Melville House Books

Tony Blair and his inamorata

My fellow Americans: Ever known anyone so envious of sophisticated British literary culture and history that they moved to England and developed a British accent? Me too. But for people like me who don’t want to move to Britain because there are too many Americans speaking in bizarre accents there, this is the time of year when our resistance is almost overcome by the fact that British literary types — the real ones — have a much better sense of humor than we do.

Yes, the Literary Review has put out a press release announcing the finalists for its annual Bad Sex In Fiction Award. And whaddya know — at least one of the nominees is an American who talks funny:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
Maya by Alastair Campbell
A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee
Heartbreak by Craig Raine
The Shape of Her by Rowan Somerville
Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

I know: We were shocked too that Tony Blair did not make the list, especially after our stop the presses report on how he described sex with Cherie in his memoir, A Journey (“I was an animal following my instinct …”)

In any event, the winner will be announced at an award ceremony in London on the 29th of November. What to expect between now and then? Lots of coverage with headlines like this one about former Blair aide Alastair Campbell‘s nomination that appeared in the Guardian yesterday: “Former spin doctor beats off stiff competition from ex-PM to reach shortlist for prize honouring clumsy prose about coitus.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.