Introductions

Please introduce yourself here, and tell us a little about yourself.

I'm Darryl, a hospital based pediatrician from Atlanta, Georgia (USA). I've followed the Booker Prize closely for the past five years, and I usually travel to London in the late summer, partly to pick up longlisted books that are not available in the US. I intend to buy all of this year's longlisted books, and read as many as I can, including all of the shortlisted books, by the date that the winner is announced.

I'm Jenny, also in Atlanta (opens window to shout HEY! to Darryl), and I'm a 5th grade teacher. I've read 13 previous Booker winners, with The Remains of the Day being my hands-down favorite.

I'm Cait, a high school English teacher in southern Ontario, Canada. This is my third year actively following the Booker Prize, and I hope to focus my August-October reading on this year's longlist.

*shouts in the direction of I-85 North from Midtown toward Jenny*

That's a great opening, Jenny. How many Booker Prize winning novels have you read, and which one is your favorite? The Booker Prize web site has an archive section, with covers of the winning books, and brief descriptions of the longlisted and shortlisted novels:

Prize archive

I've read 15 of the winners, including Troubles by J.G. Farrell, the Lost Man Booker Prize winner. My favorite? That's tough...I'd probably give a slight edge to The Remains of the Day over Wolf Hall and Troubles.

I think I've only read 5, to be honest, and despite reading lots from the past two years' longlists, I haven't read either Wolf Hall or The Finkler Question (though I do own both). My favourite would be a tie between The Blind Assassin and The English Patient.

Hi, I'm Joyce and sometimes I'm a corporate writer in Vancouver, Canada. I'm slowly making my way through the list of Booker winners and nominees (not that I plan to read all of them, mind you). I've read 8 of the winners and the Blind Assassin and Amsterdam are probably my favourites. I own another 9 of the winners, so I'll let you know when I read another that I like even better. I've read 28 of the nominees, and I have to say that some of those were fabulous and should have won.

Hi, I'm Linda, and I'm a paralegal in Scranton, PA, where theoretically the party never stops. I have about 15 of the Booker winners on my shelf, and have read a half dozen of those. Haven't made a count of the nominees to see where I stand with those. I loved Wolf Hall, The Remains of the Day, and Paddy Clarke, Ha Ha Ha. Lukewarm on the others I have read, The God of Small Things, The English Patient and Hotel du Lac. This year's longlist has some very intriguing titles. I won't commit to reading any given number of them, but this group should foster some great discussion.

Hi, I'm Kay, just up the I-85 a few hours, in Greenville, SC. I'm looking forward to the discussions!

The Booker is always such an interesting prize, with the shortlists often more interesting than the winners -- anyone remember Vernon God Little?

I'm a retiree who waits for the paperbacks and for plenty of commentary or reaction to the books before I buy or read them. I still have Wolf Hall and The Finkler Question waiting.

Robert

Thank you Darryl for taking the time and prep to set this up for all of us who wish to take advantage of it.
Hello. My name is belva and I am a retired banker and live at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State.
I am new to challenging myself to the Booker Prize listed books and am excited to be able to take part. I don't know that I will purchase any off this year's list but of those books listed above I have read The Remains of the Day, The Gathering, The God of Small Things, Midnight's Children and The English Patient of which my favorite would have to be The Remains of the Day. I have on my shelf waiting to be read The Blind Assassin and Wolf Hall among a few other Booker listed reads.
Thank you for helping me with the following.
I am wondering if anyone has a link to the long or short listed books from some time back to current or even just the winners back to 1969. I have been searching without luck.
Thank you,

The lists are on the website, here, belva. It looks like the long list was not published routinely until 2001.

Oh, HI! Cait. Great minds moving along together, I see! I think wikipedia's format is easier to access, actually.

>10 rainpebble: - Hi Belva, the winners and shortlists can all be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_and_shortlisted_authors_of_the_Book...

I haven't found a good link for the longlists yet, but I will let you know when I do!

You can also see which Bookers you have in your LT library. From your profile page, go to Statistics/Memes, and then down the left side, click on Awards. The awards are listed in alpha order, and you may see that you have Bookers you didn't know you had!

You people are nothing if not AWESOME!~!
Thank you so much.

#13 Thanks, Joyce. I always forget about that feature.

I'm Steven, a retired information technology manager from Dallas. I've been wanting to do some more reading in recent and current literature, so this is perfectly timed for me. I don't have the wherewithal to go after the longlist at hardback prices, so I'll be reading past winners and shortlisted books.

I've read 16 of the previous winners, though not necessarily the most prominent ones. My favorites would be The Sea, Disgrace, and The Conservationist.

I'm Laura, and I'm a Booker-holic. I've read all of the winners, having set that as a personal goal about 4 years ago. I've read many shortlisted books as well, but since I'm currently posting from an iPad I'm not going to go figure out how many. :)

I live about an hour from Philadelphia and work in IT. I haven't read a single book from the 2011 long list, and most likely I will follow all the reviews and commentary here for a while before deciding what to read. I will definitely read this year's winner, so I can keep my streak alive!

I'm Tania, I live in Sydney, Australia, and juggle full time work as a web developer as well as looking after two kids (Mr Bear is rapidly heading towards his ninth (NINTH!!!) birthday and Miss Boo is six-and-a-bit). I manage to get far too much reading done because my partner works part time and does more than his fair share of child juggling; I commute on a bus to work five days a week (~1hr reading time each way); and I neglect the housework in a shocking manner. (Quoth my Mum: there's much more interesting things to do in life than clean.)

