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Posts from the ‘Dublin Literary Award 2019’ Category

11
Apr

#Dublin Award shortlist 2019 Kamila Shamsie

  • Author: Kamila Shamsie
  • Title: Home Fire
  • Published: 2017
  • #DublinLiteraryAward2019
  • List of Challenges 2019
  • Monthly plan
  • PREDICTION:  this book is MY choice for Dublin Literary Award 2019!

 

Awards:
  1. Man Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2017)
  2. Costa Book Award Nominee for Novel (2017)
  3. Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Nominee for International Book (2018)
  4. Women’s Prize for Fiction (2018)
  5. Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2017)

 

Shortlist: 4/10 ( not wasting my time on 6 selected books, sorry)

UPDATE:

  • Reservoir 13 – J. McGregor – READ – (…review Lisa)
  • Home Fire – Kamila Shamsie – READ (immigrants…review Brona)
  • Exit West – M. Hamid – NOT reading (review Lisa, Brona) (..enough of Middle-Eastern city)
  • Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders – READ (review Brona)
  • Midwinter Break –  Bernard MacLaverty– READ  (review Brona)
  • Compass –  M. Énard – NOT reading – Prix Goncourt 2015  (review Reese)
  • Idaho –  Emily Ruskovich – NOT reading (family epic, rugged Idaho)
  • A Boy in Winter –  Rachel Seiffert – NOT reading  (WWII, review Lisa)
  • History of Wolves –  Emily Fridlund – NOT reading – (review Lisa)
  • Conversations With Friends – S. Rooney  NOT reading (…had enough of Rooney)

 

MY SHORTLIST  …books I think should have been shortlisted 0/6

  • Brother –  David Chariandy –  (Powerful, bold and timely, Canadian)
  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine –  G. Honeyman –  (review Reese)
  • The Hate U Give –  A. Thomas –  (..must read this, NYT Bestseller YA novel))
  • Tin Man –  Sarah Winman –  (review Lisa)

 

Quickscan:

  1. Home Fire is a contemporary
  2. re-imagining of the Greek tragedy Antigone
  3. …in 5 acts…locations.
  4. Setting: The novel is set in five locations:
  5. London; Amherst, Massachusetts,
  6. Istanbul,  Raqqa, Syria and Karachi, Pakistan
  7. Structure: The book is divided into 5 parts.
  8. Characters: In each part one character
  9. Isma – elder sister, raised twins when their mother died
  10. Eamonn – son Home Secretary, lover Aneeka
  11. Parvaiz – twin, jihadi
  12. Aneeka – twin,  law student
  13. Karamat Lone  – Home Secretary
  14. speaks to the  reader
  15. …we are the chorus in a  Greek play!
  16. Theme: The theme is resistance.
  17. Aneeka refuses to obey the law
  18. Aneeka defies British Home Secretary Karamat Lone
  19. …who stated that a jihadi may not return to UK …dead or alive.
  20. Climax: Aneeka keeps vigil by her brother’s coffin in public park – protest!
  21. Symbol: soil
  22. With a dust mask on her face, dark hair a cascade of mud
  23. onlookers hear a deep howl…a howl Aneeka
  24. calls up from the earth through her into the office of the Home Secretary
  25. …watching on the TV
  26. She scrapes some dirt with her fingernails
  27. to properly bury her brother.
  28. Aneeka choose her dignity and
  29. …that of her brother above her happiness.

 

Last thoughts:

  1. The novel tries to stay close to the original plot of Antigone.
  2. Shamsie has been able to include the
  3. theme of civil disobedience
  4. into a modern setting with
  5. …explosive political (jihad, ISIS) undertones.
  6. The book has been reviewed by
  7. …so many readers it is impossible
  8. to add more praise than it has accrued.
  9. Strong point: IMO  Act 3 Parvaiz was the most impressive.
  10. Shamsie revealed why how Parvaiz was groomed to
  11. leave his home to answer the call of Jihad.
  12. Two years after publication
  13. …this book is still very confronting.
  14. The so-called caliphate of Islamic State, also known as Isis,
  15. in Iraq and Syria is defeated but remains a threat.
  16. Countries must engage in a delicate balancing act between
  17. legal obligations and political correctness.
  18. Strong point: thought provoking
  19. …I had to think long and hard….
  20. how families must feel
  21. losing their children to the Islamic state.
  22. #Devastated

 

10
Apr

#Dublin Award shortlist 2019 Jon McGregor

 

Shortlist: 3/10 ( not wasting my time on 6 selected books, sorry)

MY SHORTLIST …books I think should have been shortlisted 0/6

 

UPDATE:

WINNER !!

