Kazue Ishiguro?

[Kurben]

The New Nobel Prize Winner! Read anything by him? Any Good? Been looking at Never Let Me Go . Opinions?

 

[Doc Creed]

I haven't read Never Let Me Go or The Buried Giant, yet. From what I can remember I liked The Remains of the Day because I recommended it to patrons at the library. Don't ask me why but his writing makes me think of Ian McEwen and Virginia Woolf.

 

[skimom2]

The New Nobel Prize Winner! Read anything by him? Any Good? Been looking at Never Let Me Go . Opinions?

I thoroughly enjoyed Never Let Me Go (in fact, I was just talking about this book with my husband this morning), Remains of the Day, and The Buried Giant. He is well worth reading, Kurt.

BTW, despite the Japanese name, he has far more in common with a writer like Atwood than he does with one like Murakami. His influences are definitely English.

 

[Kurben]

I thoroughly enjoyed Never Let Me Go (in fact, I was just talking about this book with my husband this morning), Remains of the Day, and The Buried Giant. He is well worth reading, Kurt.

BTW, despite the Japanese name, he has far more in common with a writer like Atwood than he does with one like Murakami. His influences are definitely English.

Not really strange since he is english. Came there as a child i think. While Murakamis background is japanese. What i have against this prize is that if they were gonna chose an author that is englishwriting, read by many and well known i would have gone for Atwood or Oates, not Ishiguro. Also, they are women and it was some time since a woman got it. (think Doris Lessing was the last one or have i forgotten someone, oh yes that Svetlana Aleksejevitj) But i will probably try to lay my hands on some books by him then. Thanks for the rec.

 

[skimom2]

Not really strange since he is english. Came there as a child i think. While Murakamis background is japanese. What i have against this prize is that if they were gonna chose an author that is englishwriting, read by many and well known i would have gone for Atwood or Oates, not Ishiguro. Also, they are women and it was some time since a woman got it. (think Doris Lessing was the last one or have i forgotten someone, oh yes that Svetlana Aleksejevitj) But i will probably try to lay my hands on some books by him then. Thanks for the rec.

I think after last year's debacle with Bob Dylan they were looking to award a 'serious' and respected writer, but still one the public might recognize. Women are rarely considered in that category, no matter how good they may be (and you know how I feel about Atwood--she's brilliant). Completely unfair, but there you are.

 

[Neesy]

The New Nobel Prize Winner! Read anything by him? Any Good? Been looking at Never Let Me Go . Opinions?

Why do I want to say "Gesundheit" when I hear that last name?

On a more serious note and without trying to sound like a KIA (know-it-all) I did Google and it looks like 14 women have been awarded a Nobel prize for writing - one of them was a Canadian named Alice Munro

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013

Alice Munro
"master of the contemporary short story"

 

[Kurben]

Why do I want to say "Gesundheit" when I hear that last name?

On a more serious note and without trying to sound like a KIA (know-it-all) I did Google and it looks like 14 women have been awarded a Nobel prize for writing - one of them was a Canadian named Alice Munro

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013

Alice Munro
"master of the contemporary short story"

Must admit i forgot about Munro...... The first woman who was awarded the prize was Selma Lagerlöf, one of swedens greatest authors ever. That was 1909. Still think to few women get it.

 

[GNTLGNT]

 

[skimom2]

Why do I want to say "Gesundheit" when I hear that last name?

On a more serious note and without trying to sound like a KIA (know-it-all) I did Google and it looks like 14 women have been awarded a Nobel prize for writing - one of them was a Canadian named Alice Munro

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013

Alice Munro
"master of the contemporary short story"

Yup, but statistically the numbers of women winners is much, much lower than men (Something like 826:14). It's harder for a woman writer to be taken seriously outside the 'pink ghetto' of romance and 'women's fiction' (I LOATHE that term), and those genres do not win Nobel prizes.

 

[Kurben]

If Dylan can get the prize then a SF writer like LeGuin or a crimewriter like Tana French ought to be able to get it! But that will never happen. If thats not discrimination, what is??

 

[Neesy]

Yup, but statistically the numbers of women winners is much, much lower than men (Something like 826:14). It's harder for a woman writer to be taken seriously outside the 'pink ghetto' of romance and 'women's fiction' (I LOATHE that term), and those genres do not win Nobel prizes.

What you say is true - have you even read anything by Miriam Toews? She is a Canadian author from Steinbach, Manitoba - I like her writing.

I remember we also had to read Margaret Laurence in school - back then I did not appreciate The Stone Angel but perhaps I will read it again now that I am older.

Gabrielle Roy is another one I enjoyed a lot - she is French Canadian and from St. Boniface (a part of Winnipeg); she wrote The Tin Flute - my favourite was Where Nests the Water Hen.

Margaret Atwood has been another author that I really enjoy - I remember reading The Edible Woman when I was around 18 or 19.

I hope that as time goes on women writers will be given more credit and also taken more seriously.

Here's another book by a Canadian woman (written by Emily Carr) that I found interesting in high school:

Spoiler: Klee Wyck

Klee Wyck was the name the natives gave her - some day I hope to be able to go to BC to see what inspired her art.

 

[skimom2]

What you say is true - have you even read anything by Miriam Toews? She is a Canadian author from Steinbach, Manitoba - I like her writing.

I remember we also had to read Margaret Laurence in school - back then I did not appreciate The Stone Angel but perhaps I will read it again now that I am older.

Gabrielle Roy is another one I enjoyed a lot - she is French Canadian and from St. Boniface (a part of Winnipeg); she wrote The Tin Flute - my favourite was Where Nests the Water Hen.

Margaret Atwood has been another author that I really enjoy - I remember reading The Edible Woman when I was around 18 or 19.

I hope that as time goes on women writers will be given more credit and also taken more seriously.

Here's another book by a Canadian woman (written by Emily Carr) that I found interesting in high school:

Spoiler: Klee Wyck

Klee Wyck was the name the natives gave her - some day I hope to be able to go to BC to see what inspired her art.

Thank you, Neesy! I don't know many Canadian writers, so this is great fodder for the TBR list!

 

[Neesy]

Thank you, Neesy! I don't know many Canadian writers, so this is great fodder for the TBR list!

Glad to help - BTW I should have said "have you ever" not "have you even"

Which American female authors do you enjoy the most? (if you don't mind me asking?)

 

[skimom2]

Yup, but statistically the numbers of women winners is much, much lower than men (Something like 826:14). It's harder for a woman writer to be taken seriously outside the 'pink ghetto' of romance and 'women's fiction' (I LOATHE that term), and those genres do not win Nobel prizes.

I got my stats mixed up! It's something like 825:47, male:female in total (all Nobel prizes).

 

[skimom2]

Glad to help - BTW I should have said "have you ever" not "have you even"

Which American female authors do you enjoy the most? (if you don't mind me asking?)

Hm. That's tough! I like more European women authors than American. Louisa May Alcott will always be a favorite. Joyce Carol Oates. Jan Karon's Mitford novels made me smile. Geraldine Brooks (that's kind of cheating, because she's only been American for about 15 years--lol). Yvette Edwards. Alice Walker. Toni Morrison.I liked Barbara Kingsolver's early novels a lot, but not so much her later ones.