The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

As always, this is the place to rank the books on this shortlist (in this case we are revisiting the 2006 Booker). You can also rank the longlisted books, and I will try to maintain two sets of league tables.

Shortlisted books;
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland
In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar

Other longlisted books:
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan
So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
Gathering the Water by Robert Edric
Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson
Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer
Seven Lies by James Lasdun
The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr
The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth
The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson

League Tables
Note that where possible shortlist rankings are calculated from longlist rankings, but renumbered. Since this involved changes to my master spreadsheet, it is possible that this process introduced errors.

Also note that because a single list is used for both longlist and shortlist rankings, all lists that contain only shortlisted books will be treated as if they were numbered 1,2,3,...,[number read] in the tables because the calculations get very messy otherwise.

Shortlist only

My adjusted weightings method:

Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn, 3.00, 2.00, 4, 2, 0.56
2, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, 2.50, 2.07, 6, 1, 0.60
3, Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland, 3.00, 2.14, 5, 1, 0.55
4, The Secret River by Kate Grenville, 3.60, 2.62, 5, 2, 0.76
5, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, 3.60, 2.66, 5, 0, 0.62
6, In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, 4.40, 3.50, 5, 0, 0.84

Paul-style aggregate of comparisons

Pos, Book, Average, Relative ranking, Count, First Places
1, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, 6.00, 6, 6, 1
2, Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn, 4.00, 4, 4, 2
3, Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland, 4.00, 4, 5, 1
4, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, -2.00, -2, 5, 0
5, The Secret River by Kate Grenville, -2.00, -2, 5, 2
6, In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, -10.00, -10, 5, 0

Including Longlist:

My adjusted weightings method:

Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places, STD
1, The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson, 1.00, 0.06, 1, 1, 0.01
2, Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan, 4.00, 3.41, 1, 0, 0.34
3, Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, 1.50, 5.09, 2, 1, 0.91
4, The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth, 6.00, 5.65, 1, 0, 0.56
5, Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland, 3.60, 6.04, 5, 1, 1.66
6, Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn, 4.50, 6.52, 4, 2, 1.77
7, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, 3.80, 6.83, 5, 0, 1.70
8, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, 3.00, 7.13, 6, 1, 2.09
9, The Secret River by Kate Grenville, 3.60, 7.71, 5, 1, 2.39
10, In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, 5.00, 8.29, 5, 0, 2.14
11, Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson, 9.00, 9.00, 1, 0, 0.90
12, So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor, 10.00, 10.12, 1, 0, 1.01
13, Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey, 12.00, 12.35, 1, 0, 1.24
14, Gathering the Water by Robert Edric, 14.00, 14.59, 1, 0, 1.46
15, Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer, 15.00, 15.71, 1, 0, 1.57
16, The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr, 16.00, 16.82, 1, 0, 1.68
17, The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud, 17.00, 17.94, 1, 0, 1.79

Paul-style aggregate of comparisons

Pos, Book, Average, Relative ranking, Count, First Places
1, The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson, 1.00, 16, 1, 1
2, Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, 1.50, 14, 2, 1
3, Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan, 4.00, 10, 1, 0
4, The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai, 3.00, 7, 6, 1
5, The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth, 6.00, 6, 1, 0
6, The Secret River by Kate Grenville, 3.60, 5, 5, 1
6, Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland, 3.60, 5, 5, 1
8, Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn, 4.50, 3, 4, 2
8, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, 3.80, 3, 5, 0
10, Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson, 9.00, 0, 1, 0
11, So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor, 10.00, -2, 1, 0
12, Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey, 12.00, -6, 1, 0
13, In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar, 5.00, -9, 5, 0
14, Gathering the Water by Robert Edric, 14.00, -10, 1, 0
15, Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer, 15.00, -12, 1, 0
16, The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr, 16.00, -14, 1, 0
17, The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud, 17.00, -16, 1, 0

No ratings yet:
The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
Seven Lies by James Lasdun

Shortlist only:

1 The Secret River
2 The Inheritance of Loss
3 The Night Watch
4 Carry Me Down
5 Mother's Milk (The Patrick Melrose Novels, Book 4)
6 In the Country of Men

Including longlist:

1 The Testament of Gideon Mack
2 Black Swan Green
3 The Secret River
4 Be Near Me
5 The Inheritance of Loss
6 The Ruby in her Navel
7 The Night Watch
8 Carry Me Down
9 Kalooki Nights
10 So Many Ways to Begin*
11 Mother's Milk (The Patrick Melrose Novels, Book 4)
12 Theft: A Love Story
13 In the Country of Men
14 Gathering the Water
15 Get a Life
16 The Perfect Man
17 The Emperor's Children

I will only include review links for the books I have read fairly recently - my stub reviews for the others were written a long time after reading.


To reread (maybe:)
Black Swan Green
Kalooki Nights
So Many Ways to Begin (in progress)

Not owned so probably won't read:
The Other Side of the Bridge
Seven Lies

1.Mother's Milk
2.The Inheritance of Loss
3.Carry me Down
4.The Night Watch
5.In the Country of men
6.The Secret River (DNF)

1. The Inheritance of Loss 4*
2.

1. The Secret River 4* (read in 2021)
2. The Night Watch 4* (read in 2021)
3.
4. In the Country of Men 3* (read in 2021)
5. Carry Me Down 3* (read in 2021)
6. The Inheritance of Loss 2* (read in 2011)

Short List Only
1. The Secret River (4*) @
2. The Inheritance of Loss (4*) @

Short and Long Lists
1. The Secret River (4*) @
2. Black Swan Green (4*)
3. The Inheritance of Loss (4*) @

@ Updated Jan 23, 2022

Reserving space since completing this challenge will take me well into 2022.

Cindy

1. Mother's Milk
2. The Inheritance of Loss
3. Carry Me Down
4. The Secret River
5. The Night Watch
6. In the Country of Men

1. Carry Me Down
2. In the Country of Men
3. The Inheritance of Loss
4. The Night Watch
5. Mother's Milk
6. The Secret River


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