Chelle's attempt at enjoying some Booker Prize Books

Winners that I have read
2012 Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
2011 Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
2009 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
2006 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
2002 Life of Pi by Yann Martel
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
1999 Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

International Winners that I have read
2016 The Vegetarian by Han King

Short Listed Books that I have read
2018 The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
2011 Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
2011 The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
2010 Room by Emma Donoghue
2008 Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
2005 On Beauty by Zadie Smith
2003 Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
1996 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
1989 Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
1986 The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Long list Books that I have read
2018 The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
2017 Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
2012 The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
2003 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

Books I would like to read in the near future

Winner
2018 Milkman by Anna Burns - Disliked and abandonded
2017 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
2016 The Sellout by Paul Beatty
2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
1992 The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
1985 The Bone People by Keri Hulme
1984 Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

Short List
2001 Atonement by Ian McEwan
2017 Autumn by Ali Smith

Long List

Books I own and haven't read

Hi Chelle,
Im here to amp up my Booker reads, just like you! Good luck, maybe I need to add short listed books too.....there are some great ones.

Welcome, Chelle! I've read most of the books you mentioned, and I'll read The Inheritance of Loss this week, after I finish Bring Up the Bodies.

HI Megan! I've only recently started paying attention to prices in fiction. I've read some of the Orange Prize and the Booker caught my eye so I thought I would try and read some more of the winners :)

Thanks Darryl! I hope you enjoy Inheritance of Loss, it was one of those ones that I just didn't like but I could for sure see why it was an award winner.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
Read for 75 books in 2012,
12 in 2012:Category #9) Chunky Monkeys: Books over 500 pages long
Booker Prize
5*

Set on the eve of the opium wars the story revolves around a former slave ship The Ibis and it's motley cast of characters that are traveling to Mauritius; coolies, convicts, and stowaways and the ship's crew. With many different lives involved the novel is long in the setting up the background of their stories and each person's reasons for ending up on the ship and their involvement in the opium trade and how it is changing their lives.

This has a very complex plot and with so many characters it is hard to summarize but it was quite an enchanting read and I can see why there has been so much hype on LT about this one and the second in the trilogy River of Smoke. I plan on continuing with the trilogy right away. I just hope Ghosh has started writing the third!

>6 ChelleBearss: I just hope Ghosh has started writing the third!

Agreed!

You loved it! I didn't :(
I just didn't, what can I say?
Glad you did

Hi there Chelle! Of the books that you look forward to reading, I'll bet that you will like The Handmaid's Tale. It's some pretty interesting dystopian reading.:) I cannot abideIan McEwan, though the only book of his that I have read was Atonement. I got into it by an audiobook from the library and finished it off with written copy, otherwise I would have never made my way through. Of course he is very popular with many readers, but not with me!:)

I also loved Sea of Poppies and plan to read River of Smoke soon. I agree with vancouverdeb -- I think you'll like Handmaid's Tale. Even if you end up not liking it, it's worth reading just because it's the most well-known and heavily discussed Atwood novel.

haha Megan, everyone has different tastes and can't love all the same books in the same way. Are you glad that you read it though?

Hi Deb. I just found The Handmaid's Tale on audible read by Clair Danes. I almost bought it. Maybe next month.

Hi Mathgirl. I love Atwood so I imagine I would love The Handmaid's Tale. I would love to eventually have read all of Atwood's novels.

I loved Ghosh's The Hungry Tide so I am definitely reading his trilogy some day. I didn't care for Inheritance of Loss -- very dense reading.

I've read several Atwoods and I love her writing. Here is my ranking of the ones I've read:

Cat's Eye -- 1989 Booker Shortlist --
Handmaid's Tale -- 1986 Booker Shortlist --
The Penelopiad --
Alias Grace -- 1996 Booker Shortlist --
Blind Assassin -- 2000 Booker Winner --
Oryx and Crake -- 2003 Booker Shortlist --

I really enjoyed both The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Life of Pi. Hope you do, too! I'm really looking forward to the film of Life of Pi.

P.S. My real name is Michelle

I had no idea that so many of Atwoods had been short/long listed for the Booker!

