Man Booker Prize 2010 - shortlist announced

Chinafoot

So today the 6 shortlisted titles in the running for the Man Booker Prize were announced. They are as follows:

Parrot and Olivier in America - Peter Carey

Room - Emma Donoghue

In a Strange Room - Damon Galgut

The Finkler Question - Howard Jacobson

The Long Song - Andrea Levy

C - Tom McCarthy

I am ashamed to say that I have so far only managed to read Room by Emma Donoghue, and while I enjoyed it I honestly felt that Skippy Dies by Paul Murray would have been more deserving of a place on the Shortlist.

So have any of you read any of the titles here? Which do you think deserves the win?

Also, little piece of trivia from the Man Booker site, if Peter Carey wins he'll be the only person to have won 3 times.

Denerick

I've read a couple of reviews of Mc Carthy's book - sounds absolutely horrible. Not my thing at all.

Needless to say I'll be following the crowd and buying the winner of this years award. I'm a spineless little man when it comes to that Didn't think much of Wolf Hall, Hillary Mantel's book, so hopefully the winner this year will be more interesting (Though rumour has it many quite enjoyed Wolf Hall, just wasn't for me)

Eliot Rosewater

What do people, in general, think of the Booker winners? Are they of a consistently high standard?

I've only read two winners, and a couple of short-listed books, so I'm not in a position to pass judgement. I found The English Patient fantastic, but I was completely apathetic to McEwan's Amsterdam. In terms of non-winners, I really liked Earthly Powers, Amongst Women and Atonement, more than I liked Amsterdam. I suppose it depends on the year.

Chinafoot

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

What do people, in general, think of the Booker winners? Are they of a consistently high standard?

I know some people who feel that the Man Booker Prize winner is almost always a depressing book. Personally one of the worst books I have ever endured was a winner, Ann Enright's The Gathering. I found it to be an enormous pile of self-indulgent, woe-is-me rubbish. However I haven't read enough of the winners to make a proper judgement. Probably because none of them have really appealed to me.

mcgeebers

Eileen Battersby doesn't hold back in today's Irish Times!
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0908/1224278449522.html

Plowman

This post has been deleted.

Denerick

The Booker bounce is a well known publishing phenonomon. It toke Wolf Hall to a medium selling novel to one of the great bestsellers of the decade.

I read 'Troubles' after it won the Lost Booker Prize. And its a brilliant book.

buck65

Not a very inspirational list on first viewing. Have read Galgut before and happy to see him there. C sounds horrendous to me.
Read a few Booker winners, more bad than good tbh such as - White Tiger, Kelly Gang, Vernon God little - Yuk!!

mcgeebers

What a pity Skippy Dies didn't make the shortlist. It's one of the best novels I've ever ready and deserves huge recognition in my opinion.

Anyone else out there read it?

Callan57

mcgeebers wrote: »

What a pity Skippy Dies didn't make the shortlist. It's one of the best novels I've ever ready and deserves huge recognition in my opinion.

Anyone else out there read it?

I have it but haven't got around to reading it yet

TequilaMockingBird

mcgeebers wrote: »

What a pity Skippy Dies didn't make the shortlist. It's one of the best novels I've ever ready and deserves huge recognition in my opinion.

Anyone else out there read it?

Can I ask did you like The Sea? I wasn't overly excited about it, but I liked The Gathering.

Depending on your answer I'll buy Skippy Dies today. :pac:

Einhard

I read Vernon God Little and thought it was awful. Then read that it was Booker Prize winner and thought the Booker Prize was awful!

buck65

You were right on both counts.

pog it

John Banville, The Sea. Magnificent. I had my money on it from the longlist out.

Agree on Vernon God Little, I really didn't think it deserved to win that year.

This year it's The Finkler Question I want to read. I looked at all the others shortlisted yesterday and I don't want to read any of them.

Anyone read The Finkler Question yet?

Travel is good

mcgeebers wrote: »

What a pity Skippy Dies didn't make the shortlist. It's one of the best novels I've ever ready and deserves huge recognition in my opinion.

Anyone else out there read it?

I read Skippy Dies, got it from the wonderful library!

I liked it and expected that it would make the final selection.

I'm on a bit of a Booker theme here, I also bought The Slap & David Michell's book "The 100 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, neither of which made the shortlist.

I've just finished "Room" and enjoyed it. At least it's good to see one Irish writer in the shortlist.

I had a look at the other 5 books in the shortlist in Eason's yesterday, and none of them appealed to me. I think I'll wait until the selection is made in October & then order the winner's book from the library.

I have found it better to do that for Booker & Impac award winners, as they are often books I wouldn't consider buying anyway.

