The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This top post will be updated each year to show the final forum choices using Hugh's ranking method. Note: Shortlist includes voters from the longlist who didn't transfer their rankings to the shortlist thread.

2019
shortlist
Pos Book Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo 1.76, 1.00, 38, 18, 0.86
2 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann 2.80, 1.85, 30, 11, 1.30
3 Quichotte by Salman Rushdie 3.07, 2.25, 30, 5, 1.31
4 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak 3.42, 2.74, 38, 1, 1.55
5 An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma 4.12, 3.35, 33, 2, 1.77
6 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood 5.31, 4.41, 26, 0, 1.98

2019
longlist
Pos Book Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo 3.29, 2.60, 31, 8, 1.83
2 Lanny by Max Porter 3.18, 2.89, 57, 15, 2.58
3 The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy 3.90, 3.45, 20, 6, 2.01
4 Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann 4.50, 3.78, 24, 5, 2.44
5 Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli 4.38, 4.12, 50, 11, 3.22
6 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak 6.21, 5.77, 33, 0, 3.21
7 Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson 6.55, 6.13, 29, 0, 3.20
8 Quichotte by Salman Rushdie 7.36, 6.48, 11, 0, 2.27
9 Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry 7.18, 6.53, 34, 0, 3.45
10 An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma 7.42, 7.37, 33, 2, 3.97
11 My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 7.72, 8.25, 57, 2, 4.57
12 The Wall by John Lanchester 10.13, 10.05, 40, 0, 5.14

2018
shortlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places,STDev
1, Milkman by Anna Burns, 2.65, 1.80, 43, 15, 1.69
2, The Overstory by Richard Powers, 2.89, 2.12, 46, 13, 1.60
3, The Long Take by Robin Robertson, 3.10, 2.14, 39, 6, 1.59
4, Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, 2.96, 2.20, 45, 9, 1.60
5, The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner, 3.72, 3.13, 46, 8, 2.00
6, Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, 4.16, 3.47, 43, 3, 1.99

2018
longlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, The Long Take by Robin Robertson, 4.19, 3.33, 31, 5
2, The Overstory by Richard Powers, 4.53, 3.74, 36, 6
3, Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, 4.68, 3.92, 38, 3
4, In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne, 4.86, 4.06, 35, 10
5, Milkman by Anna Burns, 4.97, 4.22, 35, 8
6, Warlight by Michael Ondaatje, 5.15, 4.79, 48, 7
7, From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan, 5.35, 4.91, 49, 3
8, The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner, 6.21, 5.72, 39, 5
9, Normal People by Sally Rooney, 6.62, 5.78, 21, 0
10, Washington Black by Esi Edugyan, 7.50, 6.91, 34, 0
11, Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, 8.45, 8.08, 40, 0
12, The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh, 8.80, 8.58, 41, 0
13, Snap by Belinda Bauer, 10.83, 11.02, 41, 0

2017
shortlist
Position, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, 2.26, 1.50, 34, 15
2, Autumn by Ali Smith, 2.32, 1.59, 34, 10
3, 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster, 3.45, 2.48, 22, 2
4, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, 3.45, 2.84, 31, 3
5, Elmet by Fiona Mozley, 3.93, 3.07, 27, 2
6, History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund, 4.60, 3.86, 30, 1

2017
longlist
Position, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, Solar Bones by Mike McCormack, 4.11, 3.27, 35, 8
2, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, 4.34, 3.72, 35, 3
3, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, 4.56, 3.96, 45, 8
4, Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor, 4.61, 4.04, 36, 8
5, Autumn by Ali Smith, 5.11, 4.66, 47, 5
6, Days Without End by Sebastian Barry, 6.09, 5.79, 46, 5
7, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, 6.38, 6.03, 45, 4
8, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, 6.98, 6.43, 45, 1
9, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy, 7.27, 6.66, 30, 0
10, 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster, 7.86, 6.94, 21, 0
11, Swing Time by Zadie Smith, 8.36, 7.64, 36, 2
12, Elmet by Fiona Mozley, 8.46, 7.79, 28, 0
13, History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund, 9.64, 9.08, 36, 0

