Category: booker

book booty

~ winstonsdad ~ 6 Comments
book booty

yesterday i went to my local book sale at the church hall not been for a month so thought there may be some new items and there was  here is what i got –

  • hotel du lac by Anita Brookner – don’t know a lot about this other than it won the booker in 1984 ,i want to broaden the amount of female writers i read and this seems to fit that category .
  • Montaigne ,his essays – after hearing Rob at Rob around books wax lyrical about this and the Sarah Bakewell autobiography I decide to see what the fuss was about and this seemed a nice primer for that .
  • after Hannibal by Barry Unsworth – on the whole i m not a big fan of historic type fiction ,Barry Unsworth has done well in booker and the synopsis on the back of this novel sold it to me .
  • along came Dylan by Stephen Foster – i read the first book Stephen wrote about Ollie so when saw this it was a must buy for me ,i like real life dog stories hence my blog name Winston is my beautiful dog .watching Marley and me on the tv made me want a new dog book to read .
  • bound for glory by Woody Guthrie -I m fan of Woody’s music having got in to him via Billy Bragg and Dylan  .I knew about this book and would have got it at some point ,it follows woody through the depression and dust bowls across america .
  • night at the circus by Angela Carter – hands up never read her so got this to make up for that .

not bad for two-pound hey !

In the post

~ winstonsdad ~ 3 Comments
SOLAR

 This came Wednesday to me via the lovely Sarah at bookrabbit .This already is probably the most talked about book of the year so far ,McEwan seems to polarize opinion in people ,i personally am on the fence regarding him having read two of his books loved one and was disappointed with the other so i am coming to this with an open mind .This will be a booker contender for sure and will probably be on the longlist ,if last year was a mainly female booker  this year is going be a male list some contenders already out in my humble opinion .

  • Peter Carey oliver and parrot in america
  • Alex Preston this bleeding city
  • Mike Thomas pocket notebook
  • Tim Pears landed
  • Yann Martell Beatrice and Virgil
  • David Mitchell the thousand autumns of Jacob De Zoet

To name a few ,a couple aren’t out yet but looking like a great year

50th post -20 great books for world book day

~ winstonsdad ~ 5 Comments

 As this is my fiftieth post on Winston’s dad and also world book day i ve decide to do a list of 20 books fiction and non fiction today is the 4th march is world book day 2010 all these books i have enjoyed and would recommend highly –

  1. the rings of Saturn by W G Sebald lyrical
  2. suite francaise by Irene Nemirovsky-french war
  3. the last testament of Oscar Wilde by Peter Ackroyd imagined truth
  4. encyclopaedia of snow by Sarah Emily miano-hidden gem
  5. Walden by Henry David Thoreau-american classic
  6. the rebel by Albert Camus-french classic
  7. notes from walnut tree farm by Roger Deakin-nature writing
  8. close range by Anne Proulx great american shorts
  9. Hercule Poirots christmas by Agatha Christie classic crime
  10. oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey-aussie classic
  11. hunger by Elise Blackwell-us modern classic
  12. the suspicions of mr whicher by Kate Summerscale-where crime fiction started
  13. white teeth by Zadie Smith-mordern british
  14. Brideshead revisited by Evelyn Waugh-british classic
  15. girlfriend in a coma by Douglas Coupland-modern american
  16. the book thief by Markus Zusak-thought provoking
  17. empire of the sun J G Ballard -wartime drama
  18. pride and prejudice by jane austen-classic
  19. famished road by Ben Okri-booker winner
  20. the restraint of beasts by Magnus Mills -funny

what our your favourite books ?

books books

book heaven

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

 Thought i d do a quick post about my book heaven well heavens really it is my local library system ,we have a great library in Chesterfield where you can always get one or two new gems that you’ve either seen on a blog or in a review .There is also a great on-line catalogue ,recent loans have been the Ali Shaw for the not the tv book club,Javier Marias and Manuel Puig all of  which i order for delivery to local library to me (Brimington library that is two mins walk from me) ,they usually take two to three days to be delivered from another library .they also got last years booker shortlist very quickly .

a picture of Chesterfield’s main library

Do you use your library ?

Bookered or not bookered

~ winstonsdad ~ 3 Comments

 The other day i was on jackie’s site farmlanebooks and read the booker challenge list although i haven’t time this year to take part I’ d thought i d note down the list and which i ve read and which i ve got to read .

bold items read ,italic items on tbr pile .

1969.

P H Newby  something to answer for

Barry England  figures in the landscape

Nicholas mosley  impossible object

Iris murdoch the nic and the good

Muriel Sparks the public image

G.M Williams from scenes like these

1970.

