I'm thrilled that Colum McCann has won the National Book Award for fiction in the USA for Let the Great World Spin. The novel was one of my favourite reads of this year; I'm a sucker for books set in New York, anyway, but this one is just brilliant. It's a very un-novel-like novel, set up as it is as linked short stories. What the American calls a 'story cycle'.
All the stories are fascinating and Colum's language sings and zings off the page, as usual. I've been a fan of his for as long as he's been publishing books and I was disappointed that lesser books got on the Man Booker list. He said in an interview that he was disappointed about that too. How's that for honesty?
By coincidence I'm re-reading Fishing the Sloe Black River for my book club. My book club is great - they are open to reading anything and everything.
On receiving the award Colum said: 'As fiction writers and people who believe in the word, we have to enter the anonymous corners of human experience to make that little corner right.' Love it!
Ah, I just adore it when literary books get their due recognition. I especially adore it when it's one of our amazing contemporary Irish writers. Go Colum!
More in the NY Times here.
11 comments:
Go Colum is right, it was great news to wake up too and I enjoyed listening to the excited although slightly tired Colum on RTE 1 this morning. I look forward to reading it.
I wondered if he'd had a few glasses of vino, he sounded spacy! Hope he had!
I loved this book, have just finished it and miss it hugely now... well done Colum.
Best Irish writer ever.
I am reading it now actually. "Zoli" and "Dancer" were both amazing.
Fab news for Colum - I can't wait to get stuck into it - alas it will be Christmas at this rate...
Fair play to him! His timing with the book couldn't be better, people are mad for Philippe Petit after Man On Wire (also brilliant).
I'm the opposite, I'm always scared off by things set in NY! Will have to give this a gander now though!
I loved the Sloe Black stories, but have some catching up to do. Loking forward to that!
I'm thrilled too. We published the title story of Fishing the Sloe Black River in metropolitan, and I'm very proud of that!
Great news! I'm a big fan and have bought the book but am keeping it as a treat to look forward to for a few more weeks.
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