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Index:
Who will win the next Man Booker prize? Some place bets with Graham Sharpe, 'the Man Booker Bookie' in the William Hill Organisation.
Short-listed Nominees:
McEwan, Ian:
On Chesil Beach.
7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
The longlist for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is:
----------------------- LONG LIST ------------------------------
Title Author (Publisher)
Barker, Nicola Darkmans (4th Estate)
Docx, Edward Self Help (Picador)
Eng, Tan Twan The Gift Of Rain (Myrmidon)
Enright, Anne The Gathering (Jonathan Cape)
Hamid, Mohsin The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Hamish Hamilton)
Davies, Peter Ho The Welsh Girl (Sceptre)
Jones, Lloyd Mister Pip (John Murray)
Lalwani, Nikita Gifted (Viking)
On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)
O'Flynn, Catherine What Was Lost (Tindal Street)
Redhill, Michael Consolation (William Heinemann)
Sinha, Indra Animal's People (Simon & Schuster)
Wilson, A.N. Winnie & Wolf (Hutchinson)
Short-listed Nominees:
Kiran Desai,
The Inheritance of Loss;
7-plus/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Sarah Waters,
The Night Watch;
7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
The longlist for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is: ----------------------- LONG LIST ------------------------------ Author Title Publisher
Short-listed Nominees:
John Banville,
The Sea.
Good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Julian Barnes,
Arthur & George.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Kazuo Ishiguro,
Never Let Me Go.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Ali Smith,
The Accidental.
Zadie Smith,
On Beauty.
Good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
The longlist for the 2005 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is: ----------------------- LONG LIST ------------------------------ Author Title Publisher Aw, Tash The Harmony Silk Factory Fourth Estate
Short-listed Nominees:
Sarah Hall,
The Electric Michelangelo.
Not too bad. 6-and-a-half/10 on the Blog-ometer.
"linguistically intoxicating" [John Ezard, The Guardian].
Alan Hollinghurst,
The Line of Beauty.
6/10 on the Blog-ometer.
How could this possibly be the winner?
Did it get some kind of political (as opposed to artistic-merit) vote?
"A satire on Britain during the Thatcher years."
David Mitchell,
Cloud Atlas.
7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
A fantasy that
"ranges from the Pacific Ocean in the 19th century to Europe in the 1930s."
[John Ezard, The Guardian].
Colm Toíbín,
The Master.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
----------------------- LONG LIST ------------------------------ Author Title Publisher Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Purple Hibiscus 4th Estate Nadeem Aslam Maps for Lost Lovers Faber & Faber Nicola Barker Clear: A Transparent Novel 4th Estate [It's the best title though the contents sounds more like journalism: "about David Blaine's feat of endurance in his glass box over the Thames"] John Bemrose The Island Walkers John Murray Ronan Bennett Havoc, in its Third Year Bloomsbury Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Bloomsbury Neil Cross Always the Sun Scribner Achmat Dangor Bitter Fruit Atlantic Books Louise Dean Becoming Strangers Scribner Lewis Desoto A Blade of Grass Maia Press
Short-listed Nominees:
D.B.C. Pierre,
Vernon God Little.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
A poet friend tells me that "Australian DBC (stands for Dirty But Clean - I swear I did not make
this up!) Pierre [is] a pseudonym for Peter Warren Finlay".
Margaret Atwood,
Oryx and Crake.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Zoe Heller,
Notes on a Scandal.
Retitled What was she Thinking in USA.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Sarah Waters,
Fingersmith.
Tim Winton,
Dirt Music.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Yann Martel,
Life of Pi.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Ali Smith,
Hotel World.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
David Mitchell,
number9dream.
Ian McEwan,
Atonement.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Peter Carey,
True History of the Kelly Gang.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Kazuo Ishiguro,
When we were Orphans.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Margaret Atwood,
The Blind Assassin.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
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Short-listed Nominees:
Ahdaf Soueif,
The Map of Love.
Could not appreciate this book and gave up after the third attempt.
4/10 on the Blog-ometer.
J.M. Coetzee,
Disgrace.
This sad, emotionally difficult, and unredemptive book takes some determination to complete.
6/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Ian McEwan,
Amsterdam.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Jim Crace,
Quarantine.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Blog of Quarantine.
