Trevor for booker
22 Oct 2011 6 Comments
in booker, my hero Tags: 2011, 2012, booker prize, irish lit
I ve long been a fan of the Irish writer William Trevor ,for those of you not familiar with him he is often called the irish Chekov ,Tim Adams of the observer said of him “widely believed to be the most astute observer of the human condition currently writing fiction .He has long been a booker bridesmaid with five nominations one long list in 2009 and four shortlists 1970 (Mrs Eckdorf in O’Neils hotel ),1976(The children of Dynemouth) ,1991(Reading Turgenev) ,2002(The story of Lucy Gault ).So rather than the Booker prize do what they did with the other booker bridesmaid Beryl Bainbridge and have a prize after she died why not honour the man whilst he is here I feel after the fuss this years prize caused say oh well we’ll stop for a year give it to William as a special one-off price for 2012 for the body of his work ,I would imagine many readers would be disappointed with this choice also it would honour William’s contribution to modern English literature he is a writer that has mixed Chekov, Maupassant short story talent with a touch of Irish tradition from Joyce and O’Connor with the English literature of Maugham and Greene .I love the booker I felt I gave the wrong impression last week it has led me to many good books ,my problem was with this year and recent years that I felt let down with the prize that has been dear to me .But never wanted to lessen the prize and I don’t think readability is dumbing down it is up to each of us what is readable .I felt near the prize being given some people went a little over the top with the vileness of the opinions and also the puppets that think these people are a sort of demi god of English literature !Any way if you think this is a good idea please write a post maybe if enough of us little people shout loud we can make the Horton’s of this world listen !!!! Please support this William Trevor is a writer that touches the soul !!
books ,booker ,literature prize ?
15 Oct 2011 30 Comments
in book news, booker Tags: 2011, booker, booker prize, prize winners
Well I stuck my nose in a conversation about the booker prize and the new prize announced this week as a counter to the booker ,now I view the new prize as a positive move the booker has been around unchallenged as the premier prize for literary fiction in the english speaking world for a long time ,so like most things that have had control of a market for a long time maybe it has got a little flabby at the waist and let its self go a bit and standards have dropped .The new prize is in part a reaction to this years jury which in literary terms is a little lightweight and the choices of long list and shortlist have sparked much discussion on what the booker means in people’s eyes ,also a comment by the judge Chris Mullins in regards readability of the books he choose .I had long been a fan of the booker and have read many shortlisted booker books over years .
So what does the booker mean to me as a prize well I look at literary fiction a like Everest we maybe have to be like sir Edmund Hilary reach the peak but then climbing didn’t stop and give up ,no but like all climbers we look for the new unclimbed peaks however hard ,or the new route up the mountain via a new path ,or a new way of climbing that maybe dangerous or innovative and I think this metaphor works for the booker and reading for me in general I like to challenge myself . This is what reading as the climbing metaphor is ,not for climbing the same route or going to Ben Nevis and making out it is a hard as climbing Everest ! So that said what does this reader look for in his booker shortlists and winners well I ve a few things, and will use previous winners and shortlisters to show what I look for and why I think the prize has drifted of late as most of the books mention are pre 2003 -
Language
I like a book that shows the bounds of the english languages and what can be done with it I perfect example would be James Kelman how late it was ,how late a book that showed the ability of language and regional accents a book wrote in a clear broad Glaswegian accent was it readable well if you were from Glasgow yes but otherwise it was a wonderful insight into how broken english can be shattered and remade in Scotland into a brutal but effective language that suits its setting .
Genre expanding
Now I m going pick two books both works of magic realism the are Midnights children by Salman Rushdie and Famished road by Ben Okri both winners in the 80′s They both approached the Magic realism genre in different ways Rushdie use it as a blueprint for the tale of modern India ,Okri as a way to open village life in Africa and Africa myths to the reader .Keneally Schindler’s ark also did same for biographical novels .#
sets a new mark
I like books that when you read you can say that will be cited for years after as a turning point in fiction .I ve got a recent winner in mind Wolf hall I think even thou I didn’t really enjoy it ,I can see it being a book that has raised the bar on historic fiction and will be the one the people say was a game changer and will be the one people read to get inspired to write historic fiction .
just talent
Now some writers just oozes talent now around booker shortlist it is obvious who has influenced english literary fiction for years people like Beryl Bainbridge and William Trevor although neither won a booker both have had multiple short-listed books over 20 plus years why because the constantly show the bounds of the English language Peter Carey and J M Coetzee have both won on more than one occasion and this is due to there talent as writers both try to set a new path to follow with each new book and usually succeed in showing how you can be different even in the same field of fiction .
