Christmas scoop for Cambridge University Library

After a drive to raise 1.25 million pounds, Cambridge University Library has taken delivery of the Siegried Sassoon papers.

A while ago, there was a short discussion about books that changed one's life. I didn't think of poetry at the time, but reading Sassoon poetry in class certainly changed my ideas about war -- for good, and for ever. Aimed at adults, it stirred the soul of a nine-year-old.

Anyway, according to a BBC report, the university library scooped the archive by raising all that money, helped by a grant worth just over a half million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Other donors were the Monument Trust, the JP Getty Jr Trust, and Sir Siegmund Warburg's Voluntary Settlement.

Sassoon was an undergrad. at Cambridge, and became an honorary fellow of Clare College. Author Sebastian Faulks, whose novel Birdsong is set in the battlefields of WW1, said, "This is a major coup for Cambridge University Library, and the papers will be of huge benefit to scholars both of literature and of history."

Poet wins short story award

Again, the big names are edged out.

Poet Kate Clanchy (44, pictured) has won the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award with only her second attempt at a short story, earning herself fifteen thousand pounds.

Others shortlisted were past Orange Prize winners Lionel Shriver and Naomi Alderman and Bafta-nominated writer Jane Rogers.

The chair of judges, Tom Sutcliffe, said that Kate Clanchy's story was the unanimous choice.

Named The Not-Dead and The Saved, it is a story about parental love and sacrifice set in a hospital ward,

"We were all impressed by its acute control of emotional tone and by the vividness and generosity of the writing," said Sutcliffe.

More than 600 entries were received for the 2009 award, which is open to authors who have a publication history and are residents of the United Kingdom.

First novel wins John Llewellyn Rhys book prize

Evie Wyld, 29, has edged out big names Aravind Adiga and Chimamanda Ngozi to win the prestigious award.

Her novel, After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, is set in eastern Australia, and tells the story of the convoluted relationship between a father and his son through a series of wars.

Louise Doughty, the chair of the judges, said this novel is truly remarkable, capturing "the inflections of male speech and male bonding in a way that feels both acute and realistic."

Click here for the shortlist, and the BBC report.

You don't actually have to be a Booker winner to write bad sex, but it helps

Following the announcement of the winner of the 17th annual Bad Sex in Fiction Award, Tom Geoghegan asks in the BBC News Magazine whether sex in books really does have to be so bad - and whether it helps to be an acclaimed literary novelist.


Singer turned author Nick Cave, Booker winner John Banville and novelist Philip Roth were all shortlisted for this year's award, which was won by Jonathan Littell (pictured, looking wry), for his novel The Kindly Ones.

Littell's book, originally published in French (what else?), won the Prix Goncourt in 2006. It has also sold over a million copies - but not, apparently, for the glowing, inspirational sex scenes.

Judges at the Literary Review gave Littell the prize for a passage that begins, "This sex was watching at me, spying on me, like a Gorgon's head." (Was something lost in translation, perhaps?) He also describes an energetic act as "a jolt that emptied my head like a spoon scraping the inside of a soft-boiled egg."

The Literary Review hopes that the author will take the dishonor in "good humor." Who can tell? The award has been accepted by his agent, but Littell is yet to comment.

The magazine story, which explores the reasons why writers write about sex so badly, includes lots of quotes. The one I like the best, however, is a comment from a reader, Edward James, of Southport, who says:

"Thank you for thrusting the rapier of enquiry into the delicate flower of this subject."

Instore chaos as Borders UK files for bankruptcy

Borders UK filed for "administration" (the UK equivalent of bankruptcy) last week, with the firm MCR overseeing the process after another company, BDO, pulled out at the last minute citing an unspecified conflict. Stores started offering discounts to help sell off existing merchandise -- but if you think you scent a bargain, think again.

The Bookseller's anonymous blogger "Borders Insider" has posted an amazing account of lack of leadership, lack of communication, orders issued that are almost instantly countermanded, and banners advertizing competing discounts for the same book. The receivers, MCR, might be hot with the accounts ledgers, but booksellers, they ain't. Their ploy seems to be to send out POS (point of sale) banners, and then wait to see what happens. "'Up to 50% off everything' signs go up everywhere (confusingly alongside the 20% ones," writes the blogger. Then, according to him or her, "things get seriously weird. Having removed all other offers many books are now more expensive than they were but this fact seems lost on customers."

Or perhaps not. Over the first weekend, as the shop is "quickly devastated" by bargain-hunters, the penny drops for some. But who gets accused of being "money-grabbers"? Not Borders administration (which has gone deathly silent), or the resident MCR rep., who is bereft of useful information. No, it is the poor guy or gal behind the counter who cops the blame. "Booksellers are reduced to tears. Many are angry and there is much gritting of teeth but no one is rude or abusive."

