Man Booker Prize

The 2007 Man Booker Prize was announced, and Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe was this year's winner. I've never read his work, so I can't comment on it, but Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, and Ian McEwan were also nominated, so I can only imagine Achebe's work is excellent.

Do Dead Writers Dream of New York Times Editorials?

Philip K. Dick, the author of numerous science fiction classics including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was the basis for the film Blade Runner, has been recognized in a New York Times editorial today. While I don't know that I'd put him above some of my literary heroes such as the recently departed Kurt Vonnegut, Dick had a knack for telling wonderfully engaging stories set in surprisingly recognizable futures. Give this a read, and after you've done that, enjoy one of his books or short stories.

When Cheeky Is Passé

I was a bit surprised by a description of A Catcher in the Rye in this piece by Joe Queenan. He referred to the "passé cheekiness" of the book that is almost universally lauded as the perfect coming of age novel, the mot juste of the self-important American teenager. While I enjoyed the book the one time I read it, it didn't quite strike me as that; I thought perhaps I'd missed something. Maybe I did. I preferred A Perfect Day for Bananafish, myself.

The article is about the torment of summer reading assignments, especially as they are inflicted upon teenage boys. I enjoyed some of my summer reading, and I obviously still read a lot today.

Please share your most hated, most loved summer reading assignments.

Summer Reads and the Writers Who Read Them

I like the quick little piece in today's New York Times. The Stephen King assessment of recent great reads sounds like he actually read them, and I like his quick descriptions. "Fieldwork, by Mischa Berlinski: Stories within stories, and a surprisingly compassionate look at Christianity in conflict with anthropology. I kept expecting tirades, and instead got sweetness and thoughtful good humor. A remarkable novel."

Some of the others sound like they're writing blurbs for the back cover -- and perhaps that's what they're doing. Then there are others that say virtually nothing, like Jonathan Safran Foer's assessment of Kalooki Nights, which he described as "a tragedy, and a work of genius."

Enjoy, and have a nice summer full of reading!