I've just reserved The Sisters Brothers at the library because I've been eyeing it off and it's only just finished being processed and is in transit now to the actual branches; and Jamrach's Menagerie because it's made both the Booker and the Orange long lists. And, in one of those funny coincidences, I was catching up on some old Books on the Nightstand podcasts this morning, and they were about to start discussing Jamrach's Menagerie.

Looking forward to them both. But not so much looking forward to explaining to Don that I have to swing by the library. Again. Third weekend in a row. Ahem. (He's very tolerant of the number of books cluttering the house, I must say.)

Hello wonderful people

I'm Alex from Brisbane in Australia. I am going through a career change, studying a Master of Information Studies online at the moment with view to working in libraries. The new experiment starts practically with some casual work as an assistant to a Local Historian next week.

Thank you Darryl for setting up this group. You always have your finger on the pulse when it comes to things Booker et al and I always appreciate reading your posts.

Like Cait for the past couple of years I have tried to read at least a couple of the books shortlisted/longlisted for the Booker with varying degrees of success.

I enjoy contributing to Laura's blog here http://completebooker.blogspot.com/2007/08/complete-booker.html from time to time too. Thanks Laura - it's a great blog, very well set up and indexed as I guess we should expect from someone in IT :)

My own personal erratic blog is here http://luvviesmusings.blogspot.com/

I've read The Sea, The Sea, Hotel du Lac, Possession, The God of Small Things, The Blind Assassin, True History of the Kelly Gang, The Sea, The Inheritance of Loss, The Gathering, The White Tiger, The Finkler Question. Funnily enough I tend to enjoy the shortlisted ones more than the winners...of the winners I'd say The Gathering was my favourite so far but then it all comes down to style and individual taste I think.

I always love doing an analysis of the Brisbane City Council library holdings as if that might give me some clue as to the winner....lots of copies of On Canaan's Side. Most authors have 5 copies of their book in the system. Edugyan is on order. They haven't heard of DJ Taylor or McGuinness. They've heard of Jane Rogers but don't have Testament. The standout contender seems to be Sebastian Barry - they have 79 copies of On Canaan's Side. Next up is Alison Pick with 20 copies and 33 holds.

Gender balance isn't too bad...I might just try reading the books written by women. And there's a good spread of publishers. I seem to remember one publisher featuring a lot last year.

Over and out....for the minute....

Hi All - I'm Katie from Dallas. Until my husband agrees that my time would be much better spent reading, I work as the Membership Development Manager for a professional engineering society in the upstream oil and gas industry. I used LT's statistics feature to look at what Booker books I have in my library and was rather surprised at the large number of winners and short- and long-listed works. Unfortunately, all but a handful are unread! So thank you to Darryl for starting this group. I look forward to good discussion and recommendations.

Hello
I'm Cyrel from Toronto, Canada. I retired 7 years ago from teaching and now spend my time reading, going to the gym, creating sculptural pottery and teaching courses to teachers in the summer.
I was happy to see that Far to Go was on the long list. I really liked this book when I read it last year.

After looking more closely at the long-listed and short-listed books, I have actually read quite a few of them. My standouts are The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively, and The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields.

Looking at just the winners, I have read:

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1988)
Possession : A Romance by A.S. Byatt (1990)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (1992)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (2000)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (2003)
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
The Gathering by Anne Enright (2007)
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009)

The only one I really didn't like was The Gathering, although I was also disappointed in The God of Small Things because it didn't live up to expectations; and my favourites are probably Midnight's Children, Possession, and The Line of Beauty. So I'm looking forward to The Stranger's Child this year! I bought my copy just last week, too. :)

And I own, but am yet to read:

The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (1978)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (1993)
Last Orders by Graham Swift (1996)
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (1998)
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (1999)
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2001)

(Yes. I really MUST get to The Remains of the Day!)

Thanks for thinking of me, Darryl. I am Lisa in Chicago.

I looked, and this is what I have. I also have marked what I have read (or abandoned in one case). Not all great, IMHO, but interesting. Many of them were probably recommendations from Darryl!

Booker Prize

The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (1973)
Staying on by Paul Scott (1977)
The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch (1978)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) read and one of my favorites
Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt (1990)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel (2009) read

Booker Prize Longlist

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003)read
Waxwings by Jonathan Raban (2003)
Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson (2004)abandoned
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2004)read
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycak (2005)read
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2008)
Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin (2009)
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (2009)read
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: A Novel by David Mitchell (2010)read

Booker Prize Shortlist

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault (Lost Booker 1970)
Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess (1980)
Pascalis Island by Barry Unsworth (1980)
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes (1984)
Nice Work by David Lodge (1988)
Morality Play by Barry Unsworth (1995)
A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) by Rohinton Mistry (1996)read
The Hiding Place: A Novel by Trezza Azzopardi (2000)
When We Were Orphans: A Novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (2000)
Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)read
Brick Lane: A Novel by Monica Ali (2003)read
Sea of Poppies: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh (2008)read
The Children's Book (Vintage International) by A.S. Byatt (2009)read
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009)

i'm Paul. I work in IT in Amsterdam, NL. I have bought the Man Booker shortlist for the past 10 years, but still need to finish reading them all. Favorite so far: Life of Pi
BTW, there is also the group "The Prizes" where the Man Booker list and others are discussed.

I'm Rebecca, and I've lived in New York City my whole life. I will probably just be lurking here because I have so many books I hope to read soon that it's unlikely I'll get to any of the longlisted books and will just be eagerly reading your comments.