I would recommend buying "Room" though.

Maybe we should all start a campaign for "Skippy Dies" - for a non-Booker prize. It's generating va bit of media controversy, so maybe that will be good for sales of the book. I'd recommend buying his book anyway, it's a good read.

Callan57

Did you honestly expect The Slap to make the short list?

Travel is good

Callan57 wrote: »

Did you honestly expect The Slap to make the short list?

I didn't read "The Slap" yet so I can't comment. It seems to be the book of the month for a lot of book clubs so that's why I eventually bought it. I only said it didn't make the shortlist, I can't judge whether or not it should have.

Of the two longlisted titles I have read (Skippy Dies & Room) in my humble opinion they should both be on the shortlist, and I know that the book "Room" is on the shortlist.

Anyhow I'll get around to reading some of the other titles eventually.

I have way too many other books to read!

sxt

Is the booker price becoming like the mercury music prize...less and less about the "books/music"

Eliot Rosewater

Interesting comments. I'd still take it as a good thing that a book won the prize, but I intend on reading more of the winners to get a better impression of it.

mcgeebers wrote: »

Eileen Battersby doesn't hold back in today's Irish Times!

The first article I read from her was her rant about JD Salinger following her death, to which I responded, erm, a little poorly (buck65 will remember :pac:). Because of that article I just cannot take her opinion seriously...

mrsdewinter

Urgh. Vernon God Little was an unpleasant and very slight book that was notable for capturing the media obsessions of a very particular moment in time. Really, you couldn't compare it to The Life Of Pi or The Sea.
Haven't read Room, but is it possible that it's on the list because it retells a horrific news story from the recent past from the perspective of a child?

Chinafoot

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Urgh. Vernon God Little was an unpleasant and very slight book that was notable for capturing the media obsessions of a very particular moment in time. Really, you couldn't compare it to The Life Of Pi or The Sea.
Haven't read Room, but is it possible that it's on the list because it retells a horrific news story from the recent past from the perspective of a child?

I've had a few people where I work tell me that they absolutely refuse to read it because its clearly just based on that news story and that its going to be harrowing reading "like all those real life abuse books". It's nothing of the sort. It's a really interesting take on a story like that and it explores the relationship between the mother and child very well. There's nothing gratuitous. I enjoyed the book, but like I said, I would have preferred Skippy Dies to be there over it.

Travel is good

I totally agree with you. Initially I was put off "Room" because of the subject matter. However when I started reading it I just couldn't put it down & read it very quickly. It's so interesting to see the story from the child's perspective. I didn't find it upsetting at all, quite an inspiring story. I still recommend it.

I'm still standing by what I said, and I have to give the edge to "Skippy Dies". Read it and you'll see what I mean. I am disappointed it didn't make the shortlist.

I am very happy because I've just joined a book swap with all the shortlisted Booker prize titles on www.bookcrossing.com
so now I get to read them all for free!

OK, I give in, I started reading "The Slap" last night as I left my regular book in work. What do you all think of it?

Amazotheamazing

I don't know, I read the God of Small Things just after I'd left Kerela in India (where it's set) and honestly think it's one of the worst books I've ever read. I usually avoid book reviews until I've read a book to avoid being biased (also, a lot of amazon reviewers confuse reviewing a book for giving a synopsis of the book) but I amazed to read so many people gave it good reviews.

On the otherhand, I loved White Tiger, but I don't think it's really going to a book that will last the ages, it's a good read but is it really an award-worthy book, I'm not so sure.

mrsdewinter

Chinafoot wrote: »

I enjoyed the book, but like I said, I would have preferred Skippy Dies to be there over it.

Spotted Skippy Dies in a bookshop in Loughrea today (News n Choose, on the Main Street, take a bow - interesting selection on the shelves, I have to say), and it's right at the top of my pile of books to read. Thanks y'all for the recommendation...

Callan57

I'll be getting my hands on Skippy Dies also after all the recommendations it's got to be worth a read.

Finished 'Room' last week & it's well deserving of it's shortlist position. A superb and original book. Definitely 10/10

John

Got Room after reading the blurbs of the shortlisted books online, started it the night before last and should be done tonight. Excellent book, some minor quibbles but overall I think it's rather good.

The other book that caught my eye from the list was C but most people in this thread seemed to have disliked it. Can't say any of the other books are really appealing to me.

Travel is good

Callan57 wrote: »

I'll be getting my hands on Skippy Dies also after all the recommendations it's got to be worth a read.

Finished 'Room' last week & it's well deserving of it's shortlist position. A superb and original book. Definitely 10/10

Well done on getting "Skippy Dies", I think you'll enjoy it!