  • Idaho by Emily Ruskovich –  SHORTLIST (family epic, rugged Idaho)
  • American author Emily Ruskovich has won the prestigious 2019 International Dublin Literary Award for her debut novel Idaho.
  • The €100,000 prize is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English and Emily is the fourth American author to win the prize in 24 years.

 

  • A Boy in Winter –  Rachel Seiffert – NOT reading  (WWII, review Lisa)
  • History of Wolves –  Emily Fridlund – NOT reading – SHORTLIST (review Lisa)
  • Conversations With Friends – S. Rooney  NOT reading –  (…had enough of Rooney)

 

MY SHORTLIST  …books I think should have been shortlisted

  • Pachinko –  Jin Min Lee – (500 pg saga, review  Sue and Brona)
  • Brother –  David Chariandy –  (Powerful, bold and timely, Canadian)
  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine –  G. Honeyman –  (review Reese)
  • The Hate U Give –  A. Thomas –  (..must read this, NYT Bestseller YA novel))
  • Tin Man –  Sarah Winman –  (review Lisa)
  • Taboo – Kim Scott (Indigenous Australian) –  (review Lisa and Brona)

 

Conclusion:

  1. Timeline: 10 years.
  2. Ch 1 : A young girl goes missing on a walk.
  3. The parents and villagers are in shock.
  4. Now in just about every chapter McGregor tells us
  5. what  the foxes,  sheep
  6. …swallows, badgers, pheasants, magpies
  7. woodpigeons, a whippet and Mr. Wilson’s dog are doing!
  8. We listen to village gossip,
  9. …spy on teenagers kissing in the  fields.
  10. We celebrate with the characters just about
  11. every holiday imaginable:
  12. Harvest festivals, Xmas pageants, May Day
  13. …Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day
  14. and New Years Eve when the fireworks go off.
  15. In the background we are told the
  16. …reservoirs are silver-metallic grey
  17. …rising higher, flooding, the water resides lower,
  18. …rise again and are whipped into whitecaps.
  19. This goes on and on for another 12 chapters.
  20. …but still not real investigation about the missing girl.
  21. This story is a circle going round and round
  22. …what’s the point?
  23. First chapter was the hook.
  24. Short sentences keeping the pace and plot moving.
  25. Then…BAM!
  26. I ended up in a 12 chapter nature walk
  27. …through a quintessential English village!
  28. Huh?
  29. Where is the suspense of a missing teenage girl in the quarries?
  30. Winner of the Costa Novel Award
  31. A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
  32. Named a Best Book of the Year by
  33. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kirkus, and Los Angeles Review.
  34. WTF?
  35. Life’s too short to read long winding books like these.
  36. Clearly winning prizes does not guarantee a good book.

 

Last thoughts:

  1. Initially I thought I found a
  2. …strong point in the first few chapters.
  3. McGregor’s writing style reminded me of episodes
  4. of BBC Broadchurch detective series!
  5. Not a narrative  filled with junk science CSI
  6. but the human side of a story based on
  7. the tragedy of a missing girl and
  8. …how it bleeds into the lives of the villagers.
  9. But the hemorrhaging….just kept on going
  10. …until there was no more life in the story!
  11. Needless to say after 7 chapters of this senseless talk
  12. I skimmed the rest of the book.
  13. How could Reservoir 13 be
  14. …shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize?
  15. Where’s the literature in this book?
  16.  I’ve seen recipes for boiled eggs that were more exciting!
  17. #HugeDisappointment

 

6
Apr

#Dublin Literary Award 2019 Peter Terrin (Belgian)

  • Author: Peter Terrin
  • Genre: Novella 
  • Language:  Dutch (read it in my second language!)
  • Published: 2014
  • Table of Contents: 165 pages
  • Setting: Monte Carlo, Monaco, Alstead, England
  • Timeline: May 1968 – July 1969 – some flashbacks to Jack’s youth.
  • Theme: misplaced heroism
  • List of Challenges 2019
  • Monthly plan

 

Quickscan:

  1. 1968 race in Monte Carlo is a
  2. …turning point Jack Preston’s life.
  3. He  saves the life of actress Deedee from an horrific explosion.
  4. Jack  is scarred for life.
  5. At home he waits for a sign of gratitude from Deedee.
  6. The press announces that Deedee’s bodyguard saved her.
  7. Jack ends up being ‘nobody’s’ hero.

