Category: Booker Prize

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Booker Prize Other

The 2010 Man Booker Prize Short List

The 2010 Booker Prize short list has been announced.

The six books are:

Room – Emma Donoghue

The Long Song – Andrea Levy stars41

C – Tom McCarthy

In a Strange Room – Damon Galgut

Parrot and Olivier in America – Peter Carey (DNF)

The Finkler Question – Howard Jacobson (DNF)

I successfully predicted four out of six books , but am kicking myself for not predicting that the two books I didn’t manage to finish would both be short listed – that is a trend I should have spotted years ago!

My first thought when looking at the short list was: NO MITCHELL!?!

There was a lot of confusion on Twitter in the first few minutes as Amazon revealed the short list before the official Man Booker website and no one was entirely sure whether or not the list was accurate. After they eventually confirmed it was true my second thought was: NO MITCHELL!?! It seems unbelievable that he didn’t make it, but I guess it just didn’t stand up to multiple re-readings.

I am really pleased that Room made the short list as it was my favourite book on the long list. I honestly believe that it is a classic which will be enjoyed for generations to come. I really hope that it will win, but I suspect it will be beaten by a more literary book.

I think it is impossible to predict a winner from this short list and suspect the judges will have a lot of arguing/discussion before they can agree on a single book. None of the others stand out for me – I’d say anyone has a chance this year.

What do you think of the short list?

Who do you think will win?

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Booker Prize Other

My thoughts on the 2010 Booker Long List

I have now read all 13 books on the 2010 Booker long list (apart from the two I had to abandon due to boredom/annoyance!) and I am very impressed with the judges this year. I think that every single book deserves its place on the list. I didn’t enjoy reading them all, but found the quality of the writing to be very high. Which of the books you’ll enjoy is all down to personal taste and I think that everyone will find a selection of books on the list that they’ll love along with quite a few that won’t excite them at all.

Here is the long list ranked by how much I enjoyed reading them:

All links lead to my review of the book.

Room – Emma Donoghue 

Skippy Dies – Paul Murray 

The Slap – Christos Tsiolkas stars41

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell stars41

The Betrayal – Helen Dunmore 

C – Tom McCarthy  

The Long Song – Andrea Levy stars41

The Trespass – Rose Tremain 

February – Lisa Moore 

The Stars in the Bright Sky – Alan Warner 

In a Strange Room – Damon Galgut 

Parrot and Olivier in America – Peter Carey  (DNF)

The Finkler Question – Howard Jacobson    (DNF)

Who will make the short list?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the books on the short list and I think the judges will have a very hard job narrowing it down to six books, but if I had to guess then I think The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell will be the first to make the cut. It isn’t the most readable book, but I think the quality of the writing and the ambitiousness of the plot will lead to unanimous agreement about its inclusion on the list.

I wasn’t a fan, but those who enjoy quiet, thoughtful books are raving about In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut. It is the sort of book that seems to do well on Booker lists, so I’d bet on its inclusion.

I stayed up late last night in order to finish C by Tom McCarthy so I’m afraid I haven’t written a review for it yet (Edited 8th September, C review now posted) , but its intelligence and originality make it stand out from the crowd. I think it has a very high chance of making the cut.

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray also grabbed my attention. I think that its universal appeal gives it a strong chance of making it onto the short list.

Room by Emma Donoghue was my favourite book on the long list. It does seem to divide opinion, but one of those judges brought this book into consideration and I think that same judge will still be championing it. I really hope that it makes it into the final six.

The final book on the short list is almost impossible for me to decide as none of the other books are leaping out at me. I’m guessing that this means it will be filled by a book that has no appeal to me at all. Assuming that any book provoking a very negative reaction will also produce an opposite positive reaction in some readers I’m going to add The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson as the final book in my short list prediction.

My Prediction for the Booker Short list:

 

What do you think of my prediction?

Which books do you think will make the Booker short list?

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2010 Booker Prize

The Finkler Question – Howard Jacobson

 Long listed for 2010 Booker Prize

I’m not a fan of books about religion and so wasn’t sure how I’d get on with The Finkler Question. I was right to be concerned as the religious debate took precedence over the plot and I couldn’t bring myself to finish this book.

The book started off reasonably well, with a former BBC radio producer paying to see a fortune-teller in Spain.  You can check Radio Waves to know updates with respect to radio. She tells him to watch out for a woman called Juno. Unfortunately the book went downhill quickly as Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, entered the book. I found the repetitive mention of Juno and its derivatives increasingly irritating.

Treslove and Finkler were sharing a room. ‘Do you know any one called Juno?’ Treslove asked.

‘J’you know Juno?’ Finkler replied, making inexplicable J noises between his teeth.

Treslove didn’t get it.

J’you know Juno? Is that what your asking me?

Treslove still didn’t get it. So Finkler wrote it down. D’Jew know Jewno?

Treslove shrugged. ‘Is that supposed to be funny?’

‘It is to me,’ Finkler said. ‘But please yourself.’

The book then deteriorated further into bizarre Jewish philosophising. At about p60 I lost any interest I originally had and started to skim read.

At page 107 I came across this passage and decided I couldn’t tolerate it any more – my reading time is too precious to persevere with a book that irritates me so much.

‘You can’t just get up one morning and decide you’re a Jew – or can you?’

‘I’ve worked with a lot of people at BH who got up one morning and decided they were not a Jew.’ Josephine said.

‘But it can’t work the other way, surely?’

‘Search me,’ said Alfredo. ‘But I don’t think Dad’s planning to become a Jew. If I understood Uncle Sam he’s got this bee in his bonnet that he already is a Jew.’

