The 2015 Booker Prize- A Deep Dive and Review
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 07. 2024
- Hello everyone! It's Bob here, and I wanted to do a throwback and deep dive into the shortlist for the 2015 Booker Prize, and my personal choices for the winner!
This is all part of my (foolhardy) decision to read all of the novels shortlisted for The Booker Prize over its 50+ years. Please recommend what year you would like me to do next, and I hope you enjoy the video!
My Blog: thebookerer.wordpress.com/202...
Goodreads: / bob-hughes
Support your local independent bookshops: uk.bookshop.org/
My wonderful local bookshop in Crystal Palace: booksellercrow.co.uk/
Queer Book Box- Monthly LGBTQ+ Book Subscription: qbb.subbly.me?r=135904&s=7191
---
Books Mentioned:
2015 List:
Marlon James- A Brief History of Seven Killings
Tom McCarthy- Satin Island
Chigozie Obioma- The Fishermen
Sunjeev Sahota- The Year of the Runaways
Anne Tyler- A Spool of Blue Thread
Hanya Yanigahara- A Little Life
Other Books Mentioned:
Tom McCarthy- C
Chigozie Obioma- The Orchestra of Minorities
Ben Okri- Famished Road - Zábava
I've only recently become aware of the Booker Prize, since watching Eric Karl Anderson's channel. I never used to pay any attention to book prizes, but I'm interested now. Your reading project is ambitious and I'm here for your videos about the prize books.
Escape now before it’s too late! Haha, no honestly, it’s a great prize, and Eric’s channel is bloody brilliant!
And thank you so much! Definitely an ambitious goal (I normally go with ‘foolish’) but it’s fun and I’m glad I’m doing it!
Add me to the list of people baffled by Satin Island, Zadie recommendation notwithstanding.
I've read 5 of the six books on the 2015 shortlist. The exception is the Obioma book. I read An Orchestra of Minorities when it made the shortlist a couple of years later and I had such a terrible experience with it as a misanthropic bit of misery porn that I can't see myself going back and reading anything else.
The Year of the Runaways was pretty miserable also. A Spool of Blue Thread is lesser Tyler even during her late career slide. A Little Life is an exceptional book about friendship and kindness which I believe will long outlive Marlon James's strong winner.
Yeah, I got to the end of Satin Island and felt like I’d missed something major, but I’m almost not sure if that’s the point or not. Who knows.
Yeah, Orchestra of Minorities felt less successful to me than The Fishermen. I thought there were some successful moments in OoM, but it occasionally felt like it was too tied to The Odyssey, and then at times completely not wanting to be it.
Ahh, interesting. I haven’t read any earlier Anne Tyler, but a lot of people seem to adore her work, and I’ve not fully gotten on board the Tyler train yet. Any recommendations of better ones of hers?
A Little Life is one of those ones that I think I will want to come back to again in future (although I think I need a few years so I can be surprised by it again).
@@BobTheBookerer Tyler is a certified genius and is always a must read for me based on her earlier books. If you read any of Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, The Accidental Tourist or Breathing Lessons, you'll be a fan for life.
@@GuiltyFeat Ahh, amazing, thank you- I’ll check those out! I liked A Spool and The Redhead, but I did get the feeling that there must be something I was missing because I know a lot of people are huge fans of hers. I get the feeling that, had authors from the US been eligible for the Booker since the beginning, she’d be one of those writers, like Atwood, with a string of nominations under her belt.
@@BobTheBookerer 100% agree. Let me know how you get on, if you delve further into her back catalogue.
@@GuiltyFeat Will do, thank you! Just reserved those three books from my library- thanks for the recommendations!
The only book I've read on this list is A Little Life and I really loved it. I wanted to be more affected by it because everyone else seems to have been. But it was excellent in any case. I think the domestic violence scenes were the most difficult for me.
That absolutely makes sense- it’s quite divisive in that sense, but I totally get what you mean. I’m almost scared about re-reading it, because I’m worried I would react differently if I did. But those domestic violence scenes broke me- at one point, I just had to go and stare at a blank wall for a few minutes because it was a lot!
@@BobTheBookerer yes, they were intense.