Boy + Tiger + Sea voyage = Booker nomination?

Jamrach's Menagerie
by Carol Birch

Set in the unforgiving world of 19th century England, Jamrach’s Menagerie is the story of Jaffy Brown, who claims to have been reborn at the age of eight. On that day, he’s out and about when everyone around him starts running and pressing themselves up against walls. Looking up, he sees a large tiger padding right towards him. Jaffy walks up and pats its fur—at which point the tiger takes the boy in its mouth and starts carrying him off, little bare toes dragging over the cobbles. Jaffy doesn’t struggle or fuss.

Soon enough, the boy is saved by the eponymous Jamrach, the dealer in wild and exotic animals from whom the tiger had escaped. Jamrach decides that Jaffy is “good with animals,” and fearless to boot. The eight year old is offered a job, and he spends his formative years working with the animals alongside a frenemy, one year older. As teenagers, the two boys decide to ship off to sea aboard a whaling ship with a secondary mission. They are to capture an unknown beast—a dragon—for one of Jamrach’s wealthy clients. We haven’t entered the realm of fantasy; this reader knows that what they are after is a Komodo dragon, even if the characters themselves don’t.

While this is Ms. Birch’s ninth novel, it’s her first novel-length work published in the U.S. It has also been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize this year, and I can certainly see why. Rarely have I seen more evocative prose. She has vividly captured the sights and sounds and ghastly smells of this harsh era. She has also captured the wonder of this more innocent age. Beauty and wonder are a joy to read when so evocatively rendered, but when the tale devolves into terror, madness, and a struggle to survive—as it does—the power of her prose is painful. It’s amazing how affecting mere words can be!

Jaffy Brown is a character who leads an extraordinary life, and Carol Birch takes her readers on an adventure well worth traveling!

Man Booker Prize shortlist announced – and I've read only read one...

Hey readers,

I hope everyone had enjoyable holiday weekend!  I zipped over to Sacramento to bask in the warmth of sunshine and good friends.  Didn't get nearly as much reading done as one might hope.  So, for the calendar watchers among you, I'll note that I'm blowing off this week's Mailbox Monday post.  I skipped Monday this week, and there were only three books, so we'll just add them to next week's list.

No, there's something much more interesting to report on this week...  The race is heating up for the Man Booker Prize!  The longlist of 20 (IIRC) has been winnowed down to the traditional six.  And pundits and book-makers alike have been shocked that the presumed front-runner, Alan Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child, did not make the cut.  Here are the books that did:

The Booker shortlist

Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate Books)

Author of nine previous novels including Scapegallows and Turn Again Home – longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003. Jamrach's Menagerie was inspired by the real-life sinking of a whale ship in 19th-century England and charts the fortunes of the charismatic Charles Jamrach, a leading wild animal dealer.

Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape – Random House)

The fourth novel by Barnes to be shortlisted for the Booker prize, yet he has never taken home the award. Focusing on a group of old school friends, this novella is a meditation on the themes of ageing, memory and regret.

AD Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)

The debut novel by one-time Moscow correspondent of The Economist, Snowdrops is a tense psychological thriller that unfolds over the course of a brutal Moscow winter. The book tells the story of a young Englishman caught up in a corrupt property deal in new Russia.

Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail)

The second Canadian on the shortlist. Esi Edugyan's second novel is partly set in the aftermath of the fall of Paris in 1940, following the fate of an arrested German, a black jazz trumpeter called Hieronymous Falk, and in Berlin 50 years later as his bandmates retrace his steps.

Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta)

The second novel by the Canadian-born, Oregan-based author. The Sisters Brothers is a darkly comic western about two outlaw brothers who are hired killers – one reluctant, the other more gung-ho – as they reconcile their relationship during the west coast gold rush in 1851.

Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)

After finishing his degree, Stephen Kelman worked as a warehouse operative, a careworker, and in marketing and local government administration, until finally deciding to write in 2005. His first novel is written from the perspective of a seven eleven-year-old Ghanaian boy caught up in Peckham's gangland.

Full disclosure, I stole the book descriptions and photograph above from an article in London's Independent.  The correction in the last write-up is mine.  (Bad job, Independent.  Get your facts straight.)  But I know the character's age because it's the only book on the shortlist that I've read so far.  Click the title to see my review.

I also have a copy of Jamrach's Menagerie in my apartment that I've been wanting to get around to for months.  Well, it just moved up the TBR pile.  Look for a review soon.

However the title that is now the front-runner to win the prize is Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending.  Mr. Barnes has been shortlisted for the Booker three times previously, but has not won yet.  The cognoscenti seem to feel that this is his year.  The novel isn't due for it's U.S. release until late January, but it is now on a lot of people's radar, including mine.

