The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

https://thebookerprizes.com/booker-pr...


Margaret Atwood (Canada), The Testaments (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)

Kevin Barry (Ireland), Night Boat to Tangier (Canongate Books)

Oyinkan Braithwaite (UK/Nigeria), My Sister, the Serial Killer (Atlantic Books)

Lucy Ellmann (USA/UK), Ducks, Newburyport (Galley Beggar Press)

Bernardine Evaristo (UK), Girl, Woman, Other, (Hamish Hamilton)

John Lanchester (UK), The Wall (Faber & Faber)

Deborah Levy (UK), The Man Who Saw Everything (Hamish Hamilton)

Valeria Luiselli (Mexico/Italy), Lost Children Archive (4th Estate)

Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria), An Orchestra of Minorities (Little Brown)

Max Porter (UK), Lanny (Faber & Faber)

Salman Rushdie (UK/India), Quichotte (Jonathan Cape)

Elif Shafak (UK/Turkey), 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World (Viking)

Jeanette Winterson (UK), Frankissstein (Jonathan Cape)

Final League tables - updated to include Tommi's last minute change

My adjusted weightings method:

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

No rankings:
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

Paul-style aggregate of comparisons

Pos     Book     Average, Relative ranking, Count, First Places
1     Lanny by Max Porter   3.18, 180, 57, 15
2     Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo   3.29, 140, 31, 8
3     Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli   4.38, 85, 50, 11
4     The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy   3.90, 72, 20, 6
5     Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann   4.50, 57, 24, 5
6     10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak   6.21, 5, 33, 0
7     Quichotte by Salman Rushdie   7.36, -7, 11, 0
8     Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson   6.55, -17, 29, 0
9     Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry   7.18, -48, 34, 0
10     An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma   7.42, -77, 33, 2
11     My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite   7.72, -182, 57, 2
12     The Wall by John Lanchester   10.13, -208, 40, 0

12 read - 10 read pre publication of the list
9 re-read and rankings changed accordingly

5*
1 Lanny (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
2 Lost Children’s Archive (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
3 The Man Who Saw Everything (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
4 Quichotte (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
5 Ducks, Newburyport (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)
6 Girl Woman Other
(https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

4*
7 10 Minutes, Thirty Eight Seconds in this Strange World (https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...)
8 Frankissstein (https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...)
9 An Orchestra of Minorities (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

3.5 *
10 Night Boat to Tangier (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

3*
12 My Sister the Serial Killer (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

2.5* (I was in a generous mood)
13 The Wall
(https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

Ranking still very dynamic ...
1.
2. Lanny
3.
4. An Orchestra of Minorities
5.
6.
7. Girl, Woman, Other
8.
9. Lost Children Archive
10. Frankissstein
11. My Sister, The Serial Killer
12.
13.

1 Lost Children Archive
2 Lanny
3 The Man Who Saw Everything
4 Quichotte
5 Girl, Woman, Other
6 Night Boat to Tangier
7 An Orchestra of Minorities
9 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World
10 My Sister the Serial Killer
11 Frankissstein
12 The Wall
13 Ducks Newburyport

1. The Man Who Saw Everything
2. Lost Children Archive
3. Frankissstein
4. Lanny
5. Girl, Woman, Other
6. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
7. My Sister, the Serial Killer

9. Night Boat to Tangier
10. The Wall

As always, I'm in. As usual I've not read any of the list.

1. The Man Who Saw Everything
2. Girl, Woman, Other
3. Ducks, Newburyport
4. Night Boat To Tangier
5. Lanny
6. Quichotte
7. Lost Children Archive
8.
9. An Orchestra of Minorities
10. Frankenssstein
11. 10 Minutes, Thirty Eight Seconds in this Strange World
12. The Wall
13. My Sister, the Serial Killer

I'm in.

1. Lanny
2. Girl, Woman, Other
3. Ducks, Newburyport
4. Night Boat To Tangier
5. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
6. Lost Children Archive
7. My Sister, the Serial Killer
8. The Wall

1. Girl, woman other
2. Lanny
3. Ducks, Newburyport
4. Lost children archive
5. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
6. An orchestra of minorities
7. Night boat to Tangier
8. My syster, the serial killer
8. The wall

.
.
1. Ducks, Newburyport
2. The Man Who Saw Everything
3. Night Boat to Tangier
4. Lanny
5. An Orchestra of Minorities
6. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
~
7. Frankissstein: A Love Story
8.
9. The Wall
10. Girl, Woman, Other
11. Lost Children Archive
12. My Sister, the Serial Killer
13.

1. My Sister, the Serial Killer
2. Lanny
3. Lost Children Archive

1. Lanny
2. Lost Children Archive
3. My Sister, the Serial Killer

1. Ducks, Newburyport
2. Lanny
3. Lost Children Archive
4. Girl, Woman, Other
5. Frankissstein
6. Quichotte
7. The Man who saw Everything
8. Night Boat to Tangier
9. The Wall
10. 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
11. An Orchestra of Minorities
12. My sister the serial killer

1. Lost Children Archive
2. Lanny
3.
4.
5.
6. My Sister, the Serial Killer
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. The Wall

1. Lanny
2.
3. Lost Children Archive
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Quichotte
11. My Sister the Serial Killer
12.
13.