There are the things I look for in a winner books that try to climb Everest set new marks and leave me as a reader want more ,I think the rot set in with the booker in 2003 the short lists since then have been weaker that earlier ones so a new prize is welcome and well all be able to judge what difference it has made to the booker and what direction the new prize is set in .Although I must note it is a missed chance for a general prize for literary fiction that also including translations published within in a year .I personally think this hasn’t happened because it would show how much great fiction is coming to readers from outside the English speaking world !! that does all of what I state in the qualities of a booker winner and usually far better
What do you think ?
Booker longlist reaction
28 Jul 2011 11 Comments
in book awards, booker Tags: 2011, booker prize, FUTURE READS, prize winners
Well susan Hill had promised a fresh list of books for the longlist .But in my opinon what we got was ground shaking .Books new to most people ,the shock wave on twitter was noticable as people tried to find out more about the listed books ,also why the list was so different than peoples ideas of what shoulkd have been there .The fact smaller publishers have been picked is good thing in this modern age .
• Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending
• Sebastian Barry On Canaan’s Side
• Carol Birch Jamrach’s Menagerie
• Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers
• Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues
• Yvvette Edwards A Cupboard Full of Coats
• Alan Hollinghurst The Stranger’s Child
• Stephen Kelman Pigeon English
• Patrick McGuinness The Last Hundred Days
• AD Miller Snowdrops
• Alison Pick Far to Go
• Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb
• DJ Taylor Derby Day
so there it is, of the titles I ve read none I have two on my tbr pile ,a quick trip to library yesterday came back blank .Some of them aren’t out yet thou .From the list the ones that grab my eye are Patrick Mcguiness the last hundred days set in the dying days of the Ceauceaus regime in Romania from the small publisher seren ,snowdrops Andrew miller set in Russia a thriller about a young Englishman struggling with the temptations of new Russia .I ve sister brother and strangers child on tbr ,I m not sure what others I will read maybe wait to see what makes shortlist .Is this shake up of longlist a good thing ,in some ways as there are a number of smaller publishers on the list ,but you have to question why so many people got so few books that are on the list right .Are we seeing the depth of English writing or a small choice by five judges set on shaking the booker order for the sake of it ? I don’t know the answer as many of you know I am more interested in translations and world lit ,but always look at the booker as the barometer of what is good or interesting in English at the moment .so in that respect I think they have got it wrong and a good few books have missed out on the longlist .
What are your thoughts ?
Did the booker need shaking up ?
my booker predictions 2011
25 Jul 2011 24 Comments
in book news, booker Tags: 2011, booker prize, FUTURE READS, NEW VOICES, prize winners
well tomorrow we find out who has made the longlist of the man booker prize 2011 .I was going do this earlier this evening but 2 hour power cut meant unable to blog so I ll fly through the book I ve heard about and reviews I ve seen over last few months ,so i ll give you a baker’s dozen -
At last – by Edward St Aubyn -
the latest in the partrick Melrose series to pay respects to his mother and another look other his past .
Strangers child by Alan Hollinghurst -
two poets lives and works tracked from 1912 to present day a look at what being a poet means and how history decides what there poems mean .
Wish you were here by Graham swift -
jack deals with his brother’s death in Iraq a look at modern english lives .
The girl in the polka dots dress by Beryl Bainbridge -
A girl from Kentish Town heads in 1968 to the cauldron of the US with Martin Luther King dying ,maybe one last chance for Beryl hey .
Pure by Andrew Miller -
Set in 1785 a young man must clear an old cemetery whilst watching his own back .slightly different hope it makes list one that appeals to me .
Last man in the tower by Aravinda Adiga -
a building needs to be cleared in Bombay but there is one man stopping this as old and new india clash .
Waterline By Ross Rasin
well I ve heard Joe from Penguin go on about this book ,as a friend of my father owned a shipyard this one appeals to me ,it is about Mick his journey out of the shipyards ,about love and loss .
The forgotten waltz by Anne Enright -
Gina has a love affair with Sean ,passion desire and memories all crop up in this book it seems .set in Dublin ,has to be a Irish writer on booker list .
Other people’s money by Justin Cartwright -
the fall of a family owned private bank told from two generations point of view ,Justin sold this to me when I heard a radio interview ,seems to catch the spirit of the time a bit .
We had it so good by Linda Grant -
I think every blog review of this book has been positive ,set in 1968 it follows middle class people over the next forty years ,through main character Stephen an American living in Britain .