2016
shortlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnett, 2.77, 1.91, 31, 6
2, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, 2.67, 2.01, 36, 11
3, All That Man Is by David Szalay, 3.26, 2.44, 31, 3
4, Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien, 3.18, 2.47, 28, 9
5, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, 3.38, 2.50, 34, 8
6, Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, 4.46, 3.67, 35, 1

2016
longlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnett, 4.29, 3.44, 24, 3
2, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, 4.07, 3.51, 27, 7
3, All That Man Is by David Szalay, 5.18, 4.76, 22, 0
4, My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, 5.45, 5.05, 29, 6
5, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, 5.85, 5.22, 27, 3
6, The North Water by Ian McGuire, 6.57, 5.30, 23, 0
7, The Schooldays of Jesus by J. M. Coetzee, 6.36, 5.38, 14, 2
8, The Many by Wyl Menmuir, 6.19, 5.52, 26, 0
9, Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves, 6.06, 5.66, 18, 1
10, Serious Sweet by A. L. Kennedy, 7.67, 6.95, 15, 3
11, Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeliene Thien, 7.56, 7.00, 18, 1
12, Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, 8.32, 7.73, 28, 0
13, Hystopia by David Means, 10.79, 10.18, 14, 0

Pre-GoodReads forums

I have records back to 2007 which was the old Man Booker hosted forum. Note, these are taken from the shortlist rankings, which tended to have the most readers listed, but less books read.

2007* - 27 readers, 147 books, Forum choice Animal's People

2008* - 15 readers, 80 books, Forum choice The Clothes on Their Backs

2009** - 17 readers, 94 books, Forum choice The Glass Room

2010** - 20 readers, 105 books ranked, Forum choice The Strange Room

2011 - records lost due to carelessness

2012** - 19 readers, 78 books, Forum choice Bring Up the Bodies

2013** (start of Mookse forum) - 14 readers, 72 books, Forum choice Harvest

2014 - 14 readers, 62 books, Forum choice The Narrow Road to the Deep North

2015 - 13 readers, 53 books, Forum choice The Year of the Runaways

*Forum choices in these years were based on a transferable vote so quite different to the way we currently tally. It works well with the shortlist, not so well with the longlist.

**Transferable vote and standard ranking produced the same forum choice.

Thanks Ang.
In 2016 the Mookse favourite was Hot Milk.
In 2017 we agreed with Lincoln in the Bardo, but only after Solar Bones and Home Fire failed to make the shortlist.

Thanks, my rankings show the author rather than the title and it seems I remembered my favourite Levy book! I have sorted it now.

I have just calculated the 2016 longlist rankings using my current adjusted weightings algorithm - an interesting exercise!

Ooh, what happened? Was it a different result?

Slightly different - His Bloody Project was narrowly ahead of Hot Milk.

I was not a member of the group in 2016 or 2017 and did not rank the lists, but I would have put Solar Bones and Home Fire ahead of Lincoln in the Bardo and His Bloody Project slightly ahead of Hot Milk if I had ranked them as well.

Hugh, I should have sent you my spreadsheet so you didn't have to start from scratch.

I think I might edit the top post here to show each year, newest on top, so it's a quick place to go to see yearly rankings. I will use your adjusted for 2016, even though I think Hot Milk was better than His Bloody Project! :)

I hadn't read Hot Milk at the longlist stage and I ranked it above HBP too. I did like both.

I liked both too. It's rare that my favourite is forum favourite, so I was holding onto that for a little while longer. Is it easy for you to apply your method to 2016 shortlist as well, so I can add it to the top post? I can send you my spreadsheet.

I have just added those to the 2016 shortlist thread too

I noticed in one of the old ranking threads that one or two people had amended their rankings when they'd read listed novels after the end of the prize period. Does it mess up the historical rankings if we do this?

(As I should improve my Netgalley %, I am considering reading my old ARC of Serious Sweet. It is a long novel, but overall would probably take up less time than the research I'd want to do when reviewing the academic non-fiction in my Netgalley list.)

