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Reader's Paradise

The Booker Prize Long List is out !

15 years ago

And here it is...

Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger

Gaynor Arnold - Girl in a Blue Dress

Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture

John Berger - From A to X

Michelle de Kretser - The Lost Dog

Amitav Ghosh - Sea of Poppies

Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs

Mohammed Hanif - A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Philip Hensher - The Northern Clemency

Joseph O'Neill - Netherland

Salman Rushdie - The Enchantress of Florence

Tom Rob Smith - Child 44

Steve Toltz - A Fraction of the Whole

Disappointed not to see Tim Winton's new book "Breath" on there. (Mainly because I bought it already...) But I read and thoroughly enjoyed "The Secret Scripture". I'm not familiar with any of the others.

Short-list on September 7th.

Oh - by the way - some of you might have wondered why I didn't post about the "Booker of Bookers". Well, frankly, I was so disgusted with the short-list (no "Remains of the Day" - no "Possession" - no "Life of Pi") that I couldn't take it seriously. Once they were missing, and flamin' "Midnight's Children" was shortlisted again, it was a cast-iron certainty to be selected. Very disappointing altogether.

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Comments (11)

frances_md
15 years ago
I remember reading some good reviews of Child 44 a few months ago but when I checked further it seemed to be too gruesome for me. I would be interested to hear if any of these books are not depressing. Sea of Poppies sounds good but is not yet available in the US. Girl in a Blue Dress is not released and doesn't even have a synopsis on Amazon yet but the cover looks promising!
carolyn_ky
15 years ago
Martin, glad to hear from you. I was beginning to think you had deserted us and left me to my fate of never knowing what the Booker nominations and winners are. See, I don't have to look them up when you are so kind as to post them here.
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Sorry. But now you know how we feel when films like Never Let Me Go are released five months earlier in the US than they are in the UK. (Personally, I couldn't wait, and bought the DVD from the US - even THAT came out before the film was released in the UK.) The price of the first editions of each of these immediately jumps if they make the short-list. So, as every year, I've tried a bit of hedging. I've bought the Hollinghurst and Barry first editions, I've ordered a signed copy of the Barnes. I'd be happy to keep the Barnes and Barry anyway. If the Hollinghurst doesn't make the short-list, I'll sell it - can't stand what I've read of his in the past! I've also punted on a mail-order copy (which I suspect is a first) of the McGuinness, which is already not available anywhere, even in the warehouses. It is almost certainly being reprinted for the first time - so as I say, I suspect I've got a first of it. If it does make the short-list, it'll be extremely pricy - and I'll be very happy. And if it doesn't, well, I've bought what I hope is a good book anyway. Wish me luck!
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The Spinning Heart is quite interesting. It's about a village in Ireland and the events just after the financial collapse a few years ago. What's interesting is that it's twenty-one different stories by twenty-one different people, but there is a continuous thread. It nearly worked - but not quite. I thought it would have been better to have chosen, say, four or five people and told the story through their eyes. As it is, it feels like a bit of a gimmick, and I don't feel the story is complete. I don't think it'll be short-listed. I read the first three chapters of the first book of The Kills and abandoned it. How that ordinary, badly written thriller got long-listed, I do not know. How can you even consider a book which has this ungrammatical rubbish? Ford waited, first he leaned against the table, then he stood upright with his arms folded. But now - A Tale for the Time Being. I'm with you, Merryworld - I really enjoyed it. I'll be astonished if it isn't shortlisted - I think it's got a chance of winning. It's a story about a fifteen year old Japanese girl, who is writing a diary - and a woman in Canada who is reading the diary. There are some unpleasant scenes, but altogether it worked. I agree - I loved all the characters and really cared about them and what happened to them. Lovely book - thoroughly recommended. One other piece of news - all the books on the longlist that are not yet published have had their publication date brought forward. (At least here in the UK, that is...)
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J C
15 years ago
I had wondered what you thought of the "Best of the Booker" - now I know!

Is there a book we might pick out of the list for a possible discussion? Of course, we North Americans might have trouble getting hold of some of them.
blossomgirl
15 years ago
I read only one book on that list so far "Child 44" and I agree there are some very gruesome parts to the story. Despite the horror what held me fascinated by this thriller were the graphic descriptions of Stalinist Soviet Union. It was a smart and orginal piece of writing so I have to say I liked the book however upsetting some of it was to read.
martin_z
Original Author
15 years ago
Just finished The Lost Dog. It didn't enthrall me, but it's interesting enough for me to want to read it again. Which may well be a good sign.
woodnymph2_gw
15 years ago
The only one I had heard of was the Salman Rushdie book. As Siobhan stated, we Americans often have a hard time finding these.
blossomgirl
15 years ago
One of the books that I thought I might want to read was Hanif's "A Case of Exploding Mangoes" about the plane crash ( was it murder?) of Pakistani Dictator General Zia. Also I heard good things about "A Fraction of the Whole" by Steve Toltz.
lemonhead101
15 years ago
Hmm. I have not heard of any of these books so I feel a bit uneducated about this. I will have to check the library to see if they have any.

Martin - got any favs?
martin_z
Original Author
15 years ago
Can't claim a favourite at this stage, as I've read only two. But The Secret Scripture is really quite something; I'd be surprised if it wasn't short-listed and I wouldn't be disappointed if it won.
blossomgirl
15 years ago
I went to Amazon.com to look up "The Secret Scripture". It is now going to my TBR list. The plot "pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve the mystery of a 100 year old mental patient."
pam53
15 years ago
I could not abide Child 44 which is the only one I have read. Scripture sounds interesting...

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