Orange Longlist 2012

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It's that time again! I am so excited to get my grubby little paws on a few of these books. The Orange Prize for Fiction is an accolade that is awarded to a female author, whose novel is published in the UK. These are the books nominated for this year's longlist...

•Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg (Quercus) - Swedish; 1st Novel

•On the Floor by Aifric Campbell (Serpent's Tail) - Irish; 3rd Novel
•The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (The Clerkenwell Press) - American; 4th Novel
•The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue (Picador) - Irish; 7th Novel
•Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (Serpent's Tail) - Canadian; 2nd Novel
•The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape) - Irish; 5th Novel
•The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki (Headline Review) - British; 5th Novel
•Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (Quercus) - American; 4th Novel
•Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding (Bloomsbury) - British; 3rd Novel
•Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (Faber & Faber) - British; 2nd Novel
•The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - British; 2nd Novel
•The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy (Jonathan Cape) - British; 6th Novel
•The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Harvill Secker) - American; 1st Novel
•The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury) - American; 1st Novel
•Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (Atlantic Books) - American; 7th Novel
•State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury) - American; 6th Novel
•There but for the by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton) - British; 5th Novel
•The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard (Alma Books) - British; 2nd Novel
•Tides of War by Stella Tillyard (Chatto & Windus) - British; 1st Novel
•The Submission by Amy Waldman (William Heinemann) - American; 1st Novel



The shortlist will be announced on the 17th of April and the winner on the 30th of May. My first read will be Emma Donoghue's book, as I absolutely fell in love with Room last year.

Happy reading!

LMM
xoxo

Husband drinks wife's breastmilk minutes after baby is born...

Some people are simple. Some people are ugly. And some people are just plain fucking stupid!


Enter simple, ugly, stupid fucker. His wife has just had a baby. their first child. As the small family sit together, I am on the other side of the curtain with another patient and this is what I hear.

Simple-Ugly-Stupid-Fucker: No man, why doesn't he wanna drink yo milk?

Proud Mother: I don't know, maybe he's still tired from the delivery.

SUSF: *in baby voice* drink my boy, it's yummy milk. I promise!

Proud Mother: Just let him be!

SUSF: No man, he must drink. I'll show him.

*Enter lip smacking noises followed by SUSF running to sink to retch*

SUSF: Sies man! That is disgusting!

My patient: *turns to me and whispers* Did that man just drink his wife's breast milk?

LMM: *whispers back* I think so.

*We both have to suppress the urge to wet ourselves whilst giggling silently*

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Some people!!!!


LMM

xoxo

A Visit From the Goon Squad

This was my final London bookclub read. I am extremely sad to have said goodbye to all the wonderful ladies that I have spent the last year getting to know. We had amazing evenings, filled with intelligent chatter, tipsy gossip and yummy food. The best part of the night would be when we would all discuss the last month of our lives. Each person would chat a bit and then everyone would turn to me and say, "So LMM, what crazy, funny, ridiculous stories can you tell us about your patients?" Ha! Their bookclub will definitely not be the same without my patient anecdotes :)

This brings us onto the topic of final read. What can I say about this book? To be completely honest, I cannot even tell you what it is about. Each chapter jumps to a different time with different characters. I thought it would all come together in the end, like an Oprah "a-ha" light bulb moment, but it didn't. There was shoplifting, a music, coffee with gold flakes, but I cannot for the life of me find the gist of the story. Some characters did reappear, but by then I couldn't remember where they came from.I was confused and kept wondering if I was the only person who was retarded enough not to "get" this critically acclaimed novel. If you have read it, please help me out!

I am now on the prowl for capetonian readers to start my very own bookclub.

LMM

xoxo

Abuse

There is nothing worse than seeing someone who has been physically assaulted, unless they have been assaulted and they are pregnant. Today I met a patient who is 17, hasn't finished school and is pregnant. She had been abused by her boyfriend, who punched her in the face, leaving her with a blue eye. He had also kicked her in the stomach and now her 30 week fetus was suffering the consequences. We had to admit her as the baby was not getting enough blood through the umbilical cord. She doesn't want to press charges.

A few weeks ago someone close to me was assaulted by her husband. I cannot imagine the absolute horror to have the person you love and share your life with do this to you. Physical violence is not something I think I will ever be able to wrap my head around.

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LMM

xoxo