I have added links to my reviews:


1 Ducks, Newburyport
2 Lanny
3 Lost Children Archive
4 Frankissstein
5 The Man who Saw Everything
6 Girl, Woman, Other
~~
7 Night Boat to Tangier
8 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
9 Quichotte
10 #
11 An Orchestra of Minorities
12 My Sister, the Serial Killer
13 The Wall

# possibly a little harsh, but this is where I predict The Testaments will fit in, of course we can't predict that accurately at this stage!

1. Lost Children Archive
2. Girl, Women, Other
3. Lanny
4. The Man Who Saw Everything
5. Frankissstein
6.
7. Night Boat to Tangier
8.
9. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
10. Ducks, Newburypoint*
11. An Orchestra of Minorities
12. My Sister the Serial Killer
13. The Wall

*Based on first 350 pages

Here we go.


1. My Sister the Serial Killer

.
.
1. Lost Children Archive
2. Lanny
3. Ducks, Newburyport
4.
5. Girl, Woman, Other
6. Frankissstein

7.
8.
9.
10. Night Boat to Tangier
11. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
12. The Wall
13. My Sister, the Serial Killer

I’ve only read 4 so far, but here we go:

1. Lanny
2. Lost Children Archive
3. The Man Who Saw Everything
4. My Sister the Serial Killer

5*
1. The Man Who Saw Everything
2. Ducks, Newburyport
3. Night Boat To Tangier

4*
4. 10 minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
5. Girl, Woman, Other
6. Lanny

3*
7. Lost Children Archive
8. An Orchestra of Minorities
9. Frankissstein
10. My Sister, The Serial Killer

2*
11. Quichotte (provisional ranking at halfway point)
12. The Wall

I can't decide between 1 and 2, so this might change!

My ranking

1)
2)
3) Lanny
4) Frankissstein
5)
6) Night Boat To Tangier

7)
8) The Wall
9)
10) My Sister, The Serial Killer
11) Girl, Woman, Other
12) Lost Children Archive
13)

Dynamic rankings
1. Lanny
2. My Sister the Serial Killer
3.
4. Orchestra of Minorities
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. The Wall
11. Lost Children Archive
12.
13.
14.

3 down - 10 to go!

1. Lost Children Archive
2. Lanny
3. My Sister, the Serial Killer

Wonderful!

1.
2. Lanny
3.
4. Lost Children Archive
5.
6. My Sister The Serial Killer
7.
8.
9.
10. Orchestra of Minorities
11.
12.
13. The Wall

I need to get reading!

1) Girl, Woman, Other *
2) Lost Children Archive
3) Frankissstein
4) The Man Who Saw Everything
5) My Sister the Serial Killer
6)10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

7) The Wall
8)
9)Lanny
10)Night Boat to Tangier
11)
12)Orchestra of Minorities (DNF)

*In process

1. Lanny
2.
3.
4.
5. Girl, Woman Other
6. An Orchestra of Minorities
_______________________________________

7.
8.
9.
10. Frankissstein
11. My Sister, the Serial killer
12.
13.

1. Lanny
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Lost Children Archive
7. An Orchestra of Minorities
8.
9.My Sister, the Serial Killer
10. The Wall
11.

Ah! I can't decide between Lanny and Lost Children Archive - I loved them both!

So far:

1. Lanny (10/10, my review)
2. Lost Children Archive (9/10, my review)
3.
4. Girl, Woman, Other (8.5/10, my review)
5.
6.
-----------------
7.
8.
9.
10. Frankissstein (6/10, my review)
11. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World (DNF)
12. My Sister the Serial Killer
13. The Wall (DNF)

 
 
1.
2.
3.
4. Lanny
5. The Man Who Saw Everything
6.
7.
8.
9. Lost Children Archive
10.
11.
12. The Wall
13.

1. Lost Children Archive
2. Lanny
3.
4. Ducks, Newburyport (25%)
5.
6. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
--------------------------
7.
8. My Sister, the Serial Killer
9. Night Boat to Tangier
10.
11. An Orchestra of Minorities
12.
13. The Wall

1. Lost Children Archive
2. Lanny
3.
4.
5.
6.
___
7.
8. Night Boat to Tangier
9.
10.
11.
12. My Sister, the Serial Killer
13.

1. Girl, Woman, Other
2. 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
3. Lanny
4. The Man Who Saw Everything
5. An Orchestra of Minorities
6. Lost Children Archive
7. Night Boat to Tangier
8. Ducks, Newburyport
9. My Sister, the Serial Killer
10.
11. Frankissstein
12. The Wall
13.

