INTRODUCTIONS

[Neale]

Hello everybody. I was born in Ireland, I have Scottish parents and I live in Australia. I have loved books since the day one was placed in my hand. I have been following the Booker for a few years now but have never joined any groups before. I only just joined goodreads the other day and hope to make some great friends and join in some meaty discussions. I notice that The English Patient is the December book and amazingly I have never actually read it. I did read, and love, Warlight, along with the other books in the longlist this year. I am currently reading The Book of M.

[George]

Hi Collin, welcome to the book club. I am looking forward to rereading English Patient and will get to Warlight sometime in the next year or two. I have read most of the Booker short listed books for the last thirty years, though I am usually a year or two behind the current year shortlist. It's a good source for discovering authors, including Irish authors like John McGahern, Iris Murdoch, John Banville, Anne Enright, William Trevor and Donal Ryan.

[Neale]

George wrote: "Hi Collin, welcome to the book club. I am looking forward to rereading English Patient and will get to Warlight sometime in the next year or two. I have read most of the Booker short listed books f..."

Thanks for the welcome George. I enjoyed Warlight and believed it should have made the shortlist but what can you do. Look forward to discussing The English Patient with you.

[C I N D L E]

Hello everyone.

living and reading in west coast United States. Fave genres include literary fiction (of course), historical fiction, memoirs, and classics.

List of favorite authors can be found on my profile but I will say the newest one to be added to the list who I'm simply bowled over by is Amor Towles. To take this further, his protagonist in 'A Gentleman in Moscow', Alexander Ilyich Rostov, is the literary character I've had a crush on since I read it in July. I said it immediately in July when I finished the novel and I'm saying it again in December as the year is closing: 'A Gentleman in Moscow' is my BEST and FAVORITE book read in 2018. Hands down!

If on a desert Island, I'd take with me the aforementioned 'A Gentleman in Moscow', the complete works of William Shakespeare, and 'The Book of Common Prayer' (This third one is not for the reasons you might think, although it will serve that purpose too)

If hosting a dinner party, five authors I'd invite would be: Shakespeare, Austen, Steinbeck, Anthony Bourdain, and Amor Towles. If there's room for one more, I'd also invite Dickens.

I love to read but I'm not fanatic about it. Meaning, I purposely take my time with books, giving myself room to get to know the characters, understand the author's writing style, think and contemplate the themes and subtexts, etc.. This preferred slow but steady pace leads me to read about 2-3 books a month. I joined Goodreads in May and as of this post, I've read 20 novels, 4 short stories, 1 book of poetry, and 1 book of story-photography.

In this regard, I've set a reading goal of 20 novels for 2019, one title of which is a Pulitzer winner ['The Goldfinch'], two which were Man Booker finalists ['Warlight' and 'A Little Life'], and one that is a National Book Award Finalist ['Pachinko']

I'm delighted to have found this group and I look forward to having spirited discussions and exceptional book recommendations.

Wishing you all good books and happy reading.
- Cindle -

[George]

Welcome to our book club Cindle. My favourite genres are yours plus a dash of crime fiction and science fiction for variety every so often. Shakespeare, Austen and Steinbeck are favourite writers of mine also. I have not read any Bourdain or Towles, though I do have Rules of Civility on my bookshelf. I will look out for A Gentleman in Moscow - just read some glowing reviews after reading your comments above.

I really enjoyed Goldfinch and the heart breaking A Little Life, both huge novels. Pachinko is also on my bookshelf - I've heard good things about it. As I enjoy Ondaatje. Warlight is up there on my TBR list and given it's xmas soon and I usually receive a gift card or two, I expect I will buy Warlight and read it early in the new year. Looking forward to your thoughts on any of the books we will be reading in the future.

[Mary]

Cindle | kindle w/a C. wrote: "Hello everyone.

living and reading in west coast United States. Fave genres include literary fiction (of course), historical fiction, memoirs, and classics.

List of favorite authors can be found..."

Hi and welcome to the group. We definitely have similar reading preferences! I loved "The Goldfinch" (but many do not). "The Gentleman in Moscow" is a favorite -- I read it in 2017 and will be re-reading it in March because I'm the discussion leader for the book club in my neighborhood.

This is a great group on GR. I've been introduced to many authors and have read some great literature.

