Booker 25 - a thread

[Trojanbores]

Hello. I always try to read the Booker longlist.

Can anyone guess what might be on there this year? Any dead certs?

I’m about halfway through The Rest of Our Lives and finding it really heavy going - a drab tale about an American law professor’s midlife crisis which doesn’t seem to me to be doing anything new or interesting. No idea at the moment why it would be preferred over Seascraper. I will finish it though in case it improves.

It doesn’t improve . It’s ok I suppose but it doesn’t do anything original or exciting. Also there’s too much about basketball, a subject in which I have zero interest.

Do we have any final predictions? I have found the list underwhelming this year. No gems as in previous years.

I see that there is a Booker for children being planned … I hope that reveals new talent and gives us some alternative to all the celebrity children’s writers.

Not sure, I've only read half the shortlist. I've got Sonia and Sunny waiting for me at the library but I've no motivation to collect it as heard very mixed reviews, tempted to just cancel the hold on it. If Flesh or Flashlight win i might read them after. I'd like to see The Land In Winter win from the ones I have read.

I have now read them all except Sonia and Sunny and I’m not sure I’ll get round to it before the prize announcement. I haven’t changed my mind that Land in Winter should win- personally I think it’s a masterpiece. However I really enjoyed Flashlight and could live with that winning. I can see that Flesh has a lot going for it , but I just didn’t warm to it. If either Rest of Our Lives or Audition wins I shall give up on the whole prize.

I'm enjoying Sonia and Sunny (nearly 200 pages in) and Flashlight - I made more than one reservation for S&S so I now have an extra couple of weeks, and I need to prioritise Flashlight and another reserved library book that are due back in the next few days.

But maybe, @InTheCludgie, if you don't feel motivated to read a library reservation now, cancel it this one - you can always rejoin the queue, now or later (although having free reservations obviously helps with this....)

I DNFed Sonia and Sunny- found both main characters hard to invest in. I’d like to see Flesh win if what’s left- Seascraper should have been the winner though. Pretty uninspiring list this year. Not sure if I’ll bother next year tbh.

Free reservations here thankfully!
I think next year I'll just read the Booker nominees that I'm properly interested in instead of attempting to plough through all of them, then if one that I haven't read wins I'll read that just to see what the fuss is about.

I really enjoying Love Forms from the long list, don't want it to end.

Still got a few dnf

I love this thread and will hope to read the shortlist at least

I'm definitely with you on The Rest Of Our Lives @pollyhemlock

I did finish Sonia & Sunny - I think it gets better as you get into it. I found the first part quite annoying but it did grow on me. I'm a bit of a sucker for an Indian book though, and did particularly like the bits in Goa.

Apart from TROOL, there aren't any that I would be upset to win but also aren't any that I'm pressing on people to read. I think it's an underwhelming year which is surprising as I have read some amazing books outside the Booker list. I blame Roddy Doyle!

I would probably pick The Land In Winter as my favourite but I think Flesh or Audition will win.

What has disappointed me is that I like Roddy Doyle as a writer and a person so thought this was going to be a great list. As much as I’d like to absolve him and blame SJP, I agrrr that it must be his fault.

I've just finished Flashlight, which I really enjoyed - my 4th and favourite so far from the longlist but my only one so far from this year's shortlist (others in preference order: Endling, Love Forms and Universality). I will now return to Sonny and Sonia (I joined more than one library reservation queue, so have returned the first copy I borrowed early and have another couple of weeks) and to some non Booker library loans that I need to prioritise because others want them.

I have finished Sonia & Sunny and I have mixed feelings. Sometimes it felt like a classic nineteenth century novel, painting a detailed picture of the society, but it also felt very cliche, to the point that I could see where it was heading many times.

Announcement this evening, right? I only just discovered that Sarah Jessica Parker is one of the judges. Based on her book recommendations that I see on Instagram, she champions a lot of books written by women of colour so I don’t see her going for Andrew Miller. There are three women of colour on the panel (out of six) and it’s hard to see them pushing for a white male voice over the likes of Kiran Desai or Katie Kitamora but then perhaps I’m making it too political.

I haven’t read them all but The Land in Winter was incredibly well-written. At times I didn’t 100% understand what was going on (with Bill’s family, for example) but the prose was exquisite.

The judges already shortlisted 6 books which includes the Andrew Miller. I wouldn't assume any such thing. I'm a white woman and I read lots of books by writers all kinds of background, including writers of colour. I think Roddy Doyle is the chair, but that this year there are no Irish writers on the longlist. I think Katie KItamura and Susan Choi would be seen as much as American writers as women of colour, and the Kiran Desai book features characters who have lived in the US and/or Europe and seem as Western as they are Indian.

I enjoyed Flashlight and would be happy to see it win, and I'm enjoying the Kiran Desai book and think I would also be pleased to see that win.

I have the Andrew Miller TBR - and several other books by him - it came up as a Kindle deal ages ago and I like historical fiction - it's already won a historical fiction award. I also have the books by Katie Kitamura and Benjamin Markovits, and from the longlist Tash Aw, TBR. I've also read and enjoyed Endling and Love Forms.* *Ironically I end up reading the books from the library because I have to give them back, and they're often not renewable because everyone else wants to read them too, and I don't get to those I've bought! Whoever wins, I might try to make the Miller book my next award listed choice but it will probably be a week or three yet before I get to start reading it.

Andrew Miller is the bookies' favourite, with Kiran Desai second, according to reports from the Independent and the Guardian.

I'm still sulking that Love Forms - woman author, strong motherhood arc, didn't make it to the short list.
Thinking about the Bechdal test to the short list, not sure that some of them even meet that lowly bar.

I guess it's quite a mixed short list with Flesh and The Rest Of Our Lives being very white male books, and Flashlight, S&S and Audition have Asian protagonists. The Land in The Winter falls somewhere in between.

I wouldn't mind any of them winning other than The Rest Of Our Lives which I actively disliked.

My top 3 would probably be TLIW, Flashlight and Flesh, although there are good and bad things about all of them.

@BookEngine I do wonder whether SJP pushed Love Forms to be included in the Longlist.

Depressing about the Bechdel test.

Gillian Anderson was raving about Andrew Miller in a recent interview, said she'd listened to it twice and clocked he'd narrated himself. I thought he did an excellent job and he came across well at a local book festival. I rather hope he gets it.

After tackling the long list and then being depressed by Cillian Murphy's recommended list - 20 books, only two by women but one which is a recent role but at least four men with the name 'John'.
I am now planning to follow Catherine Parkinson's lead who said she just likes reading books written by middle aged women about middle aged women.
I going to wallow in that for a bit.

Really want Land in Winter to win. Just refreshed my memory of it by listening to the audio and it is such a deep book. So much in it particularly about the lasting aftermath of the Holocaust. He writes so beautifully too. I could live with Flashlight winning but none of the others I’m afraid.

Of those remaining Flesh was my favourite, but I’d be happy enough to see The Land in Winter or Audition win. Still think Seascraper was the best on the list and Sarah Moss’s Ripeness was better than any of them.

The live YouTube coverage is terrible so far.

Flesh takes the trophy!

Have just heard the announcement of the winner on Radio 4. Looking to see if anyone has reacted yet.