Richard and Judy Reveal Shortlist
The Richard and Judy shortlist for 2007 has been announced. For anyone who skipped a beat, these guys host a television book club in the UK and the books they choose will almost certainly hit stratospheric sales figures. (The books on last year's Channel 4 programme shortlist sold 10m copies between them!)
I am much in favour of publicising books in this way, and wish we had an equivalent here. (A little celebrity endorsement would do wonders for books in the Malaysian context! Who would you choose in lieu of Richard and Judy?)
There are some interesting choices on the list, and at least three books on the list are ones I plan to read. The eight chosen books are:
The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld,
The Girls by Lori Lansens,
Restless by William Boyd,
Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde,
Semi-Detached by Griff Rhys Jones,
This Book Will Save Your Life by AM Homes
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson
You can more read about the titles here.
Labels: literary awards, richard and judy
posted by bibliobibuli at 8:15 AM
15 Comments:
Sharon, I think Malaysia could do with an equivalent of Oprah's book endorsement and Richard & Judy. I'm thinking of Anita Sarawak, she had that talk show on Astro but it had to do with matters of the heart. She and her husband could do another one for books.
January 12, 2007 9:44 AM
The Siti and Mawi book list?
January 12, 2007 9:52 AM
lydia - nice one!
ted - i was also thinking of the siti and mawi bookshow
but do any of these people READ???? you gotta have credibility as well as bankability
January 12, 2007 10:13 AM
Sharon, wasn't Siti roped in for the National Reading campaign month at one time?
If Siti and Mawi were to come up with a booklist, I think it may contain only Malay romance titles. Anita and hubby's book list will be more varied I think.
January 12, 2007 11:01 AM
Lilian Too's booklist. She is expanding into writing, right? She wrote book titled Empress Wu something , right?
January 12, 2007 12:58 PM
I'd like to see Sharon as a host on TV perhaps as part of a morning show. She could be called Biblibibuli or Bibs for short, and she would invite fascinating people, whom she knows many of, and ask them what they read and why. After a few months she could come up with a Bibs Books List.
Kam could talk about his new book. And Lydia, and Yvonne, Dina. Jit and Kee Thuan Chye on their plays. She could invite Lillian Too too.
The possibilities ....
January 12, 2007 1:15 PM
Agree 200% with Animah.
January 12, 2007 1:40 PM
If anita (and husband), mawi or siti are given book-tv-show, I will personally hunt them down and feed them to hungry dolphins.
This, I swear.
January 12, 2007 3:57 PM
you so cruel to dolphins, sufian!
i really don't want to be on tv. it needs someone with looks and personality who doesn't fluff their lines or freeze when they see a camera (all unlike me)
January 12, 2007 5:44 PM
Book endorsers I would take seriously:
You
Marina Mahathir
Yasmin Ahmad
Eric Forbes
And - er - can't think of anyone else, and no, can't think of any malaysian celebs I would respect enough to listen to their book recomendations.
Maybe I'm too harsh but given the image they project, it's all fluff and glamour. It what works, I suppose.
Hmm..having said that, how about Ida Nerina and Harith Iskandar? And Jit!
January 13, 2007 2:38 PM
eliza - yes, jit, bless him. he's a delight when he talks about books ... and a delight when he talks about anything, of course.
January 13, 2007 5:03 PM
sharon i keep telling you, you should be on tv. you'll be great!
January 14, 2007 10:26 AM
if so will need a stylist and a hairdresser dancing attendance ms d. i'm a sartorial nightmare.
January 14, 2007 1:26 PM
aiyah itu bole bikin... what we need is a video cam and a youtube account. then... you're a star :)
January 15, 2007 7:59 AM
yeh ke? personally i think you would have a terrible struggle to smarten me up.
January 15, 2007 9:38 AM
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