[C I N D L E]

@Mary and @George

Thank you both kindly for the warm welcome. I’m happy to have found the group.

The more I hear enthusiastic feedback about ‘The Goldfinch’ the more excited I get about reading it. I have it slated for early 2019 and I look forward to it immensely. It will be my first read of Donna Tartt’s.

George, you must get your hands on a copy of ‘AGIM’. As Mary has also attested, it is divine. A modern classic.

Mary, Funnily, about two weeks ago, I speed skimmed through ‘AGIM’ because I missed it so much after finishing it in July. I thought it was too soon to re-read it so the speed skimming was a compromise. I plan on fully reading it again a second time in 2020. Let’s compare notes when you get to it again in March. George, hopefully you would have read it too.

Thanks again for the lovely welcome.
:-)

[Jodie]

What is 'AGIM'? I just read an interesting book called "Waiting" by Ha Jin".

[C I N D L E]

@Jodie,

Rather than always writing out ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’, I use the acronym ‘AGIM’ as substitute.

[Jodie]

Thank you. I figured that out after I sent my text. It sounds interesting.

[George]

Hi, nice to hear from you. Yes this group is active. We discuss a major prize winner once a month. Next month it’s Humboldt’s Gift by Saul Bellow. Marquez is great, as is One Hundred Years of Solitude. I recently read No One writes to the Colonel and other stories which is an early short story collection of his and I enjoyed it a lot. I travelled lots when I was younger with India and Egypt being the stand out countries, mainly for the amazing sights and cultural differences compared to Australia. India’s Ellora Caves and Taj Mahal are amazing as is Egypt’s Luxor temple and the tombs across the river. Love E.M. Forrester’s A Passage to India, also A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry is a great read about India around 1975. Naguib Mahfouz’s Palace Walk and the following two books in his Cairo trilogy are also great reads. Another great read is Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee - set in South Africa. (Not my favourite country, but then I was there in 1982). Happy reading!

[Kirsten]

Hi, my name is Kirsten and I live in Kennewick in (a currently too smoky) southeastern Washington State.

I like many different types of genre. My Desert Island books would be hard to narrow down, but here goes:

- Jane Eyre
- The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
- the complete works of HP Lovecraft
- the first 3 In Death novels by JD Robb
- The Secret Adversary and And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- The Dark Is Rising cycle by Susan Cooper

[George]

Welcome Kirsten. Jane Eyre, The Tenant...and And Then There were None are all great reads. I tend to mostly enjoy literary, dystopian and crime fiction. I struggle with Fantasy and Horror books, though I have read three Stephen King books with The Stand being my favourite. Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler are favourite crime fiction novelists. Good to have you on board. Happy reading!

[Tommaso]

Hello everyone! My name is Tommaso from London. I like novels in particular and I would like to read more. Loved normal people and sisters brothers recently. As the time available is not so much I always find very interesting to browse on the shortlist lists from the various awards. Looking forward to discussions and exchanging povs and thanks

[Irene]

Welcome Kirsten and Tommaso.
Kirsten, I hope you are safe from the wild fires.

[George]

Welcome Tommaso. I particularly enjoyed deWitt's 'The Sisters Brothers'. I found 'Undermajordomo Minor' an okay fable like read and 'Ablutions' a sad, grim, dark short novel about a young alcoholic barman. Rooney's 'Normal People' is a good read, tackling some weighty issues - domestic violence and depression. Rooney has a flowing, easy to read writing style. 'Conversations with Friends' is also a satisfying read, though I prefer 'Normal People'. Happy reading and hope to hear from you in the future.

[Bill]

Hello to all of you at LAWFBC. I am today's newbie to join this distinguished group. Currently reading "The Overstory" by Richard Powers with another discussion group. Would love to hear your picks for next week's Man Booker Winner!

[George]

Welcome Bill. I found 'The Overstory' an engaging, mostly enjoyable reading experience. I learned a lot about trees. I have read 4 of the 6 shortlisted 2020 Booker Prize books. 'Shuggie Bain' is my favourite. It's about a young gay boy growing up in the poor part of Glasgow in the 1980s. 'This Mournable Body' is an odd, clever, intelligent story about a single Zimbabwean educated woman working for a white woman and grappling with her black heritage. The writing style is purposely awkward. 'Real Life' is a coming of age story about an introverted black gay young male student at a Midwestern Uni town. 'The Shadow King' is a tough but rewarding read about Ethiopian women and men fighting against the Italian invasion in 1935. The story is told for the perspective of an Ethiopian woman, an Italian army captain and an Italian jewish photographer.

