Getting to Know You

[Trevor]

Feel free to share a bit about yourself, your interest in books, your past with book prizes, etc.

[Trevor]

I hope that as you join in, you'll share a bit about yourself.

My name is Trevor, and I started this forum! So thanks for coming in! I run The Mookse and the Gripes blog, and a major part of that has always been to be active in book loving communities, wherever they may be. I used to love the old Man Booker forum on the official website until they took it down in 2012. I'm still good friends with several people I met there. Indeed, my whole love of The Man Booker Prize, the reason I look forward to it every year even if I am not as excited about the books, comes from discussing it with others.

[Tarquin]

Hi, I'm Tarquin - was on the original Mookes and Gripes forum. I'm a dealer in Collectible Modern Firsts and do a bit of writing myself.

I'm a fanatical collector, built a Booker collection once but it's long gone now, currently collecting Stephen King firsts, Japanese lit in translation signed firsts and fiction related to Islam/Middle East either thematically or by Middle Eastern/Turkish/Iranian authors.

Always loved the Booker Prize but I think it's less significant and interesting now these last few years. Just my opinion but I still take an interest!

[Trevor]

Welcome to the next iterations, Tarquin!

And, by the way, perhaps I should say that I was Mookse on the last forum. Anyone wishing to make that connection between old and new is free to do so.

[Stujallen]

HI Stu from the Uk Based blog Winstonsdad. Prize wise Man booker international / old iffp , Nobel. Outside books good tv music and films.

[Jibran]

This is a wonderful group. So many good books, links, and discussions to go through. Thank you Antonomasia for the invitation.

A little bit about myself:

Name's the same as the profile one. My father was a fan of Kahlil Gibran so he named me after him with a slight change in the more common spellings. But that's the only thing common between me and the Lebanese author. Unlike my father I couldn't become a big fan of Gibran, though he happens to be among one of my earliest reads, solely for the fact that we shared names, and there aren't many Jibrans in the world, people over here ask a second time to be sure they have heard it right, and often misspell it to the more common "Jabbar." Okay, enough of the name.

My formative years were spent reading in languages I grew up learning (Urdu and Saraiki in Pakistan) and a bit of English here and there, mostly history & politics but rarely any fiction. I only started reading in English seriously by the time I was 25; and since I did not have an English-based education, I missed all the nursery rhymes, Anglo children stories, young student lit included in school syllabi etc. So I know very little about English classics apart from what I managed to later in life, which isn't much, because I soon drifted into world literature and lit in translation, esp good old classics from outside the Anglosphere (thanks Anto for the term; it's very useful).

re: Booker prize. I loved it when I discovered it, but I'm no longer very enthusiastic about it. I still think, however, that it's a useful pointer for the fresh stuff coming out in English from a number of rich literary cultures. So with that in mind, I keep an eye on the longlists and shortlists. I may or may not rush to read the latest winner but I ritually add them to my TBR mountain. My favourite Bookers (from the few I've read) are J.M. Coetzee's both books (Disgrace & Life and Times of Michael K.), while The Finkler Question of Howard Jacobson and the Inheritance of Loss of Kiran Desai are least liked. I should be starting on Rushdie's Midnight Children, it's been on my to-read for as long as I can remember but have never quite managed to make up my mind about sitting down with it. It's supposed to be really good. So will see.

There is no serious reader in my immediate and extended family, at least not as serious as I'd like them to be, except my deceased father who was a literary figure of the regional Saraiki language of Pakistan. He was a poet, travelogue writer & essayist. I was too young to take any influence from him when he died but his large library lived on in our house, and when I was still young (early teens) I thought it would bring me closer to my father if I read his books. This is how I started reading regularly and haven't stopped ever since.

[Trevor]

Welcome, stu and Jibran!

And Jibran, thanks for sharing a bit of your story. I especially loved hearing about your father, and I hope that some day I can hear more.

