the [...]
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa was announced today as winner of the 2010 Nobel prize for literature. The 74 year old author was a key figure in the renaissance of Latin American literature beginning in the 1960s. Also noted as a journalist and essayist, Vargas Llosa has lectured and taught at universities in Latin America, [...]
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The short list for the Man Booker Prize, a literary award for books published in Great Britain, Ireland, and other countries of the former British Commonwealth, was announced yesterday. Two-time Booker Prize winner Australian Peter Carey will have a third chance with his Parrot and Olivier in America, an account of a French aristocrat and [...]
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
A team of archaeologists has discovered the remains of an extensive three-story building on the island of Ithaca, in the Ionian Sea off the northwest coast of Greece. The complex also features a well from the 8th century BC, roughly the period in which Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s Odyssey, is believed to have been king [...]
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
In case you need further suggestions for summer reading, the July issue of O, The Oprah Magazine has a list of 20 titles, with reviews, and in some cases reading guides. The titles in the following list link to our catalog or to other sources: Kings of the Earth The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake [...]
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Portugal’s Nobel Prize winner José Saramago died last Friday at age 87. His remains were cremated Sunday following a funeral service in Lisbon. In 1993, his novel The Gospel According to Jesus Christ prompted the Portuguese government to remove his name from consideration for the European Literature Prize. From then until his death, Saramago had lived [...]
Monday, June 14, 2010
American writer Barbara Kingsolver was announced last week as winner of the 15th Orange Prize for Fiction for The Lacuna. The Orange Prize is awarded for the best novel in English by a female author. Kingsolver beat out the favorite, Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, for the award. The Lacuna, Kingsolver’s sixth novel, moves between Mexico and [...]
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Join Palos Verdes Library District’s Adult Summer Reading Program To travel with us, simply obtain a “passport” application at the Reference Desk at any branch of our library system, beginning June 14. Then read from our wide selection of “destination” titles (click here) or any book you wish. The titles are linked to our catalog, [...]
Friday, November 19, 2010
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