Winner of Oddest Book Title in 30 Years Announced

I mentioned that the time had come to vote for what you thought was the oddest book title through the Bookseller. The ballots are now in and counted and the winner is ... Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers.

Time to Vote for the Oddest Book Title of the Last 30 Years

The Bookseller magazine hosts an annual competition, called the Diagram Prize, for the world's oddest book title. (The 2006 winner was The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification.) Because the prize was started 30 years ago by Diagram Group founder Bruce Robertson when bored at a Frankfurt Book Fair, everyone involved decided to have a recognition of the long-lasting nature of oddity. Now you can cast your vote. Pick your choice from all past winning titles. I'm wavering between The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecedents, Its History and Its Role in the World Today and People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead: How They Attach Themselves to Unsuspecting Bystanders and What to Do About It.

Being Orwell's Big Brother

The Orwell Trust, which administers the Orwell Prize for political writing, is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the release of his diaries by posting them as a blog. It will be interested to see how such a smart writer and gifted craftsperson worked on a first draft basis.

Dorris Lessing on Winning Nobel Prize for Literature

Here are some quotes from Dorris Lessing, reported by the New York Times and AP, on being asked about winning the Nobel Prize for literature:

Reporters opened the door and told her she had won the Nobel Prize for literature, to which she responded: "Oh Christ! ... I couldn't care less."

"I was a bit surprised because I had forgotten about it actually," she said. "My name has been on the short list for such a long time."

Ms. Lessing said that on second thought, she was not as surprised "because this has been going on for something like 40 years," referring to the number of times she has been mentioned as a likely honoree. "Either they were going to give it to me sometime before I popped off or not at all."

"Now I’m going to go in to answer my telephone," she said. "I swear I’m going upstairs to find some suitable sentences, which I will be using from now on."

"I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot, OK?" Lessing said, making her way through the crowd. "It's a royal flush."

It was interesting to see the censorship/story shaping that goes on in how you report a quote. We have:

"I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot, OK?" Lessing said, making her way through the crowd. "It's a royal flush."

from the Associated Press, and

"I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all. It's a royal flush," she said.

from AFP. And the latter didn't use the "I couldn't care less" quote. Agenda, anyone?