Booker Prize 2021 - announcement of winner on Wednesday 3 November - what have you read?

[elkiedee]

The Booker Prize winner is to be announced on Wednesday 3 November, 10 days away.

Have you read or are you currently reading any of the books on the list?
What do you have in your TBR piles and which other books do you want to read, buy or borrow?
Which would you recommend?
Which book do you think will win?
Who would you like to see win the prize this year?
Any other thoughts?

2021 Booker Prize for Fiction longlist

The shortlist

A Passage North - Anuk Arudpragasam
The Promise - Damon Galgut
No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood

The Fortune Men - Nadifa Mohamed
Bewilderment - Richard Powers
Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

Rest of the longlist

A Town Called Solace - Mary Lawson
Second Place - Rachel Cusk
The Sweetness of Water - Nathan Harris
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

China Room - Sunjeev Sahota
An Island - Karen Jennings
Light Perpetual - Francis Spufford

Read:

Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

The Sweetness of Water - Nathan Harris

I liked both of these very much, with a personal preference for the Maggie Shipstead, which isn't surprising to me because it's very much the sort of book I read, and I actually borrowed it from the library before it was longlisted. I've read and enjoyed her second novel a few years ago, and I enjoy historical sagas about interesting female characters. But I'll definitely look out for Nathan Harris's future work after reading his impressive debut.

Currently reading

The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed
This is a book that I think I would have wanted to read anyway, but the Booker list means that the libraries have bought more copies sooner than they would have done otherwise, which is great. The historical Tiger Bay setting appeals, as it sounds like an interesting place from what I've seen in TV documentaries and read in other books, and the various experiences of migrants here and of the next generation. I've read about 30 pages, very good so far, and need to get my skates on to finish reading and return this to the library.

A Town Called Solace, Mary Lawson
As for Great Circle and The Fortune Men, this is very much the sort of book that appeals to me anyway. I have her 3 other novels all TBR, and borrowed this as a library ebook before it came up as a Kindle Daily Deal.

Kindle TBR

No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood - I also have her memoir Priestdaddy TBR and was interested in this when it came out. Already shortlisted for the Women's Prize.

China Room, Sunjeev Sahota - I enjoyed his previous novel The Year of the Runaways about a young Indian immigrant living in Sheffield. I'd borrowed it from the library and was really pleased to see it come up as a Kinde Daily Deal.

Light Perpetual - Francis Spufford

Have read his memoir of childhood reading and am interested in Francis Spufford's varied output. Have finally read his previous novel Golden Hill recently and really enjoyed it (I really love historical fiction).

I've borrowed several from the library but had to return them because I couldn't renew and/or had too many books out, and am still hoping to get to read Second Place as Rachel Cusk is an author whose work I normally buy/borrow and read at some point.

I've heard parts of the Radio 4 serial of Klara and the Sun and would like to read it properly. I've read Never Let Me Go and When Were Orphans and have all his other previous novels on my Kindle TBR.

I will buy any of the others if they come up as Kindle bargains - hopeful because 5 have so far. Otherwise if I ever get through my most pressing library books and the list of books I had to return to the library and want to borrow again to read, I'm sure I'll look for the Karen Jennings book. I was surprised that I hadn't heard of her before.

I would be happy to see either Maggie Shipstead or Nadifa Mohamed win though I can't predict that any specific one of the 6 will or won't win. There's nothing here that I would be horrified to see win, but I think I've only read two Booker winners that I didn't like much - one was Kingsley Amis 30 years ago and I just didn't get it - my memory is hazy but I suspect this wasn't the judges' best decision ever. The other, this century, was Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question, which I found very unpleasant in tone. I have really mixed feelings about HJ - he did a very interesting documentary series on Australian culture and writing which really made me want to find out more about the writers and books etc he was talking about.. I have bought a couple of his other novels, most recently My Name is Sherlock because I'm really interested in the Hogarth Shakespeare series novels (different writers write a contemporary novel exploring the story of a Shakespeare play in some way).

Oops, the Howard Jacobson My Name is Shylock is a take on the Merchant of Venice. Not sure why I'm mixing it up with Sherlock Holmes.

I've read Light Perpetual and really enjoyed it. Must admit that I don't really fancy the books on the shortlist. I do wish the Booker would go back to being for British or Commonwealth authors.

