CanadianContent discussion

There is going to be a Golden Man Booker Prize this year, with judges choosing a winner from each decade of the last 50 years and then the public voting to choose the best of these.

Here's the full list...of the ones you've read, which one would you like to see win the Golden award?

1969 P. H. Newby
Something to Answer For

1970 Bernice Rubens
The Elected Member

1970
J. G. Farrell
Troubles

1971 V. S. Naipaul
In a Free State

1972 John Berger
G.

1973 J. G. Farrell
The Siege of Krishnapur

1974 Nadine Gordimer
The Conservationist

Stanley Middleton
Holiday

1975 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Heat and Dust

1976 David Storey
Saville

1977 Paul Scott
Staying On

1978 Iris Murdoch
The Sea, the Sea

1979 Penelope Fitzgerald
Offshore

1980 William Golding
Rites of Passage

1981 Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children

1982 Thomas Keneally
Schindler's Ark

1983 J. M. Coetzee
Life & Times of Michael K

1984 Anita Brookner
Hotel du Lac

1985 Keri Hulme
The Bone People

1986 Kingsley Amis
The Old Devils

1987 Penelope Lively
Moon Tiger

1988 Peter Carey
Oscar and Lucinda

1989 Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day

1990 A. S. Byatt
Possession

1991 Ben Okri
The Famished Road

1992 Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient

Barry Unsworth
Sacred Hunger

1993 Roddy Doyle
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

1994 James Kelman
How Late It Was, How Late

1995 Pat Barker
The Ghost Road

1996 Graham Swift
Last Orders

1997 Arundhati Roy
The God of Small Things

1998 Ian McEwan
Amsterdam

1999 J. M. Coetzee
Disgrace

2000 Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin

2001 Peter Carey
True History of the Kelly Gang

2002 Yann Martel
Life of Pi

2003 DBC Pierre
Vernon God Little

2004 Alan Hollinghurst
The Line of Beauty

2005 John Banville
The Sea

2006 Kiran Desai
The Inheritance of Loss

2007 Anne Enright
The Gathering

2008 Aravind Adiga
The White Tiger

2009 Hilary Mantel
Wolf Hall

2010 Howard Jacobson
The Finkler Question

2011 Julian Barnes
The Sense of an Ending

2012
Hilary Mantel
Bring Up the Bodies

2013
Eleanor Catton
The Luminaries

2014
Richard Flanagan
The Narrow Road to the Deep North

2015
Marlon James
A Brief History of Seven Killings

2016
Paul Beatty
The Sellout

2017
George Saunders
Lincoln in the Bardo

I loved The Ghost Road by Pat Barker. Also Possession would be a contender for me.

This sounds very cool.

I've read these 23. I would have a hard time choosing the best one.

1974 Nadine Gordimer
The Conservationist

1978 Iris Murdoch
The Sea, the Sea

1981 Salman Rushdie
Midnight's Children

1983 J. M. Coetzee
Life & Times of Michael K

1984 Anita Brookner
Hotel du Lac

1989 Kazuo Ishiguro
The Remains of the Day

1990 A. S. Byatt
Possession

1995 Pat Barker
The Ghost Road

1996 Graham Swift
Last Orders

1998 Ian McEwan
Amsterdam

1999 J. M. Coetzee
Disgrace

2000 Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin

2001 Peter Carey
True History of the Kelly Gang

2002 Yann Martel
Life of Pi

2005 John Banville
The Sea

2008 Aravind Adiga
The White Tiger

2010 Howard Jacobson
The Finkler Question

2011 Julian Barnes
The Sense of an Ending

2013
Eleanor Catton
The Luminaries

2014
Richard Flanagan
The Narrow Road to the Deep North

2015
Marlon James
A Brief History of Seven Killings

2016
Paul Beatty
The Sellout

2017
George Saunders
Lincoln in the Bardo

Contenders for me would be:

Paddy Clarke HA HA HA, Possession and Brief History of 7 Killings

Have on my TBR pile: The Sellout , Wolf Hall, Bring up the bodies, Blind Assassin

Hated: Remains of the Day and The Lumineries (400 pages longer than it needed to be)

Oh wow, Rainey, Remains of the Day and The Luminaries were 2 of my favorites. Vive la difference in taste :-). I started Wolf Hall and couldn't get past the first chapter so I didn't even try Bring up the Bodies. I pretty much have all the others that I haven't read on my TBR pile.

