Booker Prize

[neonlyte]

The Booker prize is worth £50,000 to the winner. The long list - to be reduced to 6 in September has just been published.

Two things strike me, the titles, and the fact that Zadie Smiths entry is an as yet unpublished novel.

The full longlist is as follows:

Tash Aw - The Harmony Silk Factory
John Banville - The Sea
Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
JM Coetzee - Slow Man
Rachel Cusk - In the Fold
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
Dan Jacobson - All For Love
Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black
Ian McEwan - Saturday
James Meek - The People's Act of Love
Salman Rushdie - Shalimar the Clown
Ali Smith - The Accidental
Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Harry Thompson - This Thing of Darkness
William Wall - This Is The Country

The titles strike me as remarkably unremarkable, and yet I can imagine a story unfolding even from those curt labels - is there a lesson to learn? In fact the writers names are almost more remarkable than the novel titles.

 

[impressive]

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Now there's one I'm just dying to read.

 

[Guest]

Now there's one I'm just dying to read.

Me too. Just ordered it from Amazon.

 

[neonlyte]

Marina Lewycka's - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, is a comedy. It has already won two comedy book awards. I think it is actually set in the UK, but involves Ukranians and tractors - obviously!

 

[CharleyH]

The Booker prize is worth £50,000 to the winner. The long list - to be reduced to 6 in September has just been published.

Two things strike me, the titles, and the fact that Zadie Smiths entry is an as yet unpublished novel.

The full longlist is as follows:

Tash Aw - The Harmony Silk Factory
John Banville - The Sea
Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
JM Coetzee - Slow Man
Rachel Cusk - In the Fold
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
Dan Jacobson - All For Love
Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black
Ian McEwan - Saturday
James Meek - The People's Act of Love
Salman Rushdie - Shalimar the Clown
Ali Smith - The Accidental
Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Harry Thompson - This Thing of Darkness
William Wall - This Is The Country

The titles strike me as remarkably unremarkable, and yet I can imagine a story unfolding even from those curt labels - is there a lesson to learn? In fact the writers names are almost more remarkable than the novel titles.

Well I recognize a few names, but I am more an avid reader of non-fiction than fiction. So then? How DID Zadie Smith get on this list?

Edit to add: Or (snicker)

 

[neonlyte]

Below are the synopsis of the listed books, I've omitted the titles, anyone want to hazard a guess at which synopsis goes with which title - a couple are a give away.

Narrator Max Morden revisits an Irish coastal resort where, as a child, he encountered the Grace family, who mysteriously changed his life.


A Malayan mystery set in 1940, it is the story of Johnny Lim, a mysterious figure whose life is described in three different ways by three different narrators.

Camaraderie and humour sustain the Royal Dublin Fusiliers as they are caught up in the events of the Easter Rising in Ireland.


Writer Arthur and solicitor George are brought together by a sequence of sensational events in 19th Century Britain.

An Irish teenage tearaway's life changes forever when he falls in love with the sister of Pat the Baker.

An amputee's feelings for his nurse are complicated by the arrival of a celebrated Australian novelist.


Kathy, Ruth and Tommy slowly face the truth about their seemingly happy childhoods in the English countryside.


A fictionalised account of a royal scandal during the decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire.


Central character Michael is persuaded to leave his Bath home to help a friend on a remote farm.

Family tensions as an 84-year-old widower marries a much younger woman, who arrives from his native Ukraine in search of a passport.


The story of the strained relationship between Alison - a warm, empathetic lady who makes a living from talking to the dead - and her hard-headed assistant Colette.


Set in inner city London on a single day in 2003, neurosurgeon Henry Perowne is confronted by a menacing stranger.


Suspicion and terror engulf Siberia in 1919 when the local Shaman is found dead.


A family on the brink of crisis has an unexpected visitor during their holiday in the Norfolk countryside.


Worlds collide at Wellington College as an English professor's son falls for the daughter of a right-wing icon.


The story of Maximilian Ophuls, knifed to death in Los Angeles by a mysterious figure.


