The Guardian Not The Booker Prize Stage 2: Longlist and Vote for Shortlist until Aug 23
As announced earlier, Sam Jordison is running the "Not the Booker" contest for Guardian. After an initial nomination process a 46 book longlist has materialized and the voting for the shortlist starts today and ends Aug 23. The top six vote-getters will square off in a final voting round after a lengthy debate run by Mr. Jordison on the Guardian site.
The list contains 9 novels I have read and one I tried and was not for me and I bolded them including my rating as well as the links to their reviews or capsule reviews for 7 of them, while "Children's Book" will get a review here next week (Aug 17-21) and "Brooklyn" will get at least a capsule review sometime later.
I also plan to check out all the remaining 36 books here and see which interest me - I know at least 3 more I am looking at but not yet decided if I want to read them, so I will wait for the US release to browse (Solo, Wolf Hall, How to Paint a Dead Man)
I am very torn since there are four books there (Jones, Oyeyemi, Byatt, Pears) that I would vote for, with two more (Joe A and McAuley) that I would also vote were I inclined to go more core-genre or if I would see they have a chance to make the shortlist. So I will let 3-4 days to pass and see how well I can use my vote to advance at least one of these 6, though I guess "Children's Book" has the greatest shot being a "real" Booker nominee.
I will edit later to record my vote; voting is easily done by following the instructions in the Guardian post above - requires free login essentially and nothing more. So go HERE and vote!!!
Edit 1: City & City is off to a running lead in the voting for now, while Brooklyn is also getting votes so far.
Edit 2 (Aug 21): None of my favorites below are contenders with less than 2 days to go so I voted the emotional favorite Spirit by Gwyneth Jones.
City & City is still running strong, being in the top 6 so far and hanging there at #4 though several contenders are coming close, so if you loved it go and vote for it!!
The top 6 list and the Guardian post to discuss them will be posted here as soon as announced.
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The List:
1.Ghosts and Lightening by Trevor Byrne
2.Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
3.Map Of The Invisible World by Tash Aw
4.Summertime by JM Coetzee
5.The City & The City by China Miéville (LS rating C, FBC Rv + FBC Rv FF)
6.John The Revelator by Peter Murphy (LS rating - not for me)
7.Solo by Rana Dasgupta
8.The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton
9.Jerusalem by Patrick Neate
10.Spirit by Gwyneth Jones (LS rating A+, FBC Rv)
11.This Is How by MJ Hyland
12.The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan
13.The White Woman On The Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
14.The Quiet War by Paul McAuley (LS rating A, FBC Rv)
15.The Harrowing by Robert Dinsdale
16.Hodd by Adam Thorpe
17.The Tie-Kin by Eleanor Thom
18.The Winter Vault by Anne Michael
19.White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi (LS rating A+, FBC Rv)
20.The Father Of Locks by Andrew Killeen
21.The Children's Book by AS Byatt (LS rating A+, FBC rv)
22.Stone's Fall by Iain Pears (LS rating A+, FBC Rv)
23.Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie
24.Down On Out On Murder Mile by Tony O'Neill
25.Rose by Gillian Green
26.Cockroach by Rawi Hage
27.Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín (LS rating A, FBC Rv)
28.Grace, Lamar and Laszlo The Beautiful by Deborah Kay Davies
29.Ten Storey Love Song by Richard Milward
30.Mark Illis by Tender
31.Jeff In Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer
32.Little Gods by Anne Richards
33.A Kind Of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth
34.Great Waters by Kit Whitfield (LS rating B, FBC capsule rv)
35.Black Rock by Amanda Smyth
36.Red Dog, Red Dog by Patrick Lane
37.Harare North by Brian Chickwava
38.Generation A by Douglas Coupland
39.Tomas by James Palumbo
40.Neverland by Simon Crump
41.The Lieutenant by Kate Grenville
42.All The Colours Of The Town by Liam McIvanney
43.Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
44.Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (LS Rating A, FBC Rv)
45.The Outlander by Gil Adamson
46.How To Paint A Dead Man by Sarah Hall
12:01 PM | 
Posted by
Liviu |
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3 comments:
hy. I'm brazilian and write for a blog also. It would like me that you saw my blog and commented. We can do a cultural exchange by the blogs.
pedrobeja.blogspot.com
Many thanks for this post! This kind of thing really does make me enjoy this competition.
Thank you for your kind words; great idea with the contest!!