What's your worst Booker winner?
Wed, 2003-10-15 12:50
#1
What's your worst Booker winner?
I only started this thread to commemorate a true dog of a book that won in the seventies: "Holiday" by Stanley Middleton. I doubt very many people of read that one as, to my knowledge, Middleton did not go on to have any literary reputation at all. It made me very cautious in buying Booker winners after that, though I think the standard is going up.
My favourite winner was Paddy Clark ha ha ha.
d.beswetherick.
Ralphspartacus
My fave is the Bone People by Keri Hulme.
Its strange, I thought Paddy Clarke sucked big time and I really like Roddy Doyle other work.
Ralph
Tony Cook
Loved Oscar and Lucinda, Midnight's Children and Schindlers Ark.
Enjoyed Life of Pi, Kelly Gang, Amsterdam, God of Small Things, Paddy Clarke, The Ghost Road, The Famished Road, Hotel du Lac, The Sea The Sea, Seige of Krishnapur and Heat and Dust.
Haven't read some of the others but hated, truly hated Bone People. It's just terrible tosh.
I don't call that a bad return!
For a full list go to:
Ralph
Right Tony, you and me outside, NOW!
'The Bone People' is magical and poetic and life affirming. Douglas Coupland ripped it off a little in 'All Families Are Pschotic'.
'The Ghost Road' was great though.
Ralph
Tony Cook
Ralph - Bone People is unreadable. That's its crime. It is so far up its own bottom that the light never shines upon it.
Other unreadable books that I don't believe are worth a candle:
Finnegan's Wake
V
Blood and Guts in High School
All are critically acclaimed but if I cannot find the life in me to get through them then their message, whatever it may be, is not worth a sausage.
hovis
Haven't read that many Bookers but I went and bought 'How Late It Was' by James Kellman - purely because of the controversy - and it's still in my head. Never been that near a character ever.
So by that form I will be buying Vernon.
Ralph
Someone back me up on 'The Bone People'.
Please.
Ralph
Jude
okay I don't vote tory any more but I do still read the Times and here's a great quote from Tuesdays Times Supplement
"WITH THE Man Booker Prize announcement taking place this evening, middle-class partygoers with literary pretensions everywhere are cowering behind their vol-au-vents in anticipation of the Dreaded Question. “So,” asks your hostess, trying to overcome an awkward pause, “who do you think is going to win the Booker?”
But do not panic. In the echoing Great Hall of the British Museum tonight, the brightest sparks of the publishing industry will be bluffing their way out of the same situation. Do what they do: pause for a sip of warm white wine and venture: “It was a very unusual shortlist this year, wasn’t it?”
spag-man
Worst Booker winner? Me Next year!!! Hahahahahaha yeah right. I'd be the best Booker winner.
Hen
The English Patient, I guess, is my favourite, although I've only read about four. Haven't read a bad one, but then, I haven't really read any 'bad' books.
boybrowne
'the god of small things' is a poetic masterpeice.....
Hen
Yeah, I love that one too
Sybil
sorry rafe, on yer bone there.
mississippi
Isn't he always?
sheepshank
I have to say, I liked The Bone People. I don't know why - usually I can't stand that sort of novel, but it must've just been the right time in my life, I don't know. The way she handled the inner thoughts of people worked for me.
Of those Booker winners I've read, Rights of Passage stands out by a mile.
[%sig%]
andrew pack
Did Graham Swift's "Last Orders" win the Booker? Very nice, but I've read some Faulkener, unlike the judges who awarded it a literary prize. Reminded me of that old crack "Your book is both good and original. However, the bits that are good are not original and the bits that are original are not good".
I know a lot of people give Atwood's "Blind Assassin" a kicking, but I absolutely loved it. Not as good as Cat's Eye, but it is still packed full of drama.