13 January 2009: Netherland by Joseph O’Neill (Fourth Estate), that was longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, is the literary critics’ top read of 2008 according to a list put together by the charity Booktrust. Looking at more than 2,000 end-of-year recommendations in the British press, Booktrust noted that Netherland was nominated as ‘book of the year’ 17 times, coming in ahead of the 2008 Man Booker Prize winner The White Tiger, nominated as ‘book of the year’ seven times.

Sebastian Barry, whose novel The Secret Scripture made it onto the 2008 Man Booker Prize, and won the Costa Award for Best Novel only recently, described O’Neill’s Netherland as “a wonder, and then some.”

Netherland came in ahead of the critics’ top non-fiction choice, Richard Holmes’s study of late-18th-century scientists, The Age of Wonder, which was picked 15 times, and Zoe Heller’s The Believers, picked 14 times. The most nominated author, behind O’Neill, was the late playwright Simon Gray, who garnered 16 nominations for two titles. US president-elect Barack Obama stayed in just behind Heller and Holmes with 13 nominations for two titles, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father.

The publisher with the most nominations, for the third year running, was the independent Faber & Faber, ahead of Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury, and HarperCollins’s subsidiary Fourth Estate.

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Author Michael Crichton dies at 66

November 07, 2008: American author Michael Crichton died unexpectedly on 4 November 2008, in Los Angeles after succumbing to cancer.  Crichton, best-selling author, film director, television producer and medical doctor was best known for his science fiction and techno thriller novels.  His books have sold more than 150 million copies world-wide.  He was the creator of famous television series ER but most famous as the author of Jurassic Park and The Lost World, both of which were made into very high grossing films by Steven Spielberg.

His most recent novel, “Next”, about genetics and law, was published in December 2006. Although Crichton’s writing style was custom made for instant Hollywood adaptations, readers who picked up a Michael Crichton novel rarely ever put it down. The author won a string of awards including an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writer’s Guild of America award for ER.

Crichton was married five times and had one child. A private funeral service is expected, but no further details will be released to the public.