OldRottenhat
Active member
owen said:not wanting to be mean, but the word 'booker' tends to make my heart sink- apart from james kelman i can't think of anyone not offensively north london to have ever won the thing (and margaret attwood, i guess- recently read the handmaid's tale after getting it 2nd hand for aboput tuppence, and was surprisingly impressed, way better than the respected lit figure does sci-fi tag would imply- alternate histories always a bit of a fixation of mine)- it does always evoke reams and reams of leaden, smug bildungsroman
I assume that you're using the phrase "offensively north London" metaphorically since the last ten winners include two Canadians, two Australians and one apiece from South Africa, India and Ireland. If you're implying that there's a certain circumscribed notion of "literary" fiction that's common to most Booker nominees, I would agree - formal innovation isn't much valued as a virtue by the Booker panel. I doubt you're the only one reading this forum who finds the prospect of Booker fiction less than inspiring - I read A Long Long Way as much because the author is Irish as because it was nominated - but I won't discount a book because it was nominated either.