 

Conclusion:

  1. Peter Terrin tries to make a statement
  2. …by writing too poetically.
  3. It feels forced, belabored.
  4. There are difficult words, choppy sentences
  5. ….that did not ‘grab my interest’.
  6. After reading the first page the book felt like work and not pleasure!
  7. For example: sentences with
  8. …79-89-68-131-111-101-79-110 words  in one sentence!!
  9. OMG…what is Peter Terrin trying to prove?
  10. I want the writer to lead me through the story,
  11. nudge me in the right direction, pluck a heart string.
  12. Terrin manages to drag me along with the windy orations
  13. …that bore me to death!
  14. I just lost all interest.
  15. Part 2 and 3 could not save this book.

 

Last thoughts:

  1. S. Hertmans War and Turpentine.
  2. This is a wonderful examples of great writing by Dutch/Belgian writer.
  3. Why didn’t Dublin Literary Award longlist Hertmans?
  4. I can barely crawl through 165 pages of Monte Carlo by Peter Terrin.
  5. I keep asking myself: “Am I so hard to please?”
  6. This book was like watching the old lady
  7. …in front of you pay for her groceries
  8. …one nickel at a time…so excruciating.
  9. There is NO way this book will be shortlisted for
  10. Dublin Literary Award 2019.
  11. If it DOES…get shortlisted…” I’ll eat my hat!”
  12. Update:  It did not make the shortlist on 04 April 2019!
  13. So I still have my hat!
  1. NOTE:  there is a reason I don’t read many
  2. …Dutch/Belgian  authors
  3. …books are boring
  4. …and it is the same group of writers
  5. …that keep getting nominated over and over!
  6. Example:
  7. Arnon Grunberg, Esther Gerritzen, Connie Palmen
  8. Ilja Pfeiffer, Tommy Wierenga.
  9. More interesting are the multicultural voices that have emerged!
  10. Murat Isik, Ozcan Akyol and Alfred Birney (Indonesian)

 

Peter Terrin

 

4
Apr

#Dublin Literary Award shortlist 2019

Shortlisted books: 3/10

WINNER !!

  • Idaho by Emily Ruskovich –  SHORTLIST (family epic, rugged Idaho)
  • American author Emily Ruskovich has won the prestigious 2019 International Dublin Literary Award for her debut novel Idaho.
  • The €100,000 prize is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English and Emily is the fourth American author to win the prize in 24 years.

 

 

SHORTLIST  2019

Shortlist:   3/10 ( not wasting my time on 5 selected books, sorry)

 

 

UPDATE:

 

MY SHORTLIST  …books I think should have been shortlisted

  • Brother by David Chariandy –  (Powerful, bold and timely, Canadian)
  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by G. Honeyman – (review Reese)
  • The Hate U Give by A. Thomas –  (..must read this, NYT Bestseller YA novel))
  • Tin Man by Sarah Winman – (review Lisa)

 

UPDATE: 04.04.2019

Dutch/Belgian longlist….that I will read:

  1. Monte Carlo – Peter Terrin (Belgian) – READ
  2. The Consequences – Nina Weijers (Dutch) –READ (…review soon)
  3. Tench – Inge Schilperoord (Dutch)…about paedophile…not reading it!
27
Mar

#Dublin Literary Award 2019

 

Dublin Literary Award 2019

  1. This is one of the most prestigious
  2. …international literary awards.
  3. Books by Irish authors are my top priority as well as
  4. Australian and New Zealand writers.
  5. You can see a complete long list
  6. at Lisa’s website ANZ LitLovers
  7. Nominations include 39 novels in translation with
  8. …works by authors from 41 countries.
  9. Shortlist will be announced 4 April 2019 – UPDATE!
  10. Award will be announced 12 June 2019.
  11. I want to read as many books on these lists…as I can:
  12. …Irish, Australian, New Zealand, Dutch, Belgian writers.