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Read for:
75 Books Challenge for 2013,
2013 Category Challenge: Canadian Authors,
Orange January/July
1001 Books to read before you die
Booker Prize
4.5*


Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
Read for:
75 Books Challenge for 2013,
2013 Category Challenge: Prize winners (Booker or Orange Prizes),
Orange January/July
Booker Prize
4*


Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Read for:
75 Books Challenge for 2013,
2013 Category Challenge: Prize winners (Booker or Orange Prizes),
1001 Books to read before you die
Booker Prize
4*

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (4.5*)

Read for:
75 Books Challenge for 2013,
2013 Category Challenge: Canadian Authors
Orange Prize Shortlist
Booker Prize Shortlist
Atwood April


Orxy and Crake reads like a mixture of science fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction and Atwood herself calls it speculative fiction. Call it whatever you want, I'm calling it awesome! Atwood has an amazing mind and this book is full of her creativity and wit.

Snowman, also know as Jimmy in his past life, is struggling to survive in a world that has been destroyed by plague. The only company that he has are the Children of Crake, human-like creations that have been created by Snowman's old friend Crake to live harmoniously with each other without hatred or lust. They bring Snowman food and he teaches them about the world that they have been thrust into.

Snowman narrates through flashbacks to his childhood and the time prior to the plague and the present, where he is running out of food and has limited protection from the hybrid predators, like wolvogs, rakunks and pigoons, that were released from captivity during the plague.

As you can imagine from this terribly written review this is a very difficult book to summarize without giving away too much information about the plot. If you like science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction or speculative fiction then I recommend this book to you!

On Beauty by Zadie Smith (4*)
Read for:
75 Books Challenge for 2013,
2013 Category Challenge: Prize winners (Booker or Orange Prizes)


This was my first novel by Zadie Smith and I found it very enjoyable and really easy to get into. I will be grabbing White Teeth as soon as possible.

Life of Pi by Yann Martell (58)
Read for:
1001 Books to read before you die,
Booker Prize

Read as audio book and absolutely loved it!

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

I picked up this book as I thought it was a Booker Prize winner but I was slightly incorrect in that it's actually a Booker International Prize winner.

Either way, I loved the book from the opening line "Before my wife turned vegetarian, I'd always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way." I loved it until the final page which I had to read over again to ensure I didn't miss something. Perhaps the author was trying to be too deep but I found the ending unsatisfactory.

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
Booker Prize
75 Books Challenge
Pop Sugar Challenge:33 - A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title

I ended up really enjoying this once I fully got into it, which took a while. It always makes me feel so sad when I read books about women in prison. I'm not sure why it's any different than men in prison, other than the fact that I'm a woman and I can not imagine that as my life.

PopSugar Challenge:37) A Western
🎧The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

>14 ChelleBearss:, >15 ChelleBearss:, >17 ChelleBearss:,>20 ChelleBearss:
You are definitely keeping you Canadian credentials with this great collection of books! I am reading Elephants in My Backyard which is a memoir of the actor from the Life of Pi movie and or is making me want to reread Life of Pi. I also just finished The Testaments which was excellent and also makes me want to go back for a Handmaid’s Tale reread.

ETA- I thought this was your ‘just read ‘ books. I didn’t notice the dates, silly me.

2021 Pop Sugar Challenge:8) A book that has won the Women's Prize For Fiction (2018)
52 Book Club 2021 Challenge:Mar 8-14 ~ 10. Related to the word “fire”
Women's Prize for Fiction (winner)
Booker Prize (long list)
75 Books Challenge for 2021
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

Every once in a while I delay picking up a book because it intimidates me or because I'm being a book snob. If it's too popular that must mean that it's fluffy and I won't enjoy it. If it has won too many awards therefore it must be too difficult or too deep and I won't enjoy it. Usually I end up reading it years later and end up kicking myself for not reading it sooner. This is one that I should have picked up when I saw how many friends raved about it. I couldn't put it down and my heart was pounding when I read the last page.

Thank you I just borrowed the audio. This will make my 114 Booker

>23 bergs47: That's amazing! Good for you :)

2021 Pop Sugar Challenge:48) A book from your TBR list chosen at random
52 Book Club 2021 Challenge:Mar 15-21 ~ 11. Book with discussion questions inside
1001 Books to read before you die
Booker Prize (short list)
75 Books Challenge for 2021
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors and I have made an effort to buy many of her works over the years. I have had this book on my shelves since 2013 and for some reason have never picked it up. It was quite long and very rich and it took me almost a week to finish it, which is very long for me! While I did find the beginning to be long winded and slightly harder to get into, about half way it got very interesting and much easier to read in longer stretches.
I have added to quite a few challenges with this book and it was well overdue for a read!