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It's easier to find those I disliked rather than liked from the list. My dislikes were Midnight's Children, The Sellout and Lincoln in the Bardo.

Neat idea! I should read more of them, too.

I particularly enjoyed:
- Offshore
- The Remains of the Day
- The English Patient (although would have to re-read now I'm not 20 anymore!)
- The True History of the Kelly Gang
- The Line of Beauty
- The Sense of an Ending
- The Ghost Road

Hmm, a lot are still on my TBR list but the one standing out at this second would be Midnight's Children. I really enjoyed it.

I clearly have more reading to do as I have only read:

1992 Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient

1999 J. M. Coetzee
Disgrace

2002 Yann Martel
Life of Pi

2011 Julian Barnes
The Sense of an Ending

Of those 4, I would pick the English Patient although it has been a LONG time since I read it also.

I've read:
Moon Tiger / Oscar and Lucinda /Heat and Dust/The English Patient/Hotel du Lac /Last Orders/The Blind Assassin/Life of Pi
The White Tiger/The God of Small Things/Vernon God Little
Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies

and started but didn't finish Midnight's Children/ The Luminaries and Lincoln in the Bardo

Of these, I'd have to say Wolf Hall was the real winner for me. But the funny thing is that the books on the list that I've read are not my favourites for each of the authors. I liked many Atwoods more than Blind Assassin, liked George Saunder's short stories way way more than Lincoln etc.

I have not listened to this yet but from CBC Books: http://www.cbc.ca/books/golden-man-bo...

Perhaps it is time for a reread of The English Patient

http://www.cbc.ca/books/michael-ondaa...

Edited to add that there is a link to vote for your favourite in the article above. Let's show our Canadian pride and vote!

I thought the Booker did a cumulative prize years ago and Midnight's Children was the winner. I have to have another look at that book some day because when I did read it it was like pulling teeth and it was a time when I forced myself to read a book to an end. I found incredibly tedious and I could never understand why people are so crazy about it. It's kept me from ever returning to Rushdie-that and his penchant for super models.

I love The English Patient and happily voted for it, although Wolf Hall is a very strong book as well. I've read those two plus Lincoln in the Bardo (which I also liked) from the Golden Booker nominees.

Alan, I've owned Midnight's Children for ages and recently pulled it off my shelves because Rushdie will be at a book festival I'm attending in August - and I've never managed to read him. There is something daunting about that book, and to be honest I'm not sure if I'll get to it before the festival.

Alan, good to know I'm not alone in finding Midnight's Children bloated and tedious. I did like Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories but it's the only one of his books I've made it through.

Susan, I voted for English Patient too even though I actually did like Wolf Hall better. Hilary Mantel is a writing goddess, IMHO.

I wish Mantel would hurry up with the final book in the Cromwell trilogy. The first two were so good.

Me too.

Definitely time for a reread of The English Patient, winner of the Golden Man Booker Prize: http://www.cbc.ca/books/michael-ondaa...

Wonderful news!

I am so excited about this news!! I absolutely LOVED The English Patient!

Thanks for posting Susan. What wonderful and well-deserved news for Michael Ondaatje.

I have never read this book because I really did not like the movie,
Maybe I should give the book a chance.

I just really didn't like this book at all.

Me neither....

Yay!! Love it or hate it the book, the announcement of The English Patient as the recent Golden Booker Selection for the favourite Man Booker in the last 50 years by a literary judging panel with reader input is cause for celebration in Canada - particularly in an on-line group like Canada Content that focuses on Canadian literature. It certainly says a lot about the high quality of writing in Canada and the support that Canadian writers are provided by governments and non-for-profit organizations in Canada.

Sold MJ. Great points. I've put off reading this book for years because almost everyone whose opinion I trust failed to enjoy it. I guess it's time I make up my own mind.

Anyone read any of these books that Ondaatje recommends? http://www.cbc.ca/books/michael-ondaa...

I haven't read the Townsend-Warner letters yet but her Lolly Willowes is one of my favourite novels ever.

For anyone interested the following link provides a number of recommendations for underrated classics (as well as a few comments about overrated books) by primarily British former Man Book Award Winners:

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/pu...

Thanks MJ. I loved this from Anne Enright: "After #MeToo whole genres are starting to seem less vital, for being honest in the wrong way. There is, for example, the male genre called “I am a bastard and it makes me sad, but boy do I get laid”. Plenty of boastful, damaged men spring to mind."