I’ve read the entire longlist and am just finishing my final one, Bewilderment.
I think The Promise should win, but I’ll be happy enough if Bewilderment or the Patricia Lockwood win.
I really loved the Francis Spufford one and was disappointed it didn’t make the shortlist.
Really don’t want A Passage North to win, which means it probably will!

Also loved Klara and the Sun.

@elkiedee
I felt the same way about The Finkler Question which put me off Howard Jacobson but I though My Name is Shylock was one of the better ones of those Hogarth Shakespeares.

I listened to the Promise - it was really good.

I’ve read Light Perpetual and Second Place, both of which I thought were OK, but undeserving of a place on the longlist. I have China Room on my kindle to read, and I love Damon Galgut’s previous books, so I’ll download The Promise when the price drops.

I’ve read Great Circle, Klara and the Sun and A Town Called Solace. I liked Great Circle but absolutely loved the other two so a bit baffled that GC was shortlisted and they weren’t. But my views rarely align with those of Booker judges!

Ones I've read:

The Promise - Damon Galgut - I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would, although I think it'll probably win. His writing is great, I just some of the plot devices were a bit contrived and jarred with me a bit.

No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood - I really disliked this. I get what she was trying to do, but I didn't enjoy or read it and suspect in 5 or 10 years times people will wonder why she got so many plaudits for this book. Second half better than the first.

The Fortune Men - Nadifa Mohamed - I enjoyed this enough but didn't think it was brilliant - I never really got the main character or felt a huge amount of sympathy for him.

A Town Called Solace - Mary Lawson - I loved this, it's not high literature by any shakes, but was a well written, enjoyable suspense drama that managed to be everyday and gentle at the same time.

China Room - Sunjeev Sahota - I really enjoyed this one, it was well written and well paced and the Indian setting was fascinating.

Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro - loved this, as expected, but I am a big fan of Ishiguro and his style.

The Sweetness of Water - Nathan Harris - I did enjoy this at the time, but I've just had to look it up as I had a moment when I couldn't remember what it was about at all (a couple of ex-slaves in the Deep South just after emancipation) so it hasn't stuck with me.

Second Place - Rachel Cusk - I was underwhelmed by this one - the first Rachel Cusk I have read though and friends assure me her other books are better!

Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead - I'm in the middle of this at the moment and quite enjoying it - I much prefer the story set in the past, I haven't got a hugh amount of time for the one set in the present at the moment and the 'voice' of the present day character is grating on me a bit.

A Passage North - Anuk Arudpragasam - I was about half way through this on my kindle when all my library reservations came in, so I set it aside and haven't chosen to go back to it yet. It was ok, I listened to him on a podcast though and he was very longwinded and a bit tedious!

On my TBR pile:

Bewilderment - Richard Powers
An Island - Karen Jennings

I didn't think it was a particularly strong list this year, tbh. I'm surprised Klara and the Sun didn't get on the shortlist.

Thanks everyone for your responses, I thought it would be nice to have a Booker thread in the run up to the announcement of the winner.

'@onemouseplace, wow, I'm very impressed that you've read so many of the list. Have you decided not to read Light Perpetual?

@elkiedee I will read it but for some reason my local library didn’t have it when I reserved the rest of the list and I haven’t looked again yet!

Have read all the shortlist apart from A Passage North . Don’t think I will read this, as the reviews I’ve read say it’s wordy and dull.

I think The Promise should win. It’s a brilliant portrait of the horrors of Apartheid see through one family’s history. Manages at times to be quite funny, as well.

Loved Great Circle, but I don’t think it will win . Too much of an adventure story. The Fortune Men is an evocative look at 1950s Cardiff. The fact that it’s closely based on a real case does take the suspense out of it.

No one is Talking About this I thought was really clever. The contrast between her shallow online life in the first half and the family tragedy in the second was very well done.

I’m afraid I loathed Bewilderment. Don’t know which of the three main characters I disliked most: the glum scientist who never does any actual work; the incredibly annoying child with his stream of supposedly wise remarks; or the impossibly perfect late wife who combines being a hotshot environmental campaigner with looking after a child with additional needs, without once getting stressed or angry. A very sentimental book. I was very disappointed that this made it through instead of Light Perpetual, which I thought was brilliant.

Also loved China Room and A Town Called Solace. Both much better than the Powers.

China Room was in the Kindle deals recently so I have that and loved Sahota’s The Year of the Runaways so will read this.

Otherwise, I’m on the lookout for The Fortune Men.

I am picking The Promise as the winner. Great writing and subject matter. But who knows, those Booker judges can be surprising.

