Lamb, by Bonnie Nadzam

2013 Long-list: Lamb

Written by Bonnie Nadzam and Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Review

Lamb hits a mid-life crisis when his wife divorces him for infidelity and his father passes away. Just after his father's funeral, he meets Tommie - an 11-year-old girl who desperately needs guidance. Lamb is strangely attracted to the girl - he wants to help her seize life, he wants to buy her presents and make her happy. Then, with Tommie's consent, he abducts her. 

I had a really hard time deciding how to rate Lamb. The narrative was intriguing - almost addictive - but the subject matter was very disturbing. I hard a hard time putting it down because I wanted to know how it would end. I felt compelled to keep reading despite a deepening sense of unease. From the subject, I should have known it would make me feel that way, but I thought it would be a book with more hope in it. I respect the way Nadzam kept the details subtle. There were no highly disturbing scenes (well, there was ONE scene that was a bit disturbing, but it could have been much, much worse). My recommendation - read this book if you would enjoy looking at pedophilia from another perspective, but avoid it if this is a sensitive topic for you.

Spoilerish Discussion @ Resistance is Futile

2013 Long List Announced

The books nominated for the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction are:

 A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge (Jonathan Cape Ltd, July 2012)

 Alif The Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (Grove Press, June 2012)

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt and Co., May, 2012)

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper. November 2012)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (Crown, June 2012)

Honour by Elif Shafak (Viking, April 2012)

How Should A Person Be by Sheila Heti (Henry Holt and Co., June 2012)

Ignorance by Michele Roberts (Bloomsbury USA., January 2013)

Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam (Other Press, September 2011)

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Reagan Arthur Books, April  2013)

Mateship With Birds by Carrie Tiffany (Picador, June 2012)

May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes (Viking Adult, September 2012)

NW by Zadie Smith (Penguin Press HC, September 2012)

The Forrests by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury USA, August 2012)

The Innocents by Francesca Segal (Voice, June 2012)

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (Scribner, July 2012)

 The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber (St. Martin's Press, January 2013)

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu (Hogarth, September 2012)

The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan (Voice, April 2012)

Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple (Little, Brown and Company, December 2012)

Introduction of New Member - Brona

Hello

I'm Brona from Brona's Books.

I've been meaning to join in your Orange Challenge for quite some time. So thank you Wendy for the kind invitation and warm welcome.

My blog started when I was still in teacher mode. I focused on children's books and writing reviews that would help teachers and parents find suitable books for their children.

I've always been an avid reader, but chose not to blog about the grown-up titles I was reading.

The last few years has seen a change of career for me and I now work in an Independent bookshop managing the children's section. My job requires me to be knowledgable about all sections of the shop, not just the children's areas. With so many titles and genres to choose from it could be easy to be overwhelmed by choice!

I made the decision a long time ago to only read books I was enjoying. If by page 50 I'm not sucked in or hooked, I put it down and find something more my style. Life's to short to read a bad book!

I mainly read new release fiction, historical fiction, gentle crime, biographies and the occasional non-fiction title (history, science and philosophy are my favourites).

But lots of our customers like to know our opinions about the award winning books. So I'm attempting to play catch-up...which is where this blog comes in!

Thank you all once again and I look forward to getting to know you all better.

Click here to read my first Orange post on my blog.

New Look

Hello everyone!

I've decided to try a more dynamic look for the blog and I'd love your feedback. You can choose how you view the blog by selecting any one of a number of different looks at the top of the blog. Links and other information continues to be available by using the slide-out feature in the right hand side of the page.

Please let me know if you like this new look - I can always change it back to the way it was before!

Judge Rachel Johnson Shares Her Thoughts...

The Women's Prize Site and Nominations for 2013

Good morning! 

I just wanted everyone to know that the Women's Prize official site is now back up and running and I've put the link in the right side bar if you want to check it out.

The 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist will be announced on Thursday 14^th March 2013. Do you have any favorites which you hope will make the nomination list?