April 20, 2010 – BooksPlease

The shortlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction includes one book I have but haven’t read yet – Wolf Hall and one book I haven’t got but would very much like to read – Lacuna.

The full list is:

Rosie Alison The Very Thought of You
Barbara Kingsolver The Lacuna
Attica Locke Black Water Rising
Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall
Lorrie Moore A Gate at the Stairs
Monique Roffey The White Woman on the Green Bicycle

Some wonderful titles there.

The two books on the longlist that I have read – Little Stranger and Hearts and Minds haven’t made the shortlist. Let’s hope the shortlisted ones are better than these two, which I did enjoy to a certain degree. My posts on Little Stranger and Hearts and Minds are here and here.

The prize will be awarded on 9 June.

Must get reading Wolf Hall and find a copy of Lacuna. I’m going to the library this afternoon, maybe some of the others will be there?

The Daphne Du Maurier Challenge challenge is being run by Chris at Book-a-Rama. It will run from May 13, 2010- April 19, 2011. Why those dates? Daphne Du Maurier was born May 13, 1907 and died April 19, 1989.

This is a challenge I shall have no difficulty in completing – in fact it’s not right to call it a challenge as I’ve loved Daphne Du Maurier’s books ever since I first read Rebecca and I’m sure it will be a pleasure.

There are several categories and you can either focus on one form or mix them up. I’m going to read novels and short stories by Daphne Du Maurier. I first read her books as a teenager, starting with Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, followed by as many as I could find at the time, but there are some I’ve missed.

I’m aiming to read these from my own collection: