The Man Booker Prize
October 9th 2006 07:34
The Man Booker Prize is probably the most prestigous of the various book prize competitions alive and kicking today. Whereas the Pulitzer is only available to Americans, and the Costa (previously the Whitbread) award is only for UK residents, the Man Booker prize covers denizens of the Commonwealth and Ireland... so that means the UK and Australia, plus various other members of the Commonwealth, and I think India is counted as well and maybe Canada. Amazing!
Anyway, this year's prize winner is due to be announced tomorrow. The shortlist is...
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
The Secret River - by Kate Grenville
Carry Me Down - M. J. Hyland
In the Country of Men - Hisham Matar
Mother's Milk - Edward St. Aubyn
The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
I haven't read any of them, I'm not even sure if they're all available in Australia at the moment, but I'm backing 'The Secret River' by Kate Grenville. Here's why...
1. It's Australian. Go you Aussies!
2. It's the only one of these books I've seen around in bookstores lately.
3. If you'll excuse the name-dropping - I met her once, she came and spoke to us in a tutorial at university. She didn't really seem like she wanted to be there at the time and she seemed a little awkward, I don't think I actually spoke to her, but I would like for her to win as then I could say to people 'I've met the Booker-prize winner' and her win would rub off on me indirectly cause then people would think I was awesome (well, more awesome than normal).
Apparently 'The Secret River' is about a man from England who gets transported to Australian in the early 19th century as a convict. He takes some land for himself but then finds there are aboriginals already living there.
The other books are...
'The Inheritance of Loss' - about a retired judge who lives in the Himalayas.
'Carry Me Down' - about a boy who can detect when people are lying. (This one sounds cool and might be worth checking out even if it doesn't win)
'In The Country of Men' - about some kid in Tripoli who's parents break up or something.
'Mother's Milk' - about a family breaking apart. (yawn)
'The Night Watch - about four post-war Londoners.
Tune in to Bookclub tomorrow (or the day after) for the winner!
Anyway, this year's prize winner is due to be announced tomorrow. The shortlist is...
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai.
Carry Me Down - M. J. Hyland
In the Country of Men - Hisham Matar
Mother's Milk - Edward St. Aubyn
The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
I haven't read any of them, I'm not even sure if they're all available in Australia at the moment, but I'm backing 'The Secret River' by Kate Grenville. Here's why...
1. It's Australian. Go you Aussies!
2. It's the only one of these books I've seen around in bookstores lately.
3. If you'll excuse the name-dropping - I met her once, she came and spoke to us in a tutorial at university. She didn't really seem like she wanted to be there at the time and she seemed a little awkward, I don't think I actually spoke to her, but I would like for her to win as then I could say to people 'I've met the Booker-prize winner' and her win would rub off on me indirectly cause then people would think I was awesome (well, more awesome than normal).
Apparently 'The Secret River' is about a man from England who gets transported to Australian in the early 19th century as a convict. He takes some land for himself but then finds there are aboriginals already living there.
The other books are...
'The Inheritance of Loss' - about a retired judge who lives in the Himalayas.
'Carry Me Down' - about a boy who can detect when people are lying. (This one sounds cool and might be worth checking out even if it doesn't win)
'In The Country of Men' - about some kid in Tripoli who's parents break up or something.
'Mother's Milk' - about a family breaking apart. (yawn)
'The Night Watch - about four post-war Londoners.
Tune in to Bookclub tomorrow (or the day after) for the winner!
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Comment by Keira
Keira's Blog
People post war - A kid with super powers
Families breaking up - A kid with super powers
Just weird...
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Chantal
Not sure about the Aussie one, tho. Do you think she was awkward-nervous or that she thought she was above it? Cos I dont respect people who think they're better than others just because they've had the good fortune to acheive their goals already!
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Little Angry Doll
Falling Haiku Leaf
Inner West Life