2012 Booker Prize awarded to Hilary Mantel for "Bring up the Bodies"

Bring up the Bodies, the second novel in Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy, is this year's winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.  Read the press release here.

Mantel is the third author to win the prize twice, and the first woman to do so.  She is also the first author to win with a sequel.  On receiving the prize, Mantel said, "I have to go away and write the third part of the trilogy." Oh, yes, please!

Check out our members' reviews of Bring up the Bodies.

2012 Shortlist Announced

The 2012 shortlist was announced this morning.  The nominees are:

• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (Faber & Faber)
• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (And Other Stories)
• Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate)
• The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (Salt)
• Umbrella by Will Self (Bloomsbury)
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon Books)

Some of these have already been reviewed on The Complete Booker, including Swimming Home, Bring up the Bodies, and The Garden of Evening Mists.

Which one is your favorite to win?

2012 Booker Prize Longlist Announced!

The 2012 Booker Prize longlist was announced on July 25.  Below are the dozen nominees:

• The Yips by Nicola Barke 
• The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauma 
• Philida by André Brin 
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng 
• Skios by Michael Frayn 
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce 
• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy 
• Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel 
• The Lighthouse by Alison Moore 
• Umbrella by Will Self 
• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil 
• Communion Town by Sam Thompson

The Guardian was quick to publish a link to their announcement on Twitter, 10 minutes before the Man Booker Prize press release!  The press release provides more information on this list, including these fun facts:

The 2012 longlist includes four debut novels, three small independent publishers and one previous winner. Of the 12 writers, seven are men and five women; nine are British, one Indian, one South African and one Malaysian. The eldest on the list is Andre Brink at 77 and the youngest is Ned Beauman at 27.

The shortlist will be announced on 11 September, which gives you 48 days to read all twelve nominees.  Is anyone going to attempt that feat? 

2011 Booker Prize awarded to Julian Barnes for "The Sense of an Ending"

The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes is this year's winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction.   Read the official press release.

In a Booker Prize season fraught with controversy, Barnes had emerged as a favorite.  Claire Armistead writes in The Guardian:

At just 150 pages, in two elegantly counterpointed sections, it is one of the shortest-ever winners of a major prize for the novel.

But what it lacks in length it makes up for in depth of philosophical inquiry about memory and the shakiness of the personal identity formed by it. The main character, Tony Webster, will go down as one of literature's great unreliable narrators: a man whose belief in his own guilelessness can only be challenged by direct confrontation with his past, and then only partially, and for fleeting moments.

The book was also favorably reviewed on this blog by Tony Messenger, here and Alex, here, and 3M's 2011 shortlist post links to yet another review (thanks to all of you!).  Has anyone else read this book?  Keep those reviews coming!

If a dog were to choose the 2011 Booker Prize Winner ...

I wonder if the actual judging looks anything like this? 

2011 Booker Prize Shortlist Announced!

The 2011 Book Prize shortlist was announced today.  The six books vying for the prize are:

• Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending 
• Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie 
• Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers 
• Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues 
• Stephen Kelman Pigeon English  
• A.D. Miller Snowdrops 

Stephen Kelman and A.D. Miller are both debut novelists.  Julian Barnes has been shortlisted three times, while Carol Birch was longlisted in 2003.  The winner will be announced on Tuesday, 18 October.

The Guardian calls this "A Booker shortlist long on surprises," particularly due to the omission of Alan Hollinghurst (The Stranger's Child).

What do you think of the shortlist?  Any surprises?

2011 Booker Prize Longlist

My apologies for being woefully late in posting this.  I was on holiday at the time ...

