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Booker Prize 2005

Shade

Shade

New Member
OK, get your carcoats out and let's get betting on the Booker Prize before the judges even decide on the longlist. For the uninitiated, the prize is open to any English language novel published between 1 Oct 04 and 30 Sep 05, by an author from the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth (ie pretty much anywhere English language except the US).

Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is a shoo-in for the shortlist, and maybe even a decent bet for the prize itself.

Ian McEwan's Saturday will also likely make the shortlist - definitely the longlist anyway - but I wouldn't expect it to win. But then stranger things have happened...
 
novella said:
I think they'll consider both The Time Traveller's Wife and The Kite Runner.
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I just finished The Kite Runner and would say it's definitely deserving of consideration.
 
Sorry to piss on your chips (esp. as I was fearing this topic would get no responses! So thanks!), but I don't think either would qualify. Time Traveler's Wife came out too long ago (Jan 04 in the UK), plus I think Niffenegger is American, which would disqualify her. (By the way am I the only one who really didn't go for TTW? I'm sure there's a thread somewhere...) Similarly, The Kite Runner came out in 2003 here, and Khaled Hosseini is either Afghani or American depending on how you view these things. ;) I've read a lot of praise for this book though, so must have a look at it.

Others which would qualify, at least on nationality and date of publication grounds, would be Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down, though it's had fairly mediocre reviews; Zadie Smith's On Beauty, though it would have to be a hell of a lot better than her disappointing The Autograph Man; and Magnus Mills's Explorers of the New Century - his first novel The Restraint of Beasts, complete with swags of praise from Thomas Pynchon, was shortlisted for the Booker a few years ago.

Sorry if these names mean nothing to our American members! Maybe this thread wasn't such a good idea after all... :eek:
 
Shade said:
Sorry to piss on your chips (esp. as I was fearing this topic would get no responses! So thanks!), but I don't think either would qualify. Time Traveler's Wife came out too long ago (Jan 04 in the UK), plus I think Niffenegger is American, which would disqualify her. (By the way am I the only one who really didn't go for TTW? I'm sure there's a thread somewhere...) Similarly, The Kite Runner came out in 2003 here, and Khaled Hosseini is either Afghani or American depending on how you view these things. ;) I've read a lot of praise for this book though, so must have a look at it.

Others which would qualify, at least on nationality and date of publication grounds, would be Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down, though it's had fairly mediocre reviews; Zadie Smith's On Beauty, though it would have to be a hell of a lot better than her disappointing The Autograph Man; and Magnus Mills's Explorers of the New Century - his first novel The Restraint of Beasts, complete with swags of praise from Thomas Pynchon, was shortlisted for the Booker a few years ago.

Sorry if these names mean nothing to our American members! Maybe this thread wasn't such a good idea after all... :eek:
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I thought that this year they were opening Booker eligibility to the whole world. Is that not so?
 
No. The sponsors, the Man Group plc, wanted them to, but they compromised instead by inaugurating a new prize, the Man Booker International Award. Any nationality or language is eligible as long as the books are available in English translation. It's awarded every two years for a body of work rather than a specific novel. The first winner has just been announced: that, ahem, well-known Albanian giant of letters, Ismail Kadare. He beat such legendary names as Saul Bellow, John Updike, Doris Lessing, Gabriel Garcia Marquez etc., all of whom were shortlisted.
 
Shade said:
Sorry to piss on your chips (esp. as I was fearing this topic would get no responses! So thanks!), but I don't think either would qualify. Time Traveler's Wife came out too long ago (Jan 04 in the UK), plus I think Niffenegger is American, which would disqualify her. (By the way am I the only one who really didn't go for TTW? I'm sure there's a thread somewhere...) Similarly, The Kite Runner came out in 2003 here, and Khaled Hosseini is either Afghani or American depending on how you view these things. ;) I've read a lot of praise for this book though, so must have a look at it.
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I had wondered about them not being eligible because of publication date. To answer your question, I wasn't crazy about the TTW either. I though it was kind of an original rendition of time travel but it was definitely lacking in other areas. As far as KR, I couldn't recommend it more highly. As to the other authors you mentioned, I'm afraid I fall under the category of the American who is unfamiliar with many of them. Actually one of the things that I love about this forum is the opportunity to gain exposure to authors and books that I'm unfamiliar with.
 
