Introducing Kate

Hello, friends.

I'm pleased to be included in The Complete Booker. I've been steadily reading through Booker winners and nominees for a few years and am glad to be able to share thoughts and reviews with others. As a current full-time graduate student in archaeology, I'm also grateful to Laura for having and maintaining this site for all of us to use!

I am an avid reader across many genres (though I tend to dislike postcolonial fiction) and my reviews range from longer, ponderous pieces to short, casual "thoughts on" posts. Outside of my dissertation research I also enjoy hiking, travelling, good coffee, interesting art, museums, dancing, and I'm taking up knitting again after many years away. I am an expat American living and teaching in a small English town, and relishing the cultural difference.

I won't bore you all with reposting all of my previous Booker posts from my blog, What Kate's Reading, but will link for you to peruse as you choose:

• Mister Pip
• The White Tiger
• The Old Devils
• In a Free State (which is less of a review than a critique of the author's recent statements about women authors)
• Netherland
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
• Master Georgie
• The Sisters Brothers
• Never Let Me Go
• Notes on a Scandal
• Atonement
• On Beauty
• Restoration

Wow, I'm actually suddenly rather impressed with myself. (Please note that there were too many characters to label all of these as needed - sorry!)

For my reading here on out I'll either post a current link to my blog or the full review itself. Does anyone have any opinion on that? I don't have any Bookers in the to be read pile as yet, but as my reading is highly dependent on my local library, I have no doubt one will come up soon enough.

Thanks again, and I look forward to being a part of this site.

Bridget (The Illiterate Peanut) - Introduction

I've just started blogging at The Illiterate Peanut. I'm new to this world of book blogs, so I thought that the organizing principle of a reading challenge would be helpful! By very unofficial accounting, I think I've enjoyed Booker winners and nominees more than those of other prizes, so I thought this would be a great place to start. I have an MA in English Literature and am currently working in academic administration, so I miss the formal contact with reading and writing. Yes, I'm the kind of person who thrills to the sight of a good syllabus.

Booker winner/nominees that I've read:
The Sea, the Sea by Irish Murdoch (1978 winner)
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981 winner)
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner (1984 winner)
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie*
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989 winner)
Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford*
Possession by A.S. Byatt* (1990 winner)
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997 winner)
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (1998 winner)
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (1999 winner)
English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002 winner)
Unless by Carol Shields
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters*
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004 winner)
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell*
The Master by Colm Toibin
The Sea by John Banville (2005 winner)
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes*
The Accidental by Ali Smith
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai* (2006 winner)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Gathering by Anne Enright (2007 winner)
Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel* (2009 winner)

*favorite

On my list of Booker winners/nominees to read this year:
1. God on the Rocks by Jane Gardam (1978 shortlist)- I just love everything she writes. The Man in the Wooden Hat was one of the best books I read last year.
2. Oscar and Lucinda (1988 winner) or Parrot and Olivier in America (2010 shortlist) by Peter Carey--I've never read any Carey and it seems about time I should start. Any recommendations?
3. Amongst Women by John Gahern (1990 shortlist)-I read a glowing review of this somewhere this year, after which I put in a bit of (failed) effort tracking it down at the library. This year I will prevail!
4. The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer (1974 winner)--Another author I've always meant to read, especially after living in South Africa (well, Lesotho) for a year.
5. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (2010 shortlist)--This is another Lesotho-influenced selection, as the protagonist travels through Lesotho in one of the stories. Most people can't pronounce the country's name, much less write about it, so I'm very interested to see what Galgut has to say about this desolate and remote little enclave.
6. The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (2009 shortlist)--To be honest, this is a pick because I found it in the "free book" pile that sits outside of our department office. It does look good, though.
7. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009 shortlist)--I've really enjoyed the Sarah Waters books I've read, so I might overcome my aversion to anything that tends to make me frightened to be in my apartment alone at night.

Excited to be joining the conversation!

Introduction - Marieke

Hello! I'm Marieke and my blog is Athyrium filix-femina (The Lady Fern). I mostly write about books and a bit about living in Scotland, where I have lived for the last couple years (I'm from the western U.S.).

