The Reading Book Post, May 25th

Hello, everyone! Roland Garros has started, and as a tennis fan, I'm looking forward to watching some great matches. This week I also begin the funny books themed read and I really hope it goes as good as the last one did. But, as every Monday, I'll let you know what happened in the literary world the previous week.

• The Man Booker Internation Prize 2015 goes to László Krasznahorkai. This Prize is awarded once every two years to a living author and honours the body of work published either originally in English or available in translation. Also, the Orwell Prize announced its winner, who is James Meek for his book Private Island: Why Britain Now Belongs to Someone Else.

• Jane Austen's Emma is 200 years old! John Mullan, Professor at University College London and author of Whan Matters in Jane Austen? gave a speech at the Hay Festival on this particular novel. He explained what we learnt about Jane Austen from her works. In this speech, he also argues about a hidden kiss in Emma. Interesting, right?

• Do you want to feel inspired? Then give a listen to Ian McEwan's commencement speech at Dickinson College, which he gave last week. In this speech, he talks about the free speech and expression of ideas.

• Agatha Christie, apart from her crime novels, had written a memoir of her archeological trips to Syria and Iraq with her husband. Come, Tell Me How You Live will be republished this August, along with 40 photographs, many of which were taken by Christie herself.

• Archivist from the University of Michigan has discovered extensive fragments and notes for a Welles autobiography. The papers were scattered in eight boxes of new material purchased from Oja Kodar, who was Welles' companion in the years before he died in 1985.

• The house where F. Scott Fitzgerlad wrote The Great Gatsby is for sale, for just over $3.8 million. It was built in 1918 and the famous author wrote three chapters of his novel while staying there.

• Is the face of Shakespeare different from the one we all know? Botanist and historian Mark Griffiths is quite certain that he has uncovered the only authentic portrait of Shakespeare made during his lifetime. All the other well-known portraits of the playwright were made after his death. Griffiths has a great amount of evidence and this is indeed a big discovery.

• Do you want a pet? Take this quiz to find out which animal from literature would be your ideal pet. I got Snowy from Tintin! Also, if you want a different kind of quiz, take this one to find out which lesser known Charles Dickens novel you are. In this one, I got Dombey and Son, which I haven't read and now I want to. Let me know your results in the comments below!