The Booker Prize, Man (1 Viewer)

[Bellatrix]

Anyone read any of the shortlisted books? I'm reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith at the moment and so far it's pretty fantastic.

Would be great to read the whole shortlist before the winner is announced and actually have an educated opinion. Can't see it happening this year though, unless I quit my job...

Hmm...

 

[ICUH8N]

I've only read the Sea by John Banville. It's fantastic (then again I'm a rabid Banville fanboy) but he's not gonna win, because he never wins, because everyone hates him. Bah.

 

[Bellatrix]

Bah.

Who hates him? The establishment? The man? I think Banville's great. Haven't read The Sea but I loved The Book of Evidence and Prague Pictures.

A man with that much gravitas doesn't need The Booker.

He'd probably like it though. It's hard to tell, he's pretty surly.

 

[ICUH8N]

Who hates him? The establishment? The man?

Both. Fuckers.

I think Banville's great. Haven't read The Sea but I loved The Book of Evidence and Prague Pictures.

Shroud is great too. And Mephisto. And...everything he's done.

A man with that much gravitas doesn't need The Booker.
He'd probably like it though. It's hard to tell, he's pretty surly.

Inscrutable.

 

[Psychotic no 2]

The Sea is just ridiculously good; I found myself snorting and laughing at how good the writing was, which may seem weird but it's all you can really do when presented with Banville's writing in this book.

My educated guess (without having read all of the short list) is Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. It's got that affecting quality.

I found On Beauty really enjoyable whilst reading it, but after finishing it, I thought it was kind of empty and pointless. Watched Howards End last night, just to reaffirm that Forster's version is better.

 

[Audiodelic]

I've also read The Sea and really liked it. The only other one I've read is Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and I loved it, I hope he wins it. Have heard mixed stuff about On Beauty but there's a lot of talk about Barnes winning as he's never won before (nor has Banville).

 

[Psychotic no 2]

I've also read The Sea and really liked it. The only other one I've read is Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and I loved it, I hope he wins it. Have heard mixed stuff about On Beauty but there's a lot of talk about Barnes winning as he's never won before (nor has Banville).

I HATE the fact that Barnes is probably going to win it as a sort of lifetime achievement award. It's the worst out of the four I've read, quite boring. Ishiguro's is brilliant.

 

[Audiodelic]

I HATE the fact that Barnes is probably going to win it as a sort of lifetime achievement award. It's the worst out of the four I've read, quite boring. Ishiguro's is brilliant.

I think what's happening with the booker is that it's become either, as you say, a lifetime achievement thing or it's given to people to compensate for the book they SHOULD have won with.
Alan Hollinghurst should have won for The Folding Star, Ian McEwan should have won for Atonement and even Banville, if he wins this year, should have won for The Book of Evidence (when he was beaten by Ishiguro's Remains of the Day.

Barnes should probably have won for Flaubert's Parrot but I have feeling they'll give it to him this year.

 

[Bellatrix]

I think what's happening with the booker is that it's become either, as you say, a lifetime achievement thing or it's given to people to compensate for the book they SHOULD have won with.
Alan Hollinghurst should have won for The Folding Star, Ian McEwan should have won for Atonement and even Banville, if he wins this year, should have won for The Book of Evidence (when he was beaten by Ishiguro's Remains of the Day.

Barnes should probably have won for Flaubert's Parrot but I have feeling they'll give it to him this year.

Also, the shortlists get more conservative and populist every year.

Thank God for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Those heads in The Swedish Academy know how to keep things interesting.

 

[eoinbox]

bought the ishiguro today, think i'm gonna like it. read on beauty last week, thought it was fairly poor. didn't think it had any transportative quality to it at all, i really don;t get what all the fuss is about. she's getting so much press, i mean her boyfriend is getting exposure on the back of her publicity, and he's really shit.

 

[taubstumm]

didn't think it had any transportative quality to it at all

it's a book, not a train

 

[krystal]

posted about on beauty on the what did you do be reading thread already but I shall say it again - it starts off good, peters out in the middle and ends really badly. Really disappointing.

 

[eoinbox]

it's a book, not a train

she didnt convince me at any point that i wasn't reading an average book by a hip new author who writes nice sentences but can't string it together as a cohesive novel. she doesn't, in my opinion, succeed in taking the reader out of themselves, which good fiction should do. also, fuck you

 

[taubstumm]

she didnt convince me at any point that i wasn't reading an average book by a hip new author who writes nice sentences but can't string it together as a cohesive novel. she doesn't, in my opinion, succeed in taking the reader out of themselves, which good fiction should do. also, fuck you

ah i was only being a smartypants...

possibly because i haven't read on beauty yet so i'm trying to ruin your fun...

(come to think of it, i haven't read any of the books on the shortlist yet - gotta get me some culture...)

you should all go and vote in the quaint and tokenistic "people's prize" on the booker prize website, by the way...

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/peoples/

 

[Psychotic no 2]

ah i was only being a smartypants...[/url]

Look at you starting fights. Tut. Here, forget about the booker for a minute. I know you like Franzen. This essay is so good...

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publishe...topicId=100002042&docId=l:303010538&start=153

 

[taubstumm]

Look at you starting fights. Tut. Here, forget about the booker for a minute. I know you like Franzen. This essay is so good...

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publishe...topicId=100002042&docId=l:303010538&start=153

.|..|

 

[Psychotic no 2]

.|..|

He's so funny and sad on relationships:

Returning to Queens, we could no longer stand to be together for more than a few weeks, couldn't stand to see each other so unhappy, without running somewhere else. We reacted to minor fights at breakfast by lying face down in our respective rooms for hours at a time, waiting for acknowledgment of our pain.

 

[Psychotic no 2]

Banville wins. How wonderful.

He's on Newsnight in a minute.

Is this only the second Irish author to win it after Roddy Doyle?

 

[ICUH8N]

VINDICATION!

Not only that, but he won despite having savaged Ian McEwan. Har Har.

 

[Bellatrix]

Banville wins. How wonderful.

He's on Newsnight in a minute.

Is this only the second Irish author to win it after Roddy Doyle?

Iris Murdoch won it and she was born in Ireland.

It was fantastic about Banville. Were you watching the coverage when that bookmaker said "Right initials, wrong writer."?

Prick.