(I’m Ang from Man Booker forum).

I look forward to more of your recommendations. It’s nice to be connected with people who like similar books. It’s easy to find “classics” and current bestsellers. But I’m always looking for more of what I’d consider modern classics that are almost forgotten. I find them to be so rewarding, so thanks for the recommendations!

I would be happy to provide Giller recommendations but they may have to wait for a few weeks. I’ve been grumpy about the Giller in the last few years. Two winners were short story collections (The Runaway by Alice Munro and Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam); they are both fine books, but I admit I am not a short story fan, don’t read many of them and don’t feel qualified to either recommend or dismiss them. Last year’s winner, Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay, is a fine book but I don’t think it would travel well — set in Yellowknife, it is mainly about the modern frontier experience and you need a knowledge of the CBC to truly experience it.

Your comment has, however, moved up two other books on my re-read list. Clara Callan by Richard Wright won the Giller in 2001 and Netherland caused me to think I should give it another read. The book is an exchange of letters between sisters — one in New York where she is a soap opera radio star, the other in the Ottawa River Valley (all this in the 1930s). I quite liked it when it was published — I’ll give it another read and see if it has stood up to the last seven years. I’m also planning to reread The In-Between Life of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji which won in 2003. Vassanji is topical now because his latest book (The Assassin’s Song) is just being released in the U.K. — it is not a good book. When he is good, Vassanji is very, very good — when he is bad, he is horrid. Again, I’ll send more thoughts later.

I note your interest in translated work and wonder if you have ever run into Nancy Huston. She was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta (that’s where I live) and moved to Paris in her teens which is where she is now. She writes most, but not all, of her work in French and then does her own translation. She is very, very successful in France — has won the Prix Gencourt, Prix Femina, etc. — and routinely sells hundreds of thousands of copies there. Alas, her English translations get little attention. Her most recent book, Fault Lines (and it is the one I would point you too) sold more than 400,000 copies in 2005 in France and won the Prix Femina — but won’t be published in the U.S. until Oct. 1 this year. I thought it was an excellent book (albeit with flaws) — Google it and check out the Guardian review, which I think is quite fair. It does strike me as your kind of book and I think Huston is a very good author.

And finally, given your interest in NYRB Classics (which I both share and salute), have you looked at John Williams? He only wrote three novels in his life — Butcher’s Crossing and Stoner, which NYRB publish, and Augustus: A Novel, which is still in commercial publication. I ran into his name in an NYRB article and was ashamed that I had never heard of him. Ordered and read all three and think he may be one of America’s most under-rated authors ever. The three books are dramatically different — although I would rank the first two with Stegner if I was making comparisons. Augustus is totally different but also very good. My wife and I are fans of Rome (the HBO-BBC) epic and this novel actually picks up where the TV series left off. I’ve now loaned it to four different people who loved the series and like the book equally well. It is completely different from his other two books (I don’t think Stegner could have script written Rome) but all three books are very good. It is most interesting to me to run into a writer who wrote so little, wrote so differently and, most important, wrote so well.

I’m sure your to-be-read pile is high, just thought I would see if I could make it higher.

(And while I’m being faithful with The Northern Clemency my mind is not following it well. If I cheat, I’ll disclose it in my review – which cheating would be a bit of a review in and of itself.)

Thanks for your comments on the other two NYRB Books. Given the price break on ordering all three (and I am certainly not price sensitive), I’m thinking I’ll take a shot. I don’t always agree with the NYRB but they tend to be right more often than wrong. Just the fact that they chose to group them piques my interest — particularly since your review of The Day of Owl makes it sound like a most interesting book.

And, without causing you to groan too much, you can consider that for me the Man Booker longlist is just a warm-up. The Giller Prize longlist for Canadian novels is released Sept. 15 and that’s when my real work starts.