When In Ascension by Martin MacInnes was longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023, I seriously considered removing it from my TBR. Why is that? Well, on balance Booker books aren’t really my thing. Not sure why. Too literary? Prioritizing experimental writing over good storytelling? I don’t know.
To be fair, my assessment of the prize is based on a vague impression rather than on hardcore facts. As a lover of stats and data analysis, I want to rectify this. So let’s have a look at the stats. I have based my analysis on the Wikipedia overview of longlisted Booker books. Disclaimer: I haven’t checked the validity of this list, but it looks alright to me.
To start the analysis, I’ve divided my Booker longlist reads into four categories:
Nope (<3 stars)
- The Wall by John Lancaster [2019]
- Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid [2020]
Just ok (3 – 3 1/2 stars)
- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood [1986]
- The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje [1992]
- When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro [2000]
- Atonement by Ian McEwan [2001]
- The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes [2011]
- His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet [2016]
- Autumn by Ali Smith [2017]
- Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro [2021]
- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan [2022]
- Trust by Hernan Diaz [2022]
- In Ascension by Martin MacInnes [2023]
Good (4 – 4 1/2 stars)
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel [2002]
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo [2019]
- My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite [2019]
- Bewilderment by Richard Powers [2021]
- Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley [2022]
Excellent (5 stars)
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro [1989]
- The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman [2001]
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro [2005]
- Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward [2020]
My first observation is, I have read a shockingly low number of longlisted Booker books. Maybe that says it all – Booker books really aren’t for me. On the other hand, one could argue my sample size is too small to draw any firm conclusions.
Small sample size of not, the data confirms my suspicion. My experience with Booker books has been decidedly mediocre, with the 3 – 3 1/2 stars category vastly dominating. Admittedly, I did see some brilliant elements in some of the books in this category, most noticeably in Atonement, The Sense of an Ending and Autumn. But my overall reading experience of these books was still just ok.
Luckily, it hasn’t been all bad. Four books were excellent. And the Booker Prize almost redeemed itself with its longlisting of Love and Other Thought Experiments in 2020. Without the longlisting, I probably wouldn’t have discovered this novel. And to this day it remains one of my all-time favourite books with its combination of philosophy, computer science and literary fiction.
Going forward, I will continue to keep an eye of the Booker Prize, in the vague hope of another hidden gem turning up. You never know…
The winner of the Booker Prize 2023 will be announced the 26th of November.
Fab post! I normally stay away from any sort of book prize for the same reasons. However one of my favourite books this year, Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year, so what do I really know! 😂
Thanks Nicki! There are always exceptions to the rule, right? Also, Woman’s Prize books tend to be more readable than Booker books. I think…. Maybe I need to do the stats for that prize as well. 😆
I loved Atonement, Life of Pi, and Never Let Me Go! Didn’t know they won the Booker Prize. I couldn’t even finish Handmaid’s Tale. I don’t follow who has won certain awards anyway, if it interests me I’ll read it.
That sounds like a very sensible approach. It doesn’t make sense to read a book, just because it has been longlisted. On the other hand, following a prize, may lead you to find some books, you wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. Btw. not sure Atonement won the Booker, but it was definitely longlisted.
This is true! Sometimes if it has a sticker on it saying it won something I’ll look at it but I don’t always read it 🙂
Great post. It prompted me to look at Booker titles I had read. I looked at winners since 1975. I believe I’ve (tried to) read 6 of these. Out of that small number I enjoyed two of them, The Life of Pi and Shuggie Bain.
I have read a few longlisted titles (by chance and sometimes years later). I’ve enjoyed more of these.
Rightly or wrongly I had the notion that to win a literary prize a book would probably be depressing or populated with unlikeable characters. I know that is not necessarily the case but that notion still lurks in my head and if do feel like reading it to see what all the fuss is about I tend to wait until it’s available on Libby or Borrowbox or look for a discounted kindle price.
I completely agree about the notion that prize winners are leaning towards depressing and dealing with heavy topics. Without having seen any stats, I am pretty sure, that is correct. Of course there are exceptions. Girl, Woman, Other was quite life-affirming despite dealing with serious topics. In the past my library rarely acquired books which were up for prizes, but recently that has changed. It is definitely easier to give books a chance, when they are library books.
Hi. How often do you start a book and give up on it? About how many pages do you read before deciding not to finish the book?
Good question. When I buy books, I almost always finish it. For library books I sometimes give up, It can be quick, if the book doesn’t interest me.
