I needed an antidote today to the stress-inducing shenanigans known as the US presidential elections. With perfect timing my blog news feed came up with posts from hopewellslibraryoflife and Lisa @anzlitlovers based on a light-hearted meme to mark the beginning of November.
The idea is to spell out the month using book titles. I decided to make it a little more challenging by restricting myself to the titles of Booker Prize winners I’ve read. Hope you like the result.
N
The Narrow Road To The Deep North by Richard Flanagan. Winner of the Booker Prize in 2014. This is one of my 10 favourite winners. I haven’t found the words to describe what makes it a fabulous read – hence why there is no review (as yet…)
O
Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald. I know this 1979 winner has a lot of fans but I don’t count myself among them. I enjoyed the setting of houseboats moored up along the Thames but there was something about this book that I just didn’t get.
V
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. What an odd book this was. I just looked back at my review and found I’d described it as “Frequently loopy, barmy and just plain whacky..”. But it was also thought-provoking and sadly too relevant today in an era of shootings in school buldings.
E
The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens. I had to include a Welsh author didn’t I? Another disturbing tale of a young man suffering from hallucinations.
M
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively. This 1987 winner made it into my list of 10 Stellar Booker Prize Winners. An elderly woman lies on her death bed, slowly reconstructing a life played out against a background of World War 2.
B
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. This was one of the first books I read when I started my Booker Prize project. Admirable for its multi-layered narrative where you can’t be entirely sure whether the narrator is telling the truth. Love those kinds of books!
E
The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. Another title from my list of 10 Stellar Booker Prize Winners. In fact it’s in my top 3. I thought it was outstanding but other readers disliked the disjointed narrative. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.
R
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. This is a brilliantly deceptive story, one where you need to pay close attention to what the narrator, the devoted head butler at a stately home, omits from his account.
The origin of this meme is unclear but was picked up by Carla Loves to Read and Mimosa Blossom. Now it’s your turn to go scouting through those reviews and books on your shelves.