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.
