What a great idea to set up a blog on the Booker prize - I don't know who's idea it was but thank you. I'm looking forward to discovering what 'real readers" rather than judges and learned experts think of these books.
I've always been an enthusiastic reader but not a very discerning one. I can remember a very hot summer between O levels (that's a give away for my age!) and A levels spent in the garden with my nose in anything that had a foreign sounding author. Sartre, Camus, Hesse, Dostoevsky all became inhabitants of my garden reading room. How much I understood is debatable, probably very little but it at least I was cured of Dennis Wheatley and Jean Plaidy which had been my staples until then.
Now, I tend to read more fiction than biography or autobiography. My tastes are quite wide as long as I avoid science fantasy or science fiction. I've tried them a few times but always give up in frustration.
I'm hoping that my idea of reading all the Booker prize winners will introduce me to some new authors. I've read quite a few of them previously:
Blind Assassin – Margaret Attwood
Remains of the Day – Ishiguru
Staying On – Paul Scott (the weakest of the Raj novels IMHO)
The Sense of an Ending – Barnes
Schindlers List – Keneally
Amsterdam – McEwan
Ghost Road – Pat Barker
Hotel du Lac – Brookner
The Elected Member - Rubens
The prize winner I'm reading currently is Something to Answer For by P J Newby. I'm only a few pages into it so too early to give my opinion yet.I'll be sharing my thoughts on these on my blog http://allthingsbooker.wordpress.com/
It's still in its infancy so if anyone here has some suggestions on how to improve it, please drop me a note.
Looking forward to 'talking' with you all
Welcome, Karen! You're off to a great start reading the winners list, and of course you also have many fine books in store. I'll be interested to hear what you think of the Newby. It wasn't my favorite but then the fun part about this prize is the diversity of opinion on each of the books!
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