Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Complete Booker

Welcome to The Complete Booker. This is not so much a reading challenge, but a long-term project in which the participants aim to read all winners of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. There is no time limit, and members read short- and long-listed nominees as well.

You may participate solely on your own blog, or post to this one. If you would like to become a contributor to this blog, please email the moderator (an email address is required, so comments to this post won't work).  Please be sure to include a link to your own blog, if you have one, so it can be included in the participants list on the sidebar.  You will then receive an "invitation" with a link and further instructions.

Guidelines for Blog Participants:

  • Introduce yourself via a blog post, and tell us about any Booker Prize winners you've read previously.
  • You may post a review of each book you've read, even if it was a long time ago.
  • As you read more books, you may post a full review, link to a review on your own blog, or just create a brief post noting the title(s) read. It's up to you!
Conventions for Labeling Posts:

  • Always use your name as a label.
  • Use the label, "Progress" for reading list updates.
  • For each prize-winning book read, use the year won and the title of the book i.e.; "2006 - The Inheritance of Loss"
  • For each nominee read, use the year nominated and note whether it was shortlisted or longlisted i.e.; "2007 - Shortlist"

Above all, have fun!
And by the way, be sure to check out 3M's The Pulitzer Project, the inspiration for The Complete Booker!

45 comments:

  1. I'm so glad this is a challenge with no time constraints. I have read 7 of the 32 Booker Prize-winning books (Life of Pi, Blind Assassin, Disgrace, Amsterdam, English Patient, Remains of the Day, and Offshore) and started 10 others without finishing them (for one or another reason, none worth explaining). So, those 10 are the first on my TBR list. I am enjoying the reviews some of you have already posted - always good to view through other eyes. Thanks for the great idea, Laura!

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  2. Hello everyone! I just joined the Complete Booker group and wanted to introduce myself. I am 25, married, have two daughters, and love to read. I have read 8 of the 40 books (Life of Pi, True History of the Kelly Gang, The God of Small Things, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The English Patient, The Famished Road, Possession: A Romance, and Midnight's Children). Hopefully I can post reviews of these books soon.

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  3. Hi Rebecca! If you'd like, you can create a blog post listing what you've read so far, and then revise it as you go. As an example, here's a link to my list:
    http://completebooker.blogspot.com/2007/08/lauras-books-read.html

    Thanks for joining us!

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  4. What a great idea! I found this while visiting the Man Booker challenge blog. Since I'm planning to participate in that challenge, I figured I may as well take on the entire Booker list! After looking through each year's list of winners, short lists and long lists, I found I've read only one Booker Prize winner ("Offshore" by Elizabeth Fitzgerald)but have read several long and short list titles. I would like to cross-post on this blog as well as my own. Thanks for hosting this project!

    Sharon

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  5. Sharon, welcome!

    If you'd like to post to this blog, please send an email (there's a link in the blog post), and then I'll be able to "officially" grant you access to the blog and you can cross-post to your heart's content!

    Laura

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  7. After years of text books I'm looking forward to getting back to fiction!

    I'm participating in the Man Booker Challenge and hope to eventually tackle all 41 winners.

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  8. Hi Everyone! I also just joined the group. I'm really looking forward to delving back into good fiction, so I made my 2008 New Year's Resolution to read all 41 of the Booker Prize winners. I've only read two already (Paddy Clarke and The English Patient), so we'll see how far I get!

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  9. This is great! I've only read Graham Swift's Last Orders from the list of Booker Winners so far, but I'm looking forward to reading more :) Thanks for hosting it!

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  10. I have read 16: Midnight's Children, Hotel du Lac, The Bone People, Oscar and Lucinda, The Remains of the Day, Possession, The English Patient, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, The God of Small Things, Amsterdam, Disgrace, The Blind Assassin, Life of Pi, Vernon God Little, The Line of Beauty and The Inheritance of Loss. I haven't always agreed with the choices but they always have a great long list.

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  11. I just joined the Complete Booker Challenge and thought I'd introduce myself. I'm 23 have two cats and love to read. Sadly, I've only read one book on the list, The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood; but hope to read all 40 at some point. Thanks for hosting Laura, great idea!

    Also, for anyone who's interested here's my blog

    http://bookwormwhitbookchallenge.blogspot.com/

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  12. Hello! This sounds like a fun challenge and I like the no time limit part. Very suitable for me! =)

    Unfortunately, I've not read any of the books on the list. Sad, sad, sad! Looks like this is a fresh new start for me.

    Nice to have challenges like this around.

