Booker Prize

[pippistrelle]

Is anyone reading the Booker nominees this year? What's your favourite, and what do you think will win?

Who will win? Whoever ticks the right boxes, I suppose. I haven't looked at the list so have no idea which books have been nominated. I'm afraid I no longer trust the literary establishment. I no longer believe them when they tell me X or Y is a masterpiece. Too often, what they really mean is this work ticks the largest number of boxes, or this author holds the 'correct' liberal-left views.

I stick to the classics (in spite of the left's attacks on the canon).

For the first year I’ve not kept up with it! Recommendations of anything good please!

I'm reading the Elizabeth Strout but only a few pages in.
I really like her so I am not expecting it to win.

I'm going to take a punt on John of John. It might be Douglas Stuart's turn.

I usually wait until the Shortlist is announced (22nd September this year) and then see what I fancy, but I have read May We Feed the King, which is on the Longlist, and which won the Waterstones Debut Book this year. It's extraordinary. Certainly hope it makes it to the Shortlist.

I will read the Elizabeth Strout because I loved Olive Kittridge and the follow up book (whose name I can’t remember ) and John of John. I have been underwhelmed by winners in the past so I don’t see it necessarily as an indication of a book I will enjoy.
Mary Beard and Jarvis Cocker are part of the judging panel so that’s interesting.

I really enjoyed the Elizabeth Strout. It's simple and straightforward on the surface but quite profound on the human condition. Like a lot of the books we regard as classics now.
I've also read 'The End of Everything' by M John Harrison, the sci fi thing. It had some interesting ideas but I couldn't really make head nor tail of the plot even though it was short. I enjoyed its John Wyndham vibe though.
I really wanted to like 'Black Bag' by Luke Kennard more than I did. I liked the premise and the notion that it might make me laugh, as promised on the cover. But the most it provoked was the occasional wry smile. It made some interesting philosophical points towards the end but there were parts that I found a bit crass.
Not sure about 'John of John'. I caught bits of it when it was Radio 4's Book at Bedtime but it didn't really grab me. Looking forward to 'May We Feed the King' which is next on my TBR shelf, where it sits next to 'Helen of Nowhere'. I'm a sucker for those lovely Fitzcarraldo Editions covers so I bought it quite a while ago but haven't got around to reading it yet.
Of the others, I think I'll read 'The Vivisectors' and probably the one by Gwendoline Riley, as I read and enjoyed a previous book by her, even though I can't remember which one.
I will actively avoid the Marlon James as I read his 'A Brief History of Seven Killings' and really didn't like it.
I see the whole event as a way of highlighting some books that you might have missed and that have something to offer. It doesn't mean they're the only books with something to offer but it's good to be open to new and unusual things. And it's good that book fans have an event to get a little excited about. It can be quite a lonely pursuit after all.

I am aiming to read the shortlist but reading what I fancy off the longlist first. I read The Palm House earlier in the year and loved it. I started with Helen of nowhere which was weird but I thought it was great. Might reread it if it makes the shortlist as I missed something other reviewers were taking about. I'm currently enjoying black bag and just picked up the Strout and Shadow of the object from the library.

I really liked John of John, but I’m a big fan of Douglas Stuart and love a book set somewhere rural. I’m also familiar with that West of Scotland masculine misery, and he writes that very well.

I read The Palm House and quite liked it, it felt very “young” and “London”, I’m probably not the right demographic. It was very readable nonetheless.

I read The Vivisectors and hated it. I’ve no idea what it was meant to be.

I read The Vivisectors and I have droned on elsewhere on these boards about how much I disliked it. It all felt a bit sixth form. I felt the same about Helen of Nowhere. I don't like reading something and getting to the end and thinking 'what the bloody hell was all that about?' But that seems to be my recurring response in relation to most of this long list. And what's with all the anonymous characters and locations? There's a definite theme.

What are your predictions for the shortlist?

So far I've read:

The Renovation - excellent, probably my favourite
May We Feed The King - also really liked this and it's stayed with me, I read it in April I think well before Booker time
Black Bag - Quite fun, liked it on a sentence level but the plot got a bit far-fetched towards the end.. Also not sure about the female professor subplot, but on the whole positive
John of John - good, beautiful writing and landscapes, but I think I preferred Shuggie.
The Things We Never Say - I like Strout and liked this, but not my favourite on the list
The Vivisectors - hated the narrator, massive mean girl vibes, and feel like there was some dubious writing about disability. Nothing was resolved and everything was very opaque. Think people who like Eileen which I also disliked would like this one.
The Palm House - meh. can barely remember it a month later.

I've got Switzy to read for my online book club next month and bought the SF for DH.. Don't fancy Irish gangsters particularly but will pick up any that are in the Kindle deals.

@pippistrelle agree with your comments. Feel like there's a bit of Emperor's New Clothes about some of these, but I guess the anonymous writer, unidentified setting is a bit of a trend. The Vivisectors and Helen of Nowhere seem to be the most divisive ones. They've gone for quite an experimental list this year. Then again, I wasn't much of a fan of last year's list either.

The only thing I can say for sure is that it will contain some that I don't like - and more the point, don't rate - at all. But it shows how subjective reading is. I see people elsewhere talking about how good such and such a novel is while I'm thinking 'how can anyone even read that dross?' (I try not to say it out loud though!)

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I think Douglas Stuart and Marlon James seem to be the favourites.

Well, I think I've read as many as I'm going to, as the ones I haven't read just don't appeal to me at all, for various reasons. The final one I read was 'The Palm House' - it was okay. Solidly written, but pointless, it seemed to me.

I've been distinctly underwhelmed this year.