Cedilla by Adam Mars Jones -
The continuing story of John Cromer from his earlier book ,I ve this on my tbr pile like fact main character has a disability something you don’t often see in books .
London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp -
three mens lives and affairs in 50′s london against a backdrop of a gay underground and art world .This sounds different to me when I read a few reviews .
Embassytown by China Mieville -
Well I ve put this on as I m feed up of the whining from sci-fi readers that he misses the list year after year and the fact it does sounds like a great read ,an alien world humans modify to communicate with the life form on the planet .It seems to be about our lives using the alien world as a tool for our world and its problems .
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK BE THERE ?
WHAT YOU MAKE OF MY CHOICES ?
THE BOOKER WINNER IS ….
12 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in booker Tags: 1910, booker prize
Well the telegraph light up a minute ago and with a dash ,dash and a dot dot the 1910 booker winner was announced and sent to Winston towers down the wires .well shock of shocks the favourite the history of mr Polly by Wells has lost ,and the winner is Howard’s end ,a wonderful book about class ,this new group in the capital called Bloomsbury based round the Bloomsbury area of london ,centre on the Woolf’s .The book follows three families and there different social standings .A great and worthy winner for booker 1910 .
Also in the club on the paper table I read the Manchester Guardians Not the booker winner for 1910 ,their young feature chap Samuel Jordison runs this the readers write in with a book that missed the cut and the chaps at the guardin=an add it up and make a shortlist and announce the winner the same day as the booker winner and this time it is a truly worthy winner clayhanger by Arnold Bennett ,this story and coming of age of Edwin Clayhanger set in Arnold’s hometown of stoke and the five towns around it ,he was quoted as saying well at least my northern friends recognise me ,having missed booker cut this time .
now I look a hundred years hence and may see a book called C by Tom Mccarhthy winning maybe .
C BY TOM McCarthy
02 Oct 2010 14 Comments
in book awards, booker, ENGLAND Tags: 2010, booker prize, english classics
This is my second booker shortlist read this year ,Tom McCarthy is considered the next big thing in british lit and this book as very technically clever .Well I enjoyed it ,at times found it very hard going .The book centres on the life of Serge Carafax a young man born on the cusp of a new century the twentieth century ,he is born ,to a family working at a deaf school,he soon becomes fascinated by the new technologies that are appearing and becomes a expert in radio and electrical equipment this sends him through the main events in the first few decades of the twentieth century ,he loves the planes in the first world war and ends up getting caught and made a prisoner and at a prisoner of war camp getting involved in escape plans and caring for his fellow prisoners ,post war he ends up in the swinging twenties of london and the drug scene ,then becomes a wireless operator for what was the internet of its day as it was a front row technology of the day and led many a young man like Serge to the far-flung corners of what was the British empire then ,well that is the simple overview of the book .but this book is like a cryptic crossword each page has layers and meanings ,there is a great deal of symbolism about technology and its place in society,war drugs ,travel many things cleverly woven .McCarthy has firmly placed himself in the top echelons of British writers .
The static’s like the sound of thinking .Not any single person thinking ,collectively ,It’s bigger than that, wider – and more dialect .It’s like the sound of thought itself,its a hum and rush .Each night ,when Serge drops in on it ,it recoils with a wail ,then rolls back to the crackling waves that carry him away ,all rudderless ,untill his fingers nudging the dial , can get some traction on it at all ,
opening of chapter 3 shows Serges connection with radios and there workings .
I m not going say I got this book completely I d be lying, it is a book that maybe takes a couple of readings to break its shell completely but as my first reading I loved it ,echos of Pychon and Bolano as it says on the cover maybe even early Ballard in places .If it wins the booker it will be a worthy winner . This is my last of the shortlisted reads ,Did have Finklers question from library but they wanted it back ,so will read at a later date .
DID YOU LIKE THIS BOOK ?
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN THE BOOKER THIS YEAR ?
booker shortlist !
08 Sep 2010 13 Comments
in booker Tags: 1910, booker, booker prize, classics, english classics, NEW VOICES
well the booker been announced and here are the 4 shortlisted books for the booker ,and what a bunch they are sure see a rush in sales for them .
HOWARDS END BY E M FORSTER
A story of a family the fourth novel from this up and coming writer ,his last room with a view was shortlist for the booker but only made shortlist .is the bookies favourite at moment !
THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY BY H G WELLS
A comic novel by the past booker winner ,we follow Alfred Pollys story in this funny novel
P SMITH IN THE CITY BY P G WODEHOUSE
An interesting character from Wodehouse a new young novelist with a grand hand at comic writing ,all about mike and psmith also a dollop of cricket thrown in for a good turn .