I’m afraid I loathed Bewilderment. Don’t know which of the three main characters I disliked most: the glum scientist who never does any actual work; the incredibly annoying child with his stream of supposedly wise remarks; or the impossibly perfect late wife who combines being a hotshot environmental campaigner with looking after a child with additional needs, without once getting stressed or angry. A very sentimental book. I was very disappointed that this made it through instead of Light Perpetual, which I thought was brilliant.
Dammit you’re right about this. Now I’ve finished it I’m a little disappointed. It didn’t really go anywhere (but it did make me cry, which I do like). I think I just loved The Overstory so much that I really wanted to love it. I also thought Light Perpetual was better.
DH picked it up and read a page at random - it was the bit where he hands his son an avocado and hummus sandwich. He said “Are you meant to hate these characters or what? Is it meant to be a joke?”

I see his point (but when I read that bit I thought hmm, that sounds nice, I might try that).
I’m also tipping (and hoping) The Promise for the win. (Please not A Passage North - I was very bored).
I’m not sure I’ll read the whole longlist again. It was exhausting. I need a break from heavy stuff now and then. Maybe just the shortlist next time. I don’t know (eyes up Goldsmiths Prize shortlist).

Tbh I don’t think it was a particularly strong selection of books this year. I’ve had better reads in previous years.

@Nuffaluff I’m afraid I found the child intolerable. Particularly annoying is the way you’re meant to hang on to his every utterance. There’s one bit where he’s dressed in a suit for some event, and his narrator father comments ‘ he looked like a little god’. Ugh! And we’re encouraged to view him as one, which is awful . I’m not convinced that Richard Powers has met an actual child.

Goldsmiths Prize shortlist? What's on it? I'm hooked on lists as well as books.

I’ve read the majority of the longlist the last few years and found that often my favourites don’t make the shortlist.

I remember watching a programme about the Booker a couple of years ago and I think it was Val McDermid saying that as a judge you basically do nothing but read for 6 months to get through them all - I sometimes wonder if that’s why some odd choices get through because I can’t imagine being able to give each book its due when I’ve ploughed through over 100 of them.

Goldsmiths prize:
Little Scratch - Rebecca Watson
Assembly - Natasha Brown
One Sky Day - Leone Ross
A Shock - Keith Ridgeway
Checkout 19 - Claire-Louise Bennett
Sterling Karat Gold - Isabel Waidner

I’ve heard of the first three and was already interested in reading them.
Basically the idea of the Goldsmiths Prize is groundbreaking fiction. Pushing the boundaries of the novel form sort of thing. Arty farty bollocks to some. Like catnip to others, i.e. me.
I’ve really enjoyed some previous winners - How to be Both by Ali Smith and H(a)ppy by Nicola Barker. Ducks, Newburyport also won, which I didn’t love, but am haunted by!

@pollyhemlock
Yes the boy is annoying, you’re right! But I am so well disposed to Richard Powers that I don’t want to dislike it.

@onemouseplace
That almost makes reading sound like torture!

Interesting to read everyone’s takes on these books.

I too think The Promise should be the winner. It’s just so well constructed. I love the various motifs that repeat, but slightly differently each time. The way that the recent history of South Africa is told through the story of a family. The dark humour and the way that the reader’s point of view shifts, sometimes quite suddenly, but without ever being confusing.

I also enjoyed No One Is Talking About This, but I wonder whether it’s too of it’s time to last? Some of the things that made me laugh felt like they might not feel relevant even in a couple of years time. I liked though that it captures the experience of scrolling through wildly different snippets on a phone. I don’t think I’ve seen this dealt with in literature before. Characters in fiction generally get on with living their lives rather than browsing the internet in a way that’s quite unrealistic! The second half of the book is very different but equally interesting.

I liked Bewilderment despite agreeing with what everyone has said about it. I almost felt like the gifted/troubled nine year old might have benefited from less indulgent attention. The father son relationship was so intense. Powers does write so beautifully about the natural world though and the concerns about what we are doing to the planet and the species we share it with are important. Did anyone else query whether two people who were sufficiently committed to be vegans would have taken a flight to go on a protest about how we are endangering species?

The other three books were good but didn’t blow me away.

I think Klara and the Sun should also have been shortlisted

Thanks for the Goldsmiths Prize shortlist - I read Assembly by Natasha Brown and thought it was interesting but not entirely satisfying for me, haven't quite worked out why. I'm not sure I've heard of the others and will have to look them up.