In His Own Words

Tag: Booker Prize winner

  • The Sea

    The Sea

    Review: This book, perhaps of all the (eight so far) Booker Prize winners I have read is the One True Winner. An outstanding piece of modern literature and a joy to read. So what is it about? In this case, I’m at a loss, it’s sort of about life, and dealing with illness, and grieving,… Read more

  • The Blind Assassin

    The Blind Assassin

    Review: This was my very first experience reading Margaret Atwood. There’s a reason she won the Booker Prize for this. Prose is elegant and shit-filthy by turns. I love reading Canadian books because I can identify with the places, the seasons, the attitudes. The point of these reviews is to provide a critique, for whomever… Read more

  • The English Patient

    The English Patient

    Review: I was reluctant to read this as I had heard that it was a women’s book. Meaning one of those odious volumes that fat chicks in yoga pants gush to one another about in trendy coffee shops. Well I had no cause to fear, this was outstanding. From beginning to end this novel was… Read more

  • G, A Novel

    G, A Novel

    Review: It didn’t take long to figure out why this one won the Booker Prize. Elusive to define. Partly historical, partly imagined. One reviewer described portions of it as a sexual meditation. Like Proust, the protagonist is unnamed through most of the novel. And even then he is known simply as “G”. Also like the… Read more

  • In a Free State

    In a Free State

    Review: The fourth Booker Prize winning novel I have read since beginning my quest of reading all 50 plus winners. Like all the others I have read there is no questioning the brilliance and reasons for winning. But like a lot of the others this one was pretty dark and very serious. Ferris Bueller gets… Read more

  • The Elected Member

    The Elected Member

    Review: This one took home the Booker Prize in 1970. Not sure why. Not going to say a lot about it, lots has been written on it over the years. I just didn’t like it. One can’t love every book, even the prize winners. This book made me want to: finish it and move forward… Read more

  • The Ghost Road

    The Ghost Road

    Review: What an extraordinary book. A tour de force from first to last. Set in 1918 and with retrospectives to an earlier time prior to the war. A gritty, even shockingly brutal look at life in 1918. Imagine all the old codgers you see at the cenotaph on November 11 being young and fucking each… Read more

  • Something to Answer For

    Something to Answer For

    Review: This was the first ever (inaugural is the word) Man Booker Prize winner, way back in 1969. My goal beginning with this one is to read all 50 Booker Prize winners from 1969-2019 in the next year. I don’t get this book. It was well written, very crisp prose and some really elegant phrasing.… Read more