“Signs and Symbols” by Vladimir Nabokov

“Wilderness” by Sarah Hall

“Benito Cereno” by Herman Melville 

“Mrs Bathurst” by Rudyard Kipling 

“In the Penal Colony ” by Franz Kafka 

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“Dubliners” by James Joyce

“The Long QT” by Hilary Mantel

“The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

David Sedairs reads “Roy Spivey” by Miranda July 

“The Nose” by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

“Found Objects” by Jennifer Egan

“Safari” by Jennifer Egan

“Ask me if I care” by Jennifer Egan

“Covehithe” by China Miéville

Anne Enright reads “The Swimmer” by John Cheever

“Experience” by Tessa Hadley

“Good people” by David Foster Wallace

Dave Eggers reads Roddy Doyle’s “Bullfighting”

“The Destructors” by Graham Greene

“Complicity” by Julian Barnes

“Haunting Olivia” by Karen Russell 

The winner will be revealed on May 15th.

Shortlist

A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa by A. T. Williams

On 15 September 2003 Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist, was killed by British Army troops in Iraq. He had been arrested the previous day in Basra and was taken to a military military base for questioning. (Jonathan Cape)

Reviews | Extract | Buy the book

 

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Burying the Typewriter by Carmen Bugan

One quiet day when her mother was away from home, Carmen Bugan’s father put on his best suit and drove into Bucharest to stage a one-man protest against Ceauşescu. He had been typing pamphlets on an illegal typewriter and burying it in the garden each morning under his daughter’s bedroom window. (Picador)

Reviews | Extract | Buy the book

 

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From the Ruins of the Empire by Pankaj Mishra

Viewed in the West as a time of self-confident progress, the Victorian period was experienced by Asians as a catastrophe. As the British gunned down the last heirs to the Mughal Empire or burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing, it was clear that for Asia to recover, a new way of thinking was needed. (Allen Lane)

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Injustice by Clive Stafford Smith

In 1986, Kris Maharaj, a British businessman living in Miami, was arrested for the brutal murder of two ex-business associates. His lawyer did not present a strong alibi; Kris was found guilty. (Harvill Secker)

Reviews | Extract | Buy the book

 

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Occupation Diaries by Raja Shehadeh

It is often the smallest details of daily life that tell us the most. And so it is under occupation in Palestine. What most of us take for granted has to be carefully thought about and planned for: When will the post be allowed to get through? Will there be enough water for the bath tonight? How shall I get rid of the rubbish collecting outside? (Profile Books)

Reviews | Extract | Buy the book

 

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Leaving Alexandria by Richard Holloway

At fourteen, Richard Holloway left his home in the Vale of Leven, north of Glasgow, and travelled hundreds of miles to be educated and trained for the priesthood by a religious order. (Canongate)

Reviews | Extract | Buy the book

 

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Who knew the famously reclusive JD Salinger was such a flirt? A cache of letters to an admiring female fan was found in a shoebox in Toronto last week. “Sneaky girl. You’re pretty”, he writes in reply to her letter and portrait, “I sent off my last photo to a little magazine, but I’m having some more made. Rest assured, though, I’m a doll.” To this day, Canadian pensioner Marjorie Sheard isn’t that impressed: “He was tall, dark and handsome but he was one of those people that didn’t age terribly well because he didn’t stay that way.” If you enjoy nosing through authors’ correspondence, we’ve raided Project Gutenberg to bring you the best free collections of literary letters.

1. The Love Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft to Gilbert Imlay by Mary Wollstonecraft

2. The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen

3. Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2) by Edward Gibbon

4. Love Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Volume I (of 2) by Nathaniel Hawthorne

5. The Letters of Henry James (Vol. I) by Henry James

6. Louisa May Alcott : Her Life, Letters, and Journals by Louisa May Alcott

7. Letters of John Keats to His Family and Friends by John Keats

8. The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn by King of England Henry VIII

9. The Letters of Charles Dickens by Charles Dickens

10. The Letters of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

Prepare to be transported to 1930s Paris where legendary musician, Django Reinhardt, has been cast as the lead in a new production of ORPHEUS.

And prepare for your chance to win tickets to see this funny and witty production courtesy of Little Bulb Theatre Company. The Telegraph called it “Such a lot of fun” while Lynn Gardner, theatre critic at The Guardian, tweeted “funny, silly & ultimately a real heart-breaker”.

The performances run from 16 April to 11 May 2013 7:30pm (Sat matinees 2.30pm) and we really recommend it!

All information here.

To be in the chance of winning a pair of tickets (subject to availability), please tell us why Django Reinhardt’s left hand might not have been especially suited to playing the guitar.

Email answers to competitions@theomnivore.co.uk by midnight tomorrow. That’s Thursday 25th.

Click here to read the full Digest.

Click on the covers for the Omnivore roundup.

Longlist here.