pickShort listed for the #Booker in 1980, and something of a cult classic. The story of a wwi vet with PTSD from London who goes to York, hired to restore a whitewashed medieval mural in a tiny town. It‘s endearing and quietly wonderful.
pick#booker #booker2024 #longlist
My last longlist book. This is an interesting narrative style, a series of snapshots from each fighter‘s past, future, and rather violent present. The 8 girls fighting for the u-18 boxing championship in-front of 12 fans in a neglected arena. But the narrative is doing a lot more than just following our neglected lady gladiators.
My full longlist summary will go in the comments.
pickMy 12th from the #Booker #longlist. One more to go.
A sensitive thriller? A low-level violent drug-deal abduction, that becomes very interested in the sensitive nature of its characters. The pacing is careful but controlled. When we want it to move on, it holds its course. Be patient dear reader. I enjoyed it.
#Booker2024
pickI started this on audio and struggled to connect so switched to physical. However, whilst I really enjoyed the book overall, I think the lack of human connection might have been the issue rather than audio.
Neither of the two male MCs was very relatable and there was too much distance between all of the stories - they sort of came together at the end but I didn‘t feel emotionally connected.
It would still have made my #booker shortlist.
pickMy pup is out of this lion costume collar now. Surgery went well, recovering largely done.
Powers is an author determined to make quality fiction out of pertinent science. Here he tosses us a red herring, when a social media leader, author of AI-based Playground, suffering from a disease that affects his mind, looks at the oceans. I was waiting for the environmental hammer, but his focus is different. Thought-provoking. Not subtle.
I don't have the will or the energy to make a video, so here's my #Booker winner prediction and shortlist ranking:
Personal faves: James and Stone Yard Devotional
Quite liked: Orbital and The Safekeep
Don't think succeeded in what it set out to do: Creation Lake
Actively disliked: Held
Book I think will win: James or Held.
Sure hope it is James.
Another book i started last week. Slowly making way through. Joy of discovery mixed with drama of the characters lives. Fun stuff so far. #booker #booker2024 #longlist
pickI liked this a lot more than I expected to! It had innovative storytelling and just the right amount of quirky and feral teen girl energy. Will it stand out in my mind a year from now? Probably not. But I really enjoyed my time with it. In all but the final match it was perhaps too easy to work out who would win based on how their story was told, but in the end that's not truly what the book is about.
(Personally I was #TeamWeirdHatEnergy)
#Booker
pickWhat an interesting book. I‘ll have to reread this. It‘s a splintered narrative and I tried to focus on where and when and who, enjoying the romantic touches and the drifty feel, overlooking the mechanical and scientific commentary … until I saw two chapters titled “River Orwell…1984”. Then I started to look for something dark. It‘s a little buried and quiet, but pieces line up. A striking condemnation of our destructive society is built in here.
