This Week in Reading October 18 - 24

Authors born this week -

Nobel Prize in Literature
Philosopher Henri Bergson (1927), storywriter Ivan Bunin (1933), storywriter Miguel Angel Asturias (1967), playwright, novelist Elfriede Jelinek (2004), novelist Doris Lessing (2007)

Novelists and story writers
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Thomas Hughes, H. L. Davis, Emily Kimbrough, Marghanita Laski, Norman Rush, Terry McMillan, Nick Tosches, Bao Ninh, Patti Davis, Carrie Fisher, Rick Moody, Tracy Chevalier

Poets and Playwrights
Poets: Leigh Hunt, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alphonse de Lamartine, Arthur Rimbaud, Will Carleton, Denise Levertov, Robert Pinsky, Ntozake Shange Playwrights: Heinrich von Kleist, Sidney Kingsley, Moss Hart, Wendy Wasserstein

Thinkers, Believers, Scientists, Historians, Biographers
Thinkers: John Dewey Believers: Deepak Chopra Scientists: Neltje Blanchan, Martin Gardner, Joyce Brothers Historians: Lewis Mumford, Tariq Ali Biographers: Randy Pausch

Humorists, Essayists, Editors, Journalists, Officials, Media and Others
Humorists: John Gould, Art Buchwald, Lewis Grizzard Essayists: Thomas Browne, Logan Pearsall Smith, Frances Fitzgerald, Michael Eric Tyson, Deborah Blum, Augusten Burroughs Editors: Pierre Larousse Journalists: Jack Reed, A.J. Liebling, Jack Anderson Media and Others: Harvey Penick, Bobby Seale, Michelle Malkin

Mystery / Crime / Suspense Writers
Mystery: Edogawa Rampo, Frederic Dannay (Ellery Queen), John Le Carre Crime: Ann Rule, Andrew Vachss Suspense: Michael Crichton

Fantasy / Science Fiction Writers
Fantasy: Ursula LeGuin, Phillip Pullman, Lynn Flewelling Science Fiction: Charles Stross

Visual Artists
Illustrators: N. C. Wyeth Cartoonists: Bob Kane

Young People’s Writers
Children’s: Sara Josepha Hale Teens: Laurie Halse Anderson

Events to read about this week:
Mason Dixon line, Cornwallis surrenders, architect Christopher Wren, Bela Lugosi, HUAC, Nelson wins at Trafalgar, Alfred Nobel, Anti-Vietnam War march, Liszt, Timothy Leary, Sarah Bernhardt, Johnny Carson, the IPod, the UN.

This Week’s Questions:
There are five winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature this week. Most from countries that had other winners but which one is the only one from a country?

Answers to Last Week’s Questions:
The National Book Award finalists were announced last week:

Fiction

Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage

Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin

Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite

Marcel Theroux, Far North

Nonfiction
David M. Carroll, Following the Water: A Hydromancer's Notebook

Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species

Greg Grandin, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy

T. J. Stiles, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

Poetry
Rae Armantrout, Versed

Ann Lauterbach, Or to Begin Again

Carl Phillips, Speak Low

Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Open Interval

Keith Waldrop, Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy

Young People’s Literature
Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith

Phillip Hooose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice

David Small, Stitches

Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times

Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped

Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters - Gore Vidal

Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community - Dave Eggers