The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

As a group we like to discuss our favourite books of the year but given how much the group focuses on prizes I thought it might be interesting to discuss our favourite prize of the year - based not so much on our general liking for the prize but the longlist/shortlist/winner picks for 2021

In terms of 2021 (and in some cases 2020) prizes I have read

The Women’s Prize longlist (and shortlist twice)
The Booker Prize longlist (and all but one of the shortlist twice)
The Republic of Consciousness Prize longlist
The Goldsmith’s Prize shortlist
The International Booker longlist (less one book)
The International Dublin Literary Award shortlist
The Costa Novel Prize shortlist
The Costa First Novel Prize shortlist (less one book)
The Orwell Prize for Fiction longlist (less one book)
The Desmond Elliot Prize shortlist (and all but two of the longlist)
Dylan Thomas Prize longlist (novels only)
Encore Award winner
James Tait Black award winner
Walter Scott historical prize winner
Jhalak Prize winner
Baillie Gifford prize winner
FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year winner
Irish Book of the Year Novel Prize winner,
The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation winner
Goodreads Choice Awards - Novel winner
Goodreads Choice Awards - History and Biography winner
2020 Costa Prize (announced 2021) Winner
2021 Nobel Prize winner - every novel
2020 Nobel Prize winner - every poetry collection

And having reviewed my thought on each prize my (unexpected) winner of the inaugural Golden Reviewer Prize of the Year 2021 is .......

The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction

The only prize that has really recognized Ali Smith's magnificent Seasonal Quartet - and which picked as a winner my book of 2020 "Summer"

And the book which under the radar managed to pre-recognise the surprise 2021 Nobel Laureate by shortlisting “Afterlives”.

It also shortlisted "Apeirogon" which I was disappointed to see dropped by the 2020 Booker at the longlist stage

A special commendation for the Desmond Elliot Prize for Debut Fiction: Little Scratch (later of course Goldsmiths listed), the ubiquitous A Ghost in the Throat, The Liar’s Dictionary (oddly overlooked elsewhere), Open Water & Manningtree Witches (both later picked by the Costa), the quirky Exciting Times, Rainbow Milk (a surprise omission from last year's Booker) and How We Are Translated (which seems like a Goldsmiths near-miss) is a strong longlist.

I love the Prize of Prizes idea. I’ve only read a fraction of what you have, but I agree Orwell was a strong shortlist this year. RoC was very good (Lote, Mermaid, Ghost), as was Goldsmiths (Sterling, Assembly, scratch). PEN/Faulkner seems to be overlooked in this group, although 2021 wasn’t its best year.

I’ll nominate the National Book Award for Translated Literature. The longlist was excellent and balanced. The shortlist was very good (Sokcho, Twilight, Labatut)
- and the winner was precisely the type of book that should win prizes but rarely does.

The Goldsmiths Prize had an exceptional shortlist and was won by the best book of the year so wins easily for me.

Republic of Consciouness was also extremely strong (and won by the best book of 2020).

Admittedly my two favourite prizes but very good years for both as well.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: " the book which under the radar managed to pre-recognise the surprise 2021 Nobel Laureate by shortlisting “Afterlives”."

So under the radar that the person who decided to read the longlist didn't bother with that one!

Mixed views on that list - a big tick for Summer but was it entered for other prizes; a prescient tick for Afterlives but based on the other book of the author I've read there's a reason he was under the radar; it includes Mermaid but so did every sensible prize; Apeirogon but so did the Booker; and it included the overrated Shruggie, the pretty dreadful Vanishing Half and the badly flawed Lovers' Discourse.

Certainly an interesting list though (and one that seemed this year to benefit from ignoring its brief - not quite sure how political some of them are).

I did not read the longlist post prize - I had already read those I read (which I guess means that the prize hardly bought new books to my attention but that would be true of most prizes).

On that score the Guardian Debut Novelist Preview of the Year really deserves the prize: Open Water, Little Scratch, Assembly picked this year (and read as a result) well ahead of publication. The same feature picked Shuggie Bain in 2020 (six months pre UK publication I think). That's a definite article to read next January.