 

Irish books nominated:

  1. Midwinter Break –  Bernard MacLaverty– READ   SHORTLIST
  2. The Heart’s Invisible Furies  –  John Boyne (personal favorite writer!)
  3. Conversations With Friends  –  Sally Rooney  SHORTLIST (I will give SR another chance!)
  4. Mrs Osmond  – John Banville
  5. A Line Made by Walking  –  Sara Baume
  6. Smile – Roddy Doyle (personal favorite writer!)
  7. The Blood Miracles – Lisa McInerney
  8. The Dead House – Billy O’Callaghan
  9. Ithaca – Alan McMonagle
  10. Acts of Allegiance – Peter Cunningham

Australian and New Zealand books nominated:

  1. The New Animals – Pip Adam (New Zealand)
  2. A Long Way From Home – Peter Carey (Australia)
  3. Marlborough Man – Alan Carter (New Zealand)
  4. Terra Nullius – Claire G. Coleman (Indigenous Australian)
  5. The Life to Come – Michelle de Kretser (Australia)
  6. Her – Garry Disher (Australia)
  7. Decline and Fall on Savage Street – Fiona Farrell (New Zealand)*
  8. First Person – Richard Flanagan (Australia)*
  9. Sleeps Standing Moetu – Witi Ihimaera,  (Maori, New Zealand)
  10. Baby – Annaleese Jochems (New Zealand)
  11. The Choke – Sofie Laguna (Australia)
  12. Incredible Floridas – Stephen Orr (Born in New Zealand, Australian resident)
  13. Through the Lonesome Dark – Paddy Richardson (New Zealand)
  14. The Fish Girl – Miranda Riwoe (Australia)
  15. See What I Have Done – Sarah Schmidt (Australia)
  16. Taboo – Kim Scott (Indigenous Australian) – READING SHORTLIST? ( ..tip from Brona)*
  17. The Necessary Angel – C.K. Stead (New Zealand)
  18. And Fire Came Down – Emma Viskic (Australia)
  19. Clear to the Horizon – Dave Warner (Australia)*

UPDATE: 04.04.2019

Dutch/Belgian longlist….that I will read:

  1. Monte Carlo – Peter Terrin (Belgian) – READ (… review soon)
  2. The Consequences – Nina Weijers (Dutch) –READ (..review soon)
  3. Tench – Inge Schilperoord (Dutch)…about paedophile...not reading it!

 

SHORTLIST  2019

UPDATE:

  • Reservoir 13 J. McGregor – READ
  • Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie – READ
  • Conversations With Friends – S. Rooney 
  • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders – READ  SHORTLIST (review Brona)
  • Midwinter Break –  Bernard MacLaverty– READ   SHORTLIST (review Brona)
  • Compass by M. Énard – NOT reading – SHORTLIST Prix Goncourt 2015  “un rien ennuyant”

WINNER !!

  • Idaho by Emily Ruskovich –  SHORTLIST (family epic, rugged Idaho)
  • American author Emily Ruskovich has won the prestigious 2019 International Dublin Literary Award for her debut novel Idaho.
  • The €100,000 prize is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English and Emily is the fourth American author to win the prize in 24 years.

My Shortlist!

  • A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert ,
  • History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
  • Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
  • Pachinko by Jin Min Lee
  • Brother by David Chariandy
  • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by G. Honeyman – READ
  • The Hate U Give by A. Thomas –
  • Tin Man by Sarah Winman – READ

 

  • DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2019 LONGLIST:

    German:

    1. Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck – READ!    NOT ON SHORTLIST !!! 
    2. SHORTLIST for sure – my choice as winner!
    3. …but I still have to read  Irish and Australian/New Zealand books!
    4. You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann – NOT reading
    5. To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann – NOT reading
    6. Kruso by Lutz Seiler – NOT reading

     

    Finnish:

    1. Escape From Sunset Grove by Minna Lindgren – NOT reading
    2. My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci – NOT reading
    3. They Know Not What They Do by Jussi Valtonen – NOT reading

     

    Norwegian:

    1. A House in Norway by Vigdis Hjorth – NOT reading
    2. The History of Bees by Maja Lunde – NOT reading
    3. The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting – NOT reading