So, readers, have you read any of these books?  It's not a super high-profile list, with the exception of the well-known Barnes.  In fact, Kelman's Pigeon English and Miller's Snowdrops are debut novels.  Do awards and nominations influence your reading?  I don't mind telling you that the only reason I read Pigeon English was because it was longlisted.  I definitely take note of the Booker and the Pulitzer prizes.  The National Book Award and Nobel Prize, not so much.

Well, get cracking if you want to take part in the fun – the winner will be announced on October 18th!

Mailbox Monday: I Love New York! edition

Happy Monday, readers.  Are you sensing a theme to this week's Mailbox Monday post?  I'm not actually in NY yet.  I fly on the red-eye tonight.  The next week in NY will be exhausting, but exciting!  I mean, NY itself is no big deal.  I'm there every other minute, or so it seems.  Still, it's been three years since I last attended BEA.  I'm very excited about attending my first Book Blogger Con.  And this is unquestionably the best theater season we've seen in quite a few years!  So, hopefully, I'll have a lot to report on, if only I can find the time.

Oh, with regard to the photo on the right:

This oversized mailbox in Times Square is actually a stamp-selling booth, one of five set up in Manhattan and the Bronx during the Christmas season of 1960. 

So, there you have it.

As for books, the week got off to an interesting start with:

The Great Leader
by Jim Harrison
Release date: 10/4/2011
Source: electronic galley from publisher

Jim Harrison is another of the many, many literary oversights I'm guilty of.  I hope to rectify myself by reading this fall release.  The plot sounds pretty interesting.

Trackers
by Deon Meyer
Release date: 9/6/2011
Source: Electronic galley from the publisher

I was supposed to review Meyer's last book, and er, um, it never happened.  I would like to get around to reading this one.  It has a rhino on the cover, after all.  (Plus, I can read this one on my Kindle, and that makes all the difference in the world.)  I'm looking forward to my introduction to this popular South African author at last. 

I Married You for Happiness
by Lily Tuck
Release date: 9/6/2011
Source: Electronic galley from the publisher

Literary and short are two of my favorite qualities in a book.  On top of that, I'm pretty sure this got a starred review in PW.  That's good enough for me.

Trader of Secrets
by Steve Martini
Release date: 5/31/2011
Source: Finished hardback from publisher

Such is my life that I've made polite dinner conversation with Mr. Martini, but I've never read him.  Until recently, I was very anal about starting series right from the beginning.  I think I've realized that I won't live long enough to do that anymore.  Recently, I've been jumping into series wherever, and trusting the author.  It's worked out well.  And any book with the Washington Monument on the cover automatically gets a second look.

French Lessons
by Ellen Sussman
Release date: 7/5/2011
Source: Paper galley from the publisher
I have to tell you, the galley in my hands has a much cuter cover, but I guess this is the final.  What were they thinking?  This is the sort of book that I want to begin reading IMMEDIATELY.  But I also want to save it until I'm finally going to Paris.  It's an impulse I frequently have.  In this case, I don't think I can wait.  This Paris-set novel looks adorable.  Also, the author is local to SF.  Jon and I already have plans to go see her read on July 13th, the night before our annual Bastille Day dinner.  It'll be a Francophile week--how perfect!

Jamrach's Menagerie
by Carol Birch
Release date: 6/14/2011
Source: Paper galley from the publisher

I was delighted to see this galley show up in my mailbox.  The story seems a little odd and quirky, but I'm really intrigued by this tale of strange creatures and high seas adventure.  I'm not sure I'll like it, but I'm looking forward to reading it!

Agatha H. and the Airship City
by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Release date: 1/4/2011
Source: Electronic galley from the publisher

A YA adventure that caught my eye.  Another title I'm looking forward to checking out when I need a break from heavier fare.

Books finished this week:

Skinny by Diana Spechler

A Little Bit Wicked by Kristen Chenoweth - The perfect book to lead up to a week of Broadway shows

Currently reading:

Cry of the Phoenix by J.G.

Let the Great World Spin by Collum McCann - I've been waiting to read this in NY.


In other news:

So, I attended the first preview of the new stage musical of Armisted Maupin's Tales of the City last week!  I can't wait to tell you about it!  I have so much to say.  Alas, I simply haven't had time leading up to this trip.  And obviously, I'm going to be trying to blog about BEA and BBC this week, in addition to a grueling schedule, so I have no idea when I will find time.  Suffice it to say, there are the bones of a great musical there, but they've still got significant work to do to get it in it's final form.  It was a thrill to be in the audience.  Jon and I will be seeing the show at least once more before the run ends.  A sort of before and after, if you will.  I really will try to blog about it soon.

So, as you've gathered by now, I'll be on the road for the next couple of weeks.  I'm heading to DC after NY.  Blogging time will be limited, but I promise to do my best!

And now, what books have you acquired this week?  What have you been reading?  Please let us know in the comments!