2020 Goldsmiths Prize Shortlist Dynamic Rankings

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Dynamic Rankings
The idea of dynamic rankings is to provide a measure of the collective opinion of the group on the relative merits of the books on a list. This is not intended to have any great significance or scientific value, and the more members participate, the more interesting the tables get. Please don't see this as a competition - there are always some people who aim to read a whole list and others who are happy just to sample one or two. To participate, just list the books in order of preference (best first). You can number them if you like, if not we will assign the first book 1, second 2, third 3 etc. Please do not include books that you have not started reading.

In order to make it easier for us to collate the numbers for the league tables, please try to stick to one post per member (you can use edit comment to update your lists) and refrain from general chat.

These are the shortlisted books:

Bina: A Novel in Warnings by Anakana Schofield

The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffey


Meanwhile in Dopamine City by D.B.C. Pierre

A Lover's Discourse by Xiaolu Guo


Mr Beethoven by Paul Griffiths

The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison

[Hugh, Active moderator]

League Tables

My adjusted weightings method:

Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Mr Beethoven by Paul Griffiths, 1.50, 0.68, 6, 5, 0.32
2, The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison, 2.67, 1.67, 3, 0, 0.30
3, The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey, 2.67, 2.25, 6, 1, 0.65
4, Bina by Anakana Schofield, 3.60, 2.74, 5, 0, 0.69
5, A Lover's Discourse by Xiaolu Guo, 4.00, 3.08, 4, 0, 0.64
6, Meanwhile in Dopamine City by D.B.C. Pierre, 5.50, 4.73, 4, 0, 0.93

Paul-style aggregate of comparisons

Pos, Book, Average, Relative ranking, Count, First Places
1, Mr Beethoven by Paul Griffiths, 1.50, 16, 6, 5
2, The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey, 2.67, 6, 6, 1
3, The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison, 2.67, 5, 3, 0
4, A Lover's Discourse by Xiaolu Guo, 4.00, -5, 4, 0
4, Bina by Anakana Schofield, 3.60, -5, 5, 0
6, Meanwhile in Dopamine City by D.B.C. Pierre, 5.50, -17, 4, 0

[Hugh, Active moderator]

1 Mr Beethoven
2 A Lover's Discourse
3 The Mermaid of Black Conch
4 Bina
5 Meanwhile in Dopamine City

Links are to my reviews

[Robert]

1. Mr. Beethoven
2. Mermaid of Black Conch

[Paul]

1. Mermaid of Black Conch
2. Bina
3. The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again
4. Mr Beethoven
5. A Lover's Discourse
6. Meanwhile in Dopamine City

top 4 would be worthy winners and I could easily swap the order (have based it on my pre-prize rankings of books)

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

1 Mr Beethoven
2 Mermaid of Black Conch
3 The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again
4 A Lover's Discourse
5 Meanwhile in Dopamine City
6 Bina

[Neil]

1. Mr Beethoven
2. The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again
3. The Mermaid of Black Conch
4. Bina
5. A Lover's Discourse
6. Meanwhile in Dopamine City

The Mermaid... is probably a better book than this makes it look like. It just seems to be on the wrong prize list.

[Ang]

1. Mr Beethoven
2. Bina

5. The Mermaid of Black Conch