The 2011 Booker Prize longlist was announced on July 26.  The nominees are:

• Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending 
• Sebastian Barry On Canaan's Side 
• Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie 
• Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers 
• Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues 
• Yvvette Edwards A Cupboard Full of Coats  
• Alan Hollinghurst The Stranger's Child 
• Stephen Kelman Pigeon English  
• Patrick McGuinness The Last Hundred Days 
• A.D. Miller Snowdrops 
• Alison Pick Far to Go 
• Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb  
• D.J. Taylor Derby Day

The list includes one former prize winner, two previously shortlisted authors, one longlisted author, four first time novelists, three Canadian writers, and three publishers new to the prize.  Whew!  The shortlist will be announced on September 6 and the winner on October 18.

There's been considerable coverage in the press and on the blogs.  Here are two links I found useful:

• The New Yorker's Booker Review Roundup
• A US Reader's Guide by book blogger nomadreader, identifying those books currently available in the US, and publication dates for others.

Have you read any of these books?  Tell us what you thought!  And if you've written a review, please cross-post it here, or comment on this post with a link.

The Guardian's Booker Club reviews The Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day is one of my picks for the best of the Booker Prize. 

The Guardian Books blog just published this fine review of The Remains of the Day.   This is part of their wonderful Booker Club series.  Enjoy!

Would you like to own signed copies of the shortlist?  Enter this Man Booker Prize website competition now!  The competition closes Friday 17 December 2010.  If you win, please comment here so we can all celebrate!

Win signed copies of the 2010 Man Booker shortlist

2010 Booker Prize goes to Howard Jacobson's The Finkler Question

The Finkler Question has won the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.  Read more here:

• Official Press Release: Howard Jacobson wins the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010
• The Guardian:   Howard Jacobson wins Booker prize 2010 for The Finkler Question

I haven't read this yet, but I did order a copy this afternoon!

2010 Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

The blogosphere is all agog with the announcement of this year's shortlist:

• Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America 
• Emma Donoghue Room 
• Damon Galgut In a Strange Room
• Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question
• Andrea Levy The Long Song  
• Tom McCarthy C

There's a fair amount of debate and controversy surrounding this list, most notably at The Guardian Books, but lots of bloggers are weighing in as well.  What do you think of the shortlist?

The winner will be announced October 12.

2010 Longlist Announced

The 2010 "Man Booker Dozen" was announced today.

• Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in Americ
• Emma Donoghue Room 
• Helen Dunmore The Betrayal
• Damon Galgut In a Strange Room
• Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question
• Andrea Levy The Long Song  
• Tom McCarthy C 
• David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  
• Lisa Moore February
• Paul Murray Skippy Dies
• Rose Tremain Trespass
• Christos Tsiolkas The Slap
• Alan Warner The Stars in the Bright Sky 

Have you read any of these books?  Tell us what you thought!  And if you've written a review, please cross-post it here, or comment on this post with a link.

Winner of The Lost Man Booker Prize

Troubles, by J G Farrell has won the Lost Man Booker Prize.  This was a one-off prize to honor books published in 1970, but not considered for the Booker Prize when its rules were changed.  The winner was decided by public vote, and Troubles received 38% of the votes, more than twice any other shortlisted book.

Troubles is the first in a trilogy, which also includes The Siege of Krishnapur and The Singapore Grip. The Siege of Krishnapur won the Booker Prize in 1973.

Read The Guardian's article about The Lost Booker.

The Lost Man Booker Prize

Earlier this week, a one-off prize was announced, to honor books published in 1970.  Known as the Lost Man Booker Prize, it seeks to recognize books that missed out when the prize rules were changed in 1971.

