That quote is from my piece, I hasten to clarify! But the judges alas say something similar …

I thought it would be Miller, too. The Szalay is a flawless surface, though.

Haha! Phrase-making for the ages, clearly.

In fact, unshocking!

Yeah, so we have the same final two! Let’s see what happens in 30 minutes …

Audition is definitely the book on the list that will encourage the strongest partisanship one way or the other. I agree that all the books have *something* to commend them, although I also find it hard to be passionate about them.

Do you have a preferred winner?

Thanks, Gav - glad you found the post helpful!

Good luck with it!

You might like the Szalay. It’s not *short* like a Hemingway, but it’s certainly direct.

As I say to m’learned Mondyboy elsethread, Flesh works for me - its effect is extremely evenly applied, no? Like a master plasterer skimming a wall, a flawless consistency. It also draws attention to its technique (Miller is quieter), so I can see your logic.

On BM: I love Either Side of Winter.

Audition stans unite!

Yep, Flesh works - or let me say, Szalay is a master of his schtick, he reads engagingly. I just think it’s also a bit limited. And as I say Flashlight seems to me, too, the most obvious failure on the list; but if the basics of the “mystery” are clear, the details struck me.

Yeah, I know several folks for whom Orbital just didn’t work. I can see why, though I’m duty-bound to confess it was my pick last year! (I’m sure I’m being wiser this year etc)

That’s kind of you to say - thanks!

Yeah, double dang.

Yeah, all that seems reasonable. The Miller is commendable, and I liked the Kitamura but it’s not for everyone. There’s no single book here I’m really rooting for or want to press into someone’s hands.

As I say in the post, I probably agree with your book club - it’s not a vintage list. It’s almost as if the jury sought out not the best books but the ones that most seemed to fit a particular (arguably out-of-date) vision of what a “Booker book” is or might be.

That’s fair. There’s something a bit passionless about it, right?

Meanwhile, Jacqui’s read of The Afterlife Project is that it privileges scale at the expense of the individual. Striking this balance may well be key to “hope” in fiction - and indeed to its absence.

Thinking face emoji etc

As we discuss in the episode, scale also interacts with the theme of redemption in terms of how widely it is achieved - Wolves is a novel with deliberately limited scope, in which the characters take responsibility for a small part of the whole. Likewise, Big Bird focuses on characters in context.