2019 - Down the River Unto the Sea, Walter Mosley, 336 pages
Former NYPD cop wrongly accused of a crime investigates a murder ten years later as a private investigator.
2019 - Down the River Unto the Sea, Walter Mosley, 336 pages
Former NYPD cop wrongly accused of a crime investigates a murder ten years later as a private investigator.
2019 - Down the River Unto the Sea, Walter Mosley, 336 pages
Former NYPD cop wrongly accused of a crime investigates a murder ten years later as a private investigator.
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Booker Award Winners
i did the Research so you don't have to!
Originally the Man-Booker prize (changed in 2019), the Booker is awarded to a full length novel in English (not translated) by a citizen of the UK, South Africa, or Ireland. In 2014 the prize was expanded to include any novel written in English, which is a controversial decision. Awarded annually in October. This list covers winners through 2000. (I'm working on adding them all)
** Books I've read are in bold and reviewed books are bold and purple.
2022 - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, by Shehan Karunatilaka, 386 pages
A man wakes up in the afterlife with no idea who killed him. He has seven moons to contact the man and woman he loves most and direct them to photos that will rock Sri Lanka. Told with mordant wit and filled with profound truths.
2021 - The Promise, by Damon Galgut, 293 pages
This literary novel charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria as the youngest generation detests everything the family stands for, and particularly the promise broken to the woman who has worked for them her whole life.
2020 - Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart, 430 pages
A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction.
2019 TIE - Testaments, by Margaret Atwood, 422 pages
The long awaited sequel to the Handmaid's Tale, it picks up 15 years after the earlier book and is narrated by three women from Gilead.
2019 TIE - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, 453 pages
Follows the lives and struggles of twelve different characters, mostly black women, in the UK. We learn of their families, friends, lovers, and more across the years.
2018 - Milkman by Anna Burns, 352 pages
also National Book winner - As the middle daughter tries to keep a boyfriend secret, she meets Milkman and as that becomes known, rumors start; a tale of gossip and heresay, silence and deliberate deafness with enormous consequences.
2017 - Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, 343 pages
also Audie winner - The 11 year old son of President Lincoln dies and we meet the ghosts who inhabit the cemetery as they bicker and argue over the soul of the young boy.
2016 - The Sellout by Paul Beatty, 289 pages
In this biting satire, a man is raised by a single father as a subject in ongoing racially charged psychological studies. Upon the death of his father, he discovers there's been no point to his life so he conceives of a radical notion that lands him at the Supreme Court: he tries to reinstate slavery and school segregation in a small California town.
2015 - A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James, 688 pages
Spanning decades, continents, and a wide range of characters, this novel explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 70s.
2014 - The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, 467 pages
An Australian doctor travels the world, haunted by an illicit love affair. As he battles and fails to save fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and love is found.
2013 - The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, 848 pages
Set in 1866 New Zealand's gold rush, a young man set on making his fortune meets 12 men who will influence his life. Evocative of time and place, banking and gold rush boom or bust, as well as a clever ghost story.
2012 - Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, 412 pages
Thomas Cromwell #2 in trilogy - Henry VIII is tiring of Anne Boleyn and wants Cromwell to rid the court of her but her powerful family will not yield.
2011 - The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, 150 pages
Intense novel that follows middle aged man as he deals with his past when his best friends, one from the grave and one very present, present him with a mysterious legacy.
2010 - The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, 307 pages
Two friends and their former teacher reconnect and at dinner reminisce about love lost, life with children, and wonder if it is better to never love at all. After dinner, on the way home, one is attacked and his live is changed forever.
2009 - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, 653 pages
Thomas Cromwell #1 - England is on the brink of disaster and there is no male heir. Henry VIII wants to annul marriage to wife of 20 years and marry Anne Boleyn so Cromwell, bully, charmer, opportunist, steps in to help the king.
2008 - The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, 320 pages
In India, over the course of seven nights, a man tells his life story: entrepreneur, philosopher, murderer, and along the way we see India through eyes that few outsiders have the opportunity to experience.
2007 - The Gathering by Anne Enright, 261 pages
An Irish family epic of 9 surviving children gathering on the death of a brother and the secrets held by the family. Daring, witty, family story about love and disappointment.
2006 - The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, 357 pages
At the base of a mountain in the Himalayas, an embittered judge is suddenly faced with his orphaned granddaughter but he is distracted by his distant son in NYC. The characters illustrate the consequences of colonialism in the modern world.
2005 - The Sea by John Banville, 195 pages
A middle aged Irishman returns to his home town after his wife's death and finds childhood friends that bring back memories. These memories intertwine with memories of his wife, and his daughter as she tries to pull him from grief.
2004 - The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, 438 pages
In 1983 a young man rents a room in the home of a wealthy family and finds his life changed by the rising fortunes of this family. Richly textured, disarmingly funny.
2003 - Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, 279 pages
Funny and insightful, irreverent and bizarre, this book takes a look at pop culture by an unlikely hero; set in Texas and Mexico.
2002 - Life of Pi, by Yann Martel,460 pages
A fantasy adventure, a young boy survives over 200 days in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.
2001 - The History of the Kelly Gann by Peter Carey, 384 pages
A classic outlaw tale set in Australia. Ned Kelly writes his life story for his daughter on scraps of paper as he's being chased by the police. Ned saw the inside of his first cell by 15 and by 26 was a 'most wanted' criminal.
2000 - The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, 637 pages
A sci-fi novel about two unnamed lovers within the larger novel is the creative technique used to tell the story of sisters Iris and Laura.