Also, sorry about not welcoming you sooner -- I got bronchitis this week, and I'd see folks post but getting up to respond always threatened to send me into a coughing fit. I'm doing much better today and am excited to engage in some more conversations!

[Antonomasia, Admin only]

Hey, what a great post Jibran. I'd wondered about the similarity of your name to Gibran's but had no idea whether this name and its variations were common or not.

Hope you are on the mend, Trevor.

I am pretty frazzled at the moment; I kind of just want to watch stupid action films for a while, but also have a nearly-finished post I should get on with as I did promise it for an arc.

[Trish]

Hi, I'm Trish. I have had some contact with Jibran and Antonomasia on a couple of other posts and have been following Trevor for awhile. My interests are so wide they might define me as a dilettante, and so I stand accused. Current political affairs have been much on my mind lately, but thoughtful literature is probably my most enduring passion.

[Jibran]

Wish you a speedy recovery, Trevor. Thanks for the welcome note.

Anto, I also take refuge in TV screen when I'm feeling a bit burned out. But only after a few stupid action films or, depending on the mood, some horror flicks, I instinctively seek non-Anglo films of some literary value. Recently watched this and also this. It was an indication that I was ready to go back to books after almost a 2-month long break.

Hi Trish, good to see you here!

[Paul]

I was a latecomer to the Mookse and the Gripes forum, at least as contributor, in part as my applications to join kept getting lost in the spam filter. Had I only have been able to submit my rankings in 2015, the Forum would have picked the right winner!

I'm more of a translated than English language fiction fan - seems to me that I would want to read the same proportion of English books as there are native English speakers in the world. Indeed the main original English language books I read are those from some of the main prize shortlists.

The Goldsmiths Prize is by far my favourite of those, but my affection for the Booker Prize was kindled (no pun intended) by the annual events at the Southbank, the day before the winner is announced. Hearing from and meeting the authors is an interesting experience, although the brief meet/signing session can rather change one's view of the author and, by incorrect extension, their novel, and not always for the better! (e.g. that's in part why on the "ranking the Booker winners" page on the old forum, the 2014 winner was a long way down my list)

But the real joy of the prizes is that they provide a common focus for sharing views with other readers.

And outside of reading literary fiction, I'm a mathematician who works in the banking industry (cue pantomime boos from off stage) i.e pretty much the opposite from arts & literature.

[[deleted user]]

Hello, all. My name is Sara. I've followed the BTBA closely since the first year, and I've lurked on the other Mookse & Gripes BTBA forums a bit as a result. My literary tastes tend to run to science fiction and translated literary fiction. I'm a sucker for book awards since it gives me a chance to indulge in what Gore Vidal disparagingly called "bookchat". I follow the Tournament of Books every year, for instance, even though it doesn't always align so well with my taste.

[Trevor]

Thanks for introducing yourself, Sara! I look forward to your "bookchat"!

[Trevor]

Paul, sorry for not responding to your own introduction post. I love hearing about the prizes you like, and why you like them. So often it's not 100% about the books but rather about the season, the fresh voices, the promises.

[Antonomasia, Admin only]

to indulge in what Gore Vidal disparagingly called "bookchat"
:) Ha, I suggested the renaming of another group folder - which is now Book Chat - after that phrase of his. And as he said he indulged in it himself, I figure it's not 100% disparaging and that there's a bit of irony in there.

[Lark]

Hi I'm poingu and I'm relatively new to reading. It's only the last few years I've paid any attention to literary fiction whatsoever, but I've taken to it with much the same zeal that all of my other friends have taken to training for their first Iron Man competition. I like my midlife crisis better. I followed some of my favorite GR people over to this group, having never heard of Mookse before now. Thank you Trevor for creating this space.

[Trevor]

And thanks for coming, poingu! We're glad to benefit from your midlife crisis!

