2017 Rathbone Folio Prize

[Paul]

The shortlist for the relaunched Rathbone Folio Prize is now out

The Vanishing Velázquez: A 19th Century Bookseller’s Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece by Laura Cumming
The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between by Hisham Matar
This Census-Taker by China Miéville
The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
Golden Hill by Francis Spufford
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War
by Robin Yassin-Kassab & Leila Al-Shami

[Paul]

Mixed views on this.

On the plus side it is a strong list. If someone only wanted to read 8 books published in the UK in the last year and they chose this list to read then they would get a great overview of the best of writing (more so than any other award shortlist I suspect).

And it is great to see a writer like China Miéville, one of the UKs most innovative writers and usually unfairly pigeonholed (including by me!) as genre, appearing alongside more typical literary fiction prize winners. And the inclusion of a non-fiction book on the complexities of the Syrian situation is particularly timely.

But I like awards to also point me in the direction of great new books I might not otherwise have read, and here it is a let down. This is instead more of a something of a best-off-other-awards list: we have, inter alia, two Bailey's shortlistees, the Costa First Novel winner, a Booker shortlistee, the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism, a James Tait Black Memorial Prize Nominee, a Giller Prize winner, a book from the record three-time Arthur C Clarke Prize winner, a Costa Biography prize nominee etc.

[James E.]

I have only read "The Return", which I thought was well written and deeply moving in the way the public and private tragedy of Libya's recent history fuse on the telling of the story.

[Tamara]

I just finished Golden Hill by Francis Spufford on the list. A delightful book--one of the best I've read.

From my 5-star review on goodreads:

A wonderful combination of adventure, mystery, humor, historical authenticity, and social commentary flavored with scintillating dialogue, well-developed characters, and a charming hero, all of which are deliciously wrapped in a package of well-written 18th century diction.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...