Communicator (communicator) wrote,
Communicator
communicator

Booker

I like lists of books and films, because it makes you think of stuff you may not have called to mind for ages.

Here are some amusing blurbs for all the Booker prize winning novels from 1969 to 2001.

Like the 'Big read' list; showing which ones I have read since 1980.

Bold = read all
Italic = read some

1980 : William Golding - Rites of Passage
Read it, loved it, made me cry.

1981: Salman Rushdie - Midnight's Children
Read it, liked it, but probably wouldn't re-read it. A bit too clever for its own good.

1982: Thomas Keneally - Schindler's Ark
I can't believe I haven't read this

1983: JM Coetzee - Life & Times of Michael K
Or this

1984: Anita Brookner - Hotel du Lac
I don't think I'd like this at all. Brookner annoys me.

1985: Keri Hulme - The Bone People
Scared it would upset me.

1986 : Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils
Nope.

1987: Penelope Lively - Moon Tiger
God, have I read anything?

1988: Peter Carey - Oscar & Lucinda
Aha, at last one I have read! Loved this. I stopped reading Carey at 'Tristram Smith', which defeated me, but he was prime in this one.

1989: Kazuo Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day
I can't remember if I've finished this or not. That's odd.

1990 : AS Byatt - Possession
Yes. It's not a bad read.

1991: Ben Okri - The Famished Road
Magical realism. Each page is delightful, but there isn't much compulsion to finish the book. You could read any individual chapter a second time instead.

1992 : Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient
Nope

Barry Unsworth - Sacred Hunger
Nope

1993: Roddy Doyle - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Nope

1994: James Kelman - How Late It Was, How Late
I tried to read it. Over and over again I tried. I failed.

1995: Pat Barker - The Ghost Road
Read it. Loved it. I used to like PB's radical violent feminist books, and now I like her books about men too.

1996: Graham Swift - Last Orders
No. The only one by him I have read is Waterland.

1997: Aruhdhati Roy - The God of Small Things
No. Probably should.

1998: Ian McEwan - Amsterdam
No. Like Peter Carey I used to read everything he wrote. All I've read of his recent stuff is The Innocent and Black Dog, and I was a bit ho-hum about those. Perhaps this one would be worth checking out.

1999: JM Coetzee - Disgrace
No

2000: Margaret Atwood - The Blind Assassin
My sister bought it for me. I started it several times. I think it's the only Atwood I haven't read, apart from Oryx and Crake.

2001: Peter Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang
Nope.
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