Really interesting thread, Shade! I never knew what the criteria for the Booker Prize was, just that it was highly regarded. I'm not reading newly released fiction at the moment (they're impossible to get at the library), so I'm not really up to date with the latest publications, but I'll read this with interest and with my pencil over my TBR list.
 
Interestingly, Kookamoor - well, kind of interestingly - with you being in Canada/Australia, is the fact that your country(wo)men are particularly successful in the Booker. All of Tim Winton's last three novels have been shortlisted (he has a new one out this year, I think, so it will be interesting to see if it makes it); similarly Margaret Atwood has had all but one (The Robber Bride) of her last six novels shortlisted; Yann Martel's Life of Pi is the most commercially successful Booker winner of all time; his was followed by Australian DBC Pierre with Vernon God Little; and finally, Peter Carey is one of only two authors to have won the award twice (for Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang). (The other is South African J.M. Coetzee.) I wonder why this is? Perhaps the judges generally like the different perspective on life and literature that the Commonwealth writers give them that they don't get from the UK's own.
 
I should preface my previous comments with the fact that I do normally read new fiction, especially with my mother being a librarian :D . But being o/s it doesn't make sense to purchase books at the moment, so I rely on my public library, which is actually very, very good.

I'm a big Tim Winton fan. I'm yet to be disappointed with his books. My favourite would be The Riders, I think. It's interesting that he writes for both adults and children, although his young adult books may be less well known internationally. I also really enjoyed Peter Carey's The True History of the Kelly Gang. I find a lot of Australian books 'feel' different to books from the UK or USA. I always thought it was the way in which I related to them, though.

I don't know a lot about Canadian literature at all, unfortunately. I've been here on and off for about 3 of the last 4 years, but haven't really sampled too much of the local writing. Alistair McLeod has been recommended to me, however, and I intend to read The Lost Salt Gift of Blood soon.
 
As far as Australian novels go, I really enjoyed the Thorn Birds. Actually, I don't know if McCullough actually lives in Australia, I think I read that she lives on one of the surrounding islands? Anyway, I read Island by Alistair McLeod and wasn't overly impressed. He's definitely talented but for some reason I found his stories lacking.
 
pwilson said:
Anyway, I read Island by Alistair McLeod and wasn't overly impressed. He's definitely talented but for some reason I found his stories lacking.
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The one I was told about was The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, which I believe is about Cape Breton. I'll check it out because it sounds interesting.
 
Kookamoor said:
The one I was told about was The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, which I believe is about Cape Breton. I'll check it out because it sounds interesting.
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Let me know what you think of it because like I said, his writing style was definitely intriguing. Most of the stories in Island were very dark with some very nice imagery. I imagine it would add a whole new layer too if you know the area he's writing about.
 
I've heard good things too about his novel No Great Mischief, though again that was from a Cape Bretonite, so possibly local bias in play there...
 
Maybe I'll have to try another one of his books. I assume they all take place on Cape Breton then? He painted a very bleak picture of life on the island in the stories I read.
 
pwilson said:
Maybe I'll have to try another one of his books. I assume they all take place on Cape Breton then? He painted a very bleak picture of life on the island in the stories I read.
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My partner's from there, and I've heard some stories that make this seem not entirely untrue.
 
pwilson said:
As far as Australian novels go, I really enjoyed the Thorn Birds.
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I read this book around 2 years back and the only thing I remember about this book is - I didn't like it!

It was good when the girl (can't rememeber the name) was a kid. Once she grew up, I started getting bored. I finished the book just for the heck of it.
 
Does anyone have any comments on the Man Booker International Prize? Or does this belong in another thread? Ismail Kadare won it last week. I expected Gabriel Garcia Marquez to win.
 
The longlist for this year's Booker Prize:

Tash Aw, The Harmony Silk Factory
John Banville, The Sea
Julian Barnes, Arthur & George
Sebastian Barry, A Long Long Way
J.M. 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

Quite a mainstream list - I've heard of most of them (albeit in some cases, like Tash Aw and James Meek, just from seeing them on the shelves of Waterstone's). The big three, McEwan, Barnes and Ishiguro are there (as well as the other biggie, Rushdie, whose book, like Zadie Smith's, hasn't actually been published yet). I think Barnes and Ishiguro should definitely make the shortlist. Marina Lewycka's book was extremely enjoyable but not much more than a romp, so I'd be surprised if it got further.
 
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