I had already decided I wanted to read Booker prize winners, when I discovered the fantastic world of reading challenges. Thanks to all who have participated so far in making this a fun and informative place to be. And thanks to Laura for hosting!

So far, the Booker winners I have read are, with links to my reviews:

1981 Midnight's Children - Rushdie
1988 Oscar and Lucinda - Carey
1989 The Remains of the Day - Ishiguro
1992 The English Patient - Ondaatje (one of my all-time favorites)
1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Doyle
1994 How Late It Was, How Late - Kelman
1996 Last Orders - Swift
1997 The God of Small Things - Roy (another of my favorites)
2002 Life of Pi - Martel
2007 The Gathering - Enright

The next Booker winners I'd like to read are 1990's Possession (Byatt) and 2000's The Blind Assassin (Atwood). I'd also like to try some Murdoch and Coetzee, whom I haven't ever read.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on some of the 2009 shortlist, either. It all depends on what's available at the library!

I'm looking forward to sharing ideas and reviews with you all!

Amy S. -- introduction

Hello everyone. I'm writing at Steele on Entertainment [new name]. I've read eight Booker Prize Winners:

The White Tiger-- I loved this book. Very real, gritty and I could not put it down.
The Inheritance of Loss-- actually rather slow but good.
The Blind Assassin-- adored this story by Margaret Atwood but I've enjoyed almost everything she has written
The God of Small Things-- excellent
The English Patient-- wonderful of course thought my memories of the film far overshadow my reading
Possession-- this is a fabulous novel for anyone who loves poetry, the arts, literature, history
Moon Tiger-- short and delightful
Hotel du Lac-- slow to start but once I got into it, I enjoyed it

Up next: I'd like to read the most recent winner Wolf Hall, though I have had The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch at home for years. I feel that I MUST have read The Remains of the Day and Oscar and Lucinda but I might have just seen the films.
Also, I've read many by Ian McEwan so Amsterdam would be a logical read for me [I want to read everything he's written].

Bianca Winter - introduction

Hello

In July 2009 I challenged myself to read the Man Booker longlist before the announcement of the shortlist. Yesterday I did a bit of googling to see if anybody else was attempting such a crazy feat, and I found a kindred spirit, whose blog had been commented on by a contributor here. So here I am, really interested in the slightly less crazy task of reading Man Booker winners at a more comfortable pace!

I've read some of the previous winners, and will endeavour to post reviews of these books once the Man Booker shortlist has been announced. In the meantime, I'll be offering rough thoughts on longlisted books through audio files on my own blog.

I've already read:
2008 - The White Tiger (Adiga)
2003 - Vernon God Little (Pierre)
2002 - Life of Pi (Martel)
1996 - Last Orders (Swift)
1981 - Midnight's Children (Rushdie)

I'm really looking forward to discussing the winners with the participants in this project. Happy reading all!

Farm Lane Books - Introduction

Hi! So far I have only read 5 of the Booker prize winners (Oscar and Lucinda, The Life of Pi, Vernon God Little, The Line of Beauty and The Sea) but I've read quite a few of the short listed books. I decided last month that I was going to make the effort to read more of them, as they seem to be consistently good, and many of them are up there in my favourite books. I stumbled across this site while looking for reviews of Oscar and Lucinda (which I finished reading last week). So I am now going to make the effort to read the entire list as soon as possible!

My favourite authors are David Mitchell and Andrew Miller (Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller is probably my number 1 book, and I recommend it to everyone!) The best Booker winner I have read to date is The Life of Pi.

I already have several of the list in my "to read pile", but I thought I'd start off with an early one, so the next book I am going to read is Elected Member by Bernice Rubens.

I look forward to comparing notes with you all!

Jackie

Introduction Redheadrambles

Hi, I am new to the world of blogging and have just started my own book blog called Redheadrambles - it is turning out to be quite fun.  I started out with the idea of blogging about the latest book I was reading but this quickly led me to a discovery of "Book Challenges". So here I am - ready to read more Booker Prize winners...(although I think the short-listed books can sometimes be more rewarding). To date I have read 9 / 41 prize winners with my favorites so far being  The Remains of the Day and The life of Pi. Of the shortlisted books I have read 20, standouts include Cloudatlas and recently Mr Pip. 