    Swedish:

    1. Beartown / The Scandal by Fredrik Backman – NOT reading (50 % ice hockey, not my sport)
    2. Naondel ; the Red Abbey Chronicles by Maria Turtschaninoff – NOT reading ( rape, abuse)

    French:

    1. Special Envoy by Jean Echenoz- NOT reading (polar, detective)
    2. The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet
    3. Compass by Mathias Énard – NOT reading – SHORTLIST
    4. The End of Eddy by Edouard Louis – NOT reading   Just 192 pages of pure misery
    5. Radiant Terminus by Antoine Volodine – NOT reading ( parallel universes)

    Danish:

    1. Of Darkness by Josefine Klougart – NOT reading (apocalyptic novel)
    2. Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorth Nors – NOT reading (woman with driving anxiety)

    Portuguese:

    1. The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha –NOT reading (no plot, depressing)
    2. A Poison Apple by Michel Laub – NOT reading (depressing, suicide)

    Spanish:

    1. A Vineyard in Andalusia by Maria Dueñas – NOT reading (pg 544 historical fiction, polished draft!)
    2. The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán – NOT reading (masturbating to Bob Dylan, jick)
    3. Return to the Dark Valley by Santiago Gamboa – NOT reading (violence, rapes, torture, mutilation)
    4. Like a Fading Shadow by Antonio Muñoz Molina – NOT reading (…like J.E. Ray bio on Wikipedia)
    5. Heretics by Leonardo Padura – READING
    6. Fever Dream by Samantha Schweblin NOT reading ( depressing, Amanda lies terminally ill)

    Slovanian:

    1. The Harvest of Chronos by Mojca Kumerdej – NOT reading ( no GR reviews…not taking chance)

    Italian:

    1. Ferocity by Nicola Lagioia – NOT reading (dubious tedious leery depiction of women.)
    2. The Temptation to be Happy by Lorenzo Marone – NOT reading ?? (..old fellow )
    3. Adua by Igiaba Scego NOT reading (Italian colonization of East Africa, Somali immigrant)

    Estonian:

    1. The Death of the Perfect Sentence by Rein Raud – NOT reading (spy novel/love story in Estonia)

    Korean:

    1. The Impossible Fairytale by Han Yujoo – NOT reading

    Serbian:

    1. The Image Interpreter by Zoran Živković – NOT READING

     