The Booker Prize was initially awarded retrospectively.  In 1971 it became a prize for the best novel in the year of publication.  Three judges born in or around 1970 have chosen 22 books that would have been eligible in 1970, and are still in print and available today:

• Brian Aldiss, The Hand Reared Boy
• HE Bates, A Little Of What You Fancy?
• Nina Bawden, The Birds On The Trees
• Melvyn Bragg, A Place In England
• Christy Brown, Down All The Days
• Len Deighton, Bomber
• JG Farrell, Troubles
• Elaine Feinstein, The Circle
• Shirley Hazzard, The Bay Of Noon
• Reginald Hill, A Clubbable Woman
• Susan Hill, I'm The King Of The Castle
• Francis King, A Domestic Animal
• Margaret Laurence, The Fire Dwellers
• David Lodge, Out Of The Shelter
• Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat
• Shiva Naipaul, Fireflies
• Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander
• Joe Orton, Head To Toe
• Mary Renault, Fire From Heaven
• Ruth Rendell, A Guilty Thing Surprised
• Muriel Spark, The Driver's Seat
• Patrick White, The Vivisector

The shortlist will be announced in March, and the winner will be decided by public vote via the Man Booker Prize website.  The winner of the Lost Man Booker Prize will be announced in May.

Have you read any of these books?  Do you have a favorite?

The Guardian: Booker Club

The Guardian Books is one of my favorite feeds.  It's full of reviews, author interviews, prize information, and the like.  Today, thanks to my Google Reader, I stumbled upon a heretofore unknown series:  The Booker Club.  It's been around since August 2007 (it's almost exactly the same age as The Complete Booker!)  The latest post is about The Bone People, but I got lost for a few minutes scrolling through the articles about books I've read recently (like Offshore, or Rites of Passage), or my next Booker read, Saville.

It's a great site for Booker Prize fans.  I've added a link to the sidebar.

2009 Booker Prize goes to Hilary Mantel for "Wolf Hall" !

Congratulations to Hilary Mantel who has won the 2009 Booker Prize for Wolf Hall!

Here are two news releases if you'd like to read more:

• The Guardian: Booker Prize goes to Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall
• BBC News: Mantel Named Booker Prize Winner

So far we have one review posted, by Bianca. Has anyone else read the book yet? I can't wait to do so!

Behold, the 2009 Shortlist!

The following six titles have made the 2009 Booker Prize shortlist:

• The Children's Book, by A. S. Byatt
• Summertime, by J. M. Coetzee
• The Quickening Maze, by Adam Foulds
• Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
• The Glass Room, by Simon Mawer
• The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters

Jackie at Farm Lane Books recently offered her impressions of the entire 2009 longlist (nice bit of reading there, Jackie!). I'm hoping she'll stop by here and post her reviews. Meanwhile, has anyone else read a short- or long-listed book? Let us know what you think!

2009 Longlist Announced

Drum roll ... below, the 2009 Longlist. According to the Booker Prize website, the list includes "two former winners, four past-shortlisted writers, three first-time novelists and a span of styles and themes that make this an outstandingly rich fictional mix."

If you've read any of these, feel free to post your reviews or weigh in with comments!

• The Children's Book by AS Byatt
• Summertime by JM Coetzee
• The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
• How to paint a dead Man by Sarah Hall
• The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
• Me Cheeta by James Lever
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
• Not Untrue & Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin
• Heliopolis by James Scudamore
• Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
• Love and Summer by William Trevor
• The Little Stranger Sarah Waters

Aravind Adiga wins 2008 Booker Prize

Aravind Adiga has won the 2008 Booker Prize for his novel, The White Tiger. He is only the 4th first-time novelist to win the prize, the last one being Keri Hulme for The Bone People. For more information, read this article from The Guardian. For some odd reason, the Man Booker Prize website does not have a press release up yet.

The winners list on the sidebar now includes the 2008 winner.

2008 Shortlist Announced!

The 2008 shortlist has been announced, and they are:

• The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga
• The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry
• Sea of Poppies, by Amitav Ghosh
• The Clothes on Their Backs, by Linda Grant
• The Northern Clemency, by Philip Hensher
• A Fraction of the Whole, by Steve Toltz

You can find more information about these books in these posts:

• Trevor's Review of the 2008 Longlist
• Redheadrambles' review of The White Tiger

The prize will be awarded October 14. See this article for more information on the longlist:
First time novelists supercede previous prizewinners