[[deleted user]]

Hi poingu, nice to see a familiar face. :)

[Evan]

Hi, I'm Evan, English-teaching lover of books and coffee. Been following the Mookse and the Gripes webpage for quite a while and thought I'd take the plunge and join the group. Been reading a lot of translated fiction lately and am loving the coverage of the Man Booker International Prize and the Best Translated Book Award. Also a mad fan of NYRB Classics. Thanks for having me.

[Trish]

Hi, Evan. Is it high-school English you teach? I try to keep up with this group, but mostly I lurk.

[Evan]

Trish wrote: "Hi, Evan. Is it high-school English you teach? I try to keep up with this group, but mostly I lurk."

Yep. Language and literature.

[Trish]

Evansl wrote: "Yep. Language and literature."

Very cool.

[Trevor]

Welcome aboard, Evan! And thanks for peeking out here, Trish! I always love your comments over at the NYRB forum.

By the way, if translated literature isn't your thing but you still like the conversations here, we don't focus strictly on translated lit. That may be a strong aspect of this group, but some of the focus is because we moved here when the MBI and BTBA were just underway for 2016. You can put other authors in the author chat and you can definitely tell us all the books you think we should be looking out given the collective tenor of this group!

[Tony]

Hi everyone :)

My name is Tony, from the Tony's Reading List blog. I live in Melbourne where I teach English as a Second Language (and study skills) to overseas students about to begin (mainly) postgraduate studies at a major Australian university.

In terms of my reading interests, I have a passion for literature in translation, with a particular focus in recent years on Japanese and Korean books. I also read in German and French (and *occasionally* Spanish), so those areas tend to get covered a lot too.

In addition to the work I put in on my own blog, I do occasional reviews elsewhere (e.g. Necessary Fiction, Words Without Borders), and I've been a member of the Shadow Panel for the IFFP/MBIP prizes for the past five years now.

And, yes, I do read far too much ;)

[Evan]

Another English teacher from Melbourne! We're taking over.

[Tonymess]

My bad not putting something here - the "English teacher from Melbourne" has prompted me to.

Messy Tony my handle on most platforms and I bog at Messenger's Booker. This blog was to look at all shortlisted books from the Booker Prize since inception (excluding the retrospective 1970 award). I happen to have a full collection of the shortlists since 1969. The award lost me in 2014 when they removed the "Commonwealth" restriction - not to rant here but if I want to read American fiction I'll check out the Pulitzer. The blog morphed into a look at translated fiction, still with a focus on the prizes (the IFFP and BTBA mainly) and new releases. It's now got relevancy again with its naming via the "Booker" International Prize taking up the IFFP reigns.

I'm also from Melbourne Australia - AND called Tony - but I'm no teacher.

Occasionally I dabble in Australian fiction and sometimes poetry from award lists, just depends on how bogged down I've gotten with the translated world.

[Vilis]

Hey, I'm Vilis, and I'm a Latvian author/translator also moonlighting as a promoter of Latvian lit in English speaking countries. Because of this, I read more local stuff, especially lately, but apart from that my main reading interest is in translated fiction, with some sci-fi on the side, which is what I tend to translate more these days.

[Trevor]

Promote Latvian literature as much as you like here, Vilis!

[Ken]

Ken here. Followed Kris through the door because she's one smart cookie (as they used to say). I teach 8th grade English in Massachusetts and grew up reading classics (read: nerd). I've been working on reading more contemporary stuff over the years and have made inroads. This might help me further down that road. I'd have to look at a Man Booker list to see how many I've read. I'm sure there's one lying around here somewhere...

[Trevor]

Ken wrote: "I'd have to look at a Man Booker list to see how many I've read. I'm sure there's one lying around here somewhere... "

Got you covered here, Ken! Thanks for coming on board, and I look forward to hearing more about your favorite books!