I found the four books were all interesting, worthwhile reads.
I have ordered and am still awaiting for library copies of 'The New Wilderness' and 'Burnt Sugar' to arrive.

[Bill]

George, I concur on the Shuggie Bain selection. I have New Wilderness as my #3 from the shortlist. Have you read from the Intl list? I've read the shortlist with the exception of the winner, The Discomfort of Evening which I'll start this weekend.

[George]

I have read three on the Booker International shortlist, ‘Tyll’, The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree’ and ‘The Memory Police’. I liked ‘The Memory Police’ the best of these three. For me overall, the Booker shortlisted books I have read were more rewarding reads than the three Booker International shortlisted books that I have read. What is your favourite novel of the 2020 Booker International books you have read?
I plan to read ‘The Discomfort of Evening’ this month so it will be interesting to read your views on this book.

[Bill]

Having not read the winner yet, I have the Greengage Tree on top. I find Hurricane Season like getting hit with a cold bucket of water. Very graphic but probably accurately portrays 1900 century life in parts of Mexico.

[Claire]

Hello, my name is Claire and I love reading. I enjoy reading Literary Award-winning books as there is normally a lot of discussion about them and I like to talk about the books I read. I'm currently reading Regeneration by Pat Barker which won the Booker Prize in 1975. So far, I think it's brilliant - moving and thought-provoking and so well written. I'm looking forward to reading some of the group's suggestions and finding out what other members think of them.

[Irene]

Welcome to the group, Claire. Looking forward to sharing books with you.

[Cynthia]

Cynthia from Canada here. There are so many books out there, but only some are literary masterpieces. I want to read more of those. Hence, here I am.

[Irene]

Welcome Cynthia!

[John]

Hi all - my name is John and I'm working my way through the Pulitzer Prize-winners. Cheers!

[Irene]

Welcome to the group, John.

[John]

My name is John and I enjoy reading. I have read all the Man Booker Prize winners except The Prophet. I enjoy all genres and am now planning to read more Pulitzer prize winners.

[George]

Hi Claire, Cynthia, John and John. Welcome to our group.

[Irene]

Welcome, John.

[Rick]

John wrote: "My name is John and I enjoy reading. I have read all the Man Booker Prize winners except The Prophet. I enjoy all genres and am now planning to read more Pulitzer prize winners."

Hi John! I think the one you're referring to is the most recent Booker winner, but it's called Prophet Song. By the way, I would be interested to hear if you were disappointed by any of the Booker winners. I have a couple that really didn't work for me. Looking back at the short lists for those books, I find some that are much much better than the eventual winners.

[George]

Hi Rick, I have read all the Booker winners and 253 of the 327 total shortlisted books (includes winners), and yes, sometimes a winning book just doesn’t resonate with me. Reading is so personalized and subjective. I use the prize to discover new authors to read. Authors who are nominated on a number of occasions usually turn out to become my favorite authors, like Iris Murdoch, J. M. Coetzee, Salman Rushdie, Penelope Lively, V.S. Naipaul, Peter Carey, Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood, Colm Toibin, Zadie Smith….to name a few.

I think Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (1986) a particularly inventive dystopian novel but it didn’t win, yet her novel ‘The Testaments’ (2019) was joint winner, a book that held none of the surprises of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. But that’s just my opinion…..

[Rick]

I absolutely agree about Atwood.
The one that won the Booker in 1986 and beat Handmaid’s Tale was a relatively poor effort by Kingsley Amis. In fact, just about every other novel on the short list that year was better than The Old Devils.

[Rick]

Your comment made me count how many of the short listed Booker nominees I have read. I’m only at 138 myself, so I am duly impressed.
I think there should be a book out by experienced critical readers along the lines of A Reader’s Guide To The Bookers that runs through the whole 55 years and has a brief synopsis and critical assessment of the winners and how they compared to the rest of the short list.