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Booker Prize 2003

A

ALI

New Member
I have not read any of the books that have been long-listed yet, but Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" i will pick up on Tuesday.

Has anyone been reading any of the books long-listed for this years booker prize? If so what are your views on the books you have read so far?



Regards
ALI
 
Booker 2003 - Long List

For reference, here's the long list:

Monica Ali - Brick Lane
Martin Amis - Yellow Dog
Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake
Carol Birch - Turn Again Home
Melvyn Bragg - Crossing the Lines
J.M.Coetzee - Elizabeth Costello
Julia Darling - The Taxi Driver’s Daughter
Gerard Donovan - ,Schopenhauer’s Telescope
Damon Galgut - The Good Doctor
Barbara Gowdy - The Romantic
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Zoë Heller - Notes on a Scandal
Francis King - The Nick of Time
Shena Mackay - Heligoland
Clare Morrall - Astonishing Splashes Of Colour
John Murray - Jazz etc
Julie Myerson - Something Might Happen
Tim Parks - Judge Savage
Caryl Phillips - A Distant Shore
DBC Pierre - Vernon God Little
Jonathan Raban - Waxwings
Graham Swift - The Light of Day
Barbara Trapido - Frankie & Stankie
 
I've only read Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and I thought it was excellent!
 
I've only read:

Oryx and Crake --- loved it.

Notes on a Scandal --- well-written but ultimately not very compelling. Several reviewers have referred to it as a "satire," but it really isn't.
 
I have read Oryx and Crake and also loved it.
Not so much The Light of Day by Swift (but still good). I borrowed Elizabeth Costello by Coetzee from a friend and plan to read it soon, so hopefully I can post something about that later.
 
I have not long finished reading ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ by Mark Haddon. This is a good book, different from anything else I have ever read. I would recommend others to read it, its an eye-opener. It gives a very good, convincing insight into the world of a young teenager who suffers from a form of autism called asperger’s. You really get a feel for the character and what life must be like for him.

Without having read any other book from the long-list, I have somehow managed to form the opinion that this book is not the winner of this year’s Booker Prize, but, i would like to see it making the final cut.


I have just started to read ‘Yellow Dog’ by Martin Amis. I will give my take on it soon!




Regards
ALI
 
I am left feeling a little dissapointed by the shortlist. That is down to the fact there is only one book in the final six that i am actually interested in reading, that is, 'Vernon God Little' by DBC Pierre! I will probably also read Margaret Atwood's 'Oryx & Crake'...... if i can stomach the £17 asking price on my next visit to Waterstones. None of the synopsis from any of the four other books that have been shortlisted appeal to me much. I was hoping the final shortlist contained a few of the books i had selected from the long-list for reading, if only to raise my interest in the event!
 
The Shortlist:

Monica Ali - Brick Lane - Doubleday

Margaret Atwood - Oryx and Crake - Bloomsbury

Damon Galgut - The Good Doctor - Atlantic Books

Zoë Heller - Notes on a Scandal - Viking Penguin

Clare Morrall - Astonishing Splashes Of Colour - Tindal Street Press

DBC Pierre - Vernon God Little - Faber & Faber
 
Here is the current betting (William Hill odds)


Margaret Atwood...... 2/1 fav
Monica Ali.................. 5/2
Zoe Heller................. 4/1
DBC Pierre................ 5/1
Damon Galgut........... 7/1
Clare Morrall.............. 8/1


Interesting to note that Clare Morrall's 'Astonoshing Splashes of Colour' was the 33/1 rank outsider on the long list.

On the run up to the shortlist being announced Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' was gambled in from 20/1 to 4/1 favourite with William Hill, and from 20/1 to 6/1 2nd favourite with Ladbrokes. On that evidence, i think its fair to say the bookmakers will be pleased to see it did not make the cut!
 
I just picked up Oryx and Crake-Margaret Atwood today from my school library...Will probably get around to reading it in the next few weeks :)
 
Can we make t-shirts? 'Atwood to Win', or 'What's the Crake?', or maybe 'adopt an oryx now'.

No? fine!

pft

Mxx
 
Martin Amis - Yellow Dog

I found Amis’s style of writing difficult to follow at the outset. It was not until I had finished the first chapter before it all started to flow. It was not just the style of writing that was troubling me though, there are words in this book that I have never seen or heard in my life before.
Once I got going with the book and everything began to flow, I really started to enjoy it. The story is set in an era a couple of decades in front of our own. Four stories run simultaneously throughout the book. Actor come writer Xan Meo is the main focus, there’s the royals, journalist Clint Smoker who is employed by the future equivalent of the Daily Star, and a dead corpse (or not so dead corpse) by the name of Royce Traynor on a flight to the US of A. Throw in porn mogul Cora Sanders and the hardest of hard men Joseph Andrews and everything is set for a great tale to be told.
But, it never quite gets there. Everything goes great until the final two chapters. I expected everything to be brought together for a great ending to a great story, but it never quite gets there. Everything is brought together and rounded up, but disappointingly.
If the story’s ending was as good as the main body of the book, I would definitely sing its praises. The characters are great, the settings are great, the story is great, but the ending lets it all down. At least I thought so.
 
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