The 1988 Booker Prize Shortlist: Absurdity and Memory
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- Hello! I’m Bob, and as part of my Booker project, here’s me looking back over the 1988 shortlist!
Books Mentioned:
00:00 Introduction
00:30 Peter Carey- Oscar and Lucinda
02:31 Bruce Chatwin- Utz
04:42 Penelope Fitzgerald- The Beginning of Spring
08:15 David Lodge- Nice Work
11:30 Salman Rushdie- The Satanic Verses
14:11 Marina Warner- The Lost Father
16:14 End Chatter and Favourites
--
Thank you for watching! You can also support my channel by buying your books through the following links (please note, these are affiliate links, so I will get a small percentage of the cost, but it will not affect the price of the book!)
Bookshop: uk.bookshop.org/shop/bobthebo...
Blackwells: www.blackwells.co.uk/?a_aid=B...
Waterstones: www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmi...
Scribd: www.scribd.com/g/9u6hrz
Amazon (UK/US/CA): amzn.to/3Ds5b2z
Kindle: www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/h...
Audible: www.amazon.co.uk/hz/audible/m...
You can also find me on Twitter at @wordbib and on the below:
Storygraph: app.thestorygraph.com/profile...
Goodreads: / bob-hughes
Email: bobthebookerer@gmail.com 
Развлечения
The Beginning of Spring sounds absolutely fabulous!! Thanks so much for sharing. You are such a resource!!!
Ahh, thank you so much! She’s such a fab author- such humanity in her writing!
I loved Do Not Say We Have Nothing! Definitely an underrated one I think
Yes! It did a lot more than I thought it would at first!
I really want to read Penelope Fitzgerald one day!
Yes! I think she’s really worth it!
i need to get a copy of the beginning of spring for sure.
Yay! Fitzgerald is such an exciting author, I think!
Blast from the past! I've read Oscar and Lucinda and Nice Work. Both were long ago. They might have been new releases! I have not yet read anything by Penelope Fitzgerald but she's a long-term lurker on my TBR.
Yes! She’s such a great author!
Interesting! I remember at the time being astonished that Satanic Verses didn’t win - and this was a few months before the fatwa. It is such an ambitious project and largely successful, and very readable despite the heavy topics. I really didn’t like Oscar and Lucinda, probably because I don’t usually enjoy reading farce - but unlike you I enjoyed the Kelly Gang much more. I agree with you on Nice Work (just ok) and liked Utz. Clearly I need to read Beginning of Spring as I have enjoyed other Fitzgerald novels (eg Offshore), but for now Rushdie is still my winner for this year.
Yes! It’s a really audacious and ambitious work in so many ways, and I was very surprised at how readable I found it too!
And totally fair! I think Beginning is one of Fitzgerald’s finest (from the ones I’ve read so far).
Thanks Bob! I read Oscar and Lucinda a couple years ago and mostly remember it as a fun read. Absurd indeed! I liked the Satanic Verses too though it's been so so long since I read it. Interested to read Penelope Fitzgerald, I always mix her up with Penelope Lively. Cheers from Canada!
Thank you! And I do the same!
Thanks Bob. I’ve read The Book Shop by Fitzgerald and enjoyed it so this may be a place to go next. I’ve been meaning to read Carey My Life As A Fake in particular. But may come down to what I can find first
Ooh nice! I don’t know that one but will keep an eye out!
Haven’t read any of those books! I’ve yet to read any Peter Carey.
Ah fair! I’ve had mixed feelings so far from what I’ve read!
Turns out I 'know' Marina Warner as a writer of book prefaces. Any of her books from your university days stand out? I'm open to anything. My library has a copy of Lost Father, which otherwise seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.
Yes! She’s almost like an author’s author, I think! I can’t remember what the books were, but she does some very clever writing on myths, I seem to remember.
I haven't read any of these! And I do tend to love an absurd book. I have actually never read any Penelope Fitzgerald at all. Is The Beginning of Spring a good place to start, or do you have another recommendation? Are they all great and I can just go for the first one I come across? lol
For what it’s worth I’ve read The Book Shop and enjoyed it. I think Bob did as well as I recall, and I would like to read more of her writing
Turns out I actually have Offshore lurking on my Kindle, so I guess I'll start there 😂
Oh amazing! Offshore is a good shout, and I think The Bookshop and The Beginning are good too!