Antonomasia wrote: "I noticed in one of the old ranking threads that one or two people had amended their rankings when they'd read listed novels after the end of the prize period. Does it mess up the historical rankin..."

I normally stop checking for updates when the prize moves on to its next phase, so I will stop updating the current longlist rankings table when the shortlist is announced, and I stop updating the shortlist tables when the winner is announced. My updated tables for 2016 were calculated using what is still there now, so may contain more recent changes.

I have used your "shortlist including longlist" version. I think that's what I would have done at the time for the official ranking.

Antonomasia, I liked Serious Sweet a lot.

I liked Serious Sweet very much and recommend reading it for pleasure. I cannot see any point in doing a Netgalley review for a book that came out two years ago as the book promotion has long since passed. I think encouraging people to read through backlists to improve review percentages is one of the significant flaws in Netgalley. When reviewing galleys, timeliness is everything.

Current longlist totals for 2018 are 53 readers and 452 rankings

Having this and 'Man Booker Publicity and News' mean that when you open the main group page, none of the discussions about the books are visible, as the 5 top slots are now taken up by pinned threads. Think these would be better unpinned during the season and then repinned in Oct.

Antonomasia wrote: "Having this and 'Man Booker Publicity and News' mean that when you open the main group page, none of the discussions about the books are visible, as the 5 top slots are now taken up by pinned threa..."
Sounds like a good idea to me.

I agree - I will unpin this one.

Once the season has ended, we can pin this one up again and unpin the 2018 lists, maybe.

I'm excited to see how this continues to develop over the season. I think this is one of best years we've had in terms of participation and discussion.

Ang, I'm guessing that for 2012 the top book was supposed to be Bringing Up the Bodies?

Antonomasia wrote: "Ang, I'm guessing that for 2012 the top book was supposed to be Bringing Up the Bodies?"

Yes, well spotted. My spreadsheets were by author rather than book. I made the same mistake with Deborah Levy in 2016.

Top post updated with the official Mookse 2018 longlist rankings.

Since the group's rankings history is being discussed again, I thought I'd bump this thread. I will add an update for 2020 to 2023 at some point.

These are the missing years:


2023
shortlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, 2.21, 1.25, 42, 19, 1.22
2, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, 2.83, 1.91, 47, 15, 1.53
3, This Other Eden by Paul Harding, 2.84, 2.18, 57, 15, 1.55
4, Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein, 3.09, 2.38, 53, 11, 1.65
5, If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery, 3.76, 3.03, 51, 2, 1.79
6, Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, 4.05, 3.55, 57, 7, 2.13

2023
longlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, 3.75, 2.86, 28, 11, 2.25
2, The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng, 4.18, 3.47, 38, 7, 2.33
3, The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, 5.06, 4.55, 33, 5, 3.02
4, In Ascension by Martin MacInnes, 5.18, 4.67, 39, 4, 3.27
5, Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry, 5.00, 4.69, 40, 2, 2.98
6, This Other Eden by Paul Harding, 5.80, 5.56, 45, 4, 3.66
7, Pearl by Siân Hughes, 6.03, 5.62, 39, 0, 3.22
8, Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein, 6.08, 5.69, 36, 4, 3.63
9, A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, 6.75, 6.71, 32, 2, 3.66
10, If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery, 7.97, 7.57, 36, 1, 4.08
11, All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow, 8.44, 7.62, 27, 0, 3.65
12, Western Lane by Chetna Maroo, 8.16, 8.27, 43, 2, 4.56
13, How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney, 9.84, 9.82, 32, 0, 4.85

2022
shortlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, 2.69, 1.72, 45, 12, 1.30
2, The Trees by Percival Everett, 2.49, 1.74, 59, 16, 1.48
3, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, 2.67, 1.98, 66, 25, 1.62
4, Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, 3.50, 2.64, 50, 9, 1.80
5, Treacle Walker by Alan Garner, 3.82, 3.03, 56, 7, 1.98
6, Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, 4.42, 3.67, 57, 1, 2.10