However, I've read a lot of Booker winners and long- and shortlisted titles over the years.

Of the winners, I've loved Troubles, The Siege of Krishnapur, Wolf Hall, The Blind Assassin, and Midnight's Children (although I read that so long ago I've forgotten most of it); liked Staying On (but it was a consolation prize for not giving the Booker to the much better The Raj Quartet) and Disgrace; disliked The God of Small Things, The Inheritance of Loss, and The White Tiger; and hated The Finkler Question.

Of the short- and longlisted titles, I've read way too many to list, but some highlights are By the Sea, The Great Fire, Purple Hibiscus, Beyond Black, Netherland, The Little Stranger (but Fingersmith was better), The Betrayal (but The Siege was better), A Month in the Country, Solomon Gursky Was Here, Alias Grace, and The Secret River.

Hello, I'm Genny and I live in the North East of England with my greyhound, who sleeps while I read. I work from home, and it's very tempting when in the middle of a good book to pick it up and keen on reading when I really should be tackling emails or doing other work stuff.

I've read 13 of the Booker winners, and of these I would say Wolf Hall is the favourite at present, though that may just be because it is the most recent one I've read. I would also put in a strong word for Moon Tiger which I recently re-read many years after the first read, and loved it so much I've been gathering other works by Penelope Lively.

I have a couple more of the winners sitting on my TBR shelves: The White Tiger and The Finkler Question, which I hope to be getting round to soon. A quick glance at the shortlisted books and I see I have read quite a few of those too. I have not been consciously seeking out Booker winners or nominees, but the publicity around the prize does mean you get to hear these books discussed in the media, and they are always readily available in the bookshops.

Hello everyone! My name is Jill, and I live near Tampa, Florida. I own a social media marketing agency geared toward healthcare (appropriately called Hound Dog Social Media, named after my basset hound, Emma).

Admittedly, I am more obsessed with the Orange Prize for Fiction, but I usually enjoy the Booker short list. Often, there is some overlap between the Orange and Booker nominations, which makes things fun!

Of the Booker winners, I have read The Remains of the Day, Possession, The English Patient, The Ghost Road, Amsterdam, The Blind Assassin, Life of Pi, The Inheritance of Loss, The Gathering and Wolf Hall. All were three star reads (or higher) for me!

Look forward to getting to know you all!

I'm Schmerguls and I live in Sioux City, Iowa. Here are the Booker prizewinners I've read:

1815. Staying On a novel by Paul Scott (read 28 Nov 1983) (Booker prize in 1977)
1818. The Sea, The Sea, by Iris Murdoch (read 4 Dec 1983) (Booker prize in 1978)
2921. The English Patient a novel by Michael Ondaatje (read 18 Oct 1996) (Booker prize in 1992)
3034. Possession: A Romance, by A. S. Byatt (read 14 Nov 1997) (Booker prize in 1990)
3066. Saville, by David Storey (read 15 Apr 1998) (Booker prize in 1976)
3067. Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively (read 17 Apr 1998) (Booker prize in 1987)
3077. Offshore, by Penelope Fitzgerald (read 16 May 1998) (Booker prize in 1979)
3080. Rites of Passage, by William Golding (read 30 May 1998) (Booker prize in 1980)
3146. The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro (read 6 Jan 1999) (Booker prize in 1989)
3151. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, by Roddy Doyle (read 21 Jan 1999) (Booker prize in 1993)
3215. Amsterdam, by Ian McEwan (read 6 Jul 1999) (Booker prize in 1998)
3260. The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy (read 24 Oct 1999) (Booker prize in 1997)
3268. The Ghost Road, by Pat Barker (read 15 Nov 1999) (Booker prize in 1995)
3271. Sacred Hunger, by Barry Unsworth (read 26 Nov 1999) (Booker prize in 1992)
3318. Last Orders, by Graham Swift (read 4 Jun 2000) (Booker prize in 1996)
3386. The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood (read 6 Jan 2001) (Booker prize in 2000)
3399. Disgrace, by J. M. Coetzee (read 31 Jan 2001) (Booker prize in 1999)
3401. The Bone People A Novel by Keri Hulme (read 4 Feb 2001) (Booker prize in 1885)
3534. True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey (read 30 Jan 2002) (Booker prize in 2001)
3674. Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie (read 5 Jan 2003) (Booker prize in 1981)
3678. Schindler's List, by Thomas Keneally (read 12 Jan 2003) (Booker prize in 1982)
3715. life of pi A novel, by Yann Martel (read 16 Mar 2003) (Booker prize in 2002)
3822. Vernon God Little, by D B C Pierre (read 8 Nov 2003) (Booker prize in 2003)
3839. Hotel du Lac, by Anita Brookner (read 26 Dec 2003) (Booker prize in 1984)
4057. The Line of Beauty A Novel by Alan Hollinghurst (read 11 Aug 2005) (Booker prize in 2004)
4096. The Sea, by John Banville (read 23 Nov 2005) (Booker prize in 2005)
4227. The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai (read 6 Nov 2006) (Booker prize in 2006) (National Book Critics Circle fiction award for 2006)
4383. The Gathering, by Anne Enright (read 17 Nov 2007) (Booker prize in 2007)
4511. The White Tiger A Novel by Aravind Adiga (read 22 Nov 2008) (Booker prize in 2008)
4641. Wolf Hall a Novel by Hilary Mantel (read 20 Nov 2009) (National Book Critics Circle fiction award for 2009) (Booker prize in 2009)
4776. The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson (read 18 Nov 2010) (Man-Booker prize for 2010)

Looking over these, I would think that Possession and Midnight's Children are probably the ones I thought I enjoyed most. Many are on the list I did not like--probably the most disliked were Vernon God Little and The Line of Beauty.

