Dewey is offering a Man Booker Challenge that includes not only the winners but short and long listers as well. I'm joining. The song Crazy is now playing through my head, as sung by Patsy Cline, but since Darkmans (I bought my copy in a good, old fashioned, bricks and mortar, non-chain bookstore just yesterday) and The God of Small Things were both already on my list, why not?
Here is the complete list of winners since 1969, courtesy of The Complete Booker, because I thought and see how many I had read already - and you? Red ones are, well, read, yellow ones I would like to read, and as for everything else, feh.
2007 - The Gathering (Enright)
2006 - The Inheritance of Loss (Desai)
2005 - The Sea (Banville)
2004 - The Line of Beauty (Hollinghurst)
2003 - Vernon God Little (Pierre)
2002 - Life of Pi (Martel)
2001 - True History of the Kelly Gang (Carey)
2000 - The Blind Assassin (Atwood)
1999 - Disgrace (Coetzee)
1998 - Amsterdam: A Novel (McEwan)
1997 - The God of Small Things (Roy)
1996 - Last Orders (Swift)
1995 - The Ghost Road (Barker)
1994 - How Late It Was, How Late (Kelman)
1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Doyle)
1992 - The English Patient (Ondaatje)
1992 - Sacred Hunger (Unsworth)
1991 - The Famished Road (Okri)
1990 - Possession: A Romance (Byatt)
1989 - The Remains of the Day (Ishiguro)
1988 - Oscar and Lucinda (Carey)
1987 - Moon Tiger (Lively)
1986 - The Old Devils (Amis)
1985 - The Bone People (Hulme)
1984 - Hotel Du Lac (Brookner)
1983 - Life & Times of Michael K (Coetzee)
1982 - Schindler's List (Keneally)
1981 - Midnight's Children (Rushdie) - I have tried, honestly!
1980 - Rites of Passage (Golding)
1979 - Offshore (Fitzgerald)
1978 - The Sea, the Sea (Murdoch)
1977 - Staying on (Scott)
1976 - Saville (Storey)
1975 - Heat and Dust (Jhabvala)
1974 - The Conservationist (Gordimer)
1973 - The Siege of Krishnapur (Farrell)
1972 - G. (Berger)
1971 - In a Free State (Naipaul)
1970 - The Elected Member (Rubens)
1969 - Something to Answer For (Newby)
And my choices for the challenge are:
Darkmans
The God of Small Things
Heat & Dust
The Gathering
The Line of Beauty
Inheritance of Loss
The Bone People
The Blind Assassin
(w/ a few extra, I'm sure to drop one or two)
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11 comments:
Thanks for joining. Oooh, The Blind Assassin! And we have several in common, so we can discuss them.
Oh, and I've only read three of the winners. Shameful! One reason I wanted to do this challenge.
The challenge is a great idea. I'm looking forward to it. I discovered that I already had a copy of Heat and Dust sitting around too.
Really excited to hear what you think of Bone People. It's one of my favorite books.
There was a good 5 or 6 year period when I read whatever book won the Booker ... that's how I came to read The Bone People - and also Possession, another favorite of mine now.
I gave up after Last Orders, which bored me to tears. I suppose I shouldn't judge the whole Booker prize from one bad apple (in my opinion).
But I just finished The Gathering. Wait til you get a load of this woman's writing, Ted. Wow. To me, she has a totally original voice ... unlike anything I've ever read before. You can HEAR her Irish accent in the prose.
S - Bone People and The Gathering did look really intriguing and you always recommend great stuff, so that increases my hopes. Plus I found them on-line for about $2 a piece. I'm also looking forward to reading some more Atwood. I've always admired her. I can't wait for the end of the semester!
That's an interesting challenge. I was surprised that I have read so many of the winners, never having seen the list laid out in this way. I will definitely consider joining this challenge. cheers
sarahjane - I'm sure Dewey will be pleased and we'll have some good company.
I couldn't finish Blind Assassin - I'm not sure why. I'm a huge Atwood fan - and to me Cat's Eye, so far, was her greatest accomplishment. My GOD what a book. I can't even bring myself to read it again because it affected me so profoundly the first time. It's become untouchable in my mind. I was disappointed in Alias, Grace ... and Robber Bride was okay (the books she wrote since Cat's Eye) - but for whatever reason, Blind Assassin didn't do it for me. It felt like a first draft. I've had Atwood fans, though, tell me to give it another shot - which I just might do.
She wrote a WONDERFUL book, Ted, recently - on writing - it's called Negotiations with the Dead ... I HIGHLY recommend it. Essays on Wizard of Oz and other inspirations to her ... so so so good.
Oops - I now have a "Google" account - which is why my last name suddenly showed up ... I don't want it to seem like I am suddenly overly formal with you.
Like: yes, I'm Sheila O'MALLEY, thankyouverymuch .... don't confuse me with other Sheilas!!
Sheila, who?
I too thought Cat's Eye was the best. I read Oryx and Crake and could not get into it, so I'm hoping this one will be better.
I've read six. And there are many more that I'd love to read. I'm not sure how I would even choose for a challenge. Although I won't be able to join the challenge, I will have to keep this list in mind as I am picking books to read next year!
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