A Lost Inclination and a Lost Sponsor

I have lost the inclination to read anything today. It happens.

And, I understand that the Orange Prize has lost its sponsor of seventeen years. Its sponsor being Orange. I thought that the name was just another institute, foundation, charity, etc. that had corralled a color. You know, like breast cancer and pink, honor our troops and yellow, or blue and child abuse prevention.

I stand corrected. Orange is the British mobile and broadband company.

The Orange Prize is the annual book award for fiction written by a woman,

This year's winner will be announced on May 30. The ceremony will take place in the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre. The winner receives £30,000 which is a hefty sum. About $47,000 in U.S. dollars.

Here is the shortlist of nominees:

Esi Edugyan	Half Blood Blues	Serpent’s Tail	Canadian	2nd Novel
Anne Enright	The Forgotten	Waltz Jonathan Cape	Irish	5th Novel
Georgina Harding	Painter of Silence	Bloomsbury	British	3rd Novel
Madeline Miller	The Song of Achilles	Bloomsbury	American	1st Novel
Cynthia Ozick	Foreign Bodies	Atlantic Books	American	7th Novel
Ann Patchett	State of Wonder	Bloomsbury	American	6th Novel

The reason I am interested is because I actually read State of Wonder and visited Ann Patchett's bookstore, Parnassus, this month. I have not read any of the other books. Nor have I read any of the books on the long list. Nor have I read any of the books of past winners.

Am I missing something?

If you are interested, there are brief synopses of each of the six finalists' books at the website: www.orangeprize.co.uk