I'm impressed to see so many members here. Welcome to all of you!

I'd encourage any of you who are interested in the Orange Prize and are not already a member to join Jill's (mrstreme's) superb Orange January/July group on LT. My decision to form this group was strongly influenced by its success, and I've also loved many of the Orange Prize longlisted books that I've read over the past four or five years.

Thank you Darryl for setting up a dedicated Booker group - I might actually have some chance of keeping up with this one (she says hopefully...)!

I'm Fliss and I live in Cambridge (UK version), I work in diabetes/obesity research and have been on LT for several years now - mostly piping up on the 75 Challenge group, but seriously struggling to keep up this year, as a) the group has increased in size exponentially since I first joined it and b) I've had a bit of a frantic year. I have, however, found the group reads I've done very interesting (when I've managed to keep up with them), so I'm looking forward to seeing what people think of these...

The only book I've heard of on the Booker longlist this year is the Julian Barnes one, so I'll be having a root around before deciding which I'd like to read (I won't get to all of them, I've just got too much of a backlog of other books I want to read!)

Of past winners, I've read:

Troubles - J. G. Farrell (lost Booker - 1970) - enjoyed it
Life and Times of Michael K - J. M. Coetzee (1982) - couldn't see what the fuss was about
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) - thought it was absolutely wonderful and is now in my top 5 books of all time.
Possession: A Romance - A. S. Byatt (1990) - enjoyed it, but found it a very slow read
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle (1993) - enjoyed it
The Ghost Road - Pat Barker (1995) - thought it was quite a poor sequel to the excellent Regeneration
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood (2000) - enjoyed it
The True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey (2001) - thought it was wonderful
Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre (2003) - enjoyed it immensely (then went on to read & be extremely disappointed by his next book)
The Sea - John Banville (2005) - disappointing

I'm actually quite surprised how many of them I've read (I've also read 12 of the shortlist, of which Room, Empire of the Sun and Alias Grace stick out in particular), given I only started deliberately reading Booker nominees last year and I read all of the above (bar Troubles) prior to that (obviously my nominee choices for last year didn't make the prize!)...

I've also had most of the following lined up to read for absolutely ages (along with quite a few from the shortlist too):

Schindler's Ark - Thomas Keneally (1982)
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985)
Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey (1988)
Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (1998)
The Gathering - Anne Enright (2007)
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (2009)

>27 gennyt: - Genny, I am glad to hear Moon Tiger stood up to a re-read for you. I have been meaning to read it again for a while now. I have many books by Lively and have even read a few of them (!). I like her very much.

Thanks for setting this up, Darryl. Hello to everyone - loads of familiar faces.

Name: Karen
Locale: Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Job: Home dogsbody, family doctor

I was quite surprised to realize that there was no dedicated Booker Prize Group until now - being such a popular prize amongst us all.

I have read a few Booker prize winners - perhaps the choices reflect my taste to a large degree!

They include (in order of preference perhaps):

*The Remains of the Day
*The History of the Kelly Gang
*Disgrace
*The Life and Times of Michael K
*Wolf Hall
*Amsterdam
*Hotel du Lac
*The Blind Assassin
*The English Patient
*The Gathering

Actually, the first 8 on this list are super difficult to rate - all being wonderful. The last two were less to my taste.

Karen, you're back! Good to hear from you!

THanks Joyce - my time has been so severely limited, I am not even at half my usual read for the year. I would, however, really like to read this years list - hopefully in it's entirety.

I'm Cushla, a New Zealander living in Switzerland till the end of the year. While we're here I'm at home looking after our 2 kids and spending a lot of time at the supermarket (when it's open...) and learning German. In a former life I was a banker then a university lecturer in economics, maths and finance.

I love following the Booker Prize and got more into it in 2009 when I desperately wanted Wolf Hall to win. I'm thrilled that there's a new group - thanks Darryl - because I've found the Orange group really good for focusing on some great books.

I've read 8 of the winners:
Troubles by J G Farrell - good
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson - 2010 - good
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - 2009 - loved it
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - loved it, must be time for a re-read, and I don't usually do re-reads
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker - didn't like it, but Regeneration (the first in the trilogy) was fantastic
Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - loved it
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner - very good

Shortlist:
2009 - The Glass Room by Simon Mawer - excellent
2007 - The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid- excellent (just finished it this week)
2006 - The Secret River by Kate Grenville - loved it
2004 - Cloud Atlas - very good
2003 - Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller - didn't like it
2001 - The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert - very good
1988 - Nice Work by David Lodge - excellent
1984 - Small World by David Lodge - excellent
1980 - A Month in the Country by J L Carr - very good

From the longlist I've read the following books:
2010 - February by Lisa Moore - loved it
2009 - Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - excellent
2007 - The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies - not bad (before I had an LT thread)
2006 - The Emperor's Children - I think I found this one pretty annoying
2004 - The Island Walkers by John Bemrose - loved it, wonderful Canadian book
2003 - The Curioius Incident of the Dog in the Night time - very good

I hadn't realised but on average these ratings would be well above my average. I'll probably try to read at least a couple more on the longlist.