1. Lost Children Archive
2. Lanny
3. My Sister the Serial Killer

1. Lost children archive
2. My sister the serial killer
3. Lanny

1. Lanny
2. Girl, Woman, Other
3. My Sister, the Serial Killer
4. An Orchestra of Minorities
5. The Wall

1) Lanny
2) The Man Who Saw Everything
3) Girl, Woman, Other
4) 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
5) An Orchestra of Minorities
6) Ducks, Newburyport
7) Quichotte
8) Frankissstein
9) My Sister the Serial Killer
10) Lost Children Archive
11) Night Boat to Tangier
12) The Testaments
13) The Wall

1.
2.
3. Frankissstein
4.
5. Lanny
6. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
7. My Sister, the Serial Killer
8.
9. An Orchestra of Minorities
10.
11.
12. Night Boat to Tangier
13.

1. The Man Who Saw Everything
2. Girl, Woman Other
3. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
4. Lanny
5. Frankissstein
6. My Sister the Serial Killer
7. Quichotte
8. Lost Children Archive
9. Ducks, Newburyport
10.Orchestra of Minorities
11. Night Boat To Tangier
12. The Wall

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. The Wall
7. My Sister, The Serial Killer
8. Lanny
9. Lost Children Archive
10.
11.
12. An Orchestra of Minorities
13.

Nothing else $free to read.

I've read all that are available to me. These are my favorites in order of preference (not necessarily my predictions):

1. An Orchestra of Minorities
2. Ducks, Newburyport
3. Girl, Woman, Other
4. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World
5. Lost Children Archive
6. Night Boat to Tangier
7. Frankissstein
8. The Wall
9. Lanny
10. My Sister, the Serial Killer

1. Lanny
2. Orchestra of Minorities
3. My Sister, The Serial Killer
4. The Wall

I don't plan to read all the books, but hope to read a good bunch. So far:

1. Girl, Woman, Other
2. Lost Children Archive
3. My Sister The Serial Killer
4. An Orchestra of Minorities

Having now read all the available books, I'll post my rating too:

1. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
2. Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
3. Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
4.
5.
6. Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson
7. Night Boat to Tangier by Kavin Barry
8. 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak
9. Lanny by Max Porter
10. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
11. The Wall by John Lanchester
12. An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
(13.)

Of course, since I haven't read Levy or Rushdie (and expecting myself to like Levy very much and Rushdie probably too), I might change this at a later stage… if I get down to reading them before the shortlist announcement. Since Atwood definetely won't be available before the announcement, I won't include a 13th place in my ranking or leave it free if better so...

2. Lanny
7. Night Boat to Tangier
8. My Sister the Serial Killer

1.
2.
3.
4. Lanny
5.
6.
7.
8. My sister, the serial killer
9. Night boat to Tangier
10.
11.
12. The Wall
13.

My rankings of books I've read, and not reflective of my shortlist prediction (entirely)
Updated 2SEP

1. The Man Who Saw Everything
2. Lost Children Archive (tied with)
3. The Wall
4.My Sister the Serial Killer
5. Lanny
6. Orchestra of Minorities
7. Frankissstein
8. 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World

Struggling with Girl, Woman, Other- I've paused it. (Only made it through one woman so far) .... Reading Night Boat now, it will probably rank between 3 and 4. Absolutely hated 10 minutes.

Definitely subject to change as I finish the others. I'm surprised by how much I loved The Wall. Minorities was painful but the writing was good. That saved it. I didn't enjoy it.
Our collective reviews can be found on thereadersroom.org

1. The Man Who Saw Everything
2. Quichotte
3. Girl, Woman, Other
4. Lost Children Archive
5. Lanny
6. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

------------------------------
7. Frankissstein
8. My Sister, the Serial Killer (currently reading)
9. Night Boat to Tangier (DNF)
10.
11.
12.
13.

Not sure I'll get to all 13 - Ducks looks so daunting I'll probably only attempt it if it is shortlisted. Minorities doesn't appeal (I'm perhaps unfairly imagining something like The Famished Road), and having read two of John Lanchester's other novels I'm not in any great rush to read The Wall.

I’m on the road this year so unlikely to post major, profound thoughts on any of the texts; unlikely to read some of them and those I do read may well be viewed through the lens of what makes good holiday reading...

1
2 Girl, Woman, Other
3
4 Lanny
5
6 The Wall
7
8 My Sister the Serial Killer
9
10 The Man Who Saw Everything
11
12 Lost Children Archive
13

Dynamic

1.
2.
3. Lanny
4.
5. Frankissstein
6. Night Boat to Tangier
7. Lost Children Archive
8.
9.
10. Orchestra of Minorities
11. 10 Minutes, 38 Seconds in this Strange World
12. My Sister The Serial Killer
13. The Wall

These may move around however they won't change in order. I'm unlikely to get to Rushdie & Levy before the shortlist, however will attempt most others (Ducks may hold me up!!!)

I'm hoping things improve and I've just ended up with four of the lower ranked titles in my first six read!!!