Hi Bookworms. I’ve decided to take a short break this week and I’ll be back next Sunday to blather about books and reading. You can see from these storm clouds that we had a big dousing of rain this past week, which is good for the yard. We’ve planted quite a few vegetables now in the garden and some geraniums in pots on the back deck. Unfortunately one deer took the tops off of three tomato plants close to the house, which I’m not too pleased about. Usually they don’t mess with the tomatoes, so it took me by surprise a bit. Still we have plenty left that have cages around them.
Meanwhile in book news you might have seen that the debut novel The Correspondent by Virginia Evans won the coveted Women’s Prize for Fiction last week. I guess I sort of thought it would … as over the past year since its publication in April 2025 it’s been quite the Cinderella story for the novel, climbing the bestseller lists and becoming a big hit. In addition to the Women’s Prize The Correspondent also won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novels. And Jane Fonda has signed on for the movie adaptation to play the persnickety Sybil Van Antwerp, who’s the novel’s protagonist.
It is a happy day for author Virginia Evans who apparently spent 20 years writing and failing to sell seven different novels. (!!) I watched the announcement of the Women’s Prize live and you can see it here. (Scroll to minute 31 of the video to watch Evans accept the award and give her speech.) It was quite touching. She beat out a strong short list of contenders whose books you can see here. Also my review of Evans’ novel from last year is here.
Also Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet won the Women’s Prize for Nonfiction for her debut book The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan. Apparently she is currently the BBC’s chief international correspondent. I need to get with the program and put my name on the library hold list for her book, which apparently reads like a tender love letter to Afghanistan and its people.
That’s all for now. I’ll chat more next Sunday, when I’ll likely have a review of Tayari Jones’s novel Kin, which Amazon says is #1 on their Best Books of 2026 So Far list. I’ve been liking its storytelling and plan to finish it soon. Have a great week … and let me know what you’re reading these days. Anything good?