Hi, I'm Helen. Retired from my previous professional career as a medico and now semi-retired on a small holding in the south west of Western Australia. Part-time horticulturalist and part-time tourism operator.

I don't usually consciously seek out Booker Prize books but have ended up reading quite a few of them - though usually a number of years after the event. So I'll lurk and read posts here, but probably won't contribute much to discussions of this year's list. I tend to prefer The Orange Prize for Fiction and am more likely to search those ones out.

Of the past Booker winners, I've read:
Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally (1982)
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (1985)
Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt (1990)
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (1993)
How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman (1994)
Last Orders by Graham Swift (1996)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (1998)
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee (1999)
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (2000)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (2003)
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
The Sea by John Banville (2005)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2006)
The Gathering by Anne Enright (2007)

My favourite from those would probably be The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, but overall I can't say that Booker winners rate among my list of favourite books.

Also read many from the short and long lists, and have even more sitting unread on the shelves...

edited to correct touchstone

#32 Hi Katie, yes it was good to read it again. It was a real-life book club read earlier this year, and I must have read it not long after it was published first time round. I actually found I had forgotten nearly all the plot, let alone the detail -just something of the atmosphere had remained with me. Which made it fun to read again.

Not many people have mentioned Moon Tiger as one of the ones they have read, I notice. I'm sorry Lively is not better known.

Okay....after looking at the lists and reading your messages, I'm in.

I'm in southeast Michigan about halfway between Detroit and Ann Arbor and am currently mourning the loss of Borders, our "hometown" book store.

Have read many Bookers, and books from the short-list but don't have the time to list them just now.

I checked our library's inventory against the long list and they have 6 of the titles. We have a wonderful library system which I hope the economy and current political climate will not decimate. I consider the political climate to be the greater threat....but I digress.

I recently finished Remarkable Creatures which prompted me to look at Tracy Chevalier's blog and found this page: http://www.tchevalier.com/reading.html where she makes the comments that she is reading books for the Orange Prize. Which made me wonder: How do they pick who judges the books for the Orange and Booker Prizes?

My first read for this list will be Jamrach's Menagerie

#32 I love Penelope Lively's writing, Moon Tiger included....her books circulate well here in Michigan if my library and book group are any indication. I also liked her books Passing On and The Photograph

Thanks for setting this up, Daryl!

>39 tangledthread: - Oh, good! Another Lively fan!

I'm Margaret, a retired public librarian, and I live in an old log cabin in the northwestern corner of New Jersey, surrounded by trees, deer, and, this year, an overabundance of chipmunks. (We had a record acorn crop last year.)

I tend to read whatever peaks my interest, and I take part in the 11 in 11 Challenge (and in the 10 in 10 last year), so following particular prizes has not been a priority. But like many here I've been lured in by Darryl's enthusiasm and reviews. My library system has a couple of this year's titles, with The Sisters Brothers available today and The Finkler Question in transit to my branch library.

Thanks Darryl!!!

Ha! Thanks to those of you who commented about the use of the statistics tool here's my "Booker History" I filled in what I've read that predates my LT account. I never set out to read so many "Bookers"...it just seemed to happen that way.

Booker:
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
The Sea by John Banville (2005)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2006) (still on my shelf..unread)
The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) by Aravind Adiga (2008)
Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (2000)
Disgrace by J. M. Cotzee
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (1998)
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (1987)

The Longlist:
The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer (2001)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003)
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 92004)
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson (2006)
The Gift of Rain: A Novel by Tan Twan Eng (2007)
Brooklyn: A Novel by Colm Toibin (2009)
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (2009)
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (2009)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: A Novel by David Mitchell (2010)

The Shortlist
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (1993)
Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)
Unless by Carol Shields (2002)
Cloud Atlas: A Novel by David Mitchell (2004)
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (2005)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (2007)
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (2009)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009)
Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue (2010)

Most of these books really made an impression on me. For the most part, I really liked them or liked the way they made me think. However, I am surprised to learn that Room and The Little Stranger made the shortlist...esp. the Little Stranger. They don't strike me as Booker quality.

I really loved The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt and have been looking to talk with someone else who has read it for 2 years. It is quite a tome to get through....and I can't get my book group to read it.

Can't believe I haven't read Remains of the Day considering how much I love Kazuo Ishiguro's writing. And I want to read Byatt's Possession sometime soon.

Hi, I'm Lori. I live in Victoria, British Columbia and was so happy to see Darryl set this group up! As with the Orange January/ July Group, I am rather a newbie to all the Booker books and hope to use this group as a way to get me to read the books I own that are languishing on my bookshelves. As most of my reading is focused around my 11 in 11 Challenge, I will just be lurking here until the shortlist is announced as I really need to try and read books that fit my challenge categories!

My Booker reads to-date are rather small compared to others here:

Booker Prize
The Gathering (Man Booker Prize) by Anne Enright (2007) - Nope - I didn't like this one but have high hopes that other winners will be great reads for me!

Booker Prize Longlist
From A to X: A Story in Letters by John Berger (2008) - good
The Wilderness: A Novel by Samantha Harvey (2009) - great

Booker Prize Shortlist
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (1993) - good
Unless by Carol Shields (2002) - great
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (2007) - great
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008) - good
Room by Emma Donoghue (2010) - good

Here is my TBR pile that I should start reading:

Booker Prize
The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell (1973)
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner (1984)
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (1993)
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) by Aravind Adiga (2008)

Booker Prize Longlist
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (2003)
The Island Walkers by John Bemrose (2004)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka (2005)
What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn (2007)

Booker Prize Shortlist
The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe (1992)
Quarantine by Jim Crace (1997)
Bitter Fruit : A Novel by Achmat Dangor (2004)
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes (2005)
The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant (2008)
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (2009)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009)

Happy reading everyone!