I don’t give up too often but sometimes I just don’t have the energy or the will to keep going. If I’m still struggling after 50-100 pages, before abandoning the book, I usually jump to nearer the end and read a page or two to see if anything has changed, and if it might be worth persevering. Sometimes it is.
I’ve never tried to jump to a later place in the book to decide if I want to continue. Maybe I should try that. On balance, I would like to be better at DNF’ing.
What a great question, Stargazer💜 Like you, I don’t have many on my shelf because so many just don’t fit my reading taste these days (mood reading). But I read The Handmaids Tale when it was first published and loved it.
Mood reading is great! Sometimes, I try to plan my reading, but it often ends with me grabbing random books, I am in the mood for. This year, there were two books on the Booker longlist, which caught my attention. One was a disappointment. The other I will hopefully get in 22 weeks from the library (strangely enough the length of the waitlist hasn’t moved for 2 months – how does that work?)
I do understand your sentiment, and I think it is telling that 2 of your 5 star reads are from Ishiguro, which just shows how limited in actual quality these Booker longlists usually are. I made a similar post awhile back but focusing on the Booker winners, and only two I read I truly loved – The Remains of the Day (like you) and The God of Small Things.
I thought Klara & The Sun was awful. It would never have been on the longlist if it didn’t have Ishiguro’s name on it. I don’t think “too literary” is even a problem. They prioritise certain authors over others, and they pay too much attention to unusual novel structures, too. I wasn’t impressed with Burnet and Diaz’s books either (both actually could be said to have these “unusual plot structures”), but I did love the Atwood one.
Looking back on all the longlisted books, it seems like the judges do prioritise certain authors, which is a shame. Discovering new promising authors is one of the potential payoffs of a book prize. But of course, it should always come down to quality (whatever that means). I wonder if this tendency to go for certain authors is changing though? I seem to remember when this year’s longlist was announced that certain established authors weren’t there to everyone’s surprise.
I haven’t read many Booker prize winners, but agree with you that The Remains of the Day is five stars or excellent. Laughing at the ‘Nope’ title, that says it all.
Luckily, there weren’t too many in the ‘Nope’ category, but those two, I will never forget. Remains of the Day is such an amazing book. I love the film adaptation as well.
I watched the film last week and thought the characters and settings were perfect.
The characters in the adaptation came across as very faithful to the book. And that ending… (sigh)
Heartbreaking.
Like you, I reached the conclusion that Bookers weren’t for me. That was more years ago than I care to remember! But I do still read some. Not because they’re winners or longlisted but because the exposure they receive by being on the lists prompts me to consider whether I’m interested.
Clever of you to come to that conclusion years ago. 😊 A very selective approach makes sense. I just feel my hit ratio has been so low, so maybe I should take a Booker longlisting as a warning signal going forward. 😆
I haven’t read many of the winners, and among these my favorite is Hilary Mantel, without hesitation!
I haven’t read any of the longlist for 2023
Not sure Hilary Mantel is for me. I’ve never been a big fan of historical fiction dating too far back. Maybe I should try one of her books.
You are a pretty tough critic, ha! Some of your “Okay” books definitely have some strong elements. But I know we all have favorites. And your 5 star Ishiguro novels … are surely 5 stars with me as well. He remains a good to author – whenever & wherever! Now I’m glad you mention this Sophie Ward book … good gracious I must add it to my TBR for early 2024 … if you think it’s one of your all time favorites … then why don’t I know the book?! I will get on it. I think the Booker fluctuates with different judges and such … from year to year. But I like to follow mostly its shortlist & winners. I think they often interest me, though not every book I enjoy.
Haha, I know! When I read through my list, I thought many of my “mediocre” books are big favourites in the reading community. Ah, well…. As you say, we all have favourites and we all have different taste. I guess Sophie Ward’s book very much coincided exactly with my interests. I have taken classes in philosopby and AI and I love more playful and speculative books which make me think. But I am not sure it’s a book for everyone. Maybe check if you can get it from the library, if you want to see what it’s about.
I like the idea of trying to read prize winners or nominees to just to see why they were even part of the list. However, I don’t think I know any prize where I’m 100% behind the winners hahah
Agreed. That is the thing – we all have different taste and you will never be able to find a winner, which everyone agrees on. Even more democratic prizes such as the Booktube prize (chosen by a large group of readers as opposed to a small group of judges) often come up with winners I don’t particularly like.