Category: Booker Prize

The Trees – Percival Everett

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In Money, Mississippi white folk suddenly start turning up dead, savagely beaten and with a black man’s body present, cradling the dead’s severed testicles. A satirical look at the US’s grim history of racial violence. ❝ The Trees is set in… Continue Reading “The Trees – Percival Everett”

Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan

READ FOR BOOKERTHON In New Ross, Ireland in 1985 a man named Bill Furlong works tirelessly delivering coal and firewood to the townsfolk, when he makes an unexpected discovery. A short book about community and complicity. ❝ As I got underway with Small Things Like… Continue Reading “Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan”

Glory – NoViolet Bulawayo

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Glory is an Orwellian retelling of Zimbabwe’s political history. It centers around the unexpected fall of Old Horse, a long-serving leader of a fictional country. Told via anthropomorphised animals there is much drama, humour and colourful observations. ❝ Glory is a… Continue Reading “Glory – NoViolet Bulawayo”

At Night All Blood is Black – David Diop

READ FOR BOOKCLUBChosen by Rachel ❝ Alfa and his ‘more than brother’ Mademba are Senglese, fighting for the French in World War I. Seen as ‘chocolate soldiers’ they are considered able to scare the life out of the enemy. After Mademba is fatally wounded… Continue Reading “At Night All Blood is Black – David Diop”

2021 Booker

⫸ There are many safety nets which we turn to in a time of ongoing global uncertainty, and one of them is the search for the truth. Opinions of experts and everyday people, the reliability of data and keeping up to date with what… Continue Reading “2021 Booker”

Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead

READ FOR BOOKERTHON The story of daredevil female aviator Marian Graves and her plans to circumnavigate the globe. Marian and Jamie Graves are rescued as infants from a sinking ocean liner in 1914, then raised by their uncle in Montana. After encountering a pair… Continue Reading “Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead”

Bewilderment – Richard Powers

READ FOR BOOKERTHON An astrobiologist helps his neuro-divergent son understand our beautiful, imperilled planet Theo Byrne is an astrobiologist looking for life in space while also caring for his behaviourally challenged son, Robin. Theo’s wife, an environmental activist, has died in a car crash… Continue Reading “Bewilderment – Richard Powers”

The Promise – Damon Galgut

READ FOR BOOKERTHON The lives and deaths of a white South African family, and a promise made to their black housekeeper When Rachel, a 40-year-old white South African dies in 1986, her country is transitioning out of apartheid. The subsequent decline of the family… Continue Reading “The Promise – Damon Galgut”

The Fortune Men – Nadifa Mohamed

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Set in 1952 in Cardiff, The Fortune Men details the real events surrounding the wrongful imprisonment of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali seaman. False witness accounts and racist policing led to him being found guilty of the murder of a local shopkeeper. In prison… Continue Reading “The Fortune Men – Nadifa Mohamed”

A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam

READ FOR BOOKERTHON Sri Lankan man Krishnan receives two messages, the first informing him his grandmother’s caretaker Rani has died, found in the bottom of a well with her neck broken. The second is from Anjum an activist Krishnan loved years ago, which stirs… Continue Reading “A Passage North – Anuk Arudpragasam”