#43 Hi Lori!
I didn't realize that Carol Shields two books The Stone Diaries and Unless were both shortlisted. Have to add them to my list.

Canada lost a great writer with Carol Shields' passing a few years ago.

Hi everybody--I'm Anne and I live in Washington DC. I'm between jobs and maybe between professions, following a move to London and back because of my husband's work. (Before the move I was director of a public charter school here in the city, and before that I was a Russia analyst for the State Department--so it's not clear what comes next.) I've been vaguely aware of the Booker for awhile but really began to focus on it when I lived in London.

Of the winners I have read:
Wolf Hall (2009) 4.5
The Gathering (2007) 3
Life of Pi (2002) 4.5
Amsterdam (1998) 3
The God of Small Things (1997) 5
Last Orders (1996) 4
The Remains of the Day (1989) 5
Hotel du Lac (1984) 4
Midnight's Children (1981) 4.5

Of these, my favorites are probably The God of Small Things and The Remains of the Day, followed by Wolf Hall, Life of Pi, and Midnight's Children. Atonement, from the longlist, ranks up there too.

Shortlist:
The Children's Book (2009) 4
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) 4.5
In the Country of Men (2006) 4
Atonement (2001) 5
When We Were Orphans (2000) 3.5
The Stone Diaries (2003) 4
Cat's Eye (1989) 4
The Handmaid's Tale ( 1986) 4

Longlist:
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010) 4.5
Love and Summer (2009) 4
Saturday (2005) 3.5
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) 4
The Amber Spyglass 5

These ratings (on a scale of 1-5) are impressionistic because some I read quite a while ago.

On my shelves I have:
The Long Song
Trespass
Brooklyn
Girl in a Blue Dress
The Lost Dog
Sea of Poppies
What Was Lost
The Inheritance of Loss
The Secret River
The Sea
On Beauty
Cloud Atlas
Purple Hibiscus
Brick Lane
Notes on a Scandal
Unless
Fingersmith
Disgrace
A Fine Balance
The Ghost Road
The English Patient
Possession
The Bone People
The Secret Scripture

From this year's longlist I had only heard of Jamrach's Menagerie and the Hollinghurst book, but Snowdrops and The Sisters Brothers are both available at the library so I've put holds on them and will aim to read them in August.

Beyond that, my priority reads are Sea of Poppies and Possession, because I've been wanting to get to them for such a long time. Fingersmith, The Inheritance of Loss, Disgrace, Unless, and Cloud Atlas I'd also like to read soon.

Hi I'm Bonnie, a recently retired elementary school principal living on the shores of Lake Erie just south of Buffalo, NY. We love the lake in the summer, as it serves as a huge air conditioner, keeping us cool unlike much of the Northeast. At the same time, we curse the lake in the winter as the winds cross it, picking up tons of moisture, and dump it, as snow, right on top of us, creating the deserved reputation as the blizzard capital of the east.

I'm a longtime Booker follower, but over the past twenty years have found that mining the long and short lists produces more satisfying reads than the actual winners. According to the stats, which is really handy, I've read the following:

Booker Prize

* Troubles (New York Review Books Classics) by J.G. Farrell (Lost Booker 1970)
* Midnight's Children: A Novel by Salman Rushdie (1981)
* Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally (1982)
* Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively (1987)
* The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
* The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (1992)
* Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (1992)
* The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (1995)
* Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan (1998)
* Disgrace: A Novel by J. M. Coetzee (1999)
* The Blind Assassin: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (2000)
* Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
* The Sea(Man Booker Prize) by John Banville (2005)
* The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2006)
* The Gathering: A Novel by Anne Enright (2007)
* The White Tiger: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) by Aravind Adiga (2008)
* Wolf Hall: A Novel by Hilary Mantel (2009)

Booker Prize Longlist

* The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon (2003)
* The Great Fire: A Novel by Shirley Hazzard (2004)
* Purple Hibiscus: A Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2004)
* Saturday by Ian McEwan (2005)
* Black Swan Green: A Novel by David Mitchell (2006)
* Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2008)
* Netherland: A Novel by Joseph O'Neill (2008)
* Brooklyn: A Novelby Colm Toibin (2009)
* Love and Summer: A Novel by William Trevor (2009)
* The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (2010)
* The Slap: A Novel by Christos Tsiolkas (2010)
* The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet: A Novel by David Mitchell (2010)
* Trespass: A Novel by Rose Tremain (2010)

Booker Prize Shortlist

* A Month in the Country (New York Review Books Classics) by J.L. Carr (1980)
* The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan (1981)
* A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) by Rohinton Mistry (1996)
* Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai (1999)
* The Hiding Place: A Novel by Trezza Azzopardi (2000)
* When We Were Orphans: A Novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (2000)
* Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
* Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)
* The Story of Lucy Gault: A Novel by William Trevor (2002)
* Unless: A Novel (P.S.) by Carol Shields (2002)
* Brick Lane: A Novel by Monica Ali (2003)
* Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004)
* The Accidental by Ali Smith (2005)
* Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
* On Beauty by Zadie Smith (2005)
* In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (2006)
* The Secret River by Kate Grenville (2006)
* On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (2007)
* The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (2007)
* Sea of Poppies: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh (2008)
* The Long Song: A Novel by Andrea Levy (2010)

In addition, I have these books on my shelves right now so I will be reading them in the near future also.

