Drum Roll, Please

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2006 has been awarded to a Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk, "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures." You can see video of the announcement at the Nobel site.

Time Magazine named Orhan Pamuk one of the "Time 100: People Who Sahpe Our World" in May and their article about him remains on-line.

National Book Award Finalists Announced

The nominees for Young People's Literature are:

• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick Press)
• Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt (Front Street Books/Boyds Mills Press)
• Sold by Patricia McCormick (Hyperion Books for Children)
• The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (Dial/Penguin)
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (First Second/Roaring Brook Press/Holtzbrinck)

I have only read the spectacular Sold thus far, but Octavian Nothing is sitting on my desk...

Winners of Quill Awards announced

The winners of the 2006 Quill Awards have been announced. I didn't vote for too many of the winners, but I did correctly chose the winner in the "Best General Fiction" category -- Congratulations to Chris Moore on his novel, A Dirty Job winning.

The awards show will be broadcast on October 28. I will watch, hoping the show isn't as dreadful as it was last year.

*HOW* many??

So, here I am, trying to decide if 3 jalapenos are too many for the delicious Mexican-Style Chicken Lime Soup I am making for dinner or if two will do and this fool's gulping down 247 jalapenos. 247!!! It's madness, I tell you!

Set your alarm...

... So you do not miss the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Thursday at 1:00 p.m. CET. So far, Americans have swept the Nobels, which makes me suspect that the Lit and Peace prizes will go elsewhere. Still exciting!