So far this year, through my challenge to read all the Booker prize winners, I’ve had multiple first-time experiences. Admittedly some have been more pleasurable than others. I do not for example have any desire to read another book by David Storey or Penelope Fitzgerald but I do want to explore further J G Farrell and V S Naipaul.
This week saw another first for me – Beryl Bainbridge. I’ve been aware of her for many years largely I think because of her image as a hard talking bon viveur from the heyday of London’s Fleet Street and her predisposition to fall off bar stools during parties. But I knew nothing of her literary work and ashamedly couldn’t name a single book she had produced. But then I discovered this was an author whose work had been shortlisted five times for the Man Booker prize (though she never won). Clearly she was worth investigating, which is why I’ve spent this week reading The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress. It was her last novel before she died from cancer in 2010 and although she kept writing until the end, she never actually managed to complete the book. It does feel unfinished but I enjoyed her style sufficiently to want to read more next year . (Read the review here) There are plenty of titles to choose from – including the last one, she wrote 18 novels in total. But I’m going to start with one for which she was a Booker shortlist candidate:
- The Dressmaker (1973)
- The Bottle Factory Outing (1974)
- An Awfully Big Adventure (1989)
- Every Man for Himself (1996)
- Master Georgie (1998)
Anyone read one of these and can give me an opinion on which to choose first?
Interested in learning more about Beryl Bainbridge? Read the 2002 profile at The Guardian.