The Savvy Reader

Tim Winton wins the Miles Franklin Award

The unstoppable Tim Winton, already a two-time finalist of the Man Booker Prize, has just won the Miles Franklin Award for the fourth time for Breath. Here's a release (plus a video) of his inspiring acceptance speech.

Tim Winton wins the 2009 Miles Franklin Award for his novel Breath.

Four times a winner of the nation's most prestigious prize and the only writer ever to have won four times in his own right, Winton was on his beloved Ningaloo Reef in the north of WA when the announcement was made in Sydney tonight.

"It's been a strong year for Australian novels," said the author. "When you consider that your book is up against work by Richard Flanagan, Helen Garner, Peter Carey and Murray Bail you'd have to be a hell of an optimist to fancy your chances.  I'm stoked, of course, but also mindful that there are terrific writers who will be feeling pretty stiff tonight, because their books are more than good enough to have won. To some extent I feel like the kid who's simply left holding the parcel when the music stops."

HCC News – The Tattletale Edition

Plagiarism, books in outer space, and cheating husbands -- this may just be one of our most scandalous HCC News editions yet. And who doesn’t love a bit of good ol’ gossip? So get comfy, grab a margarita or two, and get ready to surf this week’s stormy waters.

• What would you do if you found out your whole life was a lie? Julie Metz wrote a bestselling book, so the New York Times visited her at home to find out more. For those of you with satellite, watch Julie talk about her ordeal on Good Morning America on July 1st.
• Bibliohistoria says the Doomsday Key was “fast moving, with plenty of action, lots of history and even some science and archaeology as well”  Is it ever any other way with James Rollins?
• Speaking of James, don’t forget to enter our Rollins Contest for a chance to win no less than 8 signed copies of his books. And if you just can’t get enough of him, follow him on Twitter for updates on the upcoming Altar of Eden.
• Who is Mark Twain?, asks Mark Twain. And the Globe & Mail answers.
• Lynn at Canadian Books and Authors says Sam was the character she liked the most in Step Closer. Who do you relate to more? Browse Inside and find out.
• What’s better than a wondrous faerie land in Central Park? An audio version of a wondrous faerie land –- as read by author / voice actor Lesley Livingston. The audio book edition of Wondrous Strange is out this week.
• Roxana Saberi, the American journalist imprisoned in Tehran, is publishing a book. And it promises "a penetrating look into Iranian society and culture."
• Our Sales Director just sent out an email regarding “the situation with Chris Anderson’s book Free.” Where do you draw the line in the digital age? Here’s what Anderson says. 
• Kenneth Oppel's Governor General's Award-winning Airborn has gone into outer space! A Canadian astronaut, Dr. Robert Thirsk, is part of the current crew aboard the Space Station on a six-month mission. Each astronaut is permitted a personal "official flying kit" and part of his kit is a copy of Airborn. Very fitting. Read all about it here (item #10)
• Is love still in the mix for Jon and Kate?
• There’s just something about Vikas Swarup. His new bestseller, Six Suspects, just wowed the New York Times with its zany mix of Bollywood and the game Clue. “Can a novel be any more high-concept than that?”

-- Narvan
 

HCC News: The Almost-Summer Edition

Here in the Toronto the weather is finally starting to brighten up a little -- so no one’s going to blame you for wanting to spend every second outdoors this week-end. But of course, what’s a relaxing weekend without lounging in the sun, a refreshing drink in one hand, and a really, really good book in the other? Here are a couple of great books that were all over the news this week:

• A 90-minute docudrama based on Ken McGoogan's fascinating Fatal Passage just won The Grand Prize for best Canadian program at the Banff World Television Awards. Read about Ken’s writing process, missed NBA opportunity and upcoming book in this Q&A with Rob McLennan.
• The Toronto Star talks to Farley Follows His Nose author Lynn Johnston. And don’t miss your chance to win a copy of the book through our very own Savvy Reader / Farley contest!
• Financial blog Four Pillars says that "everyone would benefit" from reading 397 Ways to Save Money.
• Collin Ellard tells us where we are.
• Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger got a standing ovation at last week's BEA. But he can't keep publishers from worrying about the Kindle.
• Marilynne Robinson’s Home (featuring characters from her Pulitzer prize-winning Gilead) won the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
• Not be outdone, Coventry by Helen Humphreys is also racking up the nominations, including ones for the CAA MOSAID Technologies Award for Fiction, the 22nd Trillium Book Award and a CBA Libris Author of the Year Award (along with fellow nominees Margaret Atwood and Joseph Boyden).
• L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries has been turned into a Thursday night drama. Watch the trailer.
• While in town for Luminato, Neil Gaiman sat down with the Toronto Star for this front page interview. And Metro News revealed Gaiman’s interesting choice of front yard decoration.
• Luanne from A Bookworm’s World calls Crazy for the Storm “a stunning, yet heartbreaking memoir.”
• Jolted by Arthur Slade was nominated by the children of Alberta for the 2010  Rocky Mountain Book Award.