A 19th Century sea-faring adventure charting the life of captain Robert Fitzroy and his passenger Charles Darwin.


Tash Aw - The Harmony Silk Factory
John Banville - The Sea
Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
JM Coetzee - Slow Man
Rachel Cusk - In the Fold
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
Dan Jacobson - All For Love
Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black
Ian McEwan - Saturday
James Meek - The People's Act of Love
Salman Rushdie - Shalimar the Clown
Ali Smith - The Accidental
Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Harry Thompson - This Thing of Darkness
William Wall - This Is The Country

 

[CharleyH]

Below are the synopsis of the listed books, I've omitted the titles, anyone want to hazard a guess at which synopsis goes with which title - a couple are a give away.

ROFL ... A give away to fiction readers! LOL Ok, I bite ... give me a half hour

 

[neonlyte]

Well I recognize a few names, but I am more an avid reader of non-fiction than fiction. So then? How DID Zadie Smith get on this list?

Edit to add: Or (snicker)

I've looked up the rules: Ms Smith's book will be published before 30th September in order to qualify.

 

[CharleyH]

Good god, I have no IDEA neon. But thanks for the challenge LOL

Ian McEwan - Saturday
Narrator Max Morden revisits an Irish coastal resort where, as a child, he encountered the Grace family, who mysteriously changed his life.

Tash Aw - The Harmony Silk Factory
A Malayan mystery set in 1940, it is the story of Johnny Lim, a mysterious figure whose life is described in three different ways by three different narrators.

Rachel Cusk - In the Fold
Camaraderie and humour sustain the Royal Dublin Fusiliers as they are caught up in the events of the Easter Rising in Ireland.

Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
Writer Arthur and solicitor George are brought together by a sequence of sensational events in 19th Century Britain.

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
An Irish teenage tearaway's life changes forever when he falls in love with the sister of Pat the Baker.

Ali Smith - The Accidental
An amputee's feelings for his nurse are complicated by the arrival of a celebrated Australian novelist.

JM Coetzee - Slow Man
Kathy, Ruth and Tommy slowly face the truth about their seemingly happy childhoods in the English countryside.

James Meek - The People's Act of Love
A fictionalised account of a royal scandal during the decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

William Wall - This Is The Country
Central character Michael is persuaded to leave his Bath home to help a friend on a remote farm.

Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Family tensions as an 84-year-old widower marries a much younger woman, who arrives from his native Ukraine in search of a passport.

Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black
The story of the strained relationship between Alison - a warm, empathetic lady who makes a living from talking to the dead - and her hard-headed assistant Colette.

Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Set in inner city London on a single day in 2003, neurosurgeon Henry Perowne is confronted by a menacing stranger.

Salman Rushdie - Shalimar the Clown
Suspicion and terror engulf Siberia in 1919 when the local Shaman is found dead.

Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
A family on the brink of crisis has an unexpected visitor during their holiday in the Norfolk countryside.

Dan Jacobson - All For Love
Worlds collide at Wellington College as an English professor's son falls for the daughter of a right-wing icon.

Harry Thompson - This Thing of Darkness
The story of Maximilian Ophuls, knifed to death in Los Angeles by a mysterious figure.

John Banville - The Sea
A 19th Century sea-faring adventure charting the life of captain Robert Fitzroy and his passenger Charles Darwin.

 

[shereads]

Here's something disturbing I learned about myself from reading this thread:

I'll read the winner of the Booker Prize, but until they choose one, I look at the list and feel sorry for the potential losers.



Is that because the Olympics have taught us that being .000000018 sec. slower than the fastest slalom in history = loser?

 

[shereads]

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
An Irish teenage tearaway's life changes forever when he falls in love with the sister of Pat the Baker.

Read anything by him, especially "Remains of the Day" and "The Unconsoled." Amazing.

I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote as an Irish teenager. He's done the English butler thing pretty well.

 

[The_Darkness]

Harry Thompson - This Thing of Darkness....

I don't remember anyone asking my goddamn permission!