[Ken]

Ah. I have read a few. Among the winners:

The Bone People, Keri Hulme
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
Life of Pi, Yann Martel
The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes



And among the runners-up:

The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
The Book of Evidence, John Banville
Reading Turgenev, William Trevor
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell


Not much, but something...

[Trevor]

Paul wrote: "The Goldsmiths Prize is by far my favourite of those..."

Paul, if you see this, could you let me know what the character of The Goldsmiths Prize is and why it's your favorite? It's a prize I've never followed, but I love your taste, so . . .

[Emma]

Hi all, I'm Emma. I'm a live in Support Worker in the UK. A great job as I help out a very independent couple who prefer to do as much as possible for themselves and this means I get to spend most of my days reading or studying. I was astonished in my interview to be asked whether I could entertain myself for most of my shift or if I'd get bored. My answer was that if I have my Kindle/good book, it would impossible. Apparently other people have left the job previously because they have too much time to fill. Not book lovers, clearly.

I think I saw this group through Trish or Jibran's posts and since my book resolution for 2016 was to expand my reading horizons, I joined right away. I haven't posted yet but I love the content. You group members have fascinating things to say. As for me, I will read almost anything, but I have to match it to my current mood. I'm always reading multiple books at a time so I can pick up whatever one I fancy at any given moment. I'm not a blogger, but I review everything I read. When I need something easy i usually go for crime fiction, but I intersperse it with more challenging reads. I did my MA in Classical Studies so I especially like works from the ancient world. Prize wise, I used to be a Waterstones bookseller (10 years) so I got into the habit of reading any big hit/bestseller book and most of the prize contenders so I could talk about them with customers. I tend to be more selective now but I always at least look at the lists.

Thanks for having me. Looking forward to speaking to you all.

[Trevor]

Thanks for joining, Emma! And what a wonderful job!

[James]

I'm James from New Jersey. I used the lurk on the old forum on the Booker site back in 2010, then followed on at the next iteration at Mookse and Gripes. And now I'm here, and I intend to post this time.

When I was a student in college back in the Spring of 2010 one of my professors approached me about joining a project he was putting together on the Booker prize. The idea was to get a group of 3 or 4 students together to read the longlist and write short papers on the books. The original idea was to have each student read the entire longlist, but he soon realized the logistical problems to that, so he settled on dividing the works between the students. That first year, it was me and one other student splitting the books 7-6, and I eventually read an eighth book when the other student didn't have time to finish it (it was the Finkler Question, and when I finished I told my professor "it was alright, but it won't win.")

(For anyone interested, you can find our work here https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?k... )

Since then I've followed along with the prize, and helped out reading and writing about the books for the project, both books assigned to me and books other students didn't finish.

So I look forward to contributing this year, and I'm quite pleased to see the forum pop up in a much more accessible format.

[Trevor]

Hi James -- did you by any chance comment on the old old Booker forum? Either way, wonderful to have you here!

Also, thanks for the link to your work. That's a fun project! I'll go through it, but I'm sure I'll have more questions! I used to read the shortlist, and then in 2008 I had the goal of reading the whole longlist. Whoops! My relationship with the Booker hasn't been the same since.

--------------------------------

Edit: I see the work is published and for sale! I might not be able to dive in, sadly, though I will keep it in mind as funds role in. I'd love to see the essays!

[James]

Understandable. Yea, I should've mentioned that the work is self-published. The delay on the next two years is just that he's still waiting on essays from students.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

I must admit that I wasn't familiar with the old forum, but some of my GR friends are already here, I have read all but 10 of the Booker winners and it looks like an interesting group. I'm just a reader with no ambition to be a writer or serious critic.

[Trevor]

Thanks for your introduction, Anya. I hope you'll keep us in the loop with these prizes and what you think of the books that show up on them -- I have not followed these particular prizes much in the past, though I'd like to hear more!

[Trevor]

That is so interesting, Anya. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to create a "Russian Book Prizes" thread and have you post these there. I'll create the thread now . . . beep, bop, blip.