‘Christ,’ Roldolfo said, ‘what does that make us?’

‘Not Jewish,’ Josephine said. ‘Don’t worry about it. Jews don’t trust their women in the sack, so you can only be Jewish through the vagina. And I don’t have a Jewish vagina.’

I’m sure this is supposed to be funny, but I just didn’t get it.

The only good news is that this abandonment gives me more chance of finishing my final two books from the long list!

 (DNF)

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2010 Booker Prize Chunkster Recommended books

Skippy Dies – Paul Murray

 Long listed for 2010 Booker Prize

One of the reasons I love reading entire long lists is that I stumble upon fantastic books that I wouldn’t otherwise pick up. I had heard good things about Skippy Dies before the Booker long list was announced, but I couldn’t motivate myself to read 650+ pages about teenagers living in an Irish boarding school. I’m so pleased that I read this book as it was entertaining, gripping and insightful.

The book opens with Daniel ‘Skippy’ Juster dying. At first the reason for his death seems obvious, but the plot then goes back in time and we slowly discover that the cause of Skippy’s death isn’t as simple as people initially suspected.

Much of this book could be described as a coming-of-age story, but unlike most other books which describe the lives of teenagers, this book captivated me. Skippy drew me into his emotionally charged world and nearly managed to make me laugh and cry – something no other book has managed to do. I was amazed at how much the everyday school life engaged me – I flew through the book and found every single one of the pages to be captivating and necessary for the plot.

Skippy’s roommate is Ruprecht, an overweight genius trying utilise M-theory to travel to another dimension. I’m a big fan of complex science in literature, but I’m sure that those who struggle to understand physics will still love Ruprecht’s enthusiasm for invention. As well as physics we are also treated to war poetry, Irish folklore and an array of other subjects – I loved it!

As the book drew to a conclusion I became increasingly impressed with the complexity of the plot. When I reached the final page I wanted to start the book all over again, just so I could see the little clues that I’d failed to pick up on.

This book works on so many levels – it is easy to read, but the text hides enough to entertain multiple re-readings.

I can see future generations studying this book and I think it would be a worthy winner of the 2010 Booker Prize.

Highly recommended.

Have I persuaded you to try this book?

Do you think it deserves to win the Booker Prize?

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2010 Booker Prize

The Stars in the Bright Sky – Alan Warner

 Long listed for 2010 Booker Prize

The gossiping of the teenagers in The Sopranos drove me mad after a while and so I hoped that the girls had matured a bit for this sequel. I was rewarded by twenty-something girls who were slightly more sensible, but I think they need to age at least another five years before I’ll be able read their discussions without wincing!

The Stars in the Bright Sky is set in Gatwick airport. The girls are trying to go on holiday, but unfortunately they aren’t very well organised and so their last minute get-away is proving elusive. While they wait to get on an aeroplane they entertain themselves by drinking and taking drugs in the airport bars.

The first thing I noticed when reading The Stars in the Bright Sky was the improvement in the quality of the writing from that of The Sopranos. The book also relied less on dialogue and I found the vivid descriptions of the surroundings to be a big improvement.

The water feature was beside them, an infinity pool perfectly filled to a suspended mirror of surface encapsulated within an inch rim of black marble. Water trickled somewhere invisibly. Manda used two fingers to draw back her hand like a dart thrower and she precisely tossed her ciggy butt onto the surface then walked ahead.

Unfortunately the girls still had a tendency to gossip. I enjoyed reading their exploits for a while, but as with The Sopranos I got tired of them quite quickly.

My main problem was that very little happened in this book – 200 pages could easily have been removed without loosing anything.

I loved the ending, but there were many points when I considered giving up. I recommend reading the first 100 and the last 50 pages of this book, but the rest was unnecessary padding.

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2010 Booker Prize

February – Lisa Moore

 Long listed for 2010 Booker Prize

On the 15th February 1982, an offshore oil drilling platform sank off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 people on board. February is a fictional account of how one woman, Helen, grieved the loss of her husband, Cal, and how her family learned to cope with his death.

As you can tell from the synopsis this isn’t a happy book. In fact February was so laden with grief that I struggled to read it.  The book flips forwards and backwards through time, showing us Cal as a happy, family man and then the family struggling after his death.

Helen was in a panic as if something very bad was going to happen, but it had already happened. It was hard to take in that it had already happened. Why was she in a panic? It was as if she were split in half. Something bad was going to happen to her; and then there was the other her, the one who knew it had already happened. It was a mounting and useless panic and she didn’t want to faint. But she was being flooded with the truth. It wasn’t going to happen; it had already happened.

This book had very little plot, but for once that wasn’t a problem for me. I’m afraid that my main complaint is that February is just too depressing. It wasn’t shocking or thought provoking – it just slowly dragged my mood down. By the end of the book I was so depressed I had to watch a good hour of comedy on TV in order to recover.

Another problem I had was with the sentence structure. The majority of the book was made up of very short sentences and this meant that the writing didn’t flow very well – it made me feel quite jumpy. I’m sure this was intended for some reason, but I’m afraid it just irritated me.

Overall, this book was just too depressing for me to be able to recommend it, but other people seem to be inspired by Helen’s strength of character.

Opinion seems to be divided:

You really feel Helen’s pain… Monniblog

Moore’s writing is strong and poetic, but parts still fell flat for me. Nomadreader

Lisa Moore achieved something quite beautiful and completely perfect in the final pages….   Dovegreyreader

I’ll just have to acknowledge that writing which disturbs some readers like me is attractive to others. Kevin From Canada