Five Minutes Peace

Women dominate prize list - for once!

Five out of the six authors on the shortlist for the Dylan Thomas prize are female. The founder of the prize, Professor Peter Stead, said the judges were "both surprised and pleased" to see the final six are mainly women.

The Dylan Thomas prize is worth £30,000 and is open to any young writer (under the age of 30) writing in English. It commemorates the Swansea-born poet (pictured) and is funded by the University of Wales.

The 2010 shortlist represents a diverse range of writing including two poetry collections. Hop over the cut for the list in full.

BOOK NEWS: The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry

Happy publication day to the multi-talented and charming cultural phenomenon known as Stephen Fry. It's thirteen years since the memoir of his childhood - Moab is my Washpot - hit our shelves, and I'm beyond ready for the next installment.

The Fry Chronicles promises to be just as touching, honest and entertaining as Moab and it's going straight to the top of my to-be-read pile.

Booker prize shortlist announced

Well, the longlist for the Man Booker Prize has been whittled down and the shortlist announced... Interestingly, the two titles tipped as front-runners to scoop the prize are not on it (David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap).

Instead, the six finalists competing for the £50,000 prize money/literary prestige are:

Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America

Emma Donoghue's Room

Damon Galgut's In a Strange Room

Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question

Andrea Levy's The Long Song

Tom McCarthy's C

[Via The Guardian]

BOOK NEWS: Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie

Eep! After writing three action-romance collaborations with Bob Meyer (Don't Look Down, Agnes and the Hitman and Wild Ride) Crusie treats her fans to an all-Crusie title.

However, Maybe This Time isn't a return to 'classic' Crusie. She is following a recent fascination with the paranormal, mixing a spooky old house, ghosts, and a story loosely based on The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.

The first chapter is available for free on Jennifer Crusie's website.

It's out (in the UK) at the end of the month and has a fabulous - very red - cover. Look out for our review soon.

The Dating Detox trailer

I adored Gemma Burgess's debut, The Dating Detox, but I haven't got around to reviewing it yet (I know, I'm hopeless), but in the meantime, please watch the wonderful trailer Gemma's put together.

Find out more here and read Gemma's blog here. 

The Dating Detox Trailer from sam eastall on Vimeo.

And I'll review it soon, but really all you need to know is that it's hilarious.

Would you go and see Bridget Jones the Musical?

I'm finding it quite tricky to get up any enthusiasm for this, I'm afraid. So I'll just give you the facts and see if you're keener than me... 

Lily Allen is apparently writing songs for a forthcoming Bridget Jones musical. 

Helen Fielding is writing the script. 

My gut reaction is that it sounds dreadful, but so did Mamma Mia and look how that turned out. 

What do you think? 

[via Guardian Music]

BOOK NEWS: Like Bees to Honey by Caroline Smailes

Caroline Smailes' third novel, Like Bees to Honey, is released today.  

I was lucky enough to go along to one of the launch events last week in Liverpool and it was wonderful. (I didn't get any photos though, which was a bit of a stupid oversight. Too busy chatting, you see.) 

Like Bees to Honey is the story of Nina, who left her Maltese home to go to Liverpool University, where fell in love and fell pregnant. She'd promised to return to Malta after getting her degree, but then broke her parents' hearts by staying in the UK with her husband and baby. Sixteen years later, she returns to Malta for one last visit with her aging parents. 

I can't wait to read it. The trailer gave me goosebumps. Watch it over the cut. 

BOOK COVER: The Happy Home for Broken Hearts

I wrote about Rowan Coleman's latest book a little while ago. I'd seen the cover on the left and loved it. I've just seen the cover on the right (which is obviously the full cover including the back) and I love it even more. In fact, it's one of the nicest covers I've ever seen, which is funny since I'm not a fan of cartoon covers in general (as you may have noticed!). I just think this one is cute and fresh and gorgeous. 

You may notice the title's different too. From The Home for Broken Hearts to The Happy Home for Broken Hearts. Which cover do you prefer? And which title? 
 

BOOK NEWS: From Notting Hill With Love... Actually

Ali McNamara's debut is one of those ideas that makes me so envious that I didn't think of it first. From Notting Hill With Love... Actually is a romantic comedy featuring parodies of famous movie scenes from films including Bridget Jones's Diary, Pretty Woman and, you know, Notting Hill. 

But the thing that first made me love it is the subtitle: "She was just a girl, standing in front of a boy... wishing he looked more like Hugh Grant." How great is that?! Love it. 

Read more about it here. It's not out until November, so it's a long wait, but I bet it's going to be worth it. What do you think?

(Oh and even though I'm not usually a fan of cartoon covers, I love this one.)

GUEST BLOG: Cally Taylor's Five Books to Curl Up With

I am delighted to welcome Cally Taylor - whose debut novel, Heaven Can Wait, Helen reviewed just yesterday - to Five Minutes Peace. Take it away, Cally!

When Keris asked me to write a guest post about my five favourite books to curl up I had to have a long, hard think. I know what my five favourite books of all time are (although I do switch a couple around occasionally) but ‘books to curl up with' is a completely different issue! To me a book you curl up with is akin to chocolate, a log fire or a deep bubble bath – something that allows you to escape from the real world for a while.  Here they are...

1. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

In a nutshell: It’s about a man who, when his girlfriend leaves him, rakes through his past relationships to try and understand where it all went wrong.

Why I love it: I think High Fidelity was the first book - written by a man about relationships - I’d read that wasn’t from a pervert’s point of view (Lolita by Nabakov) or obsessed with sex (anything by Henry Miller). There’s something so everyday-man about Rob, the main character in High Fidelity. He could be a friend of mine, or even someone I’ve dated and for that reason he’s very real. I loved his obsession with music, his constant list-making, his flawed, funny personality and couldn’t help but root for him all the way through.