My intention at the moment is to read the books nominated for the "Best of the Bookers". To this end I have reviewed The Ghost Road and Disgrace. 

Looking forward to the challenge !

Regards

RedHead

My introduction--Trevor

Wonderful to be among you all. This past year I set the goal of reading all of the Booker winners and shortlist, but I felt alone. The Booker Prize is my favorite literary prize, and even when I don't like the book, I usually at least appreciate it and recognize the depth of the experience I had with it. And now to be able to share that with other avid Booker junkies--I'm very excited!
My name is Trevor Berrett. I am just finishing my second year of law school, but before law school I taught English literature. I can't get that out of my system. As demanding as law school is, I have never allowed it to alienate me from great books, especially those honored by Booker.

Here is my "have read" list: The Gathering, The Sea, Life of Pi, The Blind Assassin, Disgrace, The Famished Road, Possession: A Romance, The Remains of the Day, The Sea, the Sea.
I am excited that I still have so many in front of me. Hopefully some of the best.

However, many of my favorites come from the short list. Here's my list of my favorites: Arthur and George, Cloud Atlas, Atonement, The Handmaid's Tale, Never Let Me Go, and When We Were Orphans. And this year, I liked each shortlisted book I read better than the eventual winner: The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mister Pip, and On Chesil Beach.

Here is my six-to-read list for this year:
Midnight's Children (6/23)
Life and Times of Michael K (completed 5/01)
Oscar and Lucinda (completed 5/21)
The English Patient
Sacred Hunger (completed 4/27)
True History of the Kelly Gang

Here are some that popped up along the way:
Amsterdam (completed 5/07)
Hotel du Lac (completed 5/11)
The Ghost Road (completed 5/26)
The Siege of Krishnapur (completed 6/05)
The Conservationist (completed 6/09)
Alias Grade (completed 7/02)

An introduction from me

Hello -- I'm Mel, a newly-joined author of posts to The Complete Booker blog.

I joined after I accidentally came across the blog on the Internet. I'm retired, my wife and I are "snowbirds" who spend seven months a year in SE Florida (the remaining five in NE Ohio), and among my "retirement skills," in addition to tennis, travel and bridge, is reading, something I've loved doing ever since I first learned how to read as a young child.

About 4-5 years ago, I discovered the books that were awarded the Booker prize (plus those that were nominated for the long- and short-lists every year), and for my fiction reading (which comprises about two-thirds of my reading), I normally turn to the "Booker" books. Overall, I find them to be intelligent, creative and highly entertaining. (Other, non-Booker books -- by, say, American authors, I obtain and then read after I've perused The New York Times annual best books list, and from the latter list I've recently read Richard Ford's "The Lay of the Land" and Denis Johnson's "Tree of Smoke.")

My non-fiction tends to revolve around history and politics, and I've just finished Thomas Ricks' "Fiasco," one of several critiques of the American presence in Iraq that I've read during the past several years.

Booker Award winners that I've read include: "Possession: A Romance," "Life of Pi," "Disgrace," "The Blind Assassin," "The Line of Beauty," "The Ghost Road," "Amsterdam," "How late it was, how late," and "The Inheritance of Loss." (That would make me a 9-Booker-Award-winner reader, with, as of this writing, 32 still to go!)

However, one of the many great things about reading books that are in contention for the Booker is that all -- well, perhaps most -- of them are also great reads, and, in my opinion, were also quite worthy of receiving the award. Case in point: the 2004 Award went to "The Line of Beauty," a great read, but had either "Cloud Atlas," "The Master" or "The Electric Michelangelo" been given the Award, Booker followers would have been well served just as well.

A similar situation was true last year; although I've yet to read "The Gathering," which took first-place, "Mister Pip" (I felt) was outstanding.

So -- winners or not, here's to great reading and more wonderful novels worthy of the Booker Award designation.


