Why I read

From an interview with Shirley Hazzard in the Guardian Review:

The idea that somebody has expressed something, in a supreme way, that it can be expressed; this is, I think, an enormous feature of literature. I feel that people are more unhappy, in an unrealised way, for not having these things in their lives: not being able to express something, or to profit from somebody else having expressed it. It can be anything but it’s always, if it’s supreme, an exaltation.

Living dead take prize as oddest literary title

Friday March 03 2006
The Guardian

The winner of the Bookseller magazine award for the year’s oddest book title is the US volume, People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders – and What to Do About It, by Gary Leon Hill, which is said to have sold 15,000 copies.

The runner-up was Rhino Horn Stockpile Management: Minimum Standards and Best Practices from East and Southern Africa, by Simon Milledge.

Another contender was Nailing: Best Practice Guidance.

Joel Rickett, Bookseller deputy editor, said: “This was the fiercest fight ever.”

Northern Exposure

The Guardian has started this blog where they pick a non-English speaking country and get people to recommend literature from that country. I think this is a tremendous idea, and I think you should all go find a new book from Finland to read. Kiitos.