Click the Bookseller site for this eye-opening post.

Palin memoir number one

Good lord, she is going to earn out that massive advance.

Sarah Palin's Going Rogue will be Number One on the New York Times bestsellers chart this week.

Dave Itzkoff reports for the NYT that the newly released memoir sold 469,000 copies in the first week of release, shoving Names like James Patterson, Stephen King, and Dan Brown further down the ratings chart.

Palin's book had the second-best first-week sales of any memoir of a president or [vice]presidential contender, according to Nielsen BookScan. Bill Clinton's My Life sold 606,000 in the first week of release, marginally outselling his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose Living History sold 440,000 copies, and now sits at number three.

HarperCollins estimated larger sales, at about 700,000. As pointed out before in this blog, Nielsen Bookscan does not cover the entire market, because of client constraints. In this case, they did not use figures from some mass-market outlets like Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.

MS of A CHRISTMAS CAROL on display

The messy, rushed manuscript of the beloved Dickens morality tale, A Christmas Carol, is on display at the Morgan Library and Museum, reports Claire Prentice in New York.

Charles Dickens scribbled the story at a frantic pace, impelled by a personal financial crisis, getting it down on paper in just six weeks. "The manuscript is a mess," says the Morgan's curator, Decian Kiely. "It's a mess because Dickens was trying to get everything down on paper really fast."

In the process, he created two absolutely unforgettable characters, Bob Cratchit and Ebenezer Scrooge. The story of Cratchit's incurable optimism and Scrooge's redemption after being visited by a series of ghosts (one pictured, right, as an illustration for the first edition), has inspired many adaptations, including pantomimes for the junior set.

The manuscript has a lot of crossing out, with inserted revisions and corrections, revealing both the writer's inner thoughts and his inspirations, making it one of the most interesting literary artifacts around. It will be on display through January 2010.

Borders UK doomed?

Or so says the Bookseller Magazine, echoed by Publishers Lunch.

Concerns about the fate of Borders UK rose over the past few days, as the Times declared Sunday the struggling chain is "on the verge of collapse" after a potential deal with WH Smith fell apart. Asked for comment by the Guardian, WH Smith "refused to confirm reports that it had pulled out of the deal," but the newspaper joined in warning the company "appeared to be foundering, raising fears for the future of the hard-pressed business."

The company's financial advisor Clearwater advertised "a chain of book and entertainment stores" for sale. The Times added "the lack of appetite for a takeover of the whole company means that Borders could be put into administration this week."

They say that talks are being held with other potential saviors, including Waterstone's owner HMV, but "it is thought that the companies it has approached are more interested in buying packages of stores." The Guardian says those other bidders "are only interested in buying a handful of stores" and are likely to wait for a bankruptcy filing.

No Oprah book club?

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey to end her show.

It has just been announced. The iconic talk show will end in 2011, at the finish of the 25th season -- which means the end of the iconic Oprah's Book Club, too.

At times her choices were considered bizarre, but she created buzzworthy books, which delighted many a publisher, and made (or broke) many authors. It will be sadly missed.

And the writer whose book is featured in that very last show will gain unusual fame. Obviously, it is a slot to be greatly coveted.

More details will be given on Friday's broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show, guaranteeing it a bigger audience than ever.

Oprah Winfrey, 55, started her career in Nashville Tennessee, and Baltimore, Maryland, before moving to Chicago in 1984, to host a morning talk show called "A.M. Chicago," which became so popular that the following year it was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The year after that, it went into syndication, to become the most successful talk show ever, reaching about 7,000,000 viewers every day.

Oprah is leaving to concentrate on her own cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Bestselling Call Girl Lowers the Veil

"Belle de Jour" drops her anonymity

Dr. Brooke Magnanti, a former call girl who published her memoirs as Secret Diary of a Call Girl, has revealed her true identity.

A brave move, as the book, published last year (and don't you love the jacket!), has become a bestseller, hot on the heels of being turned into a TV series starring Dr. Who's lost love, Billie Piper. However, the writer says that keeping her identity a deadly secret was making her paranoid. (Anything for a decent night's sleep.)

Dr. Magnanti wrote under the penname "Belle de Jour" to describe her adventures as a high-class escort, charging 300 pounds per night to finance her doctoral studies. As she confessed to the Sunday Times, it was a lot more enjoyable (albeit more dangerous) than her other job as a computer programmer.

By day, she is now employed The Bristol Initiative for Research of Child Health, as a highly rated expert in developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology.

And at night she writes a highly rated blog, and produces racy books.