Man Booker Challenge

The Man Booker Challenge

• Hosted by: Dewey
• When: January 1 - December 31, 2008
• What: Read 6 books that have either won the Man Booker Prize or have been shortlisted or longlisted. Find more information at the link above.

My List:

Julian Barnes. Arthur & George (2005 Shortlist) -- finished 2/16/2008
Susanna Clarke. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (2004 Longlist) -- finished 4/25/2008
Arundhati Roy. The God of Small Things (1997 Winner) -- finished 6/7/2008
Rohinton Mistry. Such a Long Journey (1991 Shortlist) -- finished 6/27/2008
Jill Paton Walsh. Knowledge of Angels (1994 Shortlist) -- finished 8/5/2008
Jim Crace. Quarantine (1997 Shortlist) -- finished 11/26/2008

Quarantine by Jim Crace

First sentence:

"Miri's husband was shouting in his sleep, not words that she could recognize but simple, blurting fanfares of distress."

Description:

"Quarantine is an imaginative and powerful retelling of Christ's fabled forty-day fast in the desert. In Jim Crace's account, Jesus travels to a cluster of arid caves, where he crosses paths with a small group of exiles and changes their lives in unexpected ways. Evoking the strangeness and beauty of the desert landscape, Crace provocatively interprets one of our most important stories." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a powerful and thought provoking book about compassion and suffering. While it is set during Jesus' fasting in the desert, the narrative focuses more on the other people in the same area and their struggles and dreams. I especially liked the interactions between the women Miri and Marta.

Date read: 11/26/2008
Book #: 82
Challenge: Man Booker Prize Challenge, Fall into Reading Challenge 2008
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0312199511
ISBN-13: 9780312199517
Publisher: Picador
Year: 1998
# of Pages: 243
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Knowledge of Angels by Jill Paton Walsh

First sentence:

"Suppose you are contemplating an island."

Description:

"Capturing the mood of William Golding's haunting medieval love story, The Spire, Knowledge Of Angels is a suspenseful fable set on a mythical island in the time of the Inquisition, a time of unquestionable and unquestioned faith and unmerciful justice. The fable spins a tale of two outcasts: a wild, flesh-eating wolf child and a foreign prince, captured separately and taken to the cardinal prince of the island. The wolf girl is remanded to a nunnery, where her caretakers are ordered to teach her to speak but not to speak of God, so that the cardinal can ask her if God exists. On her answer depends the life of the heretic prince, condemned because he does not believe in God. The federal creature and the elegant paladin are used as pawns by the town's religious council to answer the question of whether or not believing in God is an inherent part of being human."

My thoughts:

This was a beautifully written and thought-provoking book about conscience, faith, and being true to one's beliefs. I liked the conversations between Palinor, Benedictx and Cardinal Severo as well as the ones between Josefa and the wolf-child Amara.

Date read: 8/14/2008
Book #: 53
Challenges: Summer Reading Thing Challenge 2008, Man Booker Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0395686660
ISBN-13: 9780395686669
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Year: 1994
# of Pages: 268
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

First sentence:

"May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month."

Description:

"The story of the tragic decline of an Indian family whose members suffer the terrible consequences of forbidden love, The God of Small Things is set in the state of Kerala, on the southernmost tip of India. Armed only with the invincible innocence of children, the twins Rahel and Esthappen fashion a childhood for themselves in the shade of the wreck that is their family -- their lonely, lovely mother, Ammu (who loves by night the man her children love by day), their blind grandmother, Mammachi (who plays Handel on her violin), their beloved uncle Chacko (Rhodes scholar, pickle baron, radical Marxist, bottom-pincher), their enemy, Baby Kochamma (ex-nun and incumbent grandaunt), and the ghost of an imperial entomologist's moth (with unusually dense dorsal tufts).

When their English cousin and her mother arrive on a Christmas visit, the twins learn that Things Can Change in a Day. That lives can twist into new, ugly shapes, even cease forever. The brilliantly plotted story uncoils with an agonizing sense of foreboding and inevitability. Yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it." -- from the publisher

My thoughts:

I wasn't sure what to think about this book when I finished. While it was beautifully written, the plot was sometimes hard to understand. Yet, weeks later as I think about it, I appreciate more the intricate story of the twins Rahel and Estha, and what happened when their cousin Sophie Mol visited one summer.

Date read: 6/7/2008
Book #: 34
Challenges: Book Awards Challenge, Man Booker Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fiction

ISBN-10: 0060977493
ISBN-13: 9780060977498
Publisher: HarperPerenniel
Year: 1998
# of Pages: 321
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

First sentence:
"Some years ago there was in the city of York a society of magicians."

Description:

"Susanna Clarke's brilliant first novel is an utterly compelling epic tale of nineteenth century England and the two very different magicians who, as teacher and pupil and then as rival, emerge to change its history. In the year 1806, in the throes of the Napoleonic Wars, most people believe magic to be dead in England--until the reclusive Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey reveals his powers and becomes a celebrity overnight. Soon, another practicing magician emerges: the young, handsome, and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's student, and the two join forces in the war against France. But as Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, he risks sacrificing not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything else that he holds dear." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

I admit when I first saw this book I was reluctant to read it - not because of the subject. I like books about magic and history, but because of the size. From the beginning, however, Clarke's writing pulled me into this world in which magic is studied and practiced, used and misunderstood. I especially liked the interactions between Norrell and Strange and the ones between the servant Stephen Black and the faery gentleman with the thistle-down hair.

Date read: 4/25/2008
Book #: 25
Challenges: Book Awards Challenge; Chunkster Challenge; Spring Reading Thing Challenge 2008; What's in a Name Challenge?; Man Booker Challenge
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Historical Fantasy

ISBN-10: 1582346038
ISBN-13: 9781582346038
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Year: 2005
# of Pages: 846
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page

Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

First sentence:

"A child wants to see."

Description:

"In the vast expanse of late-Victorian Britain, two boys come to life: George, the son of a Midlands vicar, and Arthur, in shabby genteel Edinburgh, both of them feeling at once near to and impossibly distant from the beating heart of Empire. One falls prey to a series of pranks en route to a legal vocation, while the other studies medicine before discovering a different calling entirely, and it is years before their destinies are entwined in a mesmerizing alliance. We follow each through outrageous accusation and unrivaled success, through faith and perseverance and dogged self-recrimination, whether in the dock awaiting complete disgrace or at the height of fame while desperately in love with a woman not his wife, and gradually realize that George is half-Indian and that Arthur becomes the creator of the world’s most famous detective. Ranging from London clubs to teeming prisons, from a lost century to the modern age, this novel is a panoramic revelation of things we thought we knew or else had no clue of, as well as a gripping exploration of what goals drive us toward whatever lies in wait–an experience resounding with issues, no less relevant today, of crime and spirituality; of identity and nationality; of what we think, what we believe and what we can prove."

My thoughts:

An interesting book about late 19th century English life as seen through the eyes of two men who seem very different but who also share some similarities. At times I felt the story lagged as the author focused on George and then a long section on Arthur, but when the two men meet and Arthur agrees to help George, the book regained my interest. I also liked learning about how Arthur created his fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.

Date read: 2/16/2008
Book #: 9
Challenge: Man Booker Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

ISBN-10: 030726310X
ISBN-13: 9780307263100
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 386
LibraryThing Page