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  13. I belong to the Booker Prize book group at Yahoo!, so I decied to join this challenge. Judy

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  14. Hey!

    I joined the Man Booker Challenge and, like others on here, decided to join in on this one as well. So far the books I've read are: The Comfort of Strangers by McEwan (1981), Cat's Eye by Atwood (1989), Amsterdam by McEwan (1998), and Atonement by McEwan (2001). Less than I'd hoped, but I'm sure the list will be growing soon.

    So glad this is a challenge!

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  15. I'm joining in!

    I'm keeping a running list on my blog already si I figure it won't hurt too much to join the challenge!
    Here's where you can find my list:
    http://wearebookworms.blogspot.com/2008/06/man-booker-prize.html

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  16. I have now posted about the challenge and my books read or tbr and linked it back to here. Could you please make my name in the sidebar link directly to that post here: http://freshinkbooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/complete-booker-reading-challenge.html
    Thank you so much.
    Sandra (Fresh Ink Books)

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  17. Laura,

    I didn't get time to respond and your invite has expired. Kindly send me one to emperorguillotine@gmail.com if possible . I'd like to post a review of "Sacred Hunger".

    I've read the following Bookers : Disgrace, The God of Small Things, Amsterdam, Life and Times of Michael K, Life of Pi, Inheritance of Loss, The White Tiger, Hotel Du Lac, Moon Tiger, Something to Answer For, Midnight's Children, Remains of The Day, Possession, The Siege of Krishnapur, The Famished Road, Staying On, Sacred Hunger, The Sea, and "The Sea, The Sea".

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  18. Whenever I visited Granny she would press a book on me to read during my stay, and during one particular stay I read Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. I found the book strange, and finished and returned it politely with some relief, but that book wasn't finished with me. In the 30 years since then I have often thought of the book, of incidents and characters in it. I once re-read it with much more interest than the first time. But I did not know it was a Man Booker Prize winner.

    When I did grow an interest in the prize winners I discovered that as well as reading Hotel du Lac (winner 1984) I had read The Remains of the Day (winner 1989). I picked up and read The Life of Pi (winner 2002) and The Sea (winner 2005) partially because they were prize winners. Having enjoyed all these books, it is now my intention to read all of the other 38 prize winners.

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  19. Hi! I'd like to join this challenge. I'll be posting on my own blog, and my challenge page is here:

    http://relatedreading.wordpress.com/challenges/the-complete-booker/

    Thanks,
    Lily

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  20. Hi Everyone!

    I'm very excited about the ambitious project of reading all the Bookers. I just started this year. So far, I've read Disgrace, Life of Pi, Hotel du Lac, G, Line of Beauty, and Offshore. I've read several of the short/long lists, too. I just started a monthly book group through meetup.com in NYC for those wanting to read and discuss the winning books. To my surprise, membership has jumped to 102 people in less than a month. (only 20 ppl. can attend each book discussion)

    Anyway, glad to be here, and will start writing some reviews soon. Of the books read, I'd say I only enjoyed a few, still looking to be wowed, so I'll keep going!

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  21. Call me a late Riser :D I justgot to know about this one from S. Krishna's BLOG! Can you believe, I might be the last one to know about this one.. **sigh**

    I wold love to join! And I am sending mail to you! Thank you, this one is really interesting!

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  22. Not sure about whether I'll post here or just on my blog, but I sent the e-mail anyways! Thanks!

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  23. hi, I stumbled upon this while searching blogs about books. It's so great to find an online community that's just an interested in reading =) i've read only 3 of the 42 so far..starting on Wolf Hall soon. glad there's no timeline for this.. =)

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  24. @raudah, thank you for your comment. I hope you enjoy the reviews here. If you'd like to become a contributor to the blog, just send an email to the address noted in this post !

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  25. I'm hoping to make a serious effort with this challenge for 2010. I wanted to join in 2009 but didn't, so thanks for still being here in 2010.

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  26. Hello.....It was great to find this blog about the Man Booker. I have read The White Tiger, The Gathering, The Inheritance of Loss, The Line of Beauty, Life of Pi, Disgrace, Amsterdam, The English Patient and Life and Times of Michael K. I would like to read some of the older winners if I can find them!

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  27. Here's my blog:
    http://www.theblacksheepdances.blogspot.com and it's where I plan to complete my list of titles.

    Thanks Amy

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  28. Hi, I'm just joining the Booker Challenge 2010 and, I'm so excited! I know I'm joining a little late and haven't read any of the books on the list yet, but I'm an avid reader anyway. I will be starting with Wolf Hall.

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  29. Welcome tamicia! Glad to have you with us.

