Who will win the 2012 Booker Prize? I don’t know! For the first time in several years there isn’t a clear front runner and I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of the books win. That isn’t a bad thing – I think it is wonderful that all the books on the shortlist have their own merits. Trying to decide which of the books, each with their own different style and function, should take the top spot is a tricky decision, but that doesn’t stop me trying!
Here’s how I’d order the shortlist:
6. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
This book was actually my second favourite from the shortlist, but I found the symbolism a bit heavy-handed. It is a fantastic book club choice, but I don’t think it has the originality or power to win the Booker.
I admit that I didn’t even try this one. Having abandoned Wolf Hall I know that Mantel’s style isn’t for me, but I think the judges would have to be very brave to give an author a second Booker Prize. The book would have to be outstanding and there would have to be unanimous agreement that it was head and shoulders above the other contenders. I don’t think that is the case. This book may be more focused and enjoyable to read, but with a shortlist this strong I can’t see justification for it winning.
My rating: Did not start
4. Umbrella by Will Self
I abandoned this one. I struggle with stream-of-consciousness at the best of times, but found this impenetrable. The majority of people seem to agree so I can’t see it receiving enough love for an entire panel of people to vote it into the top position.
This book was wonderfully atmospheric, but the dream-like, hallucinogenic nature of the writing didn’t appeal to me. I abandoned it, but can see that the star quality of the writing could easily justify a Booker win. This could be a surprise winner.
I found this book too skeletal, but as a reflection on the last century of literature it is genius. There are so many little references for fiction lovers to spot and I know this appeals to more scholarly people (Booker judges?). I wouldn’t be surprised to see this win.
This book has everything I like to see in a Booker winner. It has an outstanding quality of writing, the depth and complexity to sustain multiple re-readings, and is clever without being pretentious. The fact it sheds light on a different culture is an added bonus. I can’t think of any reason why it shouldn’t be awarded the prize. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed for it.
The last two months have been very busy for me so I’ve read about half as much as I normally would. I’m not worried about this as I had a fantastic summer with my family and there have been lots of great reads in there, but now the weather has made a turn for the worse I’m making up for my poor summer and have read 4 books in the last week. I’ll tell you all about them soon!
Last week my husband and I were lucky enough to be invited to a Literary Dinner at Blenheim Palace. The evening was part of their Literary Festival and combined good food with lovely bookish entertainment.
Blenheim Palace was a stunning venue – the drive up to the gate was particularly beautiful:
Lake in the Grounds of Blenheim PalaceBlenheim Palace
Once into the palace we were treated to a champagne reception and then taken through to our tables for dinner.
Me and my husband in the Orangery
It was the poshest event I’ve ever been to. HRH The Duke of Gloucester was present, along with a vast array of other important people. It was quite amusing that all the speakers had to say “Your Royal Highness, Lords, Ladies, Your Graces, Other Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen….” before saying anything – even if it was just introducing the next person!
Frederick Forsyth
The main highlight of the evening was Frederick Forsyth. I hadn’t read any of his books, but he was an entertaining public speaker and I was persuaded to give one of his books a try (review for The Dogs of War coming soon). He captivated the entire room with his life story; explaining how he became a fighter pilot in the RAF, a journalist and then a novelist.
He attributed his success as a novelist to finding fantastic plots. I’m not sure I agree with him, but he thinks the perfect book is 80% great plot, 20% good writing. He admitted that his characters were two dimensional, but claimed it didn’t matter if the stories were compelling. I’ll let you know whether his style works for me soon!
Me with Frederick Forsyth
Ken Hom
During the night I also met Ken Hom. He was a lovely man – so warm and welcoming. I’ve added him to my list of people I’d love to have as a next door neighbour!
Me with Ken Hom
My husband and I had a wonderful evening. I highly recommend attending this event, so if you get the chance ensure you attend the Literary Dinner at next year’s Blenheim Palace Literary Festival.
My tickets to the event were kindly provided by The Landmark London who sponsor the Blenheim Palace Literary Festival. As a big thank you to them I’ve included some information about their hotel that I found on the hotels comparison website below. It sounds like an amazing place too!
THE LANDMARK LONDON, Marylebone
The elegant five-star Landmark London in central London was built as the last of the great railway hotels and is a favourite with A-list celebrities. Now offering 51 suites, out of the 300 bedrooms available, The Landmark London offers the most choice of suite options in London.
