The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This topic is to discuss any of the 13 books that were longlisted for the 2006 Booker but missed the shortlist. They were:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan
So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
Gathering the Water by Robert Edric
Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson
Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer
Seven Lies by James Lasdun
The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr
The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth
The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

The only three that I have read are Black Swan Green, So Many Ways to Begin and Kalooki Nights. I am tempted to investigate some of the others but I am very unlikely to read all of them.

Only Black Swan Green for me - I did not quite work for me despite my love of David Mitchell (Paul will want to mention Radiohead at some point) but I know most Mitchell fans really like it.

I have just gone a little crazy on Abe Books and ordered all but one of the ones I haven't read - Lasdun doesn't sound like the sort of book that would interest me at all.

Good for you Hugh. Look forward to your reviews and rankings

It’s difficult to resist books at discount prices.

This is a looong Longlist

Long but not the longest!

I loved Black Swan Green, mostly because it strips out most of Mitchell's narrative trickery and just tells a very relatable human rites of passage story simply.
I also liked Kalooki Nights much more than The Finkler Question, perhaps because I wasn't expecting much of it - there is quite a lot of common ground between the two.
So Many Ways to Begin is McGregor's difficult second novel, and for me (and for once I may sound like Paul) it was over-long, rather depressing and outstayed its welcome. I should probably reread it - I might like it more now, but on first reading it was my least favourite McGregor by a distance.

That’s the only McGregor which has never appealed.

For me only Kalooki Night and Black Swan Green, both of which I though were poor by the author's standard and two star reads.

I don't think the 2006 judges and I share literary tastes.

Paul wrote: "For me only Kalooki Night and Black Swan Green, both of which I though were poor by the author's standard and two star reads.

I don't think the 2006 judges and I share literary tastes."

Your two star rating for the Lasdun was a factor in my decision not to include it in my order yesterday, so you must have tried to read it!

Ha! I seem to have read it in 2007. Rings no bells whatsoever.

A big box of 9 secondhand paperbacks arrived this morning - 8 from this longlist plus the last Melrose book At Last. The supplier cancelled my order for the Mary Lawson, so I am only waiting for Edric and the rest of the St Aubyn series now. I have another 300 pages of Dickens to finish for another group, but will probably start on some of these after that.

A big box of books is a lovely thing to find on the doorstep.

I am on my third book from this longlist. Liked The Ruby in her Navel, struggled a little with Get a Life, but Gideon Mack is very enjoyable so far and may end up quite high on my list.

The longlist is a very mixed bag - I wouldn't be surprised if some of them had only one judge backing them, and I can see why they stopped publishing such long lists a couple of years later. Gathering the Water and The Perfect Man are both rather disappointing - the former a rather lacklustre historical novel and the latter far too melodramatic for my taste and almost like a soap plot in places...

Be Near Me impressed me a lot, but perhaps having two books about priests in Scotland and their downfalls meant that neither made the shortlist, even though both seemed strong candidates for me. A very different book to Gideon Mac, but almost as impressive. I will let my thoughts settle before writing a review, and Christmas may get in the way.

Nearly finished my stack now - I enjoyed Theft, but it is not Carey's best book and I can see why it wasn't shortlisted. I am now almost halfway through The Emperor's Children, but I have very little interest in most of the characters, and the second half will have to be much better for it to move from the bottom of my list.

Hugh wrote: "Nearly finished my stack now - I enjoyed Theft, but it is not Carey's best book and I can see why it wasn't shortlisted. I am now almost halfway through The Emperor's Children, but I have very litt..."

I tried reading The Emperor’s Children not long after it came out, and ended up DNFing it. I feel your struggle.

I feel bad flaking out, again, on this Booker read. Henceforth I will refrain from voting and if I read an entire list I’ll contribute to discussion.

I have started rereading So Many Ways to Begin, as I think I may have had unrealistic expectations when I read it at the time which stopped me judging it on its own terms, and I would like to give it a proper review.