The 2012 Age Book of the Year Awards shortlist was announced today, and I am delighted with some of their choices.
The fiction nominees are
- What the Family Needed by Steven Amsterdam (Sleepers) (See my review).
- Spirit House by Mark Dapin (Pan MacMillan) (See my review)
- The Meaning of Grace by Deborah Forster (Vintage) (I must get hold of a copy of this, I thought Forster’s debut novel, The Book of Emmett, was brilliant).
- Forecast: Turbulence by Janet Turner Hospital (Fourth Estate) (See my review)
- Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears (Allen & Unwin) (See my review)
The non-fiction nominees are
- 1835: The Founding of Melbourne and the Conquest of Australia by James Boyce (Black Inc) (see my review)
- Hiroshima Nagasaki by Paul Ham (Harper Collins)
- Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland (Text)
- Fishing the River of Time by Tony Taylor (Text)
- Double Entry: How the Merchants of Venice Shaped the Modern World – and How Their Invention Could Make or Break the Planet by Jane Gleeson-White (Allen & Unwin)
Congratulations to all the authors and publishers!
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Gasp! No ‘All That I Am’? Must be a typo ;)
Still wanting to find time for ‘Foal’s Bread’ – I actually had a library copy, but I was so inundated with IFFP reading that I never got around to reading it…
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By: Tony on August 4, 2012
at 2:36 pm
HI Tony, I haven’t read Deborah Forster’s book yet (and I’m expecting it to be good, very good) but I am pleased to see Dapin’s book getting some air. It really is excellent.
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By: Lisa Hill on August 4, 2012
at 4:24 pm
Tony’s comment made me laugh!
Nice to see Foal’s Bread on here; not read any of the other fiction titles, although I have a proof copy of Amsterdam’s novel lying in wait — it’s about to be published here in the UK.
I believe Maxine at Petrona reviewed the Hyland — it sounded like a terrific read. Here’s her review: http://petronatwo.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/book-review-kinglake-350-by-adrian-hyland/
I have the Double-Entry book in my queue too — it appeals to both my interest in Venice and the “fall” of capitalism. No doubt I’ll review it in due course.
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By: kimbofo on August 4, 2012
at 10:43 pm
*chuckle* I think Tony and I are at one with that comment!
I’m sure it’s a very good book, but I don’t want to read the Hyland. I have many colleagues who live in the hills, and my own school is barely a kilometre from dense bushland. (I’m the Emergency Management co-ordinator and I manage the bushfire drills we regularly practise). I spent that hateful day in terror on the internet, tracking the paths of the fires as they swept closer and closer to the suburban fringe. I don’t want to be reminded of Black Saturday any more than I already am.
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By: Lisa Hill on August 5, 2012
at 7:55 am
Completely understand. I think my comment under Maxine’s review sums up my position too. My dad has been a volunteer fire fighter four 25+ years (he recently got a medal for long service!!) and the photographs he sent me of that fateful day were terrifying.
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By: kimbofo on August 8, 2012
at 5:22 am
must get foals bread another list its been on ,all the best stu
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By: winstonsdad on August 7, 2012
at 6:10 am