Boom! Here it is!

If you'd like to copy and paste, we can carry on discussion there! Because of all of the interesting titles, of course, but also because:

4) Vladimir Dinets - "The Song of Dragons"
Apparently something about how crocodiles aren't scary at all, but they're just like people

[Paul]

Anya wrote "Chingiz Aitmatov

That is a new name for me. Any books that have been translated into English that you would recommend?

[Paul]

Anya wrote: "Paul wrote: "Anya wrote "Chingiz Aitmatov

That is a new name for me. Any books that have been translated into English that you would recommend?"

Yes, of course! Although "Djamilia" is easiest to ..."
Thanks - A Day Lasts Longer than 100 Years looks to be available in UK if a little pricey, so will get that.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Anya wrote: "Yes, of course! Although "Djamilia" is easiest to ..."
Sounds interesting - having had a quick look on Amazon it appears that the Aitmatov translations are quite old and are mostly only available second hand, but a name to keep an eye out for. One of my grandmothers was a Russian exile, but my knowledge of contemporary Russian writers is pretty poor.

[Amanda]

Hi Everyone - I'm Amanda. I just found this group through a goodreads friend. I love book prizes and the booker in particular.

My reading is very mixed. I read classics, literary fiction, SFF, YA, LGBTQ fiction. I love reading in groups and discussing books!

[Kazen]

Hello all! I've been lurking for a while but figured it's finally time to join the conversation. I'm Kazen, a Japanese⇔English medical interpreter in Japan. I discovered the BTBA last year and have been falling down the translated fiction rabbit hole ever since. I'm looking forward to chatting with everyone!

[Jen]

Hi everyone, my name is Jen. I'm a 42-yr old Canadian and as expected, a lover of good books. I joined a few weeks ago and have been familiarizing myself. I follow the Booker and Best Translated book awards, among others, and recognize some familiar 'faces' from other groups. I look forward to joining in the discussions.

[Tonymess]

I've been here for about 7-8 months, been a little silent as a lot of the debate simply doesn't interest me. I joined as a Shadow Jury Member for the Man Booker International Prize and as an avid reader of the Best Translated Book Award longlists too.

I have found that whilst a number of posts are stimulating, there is also an air of superiority here, self appointed judges of world literature and experts on every prize that happens to be in the news. As a result I end up infuriated more often than I end up enlightened.

That has left me with the only sensible decision, to leave the group.

Enjoy your chest beating, holier than thou attitudes, may it swell your egos, increase your literary learning and extend your health.

Au Revior.

[Trevor]

I hope people are always sensitive to kind, personable, and passionate debate here. I myself may not agree with all posts here but they do not leave me in a rage because I don't sense an air of superiority. Maybe I'm who pushed Tony, whose work I've followed for years, over the line, so I'm not cognizant of my own failings in making this a welcoming place. That said, I don't want anyone to change or feel a chilling effect just because Tony left in a blister. Carry on, be kind, but please tell us how you feel about books and prizes!

[Amanda]

Wow. Ok. I think this group is very welcoming and not at all arrogant. I don't have the same literary qualifications that a lot of you have but no one has ever made me feel inferior or unwanted. I really enjoy this group and am very glad I found you guys.

[Trudie]

Amanda wrote: "Wow. Ok. I think this group is very welcoming and not at all arrogant. I don't have the same literary qualifications that a lot of you have but no one has ever made me feel inferior or unwanted. I ..."

Agree with Amanda on this, I actually really enjoy we can all have different opinions and feel ok to voice those rather than just uniformly agree - where is the fun in that ?
The decision to feel inferior or infuriated over a post is entirely ones own but for my own part I am usually reading things in tones of friendly if sometimes strident debate rather than incredulous outrage ..
Which also makes me feel I should add that Trevor you are an excellent host and have always been very welcoming even when I first found you as a discussion board many Booker seasons ago....