David wrote: "I’ll nominate the National Book Award for Translated Literature"

That is a good call

I love this idea GY!

I think I have to go with the Women's Prize on this. The last two years, I've been exceptionally happy with the shortlists and the longlists had many other very worthy titles. Although I was rooting for a different book than Piranesi to win this year, I can hardly argue with the decision, and Hamnet was my favorite read of 2020.

I would have agreed last year - less sure this year although it was a strong list and the Women’s Prize has a consistency of approach other prizes lack.

I found it a pretty poor shortlist this year with not a worthy winner on it. Probably would be my nomination for most disappointing prize of 2021.

This is a great idea! But one I can’t take part in since I haven’t read for enough prizes this year and even the prizes I wanted to read for I flaked out before reading all the books.

My prize reading has been rather limited too - there are just too many of them, but I didn't feel it was a vintage year for any of the ones I normally follow other than perhaps the Goldsmiths, and even that one failed to match the promise of the first three books I read.

Paul wrote: "I found it a pretty poor shortlist this year with not a worthy winner on it. Probably would be my nomination for most disappointing prize of 2021."

I think the Women's Prize is close to an anti-Paul prize

- a penchant for long books I find (400 page books seem common)
- a deliberate attempt to include books which are very mainstream (Dawn French this year for example)
- no translated fiction
- the biggest anti small press bias remaining (now the Booker has started to see the light)
- even a longlist which clashes with the Booker International in timing

Although it has picked some experimental fiction as winners in its time of course

But it remains a prize with a very strong identity and passionate set of readers behind it, a brilliant social media operation which actually realises readers enjoy the anticipation of longlists/shortlists etc, and a very good set of events (the brilliantly produced set of three online shortlist reading events combined with the almost euphoric in-person readings cleverly held in a garden and marquee setting for better ventilation was an unbeatable combination)

Hugh wrote: "My prize reading has been rather limited too - there are just too many of them, but I didn't feel it was a vintage year for any of the ones I normally follow other than perhaps the Goldsmiths, and ..."

I am with you Hugh. I know Paul was very enamored of the Goldsmiths shortlist and his favourite author and friend won in Isabel and it also picked what for many on this forum was one of the best books of the year (Assembly) - but a lot of us only liked around half the books and I still cannot get over the insularity of the prize (three authors from the next door University, the repeating authors and judges) and this year's shortlist announcement was preceded by a platform for a very ill timed lecture about how awful science is.

I love the Booker and everything around it - including the Radio 4 interview where two of us were lucky enough to participate this year - but I cannot get over the disappointment of the learned Rowan Williams saying that it was important to pick readable books, and Chigozie Obiama being on a panel that decided to represent Africa by two books from white South Africans. Doing a test ahead of the shortlist readings and coming up positive rather ruined it for me personally also.

I have enjoyed most of this year's prize list reading. My favorite though is the one I am working my way through now, the Baillie-Gifford Prize. The books chosen complement each other so well with this dystopian theme which feels so clichéd in fiction, seeming so fresh in these works. Plus Empire of Pain is my book of the year.

Yes the Women’s Prize is very well organised, although given some of the other issues with the prize that is perhaps unfortunate.

The Goldsmiths list this year was simply outstanding. If they had listed Second Place rather than A Shock then it would have been perfection - the best 6 novels by UK/Irish writers of the period. I think it is probably the strongest shortlist of any prize I have ever seen in any year - can’t think of a better one.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I love the Booker and everything around it - including the Radio 4 interview where two of us were lucky enough to participate this year - but I cannot get over the disappointment of the learned Row..."

I used to be a massive fan of the Booker, but I've gone off it lately (although I will always read the whole longlist each year). It isn't that they've picked winners I've disliked so much as that they seem not to include books that strike me as so much more worthy. I have recently noticed that I am just not nearly as excited by the shortlist as I used to be.