Short-listed Nominees:
Margaret Atwood,
Alias Grace.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Pat Barker, The Ghost Road.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Tim Winton,
The Riders.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Carol Shields,
The Stone Diaries.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Tibor Fischer,
Under the Frog.
The delinquency of the young men stopped me from getting far with this. 5/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Ian McEwan,
Black Dogs.
Scary and obscure. 5/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
A S Byatt, Possession.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Penelope Fitzgerald,
The Gate of Angels.
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Short-listed Nominees:
Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Margaret Atwood,
Cat's Eye.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Penelope Fitzgerald,
The Beginning of Spring.
Boring. 5/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Penelope Lively,
Moon Tiger.
Short-listed Nominees:
Kazuo Ishiguro,
An Artist of the Floating World.
Margaret Atwood,
The Handmaid's Tale.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Robertson Davies,
What's Bred in the Bone.
Boring; abandoned it. 2/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Doris Lessing,
The Good Terrorist.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Jan Morris,
Last Letters from Hav.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Penelope Lively,
According to Mark.
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
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Short-listed Nominees:
Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea.
Boring; abandoned it. 5/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Penelope Fitzgerald,
The Bookshop.
Pretty good. (But sad.) 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Barbara Pym,
Quartet in Autumn.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Short-listed Nominees:
Doris Lessing
Briefing for a Descent into Hell.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Short-listed Nominees:
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Short-listed Nominees:
The winner:
The process (quotes below from http://www.bookerprize.co.uk/aboutprize/howworks.html, on 22 August 2004) has:
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"I am unlikely ever to be invited to become a Man Booker Prize Judge - but that does not stop me having
pretty firm ideas about what does and doesn't constitute a potential or worthy winner.
... [I have] probably read more of the shortlisted novels over the past twenty years
than almost anyone else outside of the award's inner-circle...
I am frequently asked by the media whether I have read the books when I issue the odds for the latest prize.
I like the quirky nature of the prize and understand its massive influence on the buying habits of the great British public, even though I would imagine that a large proportion of Man Booker sales are to people buying the books as ultimately un-read Birthday or Christmas presents...
I am often asked why I have never written a novel
but my training [as a journalist]
However, I suppose I could always have a stab at it and would probably be prepared to do so for a low six-figure, two book deal so, if you're a publisher looking for a bright new talent whose name might carry a little weight with the Man Booker Prize judging panel, just give me a shout.... " Graham Sharpe |
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In August 2004, I find that without trying I have read a couple of dozen Booker winners or nominees, and have usually admired them, and have often been amazed by them.
Most of the books that I read are:
(a) recommended by friends,
(b) mentioned with positive or negative passion in something I read,
or
(c) written by an author whose other work I have admired.
I marked with a star each of the Bookers that I liked, and with more than one star if I loved it. Approximate ratings (your kilometerage may vary):
Amazingly brilliant. 9/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Loved it. 8/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Pretty good. 7/10 on the Blog-ometer.
Not very good. 6/10 or under on the Blog-ometer.
As of 2004, the prize is called the Man Booker Prize. My thanks to its major sponsor, the Man Group, which James Man established as a broker business over two centuries ago.
Today, the Man Group a large and international futures broker and a global provider of alternative investment products. Unfortunately, it is ambitious to expand not only its own business but also the Booker Prize to the USA.
The USA has more than enough lucrative rewards for its authors, compared to the impoverished Brits.
To the citizens of the USA who complain that the Booker Prize is unfair to them (perhaps because they have imperialist or Oedipal envy), I have two words: "Grow up".
Let's leave the Booker alone.
In 2005, the first Man Booker International Prize was awarded to Albanian Ismail Kadaré. Hopefully that International Prize will defuse concerns about a fundamental change the selection process for the original Booker Prize.
Thank you for your attention. And whatever your opinion, enjoy the Bookers!
J. Zimmerman.
People in the USA don't seem to care too much about the process of awarding prizes to books, not the way the British do. That's supported by this comment from USA-born citizen L.D., book lover and library volunteer:
i thought it was so cool when i was in london two years ago, the week before the winner was announced, that every bookstore, even the airport bookstore! had tables full of the short list books. you don't see that around here with the pulitzer or national book award during the run-up to their prize announcements. ... OK, continuing my "americans are heathens" theme, can you IMAGINE the national book awards being broadcast on NBC ... or perhaps FOX ????? [Social Commentator and Critic, L.D.] |
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