The Booker Prize

Leseratte

Leseratte

Well-known member
kpjayan said:
I had the privilege to catch up with Shehan Karunatilaka, today at the Bangalore Literary Festival and congratulate him on his win. Also got the copy of 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida', autographed. He wrote 'All the very best', not sure he was giving a subtle warning :) . Not sure what does writers jot before they sign the copy to some unknown reader.. One person had written 'Happy Reading' and another ' Best Wishes'..
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For me it sounds like "Best Wishes". I´m puzzled at "Almeida", this very Portuguese surname.
 
redhead

redhead

Blahblahblah
Here's the 2023 longlist:

thebookerprizes.com

The Booker Prize 2023 | The Booker Prizes

Prophet Song, Paul Lynch’s ‘triumph of emotional storytelling’, wins the Booker Prize 2023
thebookerprizes.com thebookerprizes.com

A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (Canongate)

Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber)

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein (Granta Books)

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (4th Estate)

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Harvill Secker)

This Other Eden by Paul Harding (Hutchinson Heinemann)

Pearl by Siân Hughes (The Indigo Press)

All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (Tinder Press)

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Oneworld)

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (Atlantic Books)

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (Picador)

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Hamish Hamilton)

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (Canongate)

Anyone read any of them? I had already put in a hold for This Other Eden at my library the other day, so I guess I should make that a priority.
 
J

Johnny

Well-known member
Not yet, but Old God’s Time and The House of Doors are on the to be read soon list. Also In Ascension looks interesting.

Impressive that 4 of the 13 nominees are Irish and it’s Sebastian Barry’s 5th time being nominated.
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
I'm very pleased to see Tan Twan Eng's work is honored once again. It moves up to the top of the list! Three novels, three times nominated!

For those who don't know him, his first novel, The Gift of Rain, was longlisted for the Man Booker and his second novel (he has only published the two before this one) The Garden of Evening Mists, was shortlisted for the Man Booker. It's been 11 years since that one. You can see why I have been eagerly anticipating this one. Use the Search box; there are some reviews as well as threads on both previous books.
 
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B

Ben Jackson

Well-known member
redhead said:
Here's the 2023 longlist:

thebookerprizes.com

The Booker Prize 2023 | The Booker Prizes

Prophet Song, Paul Lynch’s ‘triumph of emotional storytelling’, wins the Booker Prize 2023
thebookerprizes.com thebookerprizes.com

A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (Canongate)

Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber)

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein (Granta Books)

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (4th Estate)

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Harvill Secker)

This Other Eden by Paul Harding (Hutchinson Heinemann)

Pearl by Siân Hughes (The Indigo Press)

All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (Tinder Press)

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Oneworld)

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (Atlantic Books)

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (Picador)

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Hamish Hamilton)

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (Canongate)

Anyone read any of them? I had already put in a hold for This Other Eden at my library the other day, so I guess I should make that a priority.
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So happy to see a Nigerian, the first on the long list since Chigozie Obioma's An Orchestra for Minorities in 2019.

About Ayo Adebayo, she's author of well-known novel Stay With Me, a simple but yet emotional novel about a Nigerian couple looking for a child, and wife of Emmanuel Iduma (erstwhile member of this forum). I wasn't even aware she has a new novel out this year, so I'm going to read this one. Warmly recommend the novel Stay With Me for those who haven't read it.
 
Stewart

Stewart

Administrator
Staff member
redhead said:
Here's the 2023 longlist:

thebookerprizes.com

The Booker Prize 2023 | The Booker Prizes

Prophet Song, Paul Lynch’s ‘triumph of emotional storytelling’, wins the Booker Prize 2023
thebookerprizes.com thebookerprizes.com

All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (Tinder Press)

In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (Atlantic Books)

Anyone read any of them? I had already put in a hold for This Other Eden at my library the other day, so I guess I should make that a priority.
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I've read In Ascension, which I really enjoyed. It's not showy, or anything but it has got an interesting gravitational pull that lands you on the last page without really knowing how you go there. Best read, I think, by going in blind and enjoying the journey.

All the Little Bird-Hearts I finished last night. It's just over half the length of In Ascension and took me just as long to read it...mostly because I found it dull, plodding, and without excitement. It may well be the point - the narrator is autistic - but even the wider story, when reading between the lines, is insubstantial.
 
J

Johnny

Well-known member
Stewart said:
I've read In Ascension, which I really enjoyed. It's not showy, or anything but it has got an interesting gravitational pull that lands you on the last page without really knowing how you go there. Best read, I think, by going in blind and enjoying the journey.

All the Little Bird-Hearts I finished last night. It's just over half the length of In Ascension and took me just as long to read it...mostly because I found it dull, plodding, and without excitement. It may well be the point - the narrator is autistic - but even the wider story, when reading between the lines, is insubstantial.
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I’m looking forward to reading In Ascension and The Other Eden in particular.

I have just finished The House of Doors. I’ll post a fuller review shortly. In the meantime I’ll note it’s an absolutely extraordinary novel, my first Tan Twan Eng ( incredible to think he has written 3 books and all at least made the Booker longlist). The novel moves back and forth between first person and third person narratives and times set mainly in Penang in 1910 and 1921.

William Somerset Maugham features heavily and is a brilliantly realised character. The writing is beautiful and lyrical and he creates an utterly memorable character in Mrs. Lesley Hamlyn. Fact and fiction intermingle it what is a truly gripping read. The ending of the book is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. I feel a reread will be very rewarding also.

Highly recommended and it will take a masterpiece to stop this winning the Booker.
 
Bartleby

Bartleby

Moderator
The 2023 Shortlist:

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray


The winner is announced on 26 November.

www.theguardian.com

Just one British writer makes the Booker prize shortlist

Chetna Maroo’s ‘mesmerising’ Western Lane has been chosen for inclusion on a male-dominated list
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
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namelesshere

Reader
Bartleby said:
The 2023 Shortlist:

Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

This Other Eden by Paul Harding

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray


The winner is announced on 26 November.
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I didn't think it was possible for my estimation of the 2023 Booker Prize to go even lower. It has.
 
Bartleby

Bartleby

Moderator
Johnny said:
No Tan Twan Eng!!?
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Third time is not the charm, apparently .-.

Was sad not to see In Ascension, the book I am most willing to read from the longlist...

The readers' favourite in general seems to be Prophet Song, but with a jury like this anything goes...
 
Bartleby

Bartleby

Moderator
This is the book I most wanted to read even from the longlist* — long chunks of text with little-to-no paragraph breaks? no quotation marks? I'm in! —, and the one that, judging from the overall assessment from some online reading groups, had the most chance of winning/was the readers' consensus pick; but then many people started to speculate that The Bee Sting would/should win, and maybe such a divide is what happened, because from the article by The Guardian announcing Prophet Song as the winner they quoted judging chair Esi Edugyan saying the choice wasn't unanimous, and that they took approximately 6 hours this past Saturday deciding on which book would take the prize. I could see Edugyan actually taking the side of This Other Eden, since she wrote the blurb for it.

Anyway, happy with the choice, and looking forward to reading Song. I hope it lives up to the expectations.



*Edit: Just realised In Ascension was in the longlist only; that was another one that picked my attention the most, together with the actual winner.
 
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