-- Narvan

Grass, Sky, Song: "Moral without Moralizing"

Theologian Ron Rolheiser, whose syndicated column appears in over 77 newspapers across the globe, just posted the following review of Trevor Herriot’s Grass, Sky, Song:

"Good writing, like good art, is moral without being moralizing, expresses deep sentiment without being sentimental, challenges without inducing false guilt, and is mature without being cynical. No easy formula.

With this in mind, I would like to highlight a new book by a Canadian writer, Trevor Herriot: Grass, Sky, Song, Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds. It walks that fine line: powerfully moral without a trace of bad moralizing, mature without a hint of cynicism, a book about death that leaves its reader with hope.

On the surface, it is a book about grassland birds declining and disappearing in the Canadian and American prairies, but it is a book about more than birds, much more. It's about our relationship to the earth, all of us, whether we live in the country or in the city, and how unconsciously, not matter how innocent our intentions might be, our grip on nature is slowly tightening so as to threaten to suffocate the very life forces that support us."

Keep reading.

HCC News: The Strain Edition

They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come.

In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country.

In two months -- the world.

Just reading that short description of The Strain is enough to make me nervous. And with an edge-of-your-seat plot and nightmare-inducing imagery, The Strain certainly delivers. Then again, one wouldn’t expect any less from co-author Guillermo del Toro, the visionary director of Pan’s Labyrinth. And now, the first installment of the planned trilogy is making news all over the internet. Here are some of the highlights:

• Maclean's calls The Strain a "sort of Twilight for the testosterone set, swapping romance for thrills and gore."

• Canoe's Mark Daniell blogs about The Strain.

• When Guillermo met Chuck: the Philadelphia Inquirer recounts the meeting of two creative masterminds, and how it lead to a "man vs. vampire page-turner called The Strain."

• The Globe says it: "Now THAT'S How you Promo a Vampire Book." Plus, some very, very scary trailers of the book. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

• Not sure if I agree with this Entertainment Weekly review...

• Listen to del Toro's live interview with CBC Q's Jian Ghomeshi.

• You know you've made it when...A Q&A between del Toro and TIME Magazine.

• The Winnipeg Free Press loves the first one hundred pages only? Browse Inside and judge for yourself.

• Guillermo del Toro talks vampires with the CBC: "The whole idea was to go back to one of the branches of vampire fiction that seems to be vacant, tragically vacant in the last few years, which is not a romantic, tragically misunderstood male lead like in a romance novel but as a creature of alternate history, biology and anatomy that is essentially a parasite or a predator hunting humans."

• And don't forget about our own amazing Strain contest: create a trailer for the book and your work may be judged by Mr. del Toro himself. And played across Cineplex theatres across the country. Even the Toronto Star wants you to do it.

--Narvan

The Book of Negroes: An Illustrated Edition

Most of us are already familiar with Lawrence Hill’s epic bestseller, The Book of Negroes. Well, now the unforgettable journey of Aminata Diallo is taking that next step: it’s going to be published in an illustrated edition! Here’s what the press release had to say:

“The Book of Negroes was originally published as a hardcover in February 2007 to winning praise and favourable reviews. Since then it has also been published as a special edition trade paperback in Canada and has been published around the world  In April 2008, The Book of Negroes won the prestigious Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. In May 2008, it won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Overall Book. It then went on to win Canada Reads in March 2009 and has now sold more than 250,000 copies. As well as garnering international and national acclaim, it has been selected by several communities within Canada for their own reading programs and has hit #1 on bestsellers lists…
 
This beautiful edition, which will be published in November 2009, will include the whole of the novel and will illustrate the world surrounding Aminata with historical maps and documents, archival photos and period paintings. In this illustrated edition, readers will travel the world with Aminata, beginning in a West African village and moving to an Indigo plantation in South Carolina, through the tough streets of New York City and the harsh climate of Nova Scotia, to the coast of Sierra Leone, and finally to an abolitionist’s home in London, England.
 