Thanks for the heads up on "The Slap". I've just finished it and wasn't terribly impressed. I knew there was a reason why I was reluctant to buy it in the first place.

I'm just starting the Peter Carey book today, and then the David Mitchell book is next on my list.

I loved "Room".

I'm enjoying reading the comments here.

buck65

Got a loan of Skippy dies (free stuff:D) and will start it after I finish one hundred years of solitude soon hopefully.

lordgoat

Read Skippy dies, it was a good read, parts annoyed me - the lack of punctuation in places (i know it was intentional) just made pages hard to read. It actually gave me a headache at one point. A solid 7.5 out of 10.

Lean on Pete is next on my list. Infact i'm opening it as soon as i finish this post.

Wyldwood

I thought The Slap was an over hyped piece of rubbish. Wouldn't recommend to anyone.
Must read Skippy Dies & Room, especially after reading the remarks here, but have to finish Pillars of the Earth & World Without End first (2000+ pages!). Only other Booker I ever read was The Sea which I enjoyed.

Zxc

Travel is good wrote: »

I totally agree with you. Initially I was put off "Room" because of the subject matter. However when I started reading it I just couldn't put it down & read it very quickly. It's so interesting to see the story from the child's perspective. I didn't find it upsetting at all, quite an inspiring story. I still recommend it.

I've only read one of this year's shortlisted books but I was really moved by "Room". It was beautifully written and horrifying and inspirational and heartbreaking. Jack was a brilliantly realised little boy.
I have some minor quibbles of course but I was moved to tears a number of times and cried openly at the end. That's what I'll remember when I think of "Room", the impact it had.

I would recommend the book. I also wish the author luck in the Booker final shake up.

Travel is good

I was very lucky to be able to be able to attend a book reading yesterday by Emma Donoghue. She was an excellent speaker, so engaging! I wish her the very best of luck on Tuesday. Emma herself has also read "Skippy Dies" & recommends it.

I am making my way through the other short-listed titles, "The Long Song" is next on my list. No matter who wins the Booker prize, I think I'd prefer to read books that are recommended here.

Zxc

Travel is good wrote: »

I was very lucky to be able to be able to attend a book reading yesterday by Emma Donoghue. She was an excellent speaker, so engaging! I wish her the very best of luck on Tuesday. Emma herself has also read "Skippy Dies" & recommends it. QUOTE]

I couldn't attend the reading but when I knew Emma was in the country this weekend, I felt sure she would appear on some of the television chat shows. But if she did, sadly I missed her.

At the weekend I saw a show on BBC television where residents of a particular village in England were given the Booker nominated books and after reading, gave their verdict and gave marks out of ten.
"Room" was chosen as the runaway "winner." However it was noted that in the previous years they've done this unscientific survey in this same village, the chosen winner has not gone on to win the Booker itself.

Nevertheless, best wishes to Emma. The book is a wonderful read.

Black Swan

For past winners, The English Patient was grand.

trishasaffron

Howard Jacobsen's The Finkler Question has won. I bought it at lunchtime and really looking forward to it - as well as dealing with serious issues it is supposedly quite funny - great!

pog it

Second time out of 2 that I predicted winner

Cleverly done by the Man Booker getting major publicity for 2 of the books instead of just the one predominantly!

hatful

Zxc wrote: »

Travel is good wrote: »

I was very lucky to be able to be able to attend a book reading yesterday by Emma Donoghue. She was an excellent speaker, so engaging! I wish her the very best of luck on Tuesday. Emma herself has also read "Skippy Dies" & recommends it. QUOTE]

I couldn't attend the reading but when I knew Emma was in the country this weekend, I felt sure she would appear on some of the television chat shows. But if she did, sadly I missed her.

At the weekend I saw a show on BBC television where residents of a particular village in England were given the Booker nominated books and after reading, gave their verdict and gave marks out of ten.
"Room" was chosen as the runaway "winner." However it was noted that in the previous years they've done this unscientific survey in this same village, the chosen winner has not gone on to win the Booker itself.

Nevertheless, best wishes to Emma. The book is a wonderful read.

I'm reading 'the wisdom of crowds' at the moment, so I guess that's that theory out the window. hmmmm what kind of books do middle class English conservatives like?

iaminminsk

Struggling with this book at the moment. Finding it very boring so far, the whole jewish debate is completly outside my sphere of interest I'm afraid. Can't believe this book won. I have to defend Vernon God Little here though. I thought it was the funniest book I had read since Borstal Boy, with a message too. I have recently finished DBC's latest "Lights out in Wonderland", not brilliant, but enjoyable in parts and he has some interesting points about the world's economy there too. "Skippy" is next on my list, happy reading!