Bernice Rubens the elected member

A L Barker John Browns body

Elizabeth Bowen Eva Trout

Iris Murdoch Bruno’s dream

William Trevor Mrs Eckdorf in O’Neil hotel

T w wheeler the conjunction

1971 .

V S Naipaul in a free state

Thomas Kilroy the big chapel

Doris Lessing breifing for a descent into hell

Mordecai Richler St Urbain’s horseman

Derek Robinson Goshawk squadron

Elizabeth Taylor Mrs Palfrey at claremont

1972.

John Berger G.

Susan Hill the bird of night

Thomas Keneally the chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

David Storey Passmore

1973.

J G Farrell the siege of Krishnapur

Beryl Banbridge the dressmaker

Elizabeth Mavor the green equinox

Iris Murdoch the black prince

1974.

Nadine Gordimer the conservationist

Stanley Middleton holiday

Kingsley Amis ending up

Beryl Bainbridge the bottle factory opening

C P Snow in their wisdom

1975.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala heat and dust

Thomas Keneally gossip fromthe forest

1976.

David Storey saville

Andre Bink an instant in the wind

R C Hutchinson rising

Brian Moore the doctor’s wife

Julian Rathbone king fisher lives

William Trevor  the children of Dynmouth

1977

Paul Scott staying on

Paul Bailey  Peter Smarts confessions

Caroline Blackwood Great Granny Webster

Jenifer Johnson shadows on our skin

Penelope Lively the road to Lichfield

Babara Pym quartet in autumm

1978.

Iris Murdoch the sea the sea

Kingsley Amis Jake’s thing

Andre Brink rumours of rain

Penelope Fitzgerald the bookshop

Jane Gardam gods on te rocks

Bernice Rebens a five year sentence

1979

Penelope fitzgerald offshore

Thomas Keneally confederates

V S Naipaul a bend in the river

Julian Rathbone Joseph

Fay Weldon praxis

1980 .

William Golding rites of passage

Anthony Burgess earthly powers

Anita Desai clear light of day

Alice Munro the beggar maid

Julia O’Faolain no country for young men

1981.

Salman Rushdie midnights children

Molly Keane good behaviour

Doris Lessing the Sirian experiments

Ian McEwan the comfort of strangers

Ann Schllee Rhine journey

Muriel Spark Loitering With intent

D.M.Thomas the white hotel

1982.

Thomas Keneally Schindlers ark

John Arden silence among the weapons

William Boyd an ice cream war

lawrence durrell constance or solitrary pratices

Alice Thomas Ellis the 27th kingdom

Timothy Mo sour sweet

1983.

J.M.Cotzee life&times of Michael K

Malcolm Bradbury rates of exchange

John Fuller flying to nowhere

Anita Mason the illusioniust

Salman Rushdie shame

Graham Swift waterlaznd

1984 .

Anita Brookner hotel du lac

J G Ballard empire of the sun

Julian Barnes  Flauberts parrot

Anita Desai in cutody

Penelope Lively according to Mark

David Lodge small world

1985.

Keri Hulme the bone people

Peter Carey illywhaker

J L Carr the battle of Pollocks crossing

Doris Lessing the good terrorist

Jan Morris letter to Hav

Iris Murdoch the good apprentice

1986.

Kingsley amis the old devils

Magret Attwood the handmaidens tale

Paul Bailey Gabriels Lament

Robertson Davies what’s bred in the bone

Kazuo Ishiguro  an artist of the floating world

Timothy Mo an insular possession

1987.

Penelope Lively moon tiger

China Achebe anthills in the savannah

Peter Ackroyd Chatterton

Nina Bawden circles of decit

Brian Moore the colour of blood

Iris Murdoch the book and the brotherhood

1988.

Peter Carey Oscar and Lucinda

Bruce Chatwin Utz

Penelope Fitzgerald The beginning of spring

David Lodge nice work

Salman Rushdie the santanic verses

Mariner Warner the lost father

1989.

Kauzo Ishiguro the remains of the day

Magert Attwood cat’s eye

John Banville the book of evidence

Sybille Bedford jigaw

James Kelman a disaffection

Rose tremain restoration

1990.

A S Byatt possesion  a romance

Beryl Banbridge an awfully big adventure

Penelope fitzgerald the gates of angels

John McGahern amongst women

Brian Moore life of silence

Mordecai richler Solomon Gursky was here

1991.