I agree, Cindy, the Booker was largely a disappointment this year. By its nature - billed as the “finest fiction” - it’s hard for the Booker to live up to expectations.

I thought the Women’s Prize shortlist was decent this year. Transcendent Kingdom was a 5-star book for me.

There is irony in white men complaining about the Women’s Prize :)

True David - although there is an interesting piece of background here.

I know (as I was in contact with them as part of the first attempt with Neil G to make the RoC Prize a charity) that as part of their charity application they were told they needed to widen their focus - hence (as an explicit part of it) their strapline "the very best writing by women for everyone" (my emphasis)

Actually I am not that convinced they are really doing that - when I attend women's prize events (both public and in one case a private event for authors/sponsors etc) they are probably 95%+ female (and actually I am exaggerating the 5%) and the speeches etc assume the audience is 100% female.

But to be honest (and as I said when I attended a private event in the City) its a good experience to experience being a slightly ignored minority (even for a few hours)

That’s a good point and I was being deliberately glib. They really do an excellent job with social media and events. I have a few book friends here in the US that follow the Women’s Prize more any of the others.

I dabbled in a lot of prize lists this year (2021). Those that I read all or most of the long lists were:

National Book Award for Translated Literature
National Book Award for Fiction
Republic of Consciousness'
Women's Prize
Desmond Elliot Prize
Walter Scott
Goldsmith's Prize
Booker
Booker Translation

I've ranked them in order of enjoyment. I found the Booker and Booker International short lists quite disappointing this year. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the NBA's lists, long and short, this year. I've been reading the NBA fiction longlist for many years (longer than the Booker) and this year's list was the best I've read, while the Booker was about the worst.

I don’t think there is much the Women’s Prize could do to attract more men. My anecdotal experience is that in 2021 many men don’t read women authors. Men who are avid, well-read readers do, but among the casual male readers I think the bias against women writers is still in play. I would love for someone to show me that I’m wrong.

It’s funny how our anecdotal experience shapes our perception. Outside of goodreads, none of the (mostly gay) men I know would ever read something by a straight white man like, say, Richard Powers.

I have no idea if I’m right, but that is what it seems to me.

WndyJW wrote: "I have no idea if I’m right, but that is what it seems to me."

You might find this interesting WndyJW

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

Although since there's still such an emphasis on reading as a process of identification - at least in Western culture - perhaps it's not that surprising? So many reviews on GR are essentially focused on whether or not the reviewer related to a book on a personal level, or whether they liked/disliked the characters etc

I thought maybe I was wrong because women writer simply never comes up in this group. The only time women is mentioned is when we talk about Women’s Prize and even then it’s only that the prize is called Women’s Prize, never about each book being written by a woman.

How sad for those men who don’t read women.

Thanks for posting that, Alwynne.

Must admit I don't think that much about the gender of writers - indeed looking through by list of books read in 2021, I'm often not sure of the author's gender (typically translated authors where the clue isn't in the name).

Looks like books read in 2021 for me are around 55% female writers which isn't bad but is likely < published books.

It’s better than not bad compared to most men, Paul.

I know the men in this group don’t think they deserve a pat on the back for reading women authors, but it is worth noting that men in this group are much more open minded than men in the general population.

Two of the biggest champions for the Women’s Prize are Sam and GY.

WndyJW wrote: "It’s better than not bad compared to most men, Paul.

I know the men in this group don’t think they deserve a pat on the back for reading women authors, but it is worth noting that men in this gro..."

I'll go along with that, if the women in the group get a corresponding "pat" for reading work by men, otherwise we might inadvertently retain the notion that men's work's universal and women's marginal.

And as GY pointed out, one of the issues with the Women's Prize is that is makes no attempt to promote Women's books to men, indeed it can come across as the opposite.

The Warwick Women's Prize in Translation is much better in that regard, but as it has a tiny budget it can't really promote books at all outside of a small literary sphere.

I said the men do not expect a pat on the back so no need for the women to get a pat on the back, Alwynne.
According to the article you posted, the men here are reading women authors far more often than the general population of male readers, that’s simply an observation.