The Landmark London offers a choice of four unique bars and restaurants. You can also have fun on platform like Sbobet by playing casino games or betting. The Winter Garden, situated beneath a stunning eight storey glass atrium, creates a fantastic backdrop for any meal, especially its renowned Afternoon Tea and sumptuous Champagne Sunday Brunch. I think it looks simular to some of the high end restraunts in Arkansas casinos At EasyMobileCasino.com. It is overlooked on a mezzanine level by The Gazebo, a relaxing area perfect for coffee which is made by grinders which are available at https://greatcoffeebrewers.com/best-coffee-maker-with-grinder/ and light meals. The stylish bar and brasserie, Twotwentytwo offers fantastic cocktails, a vast selection of beers, spirits and carefully chosen wines, with a modern-European menu. The Mirror Bar serves up Champagne, cocktails and some of the world’s finest Cognacs and Whiskies in its glamorous surroundings.
The Spa & Health Club at The Landmark London is one of the leading destination spas in the Capital. This exclusive urban sanctuary in the heart of Marylebone offers a contemporary and luxurious environment in which to relax and be pampered. The spa is complete with a 15-metre chlorine-free heated swimming pool, a glass-walled poolside Klafs sanarium, menthol and sandalwood showers, steam rooms, a whirlpool, plus lavish treatment rooms and a state-of-the-art gymnasium. The spa offers wide range of ESPA & newly introduced VOYA treatments and products. The spa also offers relaxing and revitalizing Ayurvedic treatments, based on traditional Indian medicinal therapies.
Five words from the blurb: wife, disappears, police, suspect, secrets
Gone Girl seems to be the most popular book in the blogging world this year. I’ve seen raving reviews everywhere and so decided to see what everyone was getting so excited about.
Gone Girl is narrated by an American couple, Amy and Nick. On the surface they appear to be normal, but Amy goes missing on their 5th anniversary and Nick becomes the prime suspect. Amy’s sections are in the form of extracts from her diary; whilst Nick’s chapters focus on the present day.
My main problem was that I found Amy extremely irritating. She was over excited about everything and very spoilt. I found her enthusiasm draining and her “problems” laughable. Poor girl had her trust fund reduced to $100,000 and could only afford to rent a massive house instead of buying one outright.
Their annoying back-story seemed to go on forever, with very little plot development. I became bored and so at p80 I asked Twitter when this book picked up. I was informed that everything got going at p212 so I skipped straight there and was surprised by the events of that page. Unfortunately the excitement didn’t help with my main problems and I quickly lost interest again. I skim read the rest of the book, focusing on the pages Twitter people told me were good. I’ve now read all the major twists and was mildly impressed by their original and surprising nature, but I found all the in-between bits dull/irritating. I seem to be in the minority though, so go ahead and give it a try – you’ll probably love it as much as everyone else.
The White Lie by Andrea Gillies (audio book)
Five words from the blurb: Scottish, family, loch, killed, grave
I first came across The White Lie whilst researching contenders for the Orange Prize. This book had an impressive number of 5 star reviews on Amazon and a range of glowing quotes from famous authors. The overwhelming positive response led me to seek it out and as my library only had an audio book available I settled for that. Unfortunately that might not have been the best format and may have contributed to my disappointing response.
The White Lie is set in a remote Scottish community and is narrated by a man who drowned in the local loch. The exact circumstances of his death remain a mystery, with the truth slowly revealing itself over the course of the book.
The White Lie was wonderfully atmospheric, perfectly capturing the isolated community. Unfortunately the pace of the book was very slow. I know that some people love meandering stories with numerous tangents, but I craved some forward momentum.
I also found that there were too many characters and they weren’t developed enough for me to differentiate between them all. The narrators (from the text and the audio book) lacked enthusiasm and I failed to warm to them. This meant that I didn’t really care what happened next and I eventually abandoned the book after 2 discs.
Recommended to those who enjoy quiet, atmospheric books about family relationships.
Longlisted for 2012 Booker Prize
Philida by Andre Brink
Five words from the blurb: slave, Cape Town, family, freedom, journey
Philida is set in Cape Town during 1832, a turbulent time during which slavery was coming to an end. The book focuses on a Philida, a strong woman who is determined to gain freedom for herself and her children.
The premise of the story was great, especially as it covered a period of history I was unfamiliar with. Unfortunately I didn’t like the style of the book. There were too many narrators, giving the book a disjointed feel and making it difficult for me to connect with any of the characters.