The Siege of Krishnapur (New York Review Books Classics) by J.G. Farrell (1973)*
The Sea, The Sea (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Iris Murdoch (1978)
Possession by A.S. Byatt (1990)
Finkler Questionby Howard Jacobson (2010)
Any Human Heart by William Boyd (2002)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008)
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (2009)
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro (1986)
Nice Work (King Penguin) by David Lodge (1988)
Alias Grace: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (1996)
Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge (1998)
English Passengers: A Novel by Matthew Kneale (2000)
Dirt Music by Tim Winton (2002)
The Master: A Novel by Colm Toibin (2004)
A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry (2005)
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (2006)
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009)
Restoration (Vintage Classics) by Rose Tremain (1989)
Morality Play by Barry Unsworth (1995)

Thanks Darryl. This was probably way more info than anyone needs.

Thanks for the invite, Darryl, and props to you for setting up this thread.

Greetings, fellow bibliophiles. I'm Sean. I was born in Ireland and now live in the beautiful small town of Mount Dora, FL.

I've been following the Booker Prize since Roddy Doyle won it with Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha, and IMOHO, the Booker is the best of all the awards out there, U.S. and Europe. I've been rewarded with so much reading pleasure from not only the winners, but books from the long and short lists that haven't won.

This year I'm rooting for Sebastian Barry for On Canaan's Side. It's his time, and I thought his A Long, Long Way should have won a few years ago.

Sean, nice to meet a fellow Floridian! =)

>46 brenzi:: Bonnie, I totally agree that the winner is often a much less satisfying read that many others from the short and long lists.

Hi all, I'm Donna from Springfield, Missouri. I have time to read now that my three children are on their own and blessing me with grandkids. I am trying to fill the gaps in my reading life, including the Booker Prize winners and nominees I've missed. It looks like I've read (lucky) thirteen winners. I'm listing them in the order I've liked them, beginning with my favorites. This list is subject to change!

Possession (1990)
Life of Pi (2002)
Midnight's Children (1981)
The Bone People (1985)
Wolf Hall (2009)
Life and Times of Michael K (1983)
The Blind Assassin (2000)
Disgrace (1999)
The God of Small Things (1997)
The Inheritance of Loss (2006)
Amsterdam (1998)
The English Patient (1992)
The Gathering (2007)

I am planning to reread some of these sometime in the future and may change the order of preference. I'm going by my ratings which are not set in stone.

I've read some books on the shortlists and longlists, but I won't list all of them here. I also own quite a few Booker nominees - and a few winners - that I haven't read yet. I may start my own thread at a later date and put all the information there.

Thanks, Darryl, for starting this group. It's fun to see the Bookers that people have read and to keep up with the new nominees. I just finished The Sisters Brothers and posted on that thread. I have a few more current ones to read and will post accordingly.

Hi Donna. Good to see you here.
~belva

Hi! My name is Kerri. I work as a program officer for a large not-for-profit and am currently in graduate school to earn my master's in library and information science.

Since two of my favorite books of all time are Booker Prize winners (The Sea, The Sea and The Bone People), I've always thought I should read more of the winners and short- and long-listed books. I recently put together a spreadsheet so I can keep track of them all, and I think I'll try to make an effort to read more. I'm not sure if I'll be able to read many of the long listed books for 2011 (although it sounds like a very fun endeavor), but some of them sound quite interesting and I hope to get to them some day.

So far I've read the following (it's actually more than I thought, once I added in the short- and long-listed books):

The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer (1974 Winner, shared)
The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch (1978 Winner)
The Bone People - Keri Hulme (1985 Winner)
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (1986 Short List)
Such a Long Journey - Rohinton Mistry (1991 Short List)
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle (1993 Winner)
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry (1996 Short List)
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (1997 Winner)
Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (1998 Winner)
Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee (1999 Winner)
Family Matters - Rohinton Mistry (2002 Short List)
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood (2003 Short List)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (2003 Long List)
A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian - Marina Lewycka (2005 Long List)

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking around the threads on LT now for a couple of months, but when Darryl invited me to join this group, I couldn't stay away since I love to read books that have won or have been listed for the Man Booker. So I'm really thankful and enthusiastic to read all the discussions and comments here. Since you all have introduced yourself here, I'll be polite and do this as well. So here I go.

My name is Lilian. I live in Amsterdam (born and raised). I'm 23 years old and a political science student, now taking my mastercourses on the University of Amsterdam. Hopefully I'll graduate in January next year. I've been reading all my life, but since a few years it really has become my passion (and just for the record I'm not using the word passion casually here). I mainly read books written in English (from all over the world), but I also try to read books from the French, Russian and Spanish written literature. The last year I have been focusing on the Booker and on the 1001 lists and I love it.

So far I've read 13 Man Booker winner's, I own several more and I plan to read them all (the winners that is):

Troubles, J.G. Farrell, (loved it)
The Finkler Question, Howard Jacobson (boring, but interesting at the same time since I recognized a lot of the different things you have to deal with if you're Jewish)
The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga (very funny and entertaining, great book)
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai (disappointing, I expected a magical book, unfortunately it was only a mere good book)
The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (a true Hollinghurst book, a beautiful book indeed)
Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre (Are you kidding me, was the rest that bad this year? Especially the ending is awful)
Life of Pi, Yann Martel (nice book, with a great twist at the end)
The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood (this is one of those books I won't remember after a couple of years, it's ok )
Amsterdam, Ian McEwan (Blegh, Atonement is the only book written by him I like, I have read Saturday and Solar as well)
Last order, Graham Swift (great book)
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje (nice read, nothing special)
The remains of the day, Kazuo Ishiguro (to be quite honest I can't really remember much about it, definitely not my favourite one, but I'll try it again since Darryl loves it)
Midnight's Children (Amazing, wonderful book)

Further I have read several other books that were either short- or longlisted. Worth mentioning of those are England, England by Julian Barnes and Room by Emma Donnaghue which were both great in my opinion.