Saying they don't "think" they deserve one, does imply you think they do, WndyJW, but it's not worth sweating it, thanks for the clarification!

Does, “I know the men in this group don’t think they deserve a pat on the back..” imply anything other than that the men here don’t think they deserve a pat on the back? I thought it was a fairly straightforward sentence that didn’t need clarification.

If I felt that the men here deserved recognition for reading women or if I thought that they thought they deserved recognition for reading women I would have said that.

I’ve been discussing women authors with these men for a few years now, I assure you none of them feel men’s work is universal and women’s is marginal.

It may be this is a question of misunderstanding over register or more likely implicature, or perhaps the difference between U.S. and U.K. English usage in particular contexts. But if I were, for example, to say, “Mrs Blogs waters the church flowers regularly, I know she doesn’t think she deserves a pat on the back for that…’ I would actually be implying, without directly saying it, “But of course she does…” That, therefore, is how I interpreted what you wrote, and I made a rather off-the-cuff reply based on that interpretation. You then made it clear that was not what you intended, and I thanked you for that. So why are you still pursuing it? It seems to be taking us into mountain-out-of-molehill territory.

Galley Beggar asked on Twitter which UK prizes, other than Booker, are open to US writers. They came up with RofC, Barbellion. Women’s. They asked Paul and he added Gordon Burn.

Sam and Linda, you have read a lot of prizes this year, can you think of other prizes they might have missed?

I also added Orwell Political Fiction and James Tait (which Galley Beggar won 2 yrs ago)

WndyJW wrote: "Galley Beggar asked on Twitter which UK prizes, other than Booker, are open to US writers. They came up with RofC, Barbellion. Women’s. They asked Paul and he added Gordon Burn.

Sam and Linda, yo..."

Bailie Gifford, Dublin prize, though not UK prize.

WndyJW wrote: "Galley Beggar asked on Twitter which UK prizes, other than Booker, are open to US writers. They came up with RofC, Barbellion. Women’s. They asked Paul and he added Gordon Burn.

Sam and Linda, yo..."

Bailie Gifford, Dublin prize, though not UK prize.

They qualified (on Twitter, it isn't on this thread) that this was for a novel by a female writer - one they have coming out next year - so Baillie Gifford is out, and they were after prizes you can enter which technically rules out Dublin (unless you know a friendly librarian) and, another prize, Folio (unless you know a friendly academy member).

So have ended up with RofC, Barbellion, Booker, Women's Prize, Gordon Burn, James Tait and Orwell Prize.

Which I think were all mentioned in Galley Beggar’s tweet.

Their three (Booker, Women’s, RoC), one from David Collard (Barbellion) and the three I added. The collective MnG mindhive seems to have failed to add one!

You were representing MnG, Paul, so we all get credit.

I admit to not paying much attention to the nationality of authors allowed to be considered by a prize unless, like with the Booker, a big deal is made of it. I know that certain prizes are "country" prizes, e.g., Scotia Giller in Canada. This group is a great source about prizes that exist and is what has led me to reading more from prize lists.

I don’t normally either hence some thinking was required. But if you are a publisher looking to enter little things make a big difference eg when the Goldsmiths (the iirc) extended eligibility to UK/Irish residents as well as nationals. The winner of this year’s prize was unable to enter their first novel for example.

Back to the original thread, I’ve been catching up with the NBA fiction short list and I’m very underwhelmed. Zorrie was nicely written but borderline whitewashing and it goes down hill from there. Hell of a Book was in no way the best American fiction this year. Matrix is fine but full of distracting anachronisms. Cloud Cuckoo Land is the worst thing I’ve read all year. I don’t think I’ll attempt The Prophets.

It's a reminder that the best U.S. fiction prizes are typically the NBCC award and the PEN Faulkner prize.

David wrote: "It's a reminder that the best U.S. fiction prizes are typically the NBCC award and the PEN Faulkner prize."

And historically the BTBA. Hopefully USRofC to add to that list.