PRESTER JOHN BY JOHN BUCHAN
A novel about david crawfords adventures in spouthern africa during the recent zulu uprisng a novel about our empire ,the judges said
Well thats the booker 1910 shortlist what do you think ?
will these books stand the test of time ?
The beautiful screaming of pigs by Damon Galgut
07 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in african fiction, booker, South Africa Tags: african fiction, around the world 52, SOUTH AFRICA
DAMON GALGUT
Notes -
Damon Galgut is one of South Africa’s leading writers with a number of books after being published at 17 in 1980 with a sinless season ,this is his third novel and won the C.N.A South Africa’s leading literary prize ,He has also been shortlisted for the booker in 2003 with the good doctor ,he has also written several plays .
The book -
The book revolves around Patrick Winter and his two visits to South West Africa the first as a solider ,and secondly with his mother who has recently got divorced ,the second visit his mother is visiting Godfrey her new lover a black swapo activist ,still a taboo at the time in South africa ,we also discover that Patrick had a great love on his first posting to South West Africa ,we are lead to belive this may have been a male love ,there is a funeral of a white activist from swapo that was killed ,the themes are love discovery ,change and new beginnings in this book .
My view -
This is an amazing book for its short length ,and tackles the changing face of Southern Africa in the early nineties ,the breaking of long-held taboos and love between couples and a mother and son ,I read this book after some one on twitter recommend his new book but at the library it wasn’t there but this wonderful book was ,this book made me think as i work with a colleague from Nambia which is what south-west africa is now called ,and was also a great counter point to the purple violets of Oshaantu ,which i read after this book .
Links -
An interview with damon galgut
Questions -
Have you read any South African writers ?
Have you read Damon Galgut ?
.
lost booker shortlist 1970
25 Mar 2010 2 Comments
in booker Tags: booker, booker prize
LOST BOOKER 1970
Earlier in the year a long list was published for the books that missed out in 1970 On booker prize when the date was changed .
The Birds on the Trees by Nina Bawden (Virago)-this book is about a 19-year-old growing up in middle class family .
• Troubles by J G Farrell (Phoenix) this was the first in the trilogy ,the second siege won the booker in 1973 .It was made in to a film in 1988.
• The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard (Virago)-Hazzard won the miles franklin award one of australis most prestigious awards in 2004
• Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault (Arrow)-a book about Alexander the great Renault wrote both fiction and non fiction about Alexander
• The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark (Penguin)-best known for prime of Jean Brodie ,this was one of her favourite books .
• The Vivisector by Patrick White (Vintage)- White won the nobel prize in 1973 and the solid mandala is probably his best book .
these are the six announced today on the shortlist of them Farrell had won in 1973 with the siege of Krisnapaur ,Sparks had been shortlisted twice in 1969 and 1981 ,Bawden had been shortlist in 1987 .the other three White ,Renault and Hazzard had never been shortlisted .I only read books by Sparks ,White and farell but not the ones on the list .`
have you read any of these books ?
solar by ian mcewan
22 Mar 2010 Leave a Comment
in booker Tags: booker, english classics, FUTURE READS
SOLAR
This came to me via Sarah at the bookrabbits .It easily the most anticipated books so far this year McEwan is a Marmite writer .The book follows Michael Beard a nobel winner in his early life after refining a Einstein idea .the book structure falls in to three parts following Beard over the new millenium we first meet him 2000 with a falling marriage and embarking on a trip to the arctic with artist and fellow scientists like McEwan did him self ,the middle section finds him back in england on committees and having affairs and with an increasing waist line .the final section in the near present dat finds beard in america still having affairs ,eating loads and being accused of idea theft after stealing an idea for a photo cell . In this book McEwan has come up with one of the most dislikeable characters i ve ever read a cheater ,lazy ,greedy and liar of a man ,some one who had great promise early in his career but has gone down the wrong path .Now I know a lot of people are going to dislike this book but i loved it i think McEwan has manage to update what was the morality play of years past and transferred it to encapsulate the current state of the world with beard being modern society using all the resources without a thought for the future .the chaos on the ship in the arctic reflects the arguments of nations in my opinon .If you like science you ll love this .
He belonged to that class of men -vaguely unpreposseing ,often bald ,short , fat , clever – wno are were unnaccountably attractive to certain beautiful women . or he believed he was ,and thinking seem to make it so ….
the opening of solar and meeting Beard .
have you read this ?
did you like books about science ?