So that's my story. Now I'll start reading and enjoying all your interesting discussions and I hope I can add something valuable to this group in the future as well.

Hi, Lilian. Welcome. It's always good to add another passionate reader to the group.

Dear Lilian

Welcome to the group. I love Amsterdam. I haven't been there for many many years but thought it fabulous and I am ashamed to admit most of my fond memories relate to food - I think breakfasts in Amsterdam are the best!! Funnily enough I don't think I have read Ian McEwan's Amsterdam - only Saturday and Atonement.

You will really enjoy being part of this group. Can I also recommend a great blog that I contribute to from time to time and I know Laura aka lindsacl would love your contributions too if you would like....it's The Complete Booker. It's just like a database of reviews about Books prize-winners - and those that made the shortlist....really useful if you've just read a book and want to see what others thought of it.

Enjoy!

Alex aka alexdaw (the only one not smart enough to use a different name from her real name!)

Welcome, Kerri and Lilian! I'm glad that you both decided to join this group.

It's wonderful to see so many prize aficionados here! Welcome everyone.

Welcome Lilian! And thanks Daryl - That introduction from me was from last year. I should update it to say that I started my own thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/135654.

Thank you for all your nice welcomes and especially Alex for your lovely post. I thought it's really funny most of your memories of Amsterdam are related to food. Not only would most people only remember the Red Light District or the canals, but we Dutch people always say we don't have a national cuisine. Except for a few winterdishes like 'hutspot' and 'andijviestampot' which you probably never heard of. As for Amsterdam by Ian McEwan, don't bother. Darryl might disagree, but I thought it was an annoying read. Also thank you for the great recommendation. I had a quick look and I think I will truely enjoy reading all the reviews and discussions.

Oh and Alex, I'm using my real name as well.

You know, I used to worry about that "using my real name" thing and while I think caution is appropriate in many cases, LT is very safe and I would have no qualms about using my real name as a "handle". In fact, I've thought about changing from lindsacl to something that includes "laura," but haven't actually done anything about it.

Not to put a damper on things, but if you use your full real name people googling you can find your profile and some LT posts and associate them with you. (Strangely enough, there is a RebeccaNYC who comes up when I search my LT handle who is a completely different person and much more active in the social media world than I am.)

Yes that's a good point Rebecca. I was thinking more about caution "within" LT than the broader internet. I don't have a problem with people knowing my name here. We do need to keep in mind that our LT activity is searchable. Googling "lindsacl" brings up a bunch of my LT activity and if I were using my full real name that would bother me.

Good Day

South African Male in his 60's

Just joined.. This is my list of Booker; long short and winner, all mixed without touchstones(mostly). Have read most but a few a waiting in the Library

In Alphabetical order ( I think 56 in all)

Amsterdam Ian McEwan
Arthur & George Julian Barnes
Black Dogs Ian McEwan
Black Swan Green David Mitchell
The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood
Brick Lane Monica Ali
Brooklyn Colm Toibin
A Case Of Exploding Mangoes Mohammed Hanif
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Thomas Keneally
The Comfort of Strangers Ian McEwan
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon
Disgrace J. M. Coetzee
Eclipse John Banville
Emperors Children Claire Messud
England, England Julian Barnes
The Eye in the Door Pat Barker
The Finkler Question Howard Jacobson
Flaubert's Parrot Julian Barnes
Frankie and Stankie Barbara Trapido
The Gathering Anne Enright
The Ghost Road Pat Barker
The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
Illywhacker Peter Carey
The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai
Instant In the Wind Andre Brink
Last Orders Graham Swift
Life & Times of Michael K J. M. Coetzee
Life of Pi Yann Martel
The Master Colm Toibin
Me Cheeta : the autobiography James Lever
Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
Nice Work David Lodge
On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan
Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Roddy Doyle
Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey
The Pick Up Nadine Gordimer
The Quickening Maze Adam Foulds
Regeneration Pat Barker
The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hamid
Rumours of Rain Andre Brink
Saturday Ian McEwan
Schindler's Ark Thomas Keneally
Sea (The) John Banville
Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry
Shalimar the Clown. Salman. Rushdie
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian Marina Lewycka
Small World David Lodge
So Many Ways to Begin Jon McGregor
Solomon Gursky Was Here Mordecai Richler
The Story of Lucy Gault William Trevor
Theft : a love story Peter Carey
Vernon God Little D. B. C. Pierre
The White Hotel D.M. Thomas
White Tiger Aravind Adiga
Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

(Sorry looks rather messy)

The Best

Oscar and Lucinda
Saturday
Brick Lane
The White Hotel
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Nice Work

Worst

Never Let Me Go (hated it and I even saw the movie)
The Quickening Maze
A Case Of Exploding Mangoes

Rachel (The_Hibernator) pointed me to this group and I'm glad I found it! I hope to read a few from the new 2012 list. I finished Bring Up the Bodies recently and loved it.