MEL VOGEL

Terri - intro

Hello everyone! I just joined up with the Booker challenge today. Of all the myriad challenges out there, it has the most books that interest me. I've read just three of the winners: Hotel du Lac, Moon Tiger and The Life of Pi. I've read quite a few of those on the shortlists : Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, Quartet in Autumn, A Month in the Country, The Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye, The Stone Diaries, Alias Grace, Fingersmith. A surprising number of the winners are on my to-be-read shelf (or as some of us call it, Mount TBR).

My goal is to eventually read all the winners (even though there are a few of them I'm sort of dreading). I'm also going to choose liberally from the shortlists. Some great looking reads there.

In the next six months, I plan to read:
The Bone People
Oscar and Lucinda
The Remains of the Day
Possession
The Blind Assassin
The Inheritance of Loss

Happy to be here - thanks, Laura, for welcoming me.

Terri

Megan's Intro

Hello, I'm Megan and I blog at Leafing Through Life. I was enticed by Dewey and her Man Booker Challenge to read some of the Booker Prize-worthy books I've had gathering dust on my shelves this year. It's actually my first reading challenge since joining the book blogosphere, so I'm looking forward to completing it and to contributing my reviews here. Here's the list of six I plan to read:

1. Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally
2. Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth
3. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
4. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
5. The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
6. Quarantine by Jim Crace

I'm on track to finish Schindler's List sometime this week, so I should be back soon with my review!

J's Booker Challenge

Hi everyone, I'm J, and my blog is called Thinking About...it's not a book blog, by any means, though for the last year, I have really enjoyed getting involved in book challenges, because they kind of force me to read something I might otherwise keep putting off. I joined the Booker Challenge over at Dewey's blog, and was invited to come over here as well. I'm not sure if I'll ever read all of the Booker winners, but I'll read at least 6 over the next 12 months, and I'll post reviews of them here. I've read a few before, and I'll post reviews of those here as well. I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone here...thanks for including me!

Here is my list of books for the challenge.

Possession, by A.S. Byatt

The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai. I'm also reading this for the Book Awards Reading Challenge.

Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I read her newer book, Half of a Yellow Sun, and I LOVED it, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Atonement, by Ian McEwan. This one is also for the Book Awards Reading Challenge. I've been avoiding seeing the movie until I read this, but it's been hard, because I've heard such wonderful things about the film.

The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman. This is the third installment in the His Dark Materials trilogy. I've read The Golden Compass already, so now I'll have to read The Subtle Knife, and then I can get to this one. So maybe the fact that I have to read two books for one challenge makes up for Atonement and Inheritance of Loss? No?

The Gathering, by Anne Enright

Aloi reads the Bookers!

I am horrendous with challenges with time limits. So thank goodness for projects like these - a great selection of award-winning books and no time limit! So far I've read only two Bookers in my lifetime (horrendous again!) but I will definitely be reading more. Looking forward to your thoughts.

• The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
  

I've also cooked up my own project "Read the Nobels" which obviously is to read anything penned by Nobel Prize for Literature (and no time limit!) Maybe you'd like to add that to your own pile of challenges?

Tiv's Introduction (The Individual Voice)

So here's yet another reading project I'm joining that has no time limit. I've only read one of the books so far, Disgrace, (which is disgraceful, I know). I loved it and would like to read it again to remind myself why I loved it so much. I don't have a very good memory for movies or books. I think it's because I go into such a deep, dream-like trance that afterwards, it's like awakening from a dream. It's all kind of fuzzy and gets fuzzier with time.

This is a really nice selection of books, so I think I might actually read the specific books by each author, though I may also read some others, say, by Ian McEwan, J.M. Coetze or Roddy Doyle, having them already on my shelf. I have read every single book by Margaret Atwood except the one on the list. And I may exempt myself from Schindler's List. No offense to the Nazis, but I saw the movie and I am not interested in reading about the one exception among them, heroic as he was. There should have been more.

Anyway, what a nice project to share with other booklovers! I have no idea yet where I will start.