2022
longlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, The Colony by Audrey Magee, 3.14, 2.57, 50, 17, 2.13
2, Maps of our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer, 4.19, 3.57, 37, 12, 2.87
3, The Trees by Percival Everett, 4.49, 4.35, 43, 6, 3.26
4, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, 5.22, 4.61, 23, 1, 2.43
5, Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, 4.58, 4.61, 48, 5, 3.09
6, Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, 6.26, 6.02, 34, 2, 3.59
7, Trust by Hernan Diaz, 7.17, 6.40, 36, 2, 3.78
8, Treacle Walker by Alan Garner, 7.08, 6.91, 38, 3, 4.08
9, After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz, 7.57, 7.17, 30, 1, 3.81
10, Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet, 7.39, 7.26, 31, 0, 3.86
11, Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout, 7.59, 7.65, 37, 1, 4.25
12, Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley, 9.28, 8.58, 29, 0, 4.26
13, Booth by Karen Joy Fowler, 9.00, 8.59, 27, 1, 4.13

2021
shortlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Bewilderment by Richard Powers, 2.51, 1.56, 37, 14, 1.20
2, The Promise by Damon Galgut, 2.49, 1.77, 45, 13, 1.28
3, A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam, 2.70, 1.83, 44, 13, 1.35
4, The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed, 3.72, 2.82, 32, 2, 1.53
5, No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, 3.50, 2.97, 48, 8, 1.96
6, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, 4.55, 3.85, 40, 0, 2.06

2021
longlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Bewilderment by Richard Powers, 2.60, 1.90, 10, 3, 0.89
2, A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam, 3.00, 2.48, 27, 6, 1.55
3, The Promise by Damon Galgut, 3.55, 3.35, 31, 6, 2.17
4, Second Place by Rachel Cusk, 3.79, 3.52, 34, 9, 2.63
5, The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed, 5.29, 4.50, 17, 0, 1.84
6, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, 5.71, 5.87, 35, 0, 3.21
7, No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, 5.77, 6.07, 35, 6, 3.73
8, An Island by Karen Jennings, 6.40, 6.32, 25, 2, 3.19
9, The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, 8.05, 7.61, 19, 0, 3.25
10, China Room by Sunjeev Sahota, 8.56, 8.26, 27, 0, 3.93
11, A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson, 8.79, 8.91, 28, 0, 4.31
12, Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford, 8.91, 8.94, 23, 0, 3.97
13, Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, 9.26, 8.98, 23, 1, 4.06

2020
shortlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, 1.48, 0.85, 42, 29, 0.88
2, The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, 2.48, 1.77, 33, 6, 1.08
3, Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi, 2.97, 2.41, 30, 5, 1.36
4, Real Life by Brandon Taylor, 3.70, 3.02, 37, 8, 1.74
5, This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga, 3.74, 3.11, 34, 2, 1.71
6, The New Wilderness by Diane Cook, 4.63, 4.02, 32, 0, 1.99

2020
longlist
Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Apeirogon by Colum McCann, 3.14, 2.42, 37, 12, 2.20
2, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, 2.67, 2.44, 30, 9, 1.75
3, The Mirror & The Light by Hilary Mantel, 3.73, 2.97, 22, 10, 2.19
4, Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward, 4.19, 3.26, 26, 3, 1.97
5, Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi, 5.39, 4.78, 23, 1, 2.53
6, The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste, 5.76, 5.31, 25, 2, 2.79
7, How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang, 6.03, 5.41, 33, 1, 3.03
8, Real Life by Brandon Taylor, 7.61, 6.78, 28, 0, 3.47
9, This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga, 8.04, 7.57, 27, 0, 3.76
10, Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze, 8.64, 7.95, 14, 1, 3.15
11, Redhead by The Side of the Road by Anne Tyler, 8.27, 7.95, 30, 1, 4.03
12, Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, 8.89, 8.32, 28, 0, 3.95
13, The New Wilderness by Diane Cook, 9.09, 8.64, 22, 0, 3.87