Ben Okri Famished Road

Martin Amis times arrow

Roddy Doyle the van

Rohinton Mistry such a long journey

Timothy Mo the redundacy of courage

William trevor reading turgenev from two lives

1992.

michael ondaatje the english patient

Barry Unsworth sacred heart

Christopher Hope serenity house

Patrick McCabe the butcher boy

Ian McEwan black dog

Michele Roberts daughters of the house

1993 .

Roddy Doyle Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Michael Ignatieff scar tissue

David Malouf remembering babylon

Caryl Phillips  crossing the river

Carol Shields the stone diares

1994.

James Kelman how late it was how late

Romesh Guesekera reef

Abdlulrazak Gurnah pardise

Alan Hollinghurst folding star

George Mackay brown beside the ocean of time

Jill Paton Walsh knowledge of angels

1995.

Pat Barker ghost road

Justin cartwright in every face i meet

Salman Rushdie the moors last sight

Barry Unsworth Morality play

Tim Winton riders

1996.

Graham Swift last orders

Magaret Attwood alias grace

Beryl Banbridge every man for himself

Sezmus Deane reading in the dark

Shena Macksy the orchard on fire

Rohinton Mistry a fine balence

1997

arundhati roy the god of small things

Jim Grace quaratine  

Mick Jackson the underground man

Bernard MacLaverty grace notes

Tim Parks europa

Madelin st John the essence of the thing

1998.

Ian McEwan amsterdam

Julian Barnes England ,England

Martin Booth the industry of souls

Patrick McCabe breakfast on pluto

Magnus Mills the restraint of beasts

1999.

J.MCotzee disgrace

Anita Desai fasting,feasting

Michael Frayn headlong

Andrew O’Hagan our fathers

Ahdaf Soueif the map of love

Colm Tobin the blackwater lightship

2000.

Maragaret Attwood the blind assassin

Trezza Azzopardi the hiding place

Kauzo Ishiguro when we were orphans

michael colins the keepers of truth

Mathew Kneale English passengers

Brain O’Doherty the depostion of father McGreevey

2001.

Peter carey the true history of the kelly gang

Ian McEwan attonement

Andrew Miller oxygen

David mitchell number9dream

Rachel Seiffert the dark room

ali smith hotel world

2002.

Yann Martel life of pi

Rohinton Mistry family matters

Carol shields unless

William Trevor the story of Lucy Gaunt

Sarah Water fingersmith

Tim Winton dirt music

2003.

D.B.C.Piere veron god little

Monica Ali brick lane

Margaret Attwood onyx and crake

Damon Galgut the good doctor

Zoe Heller notes on a scandel

Clare Morrall astonishing Splashes of colour

2004.

Alan Hollinghurst the line of beauty

Achmat Dangor bitter fruit

Sarah Hall the electric michelangelo

David Mitchell  cloud atlas

Colm Tobin the master

Gerald woodward i ll go to bed at noon

2005

John Banville the sea

Julian Barnes Arthur and George

Sebastian Barry a long long way

Kazuo Ishiguro never let me go

Ali Smith the accidential

Zadie Smith on beauty

2006.

Kiran Desai the inheirtance of loss

Kate Grenville the secret river

M J Hyland carry me down

HishamMatar in the country of men

Edward st Aubyn mothers milk

Sarah Waters nightwatch

2007

Anne Enright the gathering #

nicola Barker darkmans

Mohsin Hamid the reluctant fundamentalist

Ian McEwan on chesil beach

Lloyd Jones mister Pip

Indra Sinha animal’s people

2008

Aravind Adiga the white tiger

Sebastina Barry the secret scripture

Amitav Ghosh sea of popies

Linda Grant the clothes of their back

Philip Hensher the northern clemency

Steve Tolz a fraction of the whole

2009.

Hilary Mantel wolf hall

A.S byatt childrens book

J.M.Cotzee summertime

Adam Foulds the quickening maze

Simon Mawer the glass room

Sarah Waters the little stranger

list so far for around world in 52 books

~ winstonsdad ~ 7 Comments

here’s the books so far no order

1.A winter book by Tove Jansson (finland)

2.The siege by Ismail Kadare (albania)

3.Artic chill by Arnaldur Indridason (iceland)

4.Cafe europa by Slavenka Drakulic (croatia)

5.The witches of portobello by Paulo Coellol(brazil)

6.The harmony silk factory by Tash Aw (malaysia)

7.The unnamed by Joshua Ferris(U.S)

8.The women and the ape by Peter Hoeg (denmark)

9.Blueprint for a prophet by Carl Gibeily (lebanon)

10.Zlatas diary by Zlata flipovic (bosnia)

11.Popular music by Mikael Niemi (sweden)

12.The bad girl by Mario Vargas Llosa(peru)

13.My life as a fake by Peter Carey (australia)