The writing was fantastic, but some of the scenes were distressing due to the vivid descriptions of events:
I was nine, remember – sobbing snot and tears because our feet are bleeding and the Oubaas refuse to stop or rest except for a few hours’ sleeping at night, he is always right there beside you or behind you on the big black stallion, the riding crop in his hand to spur you on whenever he think you are malingering, bleeding welts on your back and your dusty bare buttocks, nine years old, and at that time there’s some even younger children walking too, all the way.
This is normally the sort of book I’d love, but it failed to hold my attention. There was no narrative thread to drive the story forward and I found it increasingly difficult to pick up once I’d stopped reading. I also became frustrated by the excessive references to penises.
This book may well come together in the end, but I wasn’t engaged enough to want to invest that much time finding out. I gave up after about 80 pages.
Suey lives in Utah, USA. She focuses on YA books, but also enjoys reading a variety of different genres including science fiction, fantasy and literary fiction. She ran the famous Book Word Game and has a wonderful feature where authors pick the five books that have been the most influential in their lives. I recommend that you take a look at her lively blog.
The beautiful mountains near Suey's home
You’ve been blogging for over 5 years now. How has blogging changed your reading habits and which books have you read as a direct result of your blog?
Yes, five and a half years now! The biggest thing about my reading habits that blogging has changed is the amount of YA I read and enjoy now. My reading used to be mostly classics and literary fiction. Now, I read tons more (probably because you can finish YA books much faster!) and about half the books I read are YA. And while I enjoy these books a great deal, I’m quite sad that the classics have fallen by the wayside. I’m always making an effort to still fit them in, but wow… they suddenly got hard to read!
There are so many books that I’ve read as a direct result of the blog. How can even begin to name them?? 🙂 Some recent ones would be: For Darkness Shows the Stars, The Scorpio Races, Code Name Verity, The Wise Man’s Fear, The House at Tynford… etc. I think I should look into this further and see what percentage of books I read are directly related to my blogging connections and what books I would have discovered anyway. That would be an interesting number to me!
I’d love to know that figure too! I think mine must be at least 50%, if not higher.
I see that you have children too. How old are they and which books have they especially enjoyed recently?
Suey and her family
I’ve got four kids; two boys and two girls. Sadly, the boys don’t love reading quite as much as the girls do. I guess this is a fairly normal thing? I don’t know. But my son, age 23, does love The Catcher in the Rye and for some reason can really relate to Holden Caulfield! I’ve tried to get him to read some John Green books this summer, thinking those are a bit in the same style, but he never seems to be able to stick with it.
My 20 year old daughter reads all sorts of YA like I enjoy. This summer she read Sara Zarr’s new book, How to Save a Life. She also manged to fit in The Hollow City by Dan Wells. She didn’t read as much this summer as she has in the past… there was a boy, you see.
Next is my 17 year old son. I thought he would love Ready Player One, but he didn’t make it through. He is in a phase of wanting “learning” books (ie. non fiction!) so I gave him a book I have called Discover Your Genius and he seems to be enjoying bits and pieces of that.
My 13 year old recently read and loved The Hunger Games series, and she loves the Pendragon series (by D.J. MacHale) and the princess books by Jessica Day George. Also this summer she’s been devouring the Wings series by Aprilynne Pike. She looks forward to the day when I’ll let her read Dan Well’s I Am Not a Serial Killer series. I’m feeling like she needs to be a bit older for those still!
Do you still work at a library? If so, what is the weirdest thing a customer has asked you?
