Category: Booker Prize

Disgrace – J M Coetzee

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Rachel A South African professor loses everything and takes refuge on his daughter’s farm on the Eastern Cape as he seeks redemption.  ♥ “David Lurie is a disgraced professor who leaves behind his university and city life in Capetown… Continue Reading “Disgrace – J M Coetzee”

Atonement – Ian McEwan

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy A girl’s half-innocent mistake ruins the lives of those around her, and she spends the rest of her life attempting to atone. The mistake comes in the form of viewing her 9-year-old cousin being assaulted and making presumptions on who… Continue Reading “Atonement – Ian McEwan”

2007 Bookerthon

In 2007 we began our Bookerthon journey. We’d kept up to date with Man Bookers of the past and we’d shared thoughts and comments. In 2007 there were a couple of attractions to the shortlist. First of all Lloyd Jones, a New Zealander, featured… Continue Reading “2007 Bookerthon”

On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In this novella a newly married couple reflect on their pasts and as a result question their marriage while honeymooning on Chesil Beach. ⚈ “The opening line of On Chesil Beach sums up the rest of the content: ‘They were young, educated,… Continue Reading “On Chesil Beach – Ian McEwan”

Mister Pip – Lloyd Jones

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In the world of Mister Pip, reading Dickens represents salvation for a community ravaged by conflict. ⚈ “Lloyd Jones’s novel is set in a village on the Papua New Guinean island of Bougainville during the 1990s civil war. Jones covered it as… Continue Reading “Mister Pip – Lloyd Jones”

Darkmans – Nicola Barker

READ FOR BOOKERTHON A jester haunts this book, possessing the characters at inconvenient moments. They are a collection of interesting folk living in Ashby, England. An erratic, embitted old man; a drug dealer; a chiropodist with mysterious bruises; a man with schizophrenia; a boy building… Continue Reading “Darkmans – Nicola Barker”

Animal’s People – Indra Sinha

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In 1984 Union Carbide released 40 tonnes of lethal gas from its pesticide factory into the city of Bhopal in India, killing thousands and contaminating drinking water. Indra Sinha writes of this atrocity in Animal’s People, replacing Bhopal with the fiction city… Continue Reading “Animal’s People – Indra Sinha”

The Gathering – Anne Enright

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Liam Hegarty has drowned himself a river. He is one of 12 siblings who all like to drink, though he was afflicted more than the rest. His family, a large, Irish kin, come together for the funeral. His sister Veronica narrates events,… Continue Reading “The Gathering – Anne Enright”

The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Over one night, a Pakistani man tells an American stranger about his love affair with a woman and his forced abandonment of America post 911. The resulting chaos of 911, especially for men of his ethnicity, causes Changez to abandon his wish… Continue Reading “The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid”

The People’s Act Of Love – James Meek

READ FOR BOOKCLUB Chosen by Suzy A renegade Czech army unit is stranded in a community of religious fanatics in a small, remote town in Siberia.  ⚈ “The People’s Act of Love is set in 1919 in Yasyk, Siberia, a small town on the… Continue Reading “The People’s Act Of Love – James Meek”