The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Here are the six books that made the 2002 Booker Shortlist (winner in bold). Please rank them below according to your preference. When you read another, rather than post a new comment simply revise the other. Please refrain from general chatter in here, but do go to the 2002 Booker General Discussion thread for all of that!

Life of Pi, Yann Martel
Dirt Music, Tim Winton
Family Matters, Rohinton Mistry
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
The Story of Lucy Gault, William Trevor
Unless, Carol Shields

Summary table.

Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 1.33, 0.89, 12, 9
2, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, 2.33, 2.10, 12, 3
3, The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor, 3.10, 2.36, 10, 2
4, Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry, 3.78, 2.94, 9, 0
5, Unless by Carol Shields, 4.45, 3.89, 11, 1
6, Dirt Music by Tim Winton, 4.50, 3.59, 8, 0

Including longlisted books:

Pos, Book, Average, Adjusted, Count, First Places
1, If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor, 1.00, 0.24, 2, 2
2, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 1.75, 3.47, 12, 8
3, Dorian by Will Self, 4.00, 4.88, 1, 0
4, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, 2.83, 8.16, 12, 3
5, The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor, 3.90, 8.95, 10, 1
6, Spies by Michael Frayn, 3.80, 8.60, 5, 0
7, Peacetime by Robert Edric, 7.00, 8.79, 1, 0
8, Any Human Heart by William Boyd, 7.00, 9.25, 2, 0
9, Shroud by John Banville, 7.00, 9.50, 1, 0
10, Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry, 4.78, 10.86, 9, 0
11, Critical Injuries by Joan Barfoot, 9.00, 11.64, 1, 0
12, Unless by Carol Shields, 6.55, 14.24, 11, 1
13, Dirt Music by Tim Winton, 7.13, 13.03, 8, 0
14, The Next Big Thing by Anita Brookner, 10.00, 14.12, 1, 0
15, To the Last City by Colin Thubron, 11.00, 14.50, 1, 0
16, The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith, 13.00, 18.04, 2, 0
17, The Mulberry Empire by Philip Hensher, 14.00, 18.79, 1, 0

Not rated yet:
Still Here by Linda Grant, , , 0, 0
The Strange Case of Dr Simmonds & Dr Glas by Dannie Abse, , , 0, 0
Who's Sorry Now by Howard Jacobson, , , 0, 0

Update 9 Nov - I have just made a minor adjustment to the spreadsheet calculations - for Meike and Dan, a shortlist position x now translates to x * 20 /6 in the adjusted longlist rankings.

As always the sorting algorithm has its weaknesses - it is inevitable that books with large numbers of ratings are dragged towards the middle of the table unless people agree almost unanimously that they belong elsewhere

( Sorry Hugh, I keep rearranging this, but this is the final edit)

1. Life of Pi
2. Dirt Music
3. Family Matters
4. Fingersmith
5. The Story of Lucy Gault
6. Unless

1. Life of Pi
2. Family Matters
3. Fingersmith
4. Dirt Music
5. Unless
6.

1 The Story of Lucy Gault
2 Unless
3 Life of Pi
4 Fingersmith
5 Dirt Music
6 Family Matters

~
or including longlisted books

1 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
2 The Story of Lucy Gault
3 Spies
4 Dorian
5 Unless
6 Life of Pi
7 Shroud
8 Fingersmith
9 Any Human Heart
10 The Next Big Thing
11 Dirt Music
12 Family Matters
13 The Autograph Man

1. The Story of Lucy Gault
2. Fingersmith
3.
4.
5. Dirt Music
6. Unless

...I would rank Spies between Fingersmith and Dirt Music!

1. Fingersmith
2. Life of Pi
3. Unless
4. Family Matters
5. The Story of Lucy Gault
6.

There will be a short delay now before I can slot Dirt Music into this list because my library has lost its only copy!

I'm definitely a rookie as I approach the 2002 Booker Shortlist (even though the authors are familiar). I hope this will be a good challenge and give me a better feel for what the Booker Prize committee deals with every year. I think I will start with Yann Martel's Life of Pi since it lives on my crowded shelves.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Based on my memory of the ones I read back in 2002 - my ranking may alter if I decide to reread any of them, and/or when I've read some of the ones I missed first time around:

1. Life of Pi (even had a bet on this and won £40)
2. Fingersmith
3. Family Matters
4. The Story of Lucy Gault
5. Dirt Music
6. Unless

Including longlisted titles:

1. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things
2. Spies
3. Life of Pi
4. Fingersmith
5. Any Human Heart
6. Family Matters
7. Peacetime (suspect this may be lower if I reread)
8. The Story of Lucy Gault
9. Critical Injuries
10. Dirt Music (okay, but my least favourite Tim Winton book)
11. To the Last City
12. Unless (I imagine I might get more out of this now than I did at 26)
13. The Autograph Man (such a disappointment after White Teeth)
14. The Mulberry Empire
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

My list, though it's sparse!

Just the shortlist
1. Life of Pi
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

With the longlist
1. Life of Pi
2. Spies

Trevor wrote: "My list, though it's sparse!

It's a shorty, but a goody, Trevor - mine is exactly the same! (so far)

Just the shortlist
1. Life of Pi
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

With the longlist
1. Life of Pi
2. Spies

I may be the only person alive, or at least on this forum, who has not read Life of Pi!

1. The Story of Lucy Gault
2. Fingersmith
3.
4.
5.
6.

Short List
1. Life of Pi
2. Fingersmith

Meike wrote: "1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Dirt Music
6. Unless"
~
These were easy enough to add to the shortlist ratings, but it caused me a new problem with the longlist version! I made an arbitrary decision to place these two 15th and 18th respectively on the longlist ratings, since it is clear that you disliked them - 5th and 6th would be too positive on a scale out of of 20!

Hugh wrote: "Meike wrote: "1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Dirt Music
6. Unless"
~
These were easy enough to add to the shortlist ratings, but it caused me a new problem with the longlist version! I made an arbitrary decision t..."

That's fine, Hugh - I will not get to read the whole longlist, so I trust your judgement regarding how to incorporate my ranking. Thanks for taking care of the group's summary table!

1. Unless

1. Life of Pi
2. Story of Lucy Gault
3. Fingersmith
4. Dirt Music
5. Unless
6. Family Matters (perhaps pending rereading it, which I may not do)

1. Fingersmith
2. Life of Pi
3. Family Matters
4. The Story of Lucy Gault
5. Unless
6.

Haven’t read more than one of these, so please don’t include me in the rankings, but...

1. Fingersmith!
1. Fingersmith!
1. Fingersmith!
1. Fingersmith!
1. Fingersmith!
1. Fingersmith!

I love this book, as I love all of her books. Such a great writer.

1. Life of Pi
2. The Story of Lucy Gault
3. Fingersmith
4. Family Matters (because I intend to finish it)
5. Dirt Music
6. Unless ( which I doubt I will get back to it)