21st Century Literature discussion

In case you missed it, here is the July 23 announcement of the Long List for the 2013 Man Booker Prize:

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news...

I put together the following Goodreads links for another group, so might as well share here as well.

** And bold indicates winner, announced 10/15/13.
* Indicates short listed. See message 11 below from Julia for more. Addendum entered 9/17/13, announced 9/10/13.

Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate)
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)*
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta)**
Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador)*
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman by Eve Harris (Sandstone Press)
The Kills by Richard House (Picador)
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)*
Unexploded by Alison MacLeod (Hamish Hamilton)
TransAtlantic by Colum McCann (Bloomsbury)
Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson (Mantle)
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)*
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan (Doubleday)
The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín (Viking)* -- already discussed by this group.

- See more at: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news...

See also: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/man-... (Shows book covers, has links to more information.)

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/ (added 12/3/13)

Ooo - thanks! I just saw an interview with Colum McCann last night, too. I'll have to check these out.

Hello. i have started the Testament of Mary and hope to read at least five in the list before the shortlist is announced.
Does anyone agree that the nomination of a man booker prize should be limited to Novels, rather than include Novellas?
I found it strange to have some books of one hundred or so pages competing with door stoppers.
To my recollection there was a big fuss about this som time ago regarding a Coetzee novella.
It would be interesting to hear your points of view on the matter!
Happy reading.
M

So what. If it is of high enough quality literature to make it through the vetting process, which appears to be rigorous, why the concern about length?

Just one opinion.

Now, some guidelines probably work as a first filter to ease the work of the judges. That's legitimate. Should one of those be length? If so, why?

I think "completeness" and "depth" are more important criteria than length, and I think Testimony of Mary qualifies on those grounds. Marella, be sure to look through the threads for the group's discussion of this book a few months back. I believe it was a very good discussion, and it had a link to an interview with the author that was well worth listening to.

Thank you. I shall. I find it hard to navigate Goodreads threads at times Even lost the thread of the September poll!

Found the thread. And the link to his podcast. Thanks!
Now digging into the next on my list. Had in mind the Kills until i saw that it runs to a thousand odd pages! Any suggestions?

The lowland. I think. Anyone read it yet. Love her work and that way i can fit in Life after Life as well, so as to join in the discussions on the September read. Happy reading!

So far, I've read the McCann, the Ozeki, the Toibin, and the Aw. I loved Five Star Billionaire and hope it makes the shortlist. The other three I felt ambivalent about it I know others have liked the McCann. I started but didn't finish the Crace.

I've started the Catton, lucky with an arc from NetGalley. I really loved her first novel but this one is much more on the historical fiction side and didn't grab me as immediately. The jury is still out.

I have the House and the Donal up to try next!

I am excited to read some of these and discuss them. Being from NZ I purchased The Luminaries almost immediately but it is finding time to read it. The Ozeki and the Crace have me intrigued also....it would be great for some of these to come up on the Group reading schedule ... ;)

Trudie wrote: "I am excited to read some of these and discuss them. Being from NZ I purchased The Luminaries almost immediately but it is finding time to read it. The Ozeki and the Crace have me intrigued also......"

Trudie -- I quite agree. It may be a statement re the group that The Testament of Mary has already been a selection!

Ah I see, sorry I am very new and not as clear yet on what has and has not come up as a group read !

Oh, how I too wish we could fit some of these onto the reading schedule! The unfortunate reality, though, is that we only have a finite number of reading slots, and an avalanche of literature from around the world vying for our attention.

Something to keep in mind is that we will be choosing our November read in about two weeks. That seems like the perfect time to get some of these Booker titles nominated in the open pick thread.

SO disappointed that the Tash Aw was omitted from the shortlist. I've read almost everything at this point and that was my favorite.

Julia wrote: "...However, my library cannot get it, and I can't find a copy to purchase. Any suggestions?..."

Julia -- if her web site has a reader response capability, you might try writing to it.