“I'm thrilled with the idea of the illustrated edition,” says Lawrence Hill. “It offers a great opportunity to share many of the photos, works of art and documents that I came across researching the novel. It will give readers a chance to step more deeply into the social and historical foundations of the story.

--Narvan

The Globe and Mail on Tolkien's latest

J.R.R. Tolkien new book, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, received a rave review in this Saturday’s Globe & Mail. Here are some of the highlights:

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, the latest of J.R.R. Tolkien's works edited and published posthumously by Christopher Tolkien, will delight not only diehard Tolkien devotees and students of Old Norse and Old English literature, but also lovers of the ancient tales of gods and heroes that we read (or had read to us) as children.

The lays themselves are a masterpiece of retelling and reinvention.

The book would be worth the read for richness of the tales alone.

“The stark narrative is enriched and extended by the force of the language: One can hear the sounds of battle, smell the slaughter.”

In sum, Tolkien's New Lays are rich and compelling, combining the master's originality with the scholar's proficiency, echoing both ancient legends rooted in the mists of time and well-beloved tales of his own (readers will recognize many names and motifs from The Lord of the Rings). The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún demonstrates J.R.R. Tolkien's ability to delight and enthrall his readers, even years after his death. It is one of this year's must reads.

Written before his ever-popular Middle Earth creations, the two poems in this book are based on an ancient Norse legend that influenced much of Tolkien’s later work, including the Lord of the Rings and The Children of Húrin. And with the movie adaption of The Hobbit finally in the works (directed, after much hubbub, by Pan’s Labyrinth director and The Strain author Guillermo del Toro), The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is the perfect place to prime for the new wave of Tolkien mania that’s about to hit.  And if like me you can’t wait until then, just check out the book trailer or this fascinating video on The Making Of… from the folk over at HarperCollins UK.

Where Am I? & The QR Code

Imagine being in a bookstore, a library or at home and wanting to explore more about your favourite book. Imagine being in a grocery store and wanting to know more about the nutritional quality of your favourite snack. Imagine being in a movie theatre and wanting, instantly, to watch the trailer you just saw again. It's all going to be made easier thanks to funny little symbols like the one above.

Soon, you’ll be seeing QR codes everywhere. If you’ve been to Japan and certain parts of Europe then you know that QR codes are already everywhere. What are they? Simply put, they are two-dimensional bar codes which you scan with your camera phone. Instantly you’ll be taken places. Either to a mobile website, a text message or even digital coupons. To put it even simpler: they are super cool.

Like I said, you’ll be seeing these everywhere from a lot of different companies soon. But I think HarperCollins Canada is the first to use them in terms of books in this country (and maybe even North America!). Colin Ellard’s Where Am I? has one printed on the back cover. Check out the fun stuff he’s set up with QR codes here and look for Colin, Where Am I? and QR codes all over the media in the weeks to come.

Watch a tutorial.

--Cory

Canada Reads 2009 - Congratulations Lawrence Hill!

Lawrence Hill's The Book of Negroes has won Canada Reads 2009. Thanks to Avi Lewis for defending a book that's been close to our hearts since its publication over two years ago. We've been excited about the Canada Reads debates since they were announced and to take us back in time, here's the On the Fly we filmed the day the five books were unveiled. Now, with the debates over, why not join Hannah Sung for a month-long bookclub dedicated to the book.

Dan Hill on TheStar.ca

How much do we love Fridays? Dan Hill performs, discusses his new novel, and gives you a free song to download over at TheStar.ca. And while we're talking (and listening to) Dan Hill, Now magazine gave the book four N's, and Susan G. Cole said, "Sappy? Earnest? Snicker-worthy? If you remember those words as descriptors for singer/songwriter Dan Hill, I Am My Father’s Son will change that. I used to call him Down Hill, and I found this memoir moving."