John Irving and The trial of Orhan Pamuk
When Book Notes thinks of Charles Dickens we are reminded of John Irving's lecture in Dublin earlier in 2005. Irving admitted that he had left his copy of Our Mutual Friend on the train he took from Edinburgh to London.
Picking that up would have been bibliophile heaven. Irving's novels reflect his love for Dickens although he claimed in the interview that this affection didn't extend to Bleak House. He appears to be alone since Andrew Davies' adaptation of Bleak House has regularly captured over six million viewers over its seven week BBC run. Not bad for a series that was markedly higher-brow than its competitors. Bleak House has also made a strong return to the book charts where the TV tie-in edition combined with seasonally reliable sales of A Christmas Carol has increased sales of Dickens by over 300 per cent. Now new media disciples can join in on the fun as Penguin release an unabridged reading of Scrooge's tale on their website www.penguin.co.uk. It comes in six parts. All downloadable for those who got iPods for Christmas. Those tired of Tiny Tim and Co might be more interested in last month's podcast which features an interview with Nick Hornby and Jamie Oliver on boiling water! If all the festivities are too much for you, cynics will smile at Penguin's inclusion of Allen Carr's How To Stop Smoking as a download for the new year.
Richard and Judy are back in the news again. Like Tesco, they seem determined to have their fingers in all pies and are having a measure of success with a newly televised wine club. One of the finalists in their unpublished writers competition, Rachel Zadoc, has been nominated for the Whitbread Debut Fiction prize for her book Gem Squash Tokoloshe, showing how well attuned they are to modern literary tastes. December saw the publication of their highly anticipated fiction list for 2006. One would have had to spend the last three years in confinement not to have noticed the impact of their opinions on the book reading public. Total sales of over five million copies of The Shadow of The Wind, The Lovely Bones and Cloud Atlas among other titles indicate that Richard & Judy's show is the hottest attraction in town. Biggest players on the list are new US sensation Nicole Krauss's The History of Love, Booker nominee Julian Barnes' Arthur & George and Moondust, the post-landing histories of the moon astronauts from 1969. Other lesser known authors are joined by bestselling thriller The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connolly. While there is little that could be added to Connolly's sales figures, it is interesting to note that his selection by the show has increased his figurative stature and literary weight.
Breaking (Whit)bread
Book Notes has a disturbingly obsessive memory for book prizes, their nominees, even those books expected to shine but cruelly passed over. Just as unimpressive is his inability to remember anything about the companies who sponsor the prizes and their reasons for being involved. What do Booker actually do and why are they prefaced by Man? Why would a medical information systems manufacturer like IMPAC sponsor the world's largest book prize? The same questions have obviously been troubling the board of one of the better established sponsors, Whitbread. The Whitbread Prize is the second biggest in the industry behind the Man Booker but due to be no more after next year. This is despite the fact that the prize annually earns acres of worldwide attention as the most accessible of book prizes and is currently offering luminaries like Salman Rishdie's Shalimar the Clown and Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down among its nominees for the 2006 prize. The problem is not that there is little return on Whitbread's investment but that this return is proving futile. Whitbread no longer sells products under that brand. No one who buys their beer associates the brewery with the hugely successful prize that is etched across the covers of huge sellers like A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. Even if a new sponsor is found, it is the name and 35-year history that is inestimable in value and may take years to replicate.
The trial of Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's most internationally recognised author was further delayed when it finally came for hearing in Ankara in the middle of December. While his books like Snow and My Name is Red are generally on offer in Dublin's 3 for 2 offers, Pamuk must now wait until February to hear whether prosecutors will proceed with his trial for "denigrating Turkishness". A hugely important trial for freedom of speech in Turkey, it could see him sentenced to three years in jail. Amid angry scenes of protest from both opponents and supporters the judge adjourned, hoping to pass responsibility for the decision onto the Turkish government. Pamuk made several claims of genocide and mistreatment of Armenians at the hands of the Turkish nation during World War 1 when giving an interview to a Swiss newspaper early this year. Followers of the trial anticipate that the authorities will opt not to proceed.