Since its publication in 2015, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel
The Sympathizer has become one of the most widely celebrated debuts in recent memory winning the Pulitzer Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the Edgar Award for Best First Novel (among others), as well as a growing horde of fans. It has even spawned a sequel,
The Committed, which was published earlier this month to great fanfare.
Nguyen’s debut has also, I have recently learned, inspired at least one very good piece of music: “Sympathizer,” by Dash Hammerstein, a Brooklyn-based composer.
I was on not one but
two award juries in 2020. I told myself it was reasonable because there was a lot of overlap in the potential nominee pools, so it wouldn’t be
that much extra reading. I didn’t count on 2020 being a year of unusual strain and psychic deterioration, which increased the difficulty of reading, thinking, making critical judgments, and really doing anything that required executive function. Still, I got through my mountains of books, and even found some comfort (or, at least, distraction) there. I’ll highlight ten of my favorites.
The best book of the year for me was
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie s next book is coming this May ‹ Literary Hub lithub.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lithub.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
He said: “We’re talking about several hundred young people being coached and trained gymnastics.
A footpath near the site “I am keen to protect the countryside as well… I don’t really see there is that much harm. It doesn’t stop people walking through trees. “Given the borough as a whole, to have a leading exercise facility like this, to me the benefits do outweigh the harm.” Other councillors agreed with the idea of building a new gymnasium in Bracknell, but could not support its location in the countryside. Councillor Lizzie Gibson added: “It’s not the right place for what would be an excellent facility elsewhere in the borough and I hope they can build a suitable facility for their needs somewhere else.”