Amazon Mysteries

It8217;s become a much awaited decennial verdict. In 1983 and then in 1993 the literary magazine Granta zeroed in on the best 20 young Brit...

You could see it two ways. As Isabel Allende has become more and more popular, her cast of characters has included more and more North Americans. Could it be that the author of The House of the Spirits keeps a keener eye on her English-speaking readership? Or is it due just to the fact that years ago she shifted home from her native Chile 8212; via Venezuela 8212; to California?

Either way, her latest novel is out in English translation 8212; City of the Beasts. It tells the story of 15-year-old Alexander Cold who accompanies his intrepid grandmother into the heart of the Amazon rainforest. They search for a fabled headhunting tribe 8212; but of course, stumble upon many other mysteries. Oh well, sounds like the perfect volume to take along on a long train ride.

Young And Wonderful

It8217;s become a much awaited decennial verdict. In 1983 and then in 1993 the literary magazine Granta zeroed in on the best 20 young British writers, and preparations are afoot to announce the newest club of 20 in the spring 2003 issue. It may be recalled that in 1983 among the chosen few were Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Julian Barnes. Ten years later they included Louis de Bernieres, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hanif Kureishi, Jeanette Winterson and Ben Okri.

Who will make it now? Speculation is rife but The Observer, whose literary editor Robert McCrum is on the panel of judges, has hazarded its own list. Among them: Zadie Smith, Sarah Waters, David Mitchell, Hari Kunzru above and A.L. Kennedy already on the 1993 list, so the inclusion8217;s a bit mystifying.

And A Few More Good Ones

The queen of humour, Sue Townsend, is back too, with Number Ten. And without the tiresome Adrian Mole. She8217;s done the routine with the occupants of Buckingham Palace, now she turns her caustic wit on the pols in 10 Downing Street.

And with winter finally here, with visions of long lazy days in the sun, some more books to look forward to. Michel Houellebecq8217;s Platform may have notched up ever higher sales with its eerie foreshadowing of the Bali blasts, but Bali, Java, in My Dreams by Christine Jordis 8212; freshly translated from the French 8212; offers a nicer literary journey to Southeast Asia.

BBC correspondent George Alagaih too offers a memorable journey back in forth through time and around a whole continent in A Passage to Africa. Alagaih, whose family moved from his native Sri Lanka to Ghana when he was just five, has reported extensively on Africa over the years.