Alisia's Intro

Okay, so it's taken me a bit to get around to writing an introduction. *sheepish grin* I was happy to see Laura start this blog, as reading all of the Booker winners has been a personal goal of mine for about 2 years now. I haven't made it very far, so hopefully the group support will provide a bit more motivation, as I do love almost every Booker winner that I read!

Here are the books I have already read (those highlighted lead to a book review on my blog):

1. 2006 - The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
2. 2002 - Life of Pi - Yann Martel
3. 2001 - True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey
4. 2000 - The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
5. 1997 - The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
6. 1985 - The Bone People - Keri Hulme
7. 1983 - Life and Times of Michael K - JM Coetzee

The next Booker I will probably read is The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. I'm just not sure when I'll be reading it.

Kristen's Intro

Hi everyone! I'm really excited about this challenge, especially now that I've figured out how few Booker prize books I've actually read. I read The English Patient (when I was in high school, so I didn't get it at all), The Remains of the Day which I love, and Midnight's Children which I liked. (I also may have read Offshore -- I know I've read something by Fitzgerald, just not sure which! I guess I'll have to pick it up again and see if it's familiar...)

I think I'm going to pick up The Blind Assassin next. Can't wait to check out everyone else's reviews!

Hello! Valentina's Introduction

Hi everybody, just a little note to say that I just joined this project.I really like the idea that there's no time limit, and that it's definitely shorter than the Pulizter list. I must say though that I haven't read ANY so far. So I have a long way to go. I only have two books in my TBR mountain, which are The Sea by John Banville and Paddy Clarke Ah ah ah! by Roddy Doyle so I think I'll start with those ones, don't know when though. I can't wait to be able to say, proudly, I've read EVERY Booker prize!:)
Any idea who's going to win this year?

raidergirl3 intro and progress

Glad to be here, sharing the madness and good books. I like that this list is shorter than the Pulitzer, but you know, the Giller list is even shorter!
Here's my official, periodically updated list of Bookers I've read:

• 2008 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 4 stars
• 2007 The Gathering - Anne Enright 4 stars
• 2002 The Life of Pi read in 2004 and loved it 5 stars
• 2000 The Blind Assassin reviewed here 3 stars
• 1997 The God of Small Things reviewed here 4 stars
• 1996 Last Orders - Graham Swift 3.5 stars
• 1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha read in the 1990s ?
• 1989 The Remains of the Day - Kazou Ishiguru 4.5 stars
• 1985 The Bone People reviewed here 5 stars
• 1984 Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner 4 stars
• 1983 The Life and Times of Michael K - JM Coetzee 2.5 stars

I found a big old list of Bookers I'd like to read and the next ones that top the list, also periodically updated, are:

• 2004 The Line of Beauty - Hollinghurst
• 2001 True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey
• 1998 Amsterdam - McEwan

Jill's Introduction

I have a modest (almost chaste) start to this challenge with only two books read. My reviews are linked as well:

Bookers Already Read

Life of Pi (Yann Martel) - 2002 (review posted only to LibraryThing):
This book was fascinating in how a young man, Pi Patel, survives on a lifeboat with a deadly Bengal Tiger. I was drawn to Pi's survival instincts and willingness to live - his cleverness, knowledge of animals, resourcefulness and devout religious beliefs were all instrumental to his survival.

Despite this, I found this novel too long-winded. It would have been more fascinating as a short story. For example, the first 100 pages set up how Pi became knowledgeable in animals and spiritual in many religions - all of which could have been reduced to a few pages. Furthermore, the algae-filled island was very unrealistic and unnecessary to the story.

I was also disappointed that the author, who does such a wonderful job weaving an older Pi in the beginning of the story, leaves this interesting perspective and recollection out as the story progressed. I missed hearing about Pi as a husband, father and scholar as we read about him drifting afloat in the sea.

Many lost parallels, unnecessary details and side stories made this entire novel very weighty. It's too bad because the story's premise is brilliant. ( )

The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood) -2000

Bookers Soon To Be Read

I haven't picked any yet - stay tuned!

Vasilly's Intro.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who hasn't read any of the winners. I've read a couple of nominees like Ali Smith's Hotel World, which I love. I think I'm going to read the nominees and the winners.