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  30. Hi, my name is Matthew and I'm from Canada. About a year ago I started the Booker challenge, and it's been slow going, but as of this week I've read 21 novels. I've been blogging for about two years and I've definitely grown as a literary critic.
    My blog is at
    http://www.alayoftheland.blogspot.com
    and I've posted my first review for the Complete Booker today. Hopefully I'm in the right format for the blog, but I'm sure I am, and if not, an admin will correct me! Anyways, I look forward to reading other reviews of the same books I read.

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  31. Welcome, Matthew! Glad to have you with us, and looking forward to your reviews!

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  32. Hi, I have been collecting and reading the Bookers for almost 10 years now and would like to become a contributor. Unfortunately, I don't use Outlook so I can't e-mail you using the "moderator" link. Can you send me a message I can reply to, to get this process started? My e-mail is hotchpotcafe@gmail.com.

    Thanks!

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  33. I'm excited about participating; I'm working on my list of Bookers to read! Yay!

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  34. Welcome, Amanda! If you'd like to become a contributor to the blog and post your reviews here, just send an email (there's a link in the post).

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  35. Hello everyone i'm James and i'm currently a college student going on to study English at university next year. I have not read that many of the Booker Prize winners but now seems an ideal time to do so! I will post my first review shortly but before that if any of you could have a look at my blog I started yesterday that would be splendid.

    http://intertextuals.blogspot.com/

    Cheers :)

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  36. At the start of 2011 I declared "read the the remaining Booker Award winners and complete the Challenge" as one of my goals.

    However, as so often happens, distractions (translation: our newly acquired iPad2 -- the world's greatest toy!! -- and other activities got in the way of my objective.

    As of this writing, I've read just two on my list-- Nadine Gordimer's "The Conservationist" and the provocative (read this blog's reviews of it) "The Finkler Question," which I liked. That leaves me with seven more to go -- eight, actually, when the 2012 winner is announced next month.

    This blog continues to be one of my favorites -- not just as a site to go to for Booker winner reviews but for reviews and discussions of other books as well.


    MEL

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  37. Nice work, Mel! I'm glad you are enjoying your reading and this blog.

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  38. Hi Booker community:

    I began reading Booker winners in June 2008, and by September 2009 I finished reading all winners to date. The last few years, I have been reading the entire shortlist,even ordering books from the UK which I can't obtain in the States. This year (2012) my top pick is "The Garden of Evening Mists."

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    1. Thanks for visiting and congratulations on having read all of the Booker Prize winners (that is, until next week LOL). I've heard great things about The Garden of Evening Mists and am really looking forward to seeing who wins this year.

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  39. Hi, really good blog. I try to read most of the Booker shortlist each year. I'm glad Bring Up The Bodies won, great book.

    I also have a blog!
    www.bloggingaboutbook.blogspot.com

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  40. Big news, everyone:

    Moments ago, as I closed Hilary Mantel's "Bring Up the Bodies," I also completed a goal I'd taken on about 4-5 years ago -- TO READ EVERY MANBOOKER WINNER!!! (Hooray! I've done it!).

    Kudos to Laura, for starting this blog, and by doing so, for introducing all of us to some of the world's great contemporary fiction.

    For everyone: keep at it....perseverance is the key. And, it's also ok to now and then take on other works of fiction, or non-fiction, whatever your preferences may be....but never take your eye off the goal.

    Some of my favorites: Midnight's Children, Hilary Mantel's wonderful fictionalized biography -- and it's sequel -- of Thomas Cromwell; Life of Pi -- don't miss the movie of it -- it's visually breathtaking.

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    1. Congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment and it sounds like you enjoyed the journey, which is even better. Now you'll just have to read each year's winner as it is announced -- or perhaps you'll join the ranks of those who attempt to read the entire long- or short-list? Thanks for being part of this community!

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  41. ....Forgive the "add-on," but to the list of favored Booker winners I've read during my journey to finish them all, please add The Siege of Krishnapur and The Remains of the Day.

    Laura, your observation that I now take on the other books in, say, the short-list, is well-taken. Several years ago, for about three years' running, I read not only the winner, I finished all the short-listed novels, finding many of them worthy of the prize (but then, I'm not on the committee, so it's just my opinion!)

    Looking forward to reading the winning novel plus the other short-listed books in succeeding years....and to reading the great reviews in the completebooker blog.


    MEL



    MEL

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  42. Has anyone read the Awesome New Poetry Book that's on Amazon.com right now titled "Move Over Shakespeare Tales From The Baron"? It's sooooooooooooo! Awesome! Check it out!

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