PS -- Julia, thx for your kind words. Yes, Trudie, Goodreads users are among the most helpful group of people with whom one can associate. In general, they are glad to aid a fellow reader, whether in navigating goodreads, or finding suggestions (a la the new thread on "where to start"), or figuring out how to use html options (click on upper right corner where post a note -- ask if need help), or....

A Tale for the Time Being is the one that jumps out as most appealing on a first glance through.

It's at times like these that I regret my strong preference for paperbacks...

It's been a long time since I have read Jim Crace ( Arcadia ) and it has been rumored this may be his last novel, so I am curious about Harvest.

What do you think (opening Man Booker to American authors)?

http://www.theguardian.com/books/book...

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013...

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013...

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/all-...

Is this a ploy for authors by UK publishers, since they will still provide the nominees?

Short listed We Need New Names is available for another hour or so on Amazon Kindle for $2.99. (9/20/13 PT)

I'm massively against. It sounds like the most terrible idea I've heard in a long time. There are plenty of prizes for US authors. It's not protectionism, it's lack of homogenousness [sp?]. It's having a specific field rather than just being broad. It will rob it of its tradition, of its place, and of its smallness and the ability for the judges to read it all. Why not just open the Orange prize to men and have done with it? [/rant]

Terry wrote: "Why not just open the Orange prize to men and have done with it?"

That certainly cuts to the quick of the matter. I love it...

The unfortunate aspect for me is that the US will still have the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner award - in short, a great many prizes limited to American writers. Ishiguro's comments might sound inclusive and altruistic at first blush, but they're worse than unhelpful when one considers all the major American literary awards which will never be open to other authors writing in English. I'm very much with Terry in considering this a shame.

Thank you for the information from Haynes, Julia. She does a great job of explaining why they chose to change the prize rules.

I'm going to hold judgment until we see next year's longlist. As an American, it seems that the Booker is the most talked about of the prizes. Sure, the Pulitzer and PEN/Faulkner are major awards, but the Booker Longlist and Shortlist really inspire conversation and debate. It's a bit like the Oscars, with people trying to read the shortlisted works before the winner is announced.

Will this change with the addition of US writers? No, not necessarily. But, will a publishing house feel the pressure to put forth a well-known and respected American author because they think it will do better than an unknown British author? And, really, will the limited spots do that for all authors? If you have a Byatt book versus a complete unknown, which will get submitted?

I am reading The Lowlandright now, have read all the rest of them with the exception of The Luminaries, which is not out in the states yet. I enjoyed all of them, so of those remaining I do not have a clear favorite. I read an article where Crace had said that this would be his last novel. He will be sticking to short stories in the future. I was very disappointed that TransAtlanticdid not make the short list because this was my clear favorite of the nominees.

I've been going back and tasting a few that didn't make the shortlist. I expected not to like The Unexploded, because I get to a saturation point with WW2 novels, but was surprised how much I got drawn into it. I'll keep going!

I have a review copy of the Catton and quit 85 pages in or so, but I keep thinking about trying a bit more.

"the US will still have the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner award - in short, a great many prizes limited to American writers"

This, squared.

We will see, of course, but definitely, if I wanted to know about the most prizeworthy US books (and Julia you make some good points about prizes, but to be honest I care a lot more about the short/long lists than about who wins it, myself -- these are useful guides to what's out there), then there are existing awards I can check out.

The published in the UK thing doesn't seem to mean a lot to me; if it's that level of quality to get near the shortlist, I'd imagine it would be likely to get there anyway.

Thanks, Julia, for posting Natalie Haynes' comments. That explained the thinking behind the shift quite well. Still not convinced, however.

I really enjoyed Harvest and recommend it to anyone who enjoys 'quiet' stories, or anything that conveys a strong connection to land. That's pretty vague, I guess. I'll recommend it to everyone! It's short, so either way it won't take long to read.

Somehow I'm still not convinced by the mouth piece pronouncements. I want to understand better the relationships of key U.S. publishers and British ones.

Many on line sources say Crace is the favorite to win. I enjoyed Harvest too.

Sorry I missed the announcement date (10/15/13) by so much:

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/man-...
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news