sologdin Posted September 23, 2021 Share Posted September 23, 2021 eighth best novelist in France is that houellebecq, then? odds on murakami or rushdie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted September 24, 2021 Author Share Posted September 24, 2021 3 hours ago, sologdin said: eighth best novelist in France is that houellebecq, then? odds on murakami or rushdie? Wrong. Houellebecq is the fifth best novelist in France. Odds on French favorite is Annie Ernaux. I’ll give Murakami odds at 1 in 500, and Rushdie odds at 1 in 1001. sologdin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless Northman Posted September 25, 2021 Share Posted September 25, 2021 Wait, there's an official list of "Best novelists in France"? I'd like to see that, I've no idea who could be 1st (assuming it's not a previous Nobel like Modiano or Le Clezio). Considering past and recent choices fom the Committee we can probably forget about obvious picks like Rushdie, Kundera or Murakami. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted September 26, 2021 Author Share Posted September 26, 2021 15 hours ago, Clueless Northman said: Wait, there's an official list of "Best novelists in France"? I'd like to see that, I've no idea who could be 1st (assuming it's not a previous Nobel like Modiano or Le Clezio). Both Modiano and Le Clezio were the eighth best novelist in France, but were then upgraded upon winning the Nobel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 6, 2021 Author Share Posted October 6, 2021 Well the prize will be awarded tomorrow, and I have somehow once again been suckered into feeling like this is Ngugi’s year. I don’t know why I always set myself up for disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted October 6, 2021 Share Posted October 6, 2021 any recommendations on ngugi? I know only the river between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 7 hours ago, sologdin said: any recommendations on ngugi? I know only the river between. Wizard of the Crow is a good one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Zanzibari novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the Nobel. This is a completely out of left field choice; this guy was on no one’s radar. It also means Ngugi will never win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Some thoughts: I’m incredibly happy to see a Black African writer win the Nobel. It’s only the second time in the prize’s history, and the first time since Wole Soyinka won in ‘86. I’m pretty disappointed that the Swedish Academy didn’t select Ngugi. They missed out on Achebe, and now they’ll also miss out on Ngugi, and that’s not okay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Bittersweet for sure. Unless they try to be (extra) edgy next year by giving it to him anyway (crossing my fingers). Just saw on twitter Abdulrazak Gurnah has sold only 3000 copies of his books worldwide, combined.* The Swedish Academy is sketchy for sure, but I can't say I'm not also really happy about this one. *of course one has to take into account the accuracy of twitter claims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 8, 2021 Author Share Posted October 8, 2021 1 hour ago, Kyoshi said: Bittersweet for sure. Unless they try to be (extra) edgy next year by giving it to him anyway (crossing my fingers). Just saw on twitter Abdulrazak Gurnah has sold only 3000 copies of his books worldwide, combined.* The Swedish Academy is sketchy for sure, but I can't say I'm not also really happy about this one. *of course one has to take into account the accuracy of twitter claims. I feel like that has to be wrong, as one of his novels was Booker shortlisted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 I don't know how to check book sales and so forth, but the tweet has gone unchallenged. And maybe this says more about me and my ignorance, but I'd never heard about him until yesterday when he was announced as the winner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 8, 2021 Author Share Posted October 8, 2021 5 hours ago, Kyoshi said: I don't know how to check book sales and so forth, but the tweet has gone unchallenged. And maybe this says more about me and my ignorance, but I'd never heard about him until yesterday when he was announced as the winner. He’s definitely on the obscure side. The only reason I’ve heard of him is because past Booker shortlists are my go to when I’m looking for things to read. Even then, when they announced him yesterday, I didn’t recognize the name until I started looking up his books and found that one of them was on my Amazon wish list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormond Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 I recognized the name as one I'd heard before, and low and behold I actually own a copy of Gurnah's first novel, Memory of Departure, which I purchased at a used book store in Omaha back in 2004 and have never read yet (I own WAY too many books .) Wonder if that is now worth more than the $5.71 I paid for it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 do they have some sort of policy or custom to avoid consecutive wins from adjacent states, or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 1 hour ago, Ormond said: Wonder if that is now worth more than the $5.71 I paid for it? In an NPR story on his Nobel win, since they couldn't get through at that time to interview the author (I did hear a BBC radio interview though) they interviewed publisher and bookstore owners. All ten of his books are now sold out. With the supply chain gridlock for reprinting older titles and printing new ones, there may not be more available for a while? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorral Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 22 hours ago, Myshkin said: Ngugi. Partner also keeps pulling for Ngugi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 21 hours ago, Kyoshi said: Bittersweet for sure. Unless they try to be (extra) edgy next year by giving it to him anyway (crossing my fingers). Just saw on twitter Abdulrazak Gurnah has sold only 3000 copies of his books worldwide, combined.* The Swedish Academy is sketchy for sure, but I can't say I'm not also really happy about this one. *of course one has to take into account the accuracy of twitter claims. Looking on Goodreads he's got about 3000 ratings for his books, which is not a huge number but that would only be a fraction of the total readers so I think significantly more than 3000 copies. Kyoshi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologdin Posted October 8, 2021 Share Posted October 8, 2021 the original twitter referenced the US sales as being 3,000--not global sales. publisher's weekly has the explanation: Quote Gurnah's books are not widely available in the U.S. as, despite having been published here consistently, many of them are currently out of print. Sales of foreign literature in America are often small for all but the best-known writers, and Gurnah's work is no exception; according to NPD BookScan, his best-selling book in the U.S., Desertion, has sold under 2,000 copies at outlets that report to the service since the book's 2005 publication. not sure how to discover the global sales. ask his agent, i suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyoshi Posted October 9, 2021 Share Posted October 9, 2021 Ah! Makes a lot more sense. Thanks for the clarification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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