Wednesday 17 October 2007

Anne Enright wins the Booker


Congratulations to Anne Enright. An Irish Booker prize winner and a woman Booker Prize winner rolled into one.

I heard her read once from 'Making Babies' She gave a good reading, witty. I got her next book 'The Pleasures of Eliza Lynch' and found it disjointed, annoying, turgid in places. So I kind of went off her. I've read a few short stories too which were well written. She's very down to earth. The reviews say that 'The Gathering' is fairly bleak but that's par for the course for Booker winners in general. The latest sales figures show it has only sold 3,253 copies. That is shockingly low. If a writer of her calibre has such low sales figures, how are the rest of us supposed to make a living?

She working now on a collection of short stories which has to be good for short stories.

Here's the list. How many have you read? How many of the authors have you read?

2007 - The Gathering (Anne Enright)
2006 - The Inheritance of Loss (Anita Desai)
2005 - The Sea (John Banville) (IRL)
2004 - The Line of Beauty (Hollinghurst)
2003 - Vernon God Little (DBC Pierre)
2002 - Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
2001 - True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey)
2000 - The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood)
1999 - Disgrace (JM Coetzee)
1998 - Amsterdam: A Novel (Ian McEwan)
1997 - The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
1996 - Last Orders (Graham Swift)
1995 - The Ghost Road (Pat Barker)
1994 - How Late It Was, How Late (James Kelman)
1993 - Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Roddy Doyle) (IRL)
1992 - The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
1992 - Sacred Hunger (Barry Unsworth)
1991 - The Famished Road (Ben Okri)
1990 - Possession: A Romance (AS Byatt)
1989 - The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro)
1988 - Oscar and Lucinda (Peter Carey)
1987 - Moon Tiger (Penelope Lively)
1986 - The Old Devils (Kingsley Amis)
1985 - The Bone People (Keri Hulme)
1984 - Hotel Du Lac (Anita Brookner)
1983 - Life & Times of Michael K (JM Coetzee)
1982 - Schindler's List (Thomas Keneally)
1981 - Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
1980 - Rites of Passage (William Golding)
1979 - Offshore (Penelope Fitzgerald)
1978 - The Sea, the Sea (Iris Murdoch)
1977 - Staying on (Paul Scott)
1976 - Saville (David Storey)
1975 - Heat and Dust (Ruth Prawer Jhabvala)
1974 - The Conservationist (Nadine Gordimer)
1973 - The Siege of Krishnapur (JG Farrell)
1972 - G. (John Berger)
1971 - In a Free State (VS Naipaul)
1970 - The Elected Member (Bernice Rubens)
1969 - Something to Answer For (PH Newby)

John Banville won for 'The Sea' in 2005
Roddy Doyle in 1993
Iris Murdoch in 1978

3 comments:

Terence McDanger said...

OMG out of all those I've only read Disgrace and that's it. I consider this ironic.

Karen said...

Great idea to post the list of previous Booker winners, Emerging Writer! I'm quite surprised to find I've read 14, and am currently reading The Gathering which, despite reports of bleakness from anyone I know who's read it, I am really enjoying.
Oh, and hope you're feeling better!
KG

Emerging Writer said...

Karen, You're one up on me. I've read 18. Favourite was (in the mood I'm in today anyway, either Pat Barker or The Life of Pi or Last Orders or the James Kelman one)