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BOOKER PRIZE.
The Booker Prize longlist has been announced, and I've read exactly none of the books on it. This may be why the N+1 guys don't invite me to any parties. If any of you folks are more cultured individuals, however, and think there are some books on the list that can't be missed, let us know in comments.
COMMENTS (8)
I read more out of the mystery/thriller genre - so I've read only one from the list - CHILD 44. This is a thriller so good it made a literary nomination list. Set in the 50s Soviet Union, it follows a loyal Stalinist in the secret police as he tries to track down a child murderer. The problem is that even suggesting there might be a murderer in the worker's paradise is enough to send you to the gulags. Very good at showing what life would be like in a police state where crime is punished based solely on suspicion.
Definitely read it.
Posted by: Mo | July 30, 2008 11:04 AM
The White Tiger - Great book about India, avoids the usual cliches. It is also one of the best books I've read about the Master-Servant class dynamic in India. It's something us Indians experience all the time growing up, but that is alien to most Westerners except the super rich and this book brings it out like no other.
Also, it's a fast, easy and breezy read (and no, I am not Aravind Adiga!)
Posted by: The Olive Ridley Crawl | July 30, 2008 11:26 AM
I haven't read any of them either, but I'm going to put in a plug for the least-known greatest living writer in English - John Berger. Berger won the Booker in 1972 for his novel G, and for fifty years he's been writing art criticism, film scripts, biography, and fiction. He often writes about personal relationships among European working class people and peasants. His novel of AIDS, To the Wedding, is heartbreakingly beautiful. He's 82 now and still working. This new novel, From A to X, is a wife's letters to her husband, a political prisoner, and I'm looking forward to it.
Posted by: Bloix | July 30, 2008 11:29 AM
I ordered Child 44 from Amazon yesterday. The serial killer angle is actually borrowed from a real-life guy that murdered kids and prostitutes throughout the Soviet Union in the '80s. Was portrayed in an HBO movie starring Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland.
Posted by: Mike | July 30, 2008 12:30 PM
Not getting invited to N+1 parties probably just means you're a decent human being.
Posted by: JoePo | July 30, 2008 12:30 PM
I'd vote for "A Case of Exploding Mangoes," simply for the title.
Posted by: allbetsareoff | July 30, 2008 3:10 PM
Hey Mike, you're talking about Citizen X. I haven't seen it since it came out, but it was pretty good back then.
Posted by: Stephen | July 30, 2008 4:51 PM
The proud Aussie in me requires me to recommend both de Krester's The Lost Dog and Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole.
Posted by: ErinR | July 30, 2008 8:00 PM