I've been at it again on the blogosphere. With this years awards coming up soon here are my thoughts about the Booker Prize in response to a Telegraph article:
"Bringing Up the Bodies? Haven't read and won't as I hated most of Wolf Hall. A
Sense of an Ending I enjoyed v much; Finkler Question was superb; White Tiger
was pretty damned good, The Gathering was good but wrist slashingly depressing;
Line of Beauty was beautiful provided you don't mind copious gay sex
descriptions; Vernon God Little I thoroughly enjoyed; Life of Pi was ace and a
still haven't watched film which I've been meaning to all summer; The Blind
Assassin wasn't too bad, Disgrace was harrowing but fabulous; God of Small
things I couldn't get on with; Rites of Passage is a must read. That's not a bad
record of the ones I've read. The one that I thought let them down (and this is
controversial I know) was the supposed Booker of Bookers, Midnight's Children.
Perhaps it was over my head as customers in my bookshop have said that it's
their all time favourite book. Maybe I should stick to flogging them instead of
trying to actually read them!!.."
Anyone have anything to add to that?...
3 comments:
No!
Does that mean you don't approve PB?? Not a fan of the Booker then? Or are you making a comment about my choice of subject?
Strangely enough TB, I used to work for Bookers, so am no stranger to the Booker Prize. As a body that sets out to promote good writing, and encourage authors, the people behind the prize are, by and large, a force for good. However, just because a book, or an author, has been short-listed, doesn't necessarily mean the work is any better than something which hasn't.
Put it this way, I would prefer to assess the merits of a book based on my own judgement, rather than rush out and buy it just because the Booker Prize Committee have put it forward for the award. It's a bit like films, when reviewers, critics and, sometimes even colleagues, say "You must see such and such a film", my immediate reaction is to give it a wide berth! In other words, I don't like being told what I should see or what I should read!
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