The library where Suey works
Yes, I do still work at the library, but I work upstairs in the administration office as the administrative assistant’s assistant! So I don’t get much interaction with the patrons, though I do hear some funny stories quite a bit. However, one day a guy came upstairs into the office, hoping to get some community service hours. While he was waiting for the lady he needed to talk to, he started chatting with me. First all, you must know, he was wearing a kilt. We don’t see that much around here! So we knew right off he was a little different. And then he said something about the weather and how hot it was and how he wasn’t used to that where he was from. Of course, he wanted me to ask…”So where are you from?” … so I obliged. He proudly said Ireland! I said, “Oh, funny, I don’t hear one bit of an accent!” He said, well, that’s because he hated his accent and had taught himself in the last few years since he’d been in the US to hide it. And I said, weird, why would you want to do that? And he went off on some story, I can’t even remember now. But about that time I began to realize he was a pretty big nut case! And I wasn’t’ believing a word he said! When the lady he was waiting for came out, she mentioned his kilt and asked was he from such and such a clan? He said, “Oh, no…. these aren’t a clan plaid… I’ve been banned from my clan and can’t wear their plaid!” Oh boy… whatever! As he left, we could all barely contain our giggles until he got out of earshot! Sheesh? Hide your Irish accent? CRAZY!! Doesn’t he know that he’d have girls swooning at his feet? But… if you’d seen his feet (he was wearing flip flops with the kilt) I think maybe not after all! Oh… and then we suddenly realized… isn’t it in Scotland that they wear kilts? Hmmmm……
Are there any books published recently that you think deserve more attention? How about a fantastic older book that people no longer talk about?
My friend and I decided we are on a campaign to make Dan Wells and his book The Hollow City, a New York Times bestseller. We are baffled that some writers of quite low caliber get so much attention, and then other awesome writers, such as Dan Wells, seem to fall between the cracks. I mean, he is getting to be more well known, but has yet to make it to that very prestigious club. An older book that I really loved and never hear anyone talking about is The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye. Oh, I would love to re-read that book. And I wonder if very many people have read it and if they loved it too, or not.
I haven’t heard of The Hollow City, but you’ve sold it to me! I’ll keep an eye out for a copy. I have The Far Pavilions on my shelf. I bought it after I saw some very positive comments on a blog (I wonder if it was yours?) I’ll try to actually get it off the shelf and read it sometime soon.
What is your favourite book at the moment? Has that always been your favourite or do you regularly get new favourites?
My favorite book at the moment continues to be The Book Thief. It’s held that place for several years now. Perhaps something will someday bump it from that spot, but my guess is, it will be another Markus Zusak book… if he ever gets another one done! 🙂 But like all readers, I have several favorites…. several that I hug to myself with much love. Other such books would be Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, The Grapes of Wrath, Life of Pi, Wives and Daughters… just to name a few.
Thanks to Suey for answering my questions.
You can see my answers to Suey’s questions over on her blog, It’s All About Books
Today marks the start of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, a time when people from around the world come together to thank book bloggers for their hard work.
I follow nearly 300 different book blogs and although every one is special I’d like to draw attention to a few of my favourite blogs:
Judith is one of the key European bloggers. Her infectious enthusiasm and continual warmth have helped bring together a community of bloggers from around the world. She arranges a number of different events, including her ever expanding Literary Fiction Blog Hop. It helps that her reading taste is almost identical to mine, but even if it wasn’t I’m sure I’d still love her blog.
Jo writes the most amazing reviews. She combines facts about the author with maps and historical detail to give background for each book she reads. She also happens to have a reading taste almost identical to mine and so I trust her opinion entirely.
Jenners is one of the few book bloggers able to make me laugh out loud on a regular basis. She effortlessly mixes humour with fantastic book reviews. I have followed her blog for over three years now and admire her consistent, entertaining content. She also has two of the cutest dogs in existence!
Tony is an Englishman living in Australia. He reads literature from around the world and is constantly drawing my attention to titles that would otherwise pass me by. He is going through an Icelandic phase at the moment – something I’m particularly enjoying.
James is a teacher on the look out for great books for his children. He combines interesting discussions with reviews from a wide range of different areas. I’ve followed him for years, but his blog seems to be getting better all the time.
Sandy’s blog was one of the first ones I ever discovered. Whilst others have come and gone Sandy’s blog has become a regular part of my day. I feel as though I know her now and always look forward to finding out what she’s up to and which books she recommends. She has a passion for audio books and is responsible for making me spend lots of money on them!
Emma works as a bookseller for Waterstones and always seems to discover the best books first. Our tastes are so similar that some months our reading round-ups are almost the same!
Caroline reads literature from a wide range of different countries. Her native languages are French and German so she has the benefit of being able to read books in several different languages. She is always introducing me to interesting books, both old and new.
Lindsay is a UK blogger who reads an eclectic mix of genres. She often draws my attention to wonderful books from outside my usual literary bubble, persuading me to try lighter books every now and then. She also shares my love for giant fluffy dogs!
Wendy is another blogger I have followed for many years. I have come to trust her literary fiction reviews to such an extent that she can be blamed for almost all the books I import from America!