    • The Changeling by Victor LaValle – NOT reading (…bland writing, Neil Gaiman feel….)
    • Pachinko by Jin Min Lee – (500 pg saga, tip from Sue and Brona)
    • The Barrowfields by Phillip Lewis – NOT reading (368 pg dysfunctional family sagas)
    • Mama’s Maze by Agnes Ong – NOT reading (Malaysia, daughter with mentally ill mother)
    • Stay With Me by A. Adébáyọ̀ – NOT reading ( family tragedy in Nigeria)
    • 4321 by Paul Auster  – NOT reading (866 pages..to massive)
    • Little Fires Everywhere by C. Ng – NOT reading ( complex family/small-town)
    • The Trick by Emanuel Bergmann – NOT reading
    • The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes by Bridget Canning – NOT reading
    • Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang – NOT reading (…slow book)
    • Brother by David Chariandy – (Powerful, bold and timely, Canadian)
    • What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons – NOT reading ( coming of age…again!)
    • The Last Beothuk by Gary Collins – NOT reading (New Foundland historical fiction…hmmm)
    • In the Distance by Hernan Diaz – NOT reading (The Odyssey…in American West)
    • Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan  – NOT reading ( mind-numbing boring)
    • American War by Omar El Akkad – NOT reading ( horrifying dystopian novel)
    • This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel – NOT reading ( transgender children)
    • The Leavers by Lisa Ko  – NOT reading (Chinese village)
    • History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund – NOT reading –
    • Here in Berlin by Cristina Garcia – NOT reading (man in Berlin with a camera)
    • Dreams Beyond the Shore by Tamika Gibson – NOT reading (two different type teenagers)
    • There Your Heart Lies by Mary Gordon – NOT reading ( Spanish Civil War…and a woman)
    • Little Sister by Barbara Gowdy – NOT reading ( bizarre, bland from Canada)
    • The Road to Shenzhen by Huang Guosheng – NOT reading (no GR reviews…no risks)
    • How to Stop Time by Matt Haig – NOT reading (40 yr guy…with special power, bah)
    • Exit West by Mohsin Hamid – NOT reading   
    • All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai  – NOT reading (another time travel narrative)
    • The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott – NOT reading (depressing book, Irish, nuns, Brooklyn)
    • Reservoir 13 J. McGregor – READ
    • Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed – NOT reading ( rape, child abuse , incest, bah)
    • The Forensic Records Society by Magnus Mills – NOT reading (…vinyl record club?)
    • Elmet by Fiona Mozley – NOT reading (allegory of the feudal nature of land)
    • The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst – NOT reading (two boys attending Oxford University)
    • Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by G.Honeyman – READ
    • Darker by E.L. James – NOT reading (…average sad guy…)
    • The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin – NOT reading
    • First Snow, Last Light by Wayne Johnston – NOT reading
    • The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce – NOT reading (healing power of music for two lovers…)
    • Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfař – NOT reading (intergalactic odyssey of love, ambition)
    • English Animals by Laura Kaye – NOT reading (girl gets job in a country house in rural England)
    • A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates – NOT reading (752 pg lonely/empty hearts)
    • Uncertain Weights and Measures by Jocelyn Parr – NOT reading (love story, scientist and artist)
    • Next Year, For Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson – NOT reading
    • Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore – NOT reading (reincarnation and rape, ugh.)
    • No One is Coming to Save Us by S. Watts – NOT reading (Great Gatsby recast in the US South)
    • The Bedlam Stacks by N. Pulley – NOT reading (smuggler journeying to Peru seeks quinine)
    • White Bodies by Jane Robins – NOT reading (psychological thriller about twin sisters, cringe)
    • Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson – NOT reading (Canadian YA novel )
    • The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy – NOT reading (not a fan of author)
    • Breathe by Beni Rusani – NOT reading (…medical novel, not my thing)
    • The Golden House by Salman Rushdie – NOT reading
    • Idaho by Emily Ruskovich – NOT reading WINNER !!
    • The Bridge Troll Murders by Sheldon Russell – NOT reading
    • No One Can Pronounce My Name R Satyal – NOT reading (immigrants – Americanized offspring)
    • Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders – READ  SHORTLIST ?
    • A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert –
    • Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie – READ
    • The Woman in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck
    • House of Spies by Daniel Silva – NOT reading (…but not about to start in middle of series)
    • The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland – NOT reading
    • Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout – NOT reading
    • My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent – NOT reading
    • The Hate U Give by A. Thomas
    • Temporary People by Deepak Unnikrishnan – NOT reading
    • Borne by Jeff Van der Meer – NOT reading
    • Sing, Unburied, Sing by J. Ward – NOT reading (magical realism not my thing) 
    • Girlcott by Florenz Webb Maxwell – NOT reading
    • When the English Fall by David Williams – NOT reading
    • Tin Man by Sarah Winman – READ
    • Lost in September by Kathleen Winter – NOT reading
    • The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas – NOT reading
    • The Book of Joan by  Lidia Yuknavitch – NOT reading

    Previous winners

    • 2018: Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Irish)
    • 2017: A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa (Angolan),
    • 2016: Family Life by Akhil Sharma (American)
    • 2015: Harvest by Jim Crace (British)
    • 2014: The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombian),
    • 2013: City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (Irish)
    • 2012: Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor (British)
    • 2011: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Irish)
    • 2010: The Twin by Gerbrand Bakker (Dutch)
    • 2009: Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas (American)
    • 2008: De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage (Lebanese / Canadian)
    • 2007: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (Norwegian)
    • 2006: The Master by Colm Toibín (Irish)
    • 2005: The Known World by Edward P. Jones (American)
    • 2004: This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun (Moroccan)
    • 2003: My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (Turkish)  – READ
    • 2002: Atomised by Michel Houellebecq (French)
    • 2001: No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod (Canadian)
    • 2000: Wide Open by Nicola Barker (English)
    • 1999: Ingenious Pain by Andrew Miller (English)
    • 1998: The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller (Romanian)
    • 1997: A Heart So White by Javier Marías (Spanish)
    • 1996: Remembering Babylon by David Malouf (Australian)