Reading Copy Book Blog

Montreal writer Rawi Hage has just captured the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his debut novel, De Niro’s Game. The Dublin Award is one of the richest prizes in literature at €100,000.

What makes the win so fascinating is that as a Lebanese Canadian, English is Hage’s third language, which makes winning this award that much more amazing. What’s also interesting is it appears that prior to the win the book may have been remaindered, so you can pick up a copy of De Niro’s Game for a couple of dollars. Or you can splash out for a signed copy.
De Niro’s Game beat out a short list that included:
Winterwood by Patrick McCabe.
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra.
Let It Be Morning by Sayed Kashua.
The Woman Who Waited by Andrei Makine.
The Sweet & Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne.
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones.
The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas.

The Winners have been announced for the BC Book Prizes, of which AbeBooks is a sponsor for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
Conceit by Mary Novik

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize
Everywhere Being is Dancing by Robert Bringhurst

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize
Forage by Rita Wong

Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by J.B. MacKinnon, Alisa Smith

Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize
The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane by Polly Horvath

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
The Corps of the Bare-Boned Plane by Polly Horvath

Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize
A Sea-Wishing Day by Robert Heidbreder

BC Booksellers’ Choice Award in Honour of Bill Duthie
The Last Wild Wolves: Ghosts of the Great Bear Rainforest by Ian McAllister

AbeBooks has just launched a Canadian homepage making it easier for all of our Canadian users to find books from their home and native land.

Of course, we were founded by Canadians, our headquarters are located in Victoria, BC, Canada’s National Post newspaper once described us as “The Granddaddy of Canadian E-commerce,” and the majority of our employees are Canadian, myself included.

On the homepage, we will feature Canadian authors , content, some of the local projects we sponsor like the Claremont Review, and of course help visitors to more easily buy books from the over 680 Canadian Booksellers.

AbeBooks is a sponsor of the BC Book Prizes. We are sponsoring the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize this year and they have just announced the shortlist.

• The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by J.B. MacKinnon, Alisa Smith
• Everywhere Being is Dancing by Robert Bringhurst
• Interwoven Wild: An Ecologist Loose in the Garden by Don Gayton
• Phantom Limb by Theresa Kishkan
• The Triumph of Citizenship: The Japanese and Chinese in Canada, 1941-67 by Patricia E. Roy

Other interesting books up for awards are Meg Tilly’s book Porcupine, our very own Richard Davies had a chance to interview Ms. Tilly last year. And A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah which is up for an award despite recent allegations that it is work of fiction.

Personally I am really interested in The 100-Mile Diet and think I might have to read that one. AbeBooks has arranged for a local organic market to set up shop in our building a couple times this year so we could pick up local produce on our lunch break.

I was delighted to see that my favourite novel, Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley, was one of the five Canada Reads books this year. Canada Reads is a lively and highly-followed discussion (at least here in Canada) where five celebs (O.K….Canada’s version of a celebrity) defend their choice on CBC radio. Each day one book is voted off and then the winner is the recommended read for all of Canada. The other books being discussed are:

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
From the Fifteenth District by Mavis Gallant
Icefields by Thomas Wharton
King Leary by Paul Quarrington

You can check out the discussion on the CBC website.