The Man Booker Prize

[lionking]

As a bookophile, I always take interest in major awards like this, and have read a fair percentage of winning books. I'm absolutely delighted that one of my all-time favourite authors, Julian Barnes, has won this year.

Here's a link to previous winners:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive

A mighty good list. Which ones have you read? Comments? Is this award as good as I think it is?

 

[Darat]

It's a good award if you are into that genre and I occasionally will read the winner but on the whole I find the short-list and the winners boring books and often too much up their own backsides about how clever they are!

This year I will read the Barnes as he has occasionally authored an OK book.

 

[angrysoba]

There seems to be a fairly narrow-range of Booker writers. The same names tend to crop up again and again and I have a suspicion that the panel often gives out Bookers to authors who should have won with a previous book. (I think this goes for McEwan and also it could go for Barnes now).

 

[lionking]

There seems to be a fairly narrow-range of Booker writers. The same names tend to crop up again and again and I have a suspicion that the panel often gives out Bookers to authors who should have won with a previous book. (I think this goes for McEwan and also it could go for Barnes now).

You make very good points. I love Peter Carey, yet his prize for "the True History of the Kelly Gang" was more for his, ahem, body of work.

 

[dogjones]

I found "The Sense of an Ending" to be absolutely brilliant. The characters weren't particularly sympathetic, but incredibly well drawn. The story was intriguing and really rather dark.

 

[dogjones]

The Life of Pi was also fun, although the message was not very JREFian: basically that faith is better than no faith, and agnosticism is the worst kind of cop-out. Worth a read though!