14.Autonauts of the cosmoroute by julio cortazar (argentine)

15.Potiki by Patricia Grace (new zealand)

16.2666 by Roberto Bolano (chile)

17.An African in Greenland by Tete -michel Kpomassie (togo)

18.Fado by andrzej stasiuk (poland)

19.Penguin lost by Andrey Kurkov (ukraine)

20.The passport by Herta Muller (romania)

21.Divisadero by Michael ondaatje (canda)

22.Senselessness by H.C Mayo (el salvador)

22.The carpenters pencil by Manuel Rivas (spain)

23.The intergation J.M.G Le Clezio (france)

24.Snow by Orhan Pamuk (turkey)

25.Intimate stranger by Bryten Brytenbach 9south africa)

26.Dream story by Arthur Schnitzler (austria)

27.Tranquility by Attila Bartis (hungray)

28.Wonder by Hugo Claus (beligum)

29.The eagles throne by Carlos Fuentes (mexico)

30.From the diary of a snail by Gunter Grass (germany)

31.The leopard by Tomasi Di Lampedusa (italy)

32.Tales from firozsha baag by Rohinton Mistry(india)

33.My fathers war by Adriaan Van Dis (netherlands)

34.Balzac and the little chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie(china)

35.The boat by Nam Le (vietnam)

36.The master and margarita(russia)

37.Collected stories by Gabiel Garcia Marquez (colombia)

38.Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga(zimbabwe)

39.The blind owl by Sadeq Hedayat (iran)

40.The Dalkey archive by Flann O Brien(ireland)

41.Tales of freedom by Ben Okri(nigeria)

42.First as tragedy,then as farce by Slavoj Zizek(Slovenia)

43.The belly of the atlantic by Fatou Diome(sengal)

44.A bend in the river by V.S Naipaul(Trinidad)

45.Awild sheep chase by Haurki Murkami(Japan)

46.The patience stone by Atiq Rahmi(afghanistan)

47.The snowman by jo nesbo(norway)

48.Brecht at night by Mati Unt(estonia)

49.Brokem Glass by Alain mabanckou(congo)

50.sleepwalking by  Mia Couto (mozambeque)

thats it so far need 11 more hope to get them by end of january

the glass room by Simon Mawer

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the glass roomyet another from this years booker shortlist ,this actually the first i read .the book is mainly set in the glass room a modernist house in the czech republic .i felt this work better as using a building as the main plotline for a book than alaa al awany the yacobian building . the story covers the peroid from the 30’s to modern day most of the action happening before and during the second world war .Maybe using the glass room is a good way at putting a spot light on the peroid and visualizing one small part of a large story like a magnifing glass .this was mawers eigth novel and shows a writer that is slowly growing in to a great writer

Summertime by J m Coetzee

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summertimeThis is one of the six books to make the booker shortlist .This is by two timer winner and nobel prize winner J M coetzee going for a hatrick of bookers . The premise of the book is a journalist going round interview former friends of coetzee in the seventies , and that coetzee himself is now dead .This could quite easily turn in to a piece ego massage luckily it dosen t as the person that comes through as coetzee through the interviews isn t always a likeable person ,it’s hard to learn anything new about the famous shy coetzee a man who tends not to talk about his fiction .this is the third of a trilogy of which the first two i ve not read ,so could only judge on this book which i found a little frustarting as the line between fact and fiction is blurred and can make the reader confused .maybe coetzee should have written a book about a fictional writer and a autobiography about himself

booker shortlist

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yesterday saw the booker 2009 shortlist announced

A.S Byatt  the childrens book

Adam Foulds the quickening maze

J.M. Coetzee summertime

Hilary Mantel wolf hall

Sarah Waters the little stranger

Simon Mawer the glass room

    the list seems to have a lot of faction books this year and you could ask is coetzee really biography ,so far i ve read the glass room which i loved ,but to be fair am going to read the rest before saying who i want to win this year ,shame to see William Trevor miss the cut love and summer is a sweet book 50s ireland. i ve put a link to each writers wikiepdia page .

breath by tim winton

~ winstonsdad ~ 2 Comments

 

Is a book set in australia ,following the teenager piklet and his coming of age .a lot of the story surrounds water and surfing trying to catch the next big wave on dangerous breaks ala laird hamilton ,with his older friend loonie the local publician son that his strict paarents disapprove of  and sando a older surfer .as the tale unfolds the story takes a unexpect twist as piklets is left alone with sandos partner eva ,while sando and loonie abandon piklet to roam the world in search of breaks .this novel is fast moving and a true coming of age tale in the tradition of catcher in the rye or the graduate breath