Ian McEwan, author of "Atonement" and "Amsterdam"

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Ian McEwan's favorite books:

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
   
   
   "Mark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement. He is a wise and bleakly funny writer with rare gifts of empathy."
   
   


2. The Dig by John Preston
   
   
   "A novel by a friend of mine called John Preston called, The Dig, which I think is very fine."
   
   


Source:
http://www.amazon.com
http://www.time.com, 10 Questions for Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan recommends...

1. Fast Lanes By Jayne Anne Phillips
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "A brilliant writer, utterly original and with astonishing range."
   
   


2. Villages By John Updike
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "The finest novelist writing in english today."

Five favorite novels about work

The world of work -- so defining in most lives -- is rather underrepresented in literary fiction. However, there are some honorable, and even brilliant, excursions.

1. Life Before Man by Margaret Atwood
   
   
   "The paleontologist. The mind of a scientist neatly inhabited, while the chosen field of the heroine offers some useful, extended metaphors for sexual complication."
   
   


2. Body and Soul by Frank Conroy
   
   
   "The musician. A wonderful evocation of a young man's mastery of the technique of the classical piano. Conroy is a fine jazz player, with a highly regarded "walking" left hand."
   
   


3. The Black Cloud by Fred Hoyle
   
   
   "The astronomer. A huge entity hovering near earth turns out to be a colossal intelligence. It's completely unimpressed by our civilization; some Beethoven sonatas hold its attention for a while."
   
   


4. Towards the End of the Morning by Michael Frayn
   
   
   "The journalist. Frayn is perhaps England's greatest comic writer. Grubby, compromised hacks haven't been done better since Evelyn Waugh's "Scoop." (The book was also published with the title "Against Entropy.")"
   
   


5. Rabbit at Rest by John Updike
   
   
   "The car salesman. The longeurs and the accountancy deceits are beautifully wrought. Rabbit's shafting by a Toyota rep, Mr. Shimada, defines a time in the 1980s of American industrial nervousness."
   
   



Source:
http://www.salon.com

Why should you listen to him?

One of the most distinguished novelists of his generation, Ian McEwan was born in England and spent much of his childhood traveling with his father, an army officer stationed in the Far East, Germany, and North Africa. He graduated from Sussex University in 1970 with a degree in English Literature and received his MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.

McEwan burst upon the literary scene in the mid-1970s with two short story collections that highlighted with equal clarity his early predilection for disturbing, somewhat shocking subject matter and his dazzling prose style. Similarly, his 1978 debut novel, The Cement Garden, attracted as much attention for its unsettling storyline as for its stylistic brilliance. But even though his early work was saturated with deviant sex, violence, and death (so much so that he earned the nickname "Ian MacAbre"), he was never dismissed as a mere purveyor of cheap thrills. In fact, two of his most provocative works (The Comfort of Strangers and Enduring Love) were shortlisted for major U.K. awards.

Among many literary honors, McEwan has been awarded the Somerset Maugham Award for First Love, Last Rites (1976) and the Whitbread Prize for The Child in Time (1987). Nominated three times for the Booker Prize, he finally won in 1998 for Amsterdam. He has also received the WH Smith Literary Award and National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award for Atonement (2001) and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Saturday (2005).

Prizes and awards

1. First Love, Last Rites by Ian McEwan
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "1976 Somerset Maugham Award First Love, Last Rites"
   
   


2. The Comfort Of Strangers by Ian McEwan
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "1981 Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) The Comfort of Strangers"
   
   


3. The Child In Time By Ian Mcewan
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "1987 Whitbread Novel Award The Child in Time
   
   1993 Prix Fémina Etranger (France) The Child in Time"
   
   


4. Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
   
   
   (literature and fiction, mystery and thrillers)
   
   "1997 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) (shortlist) Enduring Love"
   
   


5. Amsterdam By Ian Mcewan
   
   
   (literature and fiction, classics)
   
   "1998 Booker Prize for Fiction Amsterdam"
   
   


6. Atonement by Ian McEwan
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "2001 Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) Atonement
   
   2001 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) (shortlist) Atonement
   
   2001 Whitbread Novel Award (shortlist) Atonement
   
   2002 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (Fiction) (shortlist) Atonement
   
   2002 WH Smith Award for Fiction (shortlist) Atonement
   
   2002 WH Smith Literary Award Atonement
   
   2003 National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (USA) Atonement"
   
   


7. Saturday By Ian Mcewan
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "2006 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) Saturday"
   
   


8. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
   
   
   (literature and fiction)
   
   "2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) On Chesil Beach
   
   2008 British Book Awards Author of the Year On Chesil Beach
   
   2008 British Book Awards Book of the Year Award On Chesil Beach
   
   2008 Good Housekeeping Book Award (best author) On Chesil Beach"

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