The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Here is a checklist you can copy and use as your own.

Mookse Madness 2019: Booker Darlings

Iris Murdoch
- The Bell
- The Unicorn
- The Black Prince
- The Sea, the Sea

Beryl Bainbridge
- The Bottle Factory Outing
- An Awfully Big Adventure
- Every Man for Himself
- Master Georgie

Margaret Atwood
- Surfacing
- The Handmaid's Tale
- The Robber Bride
- The Blind Assassin

Penelope Fitzgerald
- The Bookshop
- The Beginning of Spring
- The Gate of Angels
- The Blue Flower

Ali Smith
- Hotel World
- The Accidental
- How to be both
- Autumn

Muriel Spark
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
- The Abbess of Crewe
- A Far Cry from Kensington
- Loitering with Intent

Penelope Lively
- Road to Lichfield
- According to Mark
- Moon Tiger
- The Photograph

Doris Lessing
- The Grass is Singing
- The Golden Notebook
- The Good Terrorist
- The Fifth Child

Ian McEwan
- The Cement Garden
- The Child in Time
- Atonement
- The Children Act

William Trevor
- The Love Department
- The Children of Dynmouth
- Fools of Fortune
- Felicia's Journey

Salman Rushdie
- Midnight's Children
- Shame
- The Moor's Last Sigh
- Shalimar the Clown

Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Remains of the Day
- The Unconsoled
- Never Let Me Go
- The Buried Giant

Peter Carey
- Illywhacker
- Oscar and Lucinda
- True History of the Kelly Gang
- Parrot and Olivier in America

Thomas Keneally
- A Dutiful Daughter
- Gossip from the Forest
- Schindler's Ark
- The Widow and Her Hero

Julian Barnes
- Flaubert's Parrot
- A History of the World in 10½ Chapters
- Arthur & George
- The Sense of an Ending

Brian Moore
- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
- The Doctor's Wife
- Black Robe
- Lies of Silence

The list is done! I know not everyone's suggestions were taken, but I tried to do all I could to make it work. This is final. No more changes will be made, no matter how correct they are. These are the books! There are 64! I myself have many blank spots I want to fill up, and I know I won't get to them all. I hope you will read whatever ones interest you, and that you will participate next March when Mookse Madness begins (even if you didn't get all of the reading done you'd have liked).

Use this thread to discuss what you're thoughts are whenever you should have thoughts about this. You can tell us what books you're reading, how they're stacking up, etc.

For example, I finally read Elizabeth Costello, a blind spot for me in Coetzee's work. I've read most of his stuff, and I suppose I was saving it. I liked it a lot! I can see why others do not! And now Coetzee isn't even on the final list.

So I am trying to decide what to take with me on a work trip this week. I have yet to read Felicia's Journey: A Novel , and I even have two copies, so that's the most likely candidate!

Not bad - I have read 43 so just over two thirds, so another 21 doesn't sound impossible!

Now you are showing off, Hugh.
I hope we get the match ups ahead of schedule, then I can second guess which might be my favourites and maximise the number of first round contests where I have an interest!!

The first matches will be each authors’ own books against each other. I’m not sure which authors will be in the same brackets, but I will try to get that squared away!

So others are not embarrassed, I have read only 14. (And I can understand that some group members from non-Anglophone countries and who are younger, may not have read this many.)
There are two more I would really like to read in the near future regardless of the list, and 1-4 others that interest me anyway but which haven't been an especial priority.

I haven't read anything by Moore or Keneally, and only a few individual stories by William Trevor. And I've read a lot of Penelope Lively (children's books, mostly) although none of the listed titles. Otherwise 1 or 3 books each per author. (The 3s are Ali Smith and Julian Barnes.)

Antonomasia wrote: "So others are not embarrassed, I have read only 14. (And I can understand that some group members from non-Anglophone countries and who are younger, may not have read this many.)
There are two more..."

I only get to 13 . Not too good, but I read a lot of other languages too so I don’t feel bad about it.
Also: not all the books are easily available, not in the library, no kindle unlimited in my country and my house is so full of books the people in it are getting annoyed when new ones come in.

Thanks for setting this up and putting the list together Trevor.
I would like to join in with this and have read at least one book by each author. I aim to make that at least two by each author.
I have read 35 of the listed books, plus two I did not finish and one which sounds familiar.
Iris Murdoch (2)
Beryl Bainbridge (4)
Margaret Atwood (2 + 1 maybe)
Penelope Fitzgerald (1)
Ali Smith (4)
Muriel Spark (2)
Penelope Lively (1)
Doris Lessing (1 + 1 unfinished)
Ian McEwan (4)
William Trevor (1)
Salman Rushdie (1)
Kazuo Ishiguro (3)
Peter Carey (2 + 1 unfinished)
Thomas Kenneally (1)
Julian Barnes (3)
Brian Moore (3)

At end of 2018, this is now:
Iris Murdoch (4)
Beryl Bainbridge (4)
Margaret Atwood (4)
Penelope Fitzgerald (4)
Ali Smith (4)
Muriel Spark (4)
Penelope Lively (4)
Doris Lessing (3 + 1 unfinished)
Ian McEwan (4)
William Trevor (4)
Salman Rushdie (4)
Kazuo Ishiguro (4)
Peter Carey (2 + 1 unfinished)
Thomas Kenneally (3)
Julian Barnes (4)
Brian Moore (4)
I have a copy of the forth Kenneally and will be reading it soon.
The unfinished Carey, "Parrot and Olivier", will probably stay unfinished, but I will give "Illywhacker" a try, since Hugh decided it was worth it in the end.

7 completed (Murdoch, Fitzgerald, Smith, Lessing, Rushdie, Ishiguro and Barnes). 3 each from Lively and Carey, 2 each Atwood and Moore, work to do (only 1 each so far) on Bainbridge, Spark, McEwan, Trevor and Keneally. I think I was more inclined to complete writers I liked before joining GR...

I have only read 9 0f these books. What a great reason to read more of these excellent authors, most of whom sit on bookshelves while we read all the new books that come out.

I wish I'd remembered to vote for Offshore for Fitzgerald. (Saw someone else mention it but I was preoccupied and didn't post on the thread at the time.) One I've been meaning to read for a long time - and might be interesting soon after Everything Under as another tale of life on barges.

Everything by Fitzgerald is worth reading - Offshore is one of the weaker ones...

I was not a huge fan of The Bookshop. I thought it was alright (3 stars), but the subject wasn't something I'd have gone for as a personal choice. (It's one of the few online group reads I've done.) I got the impression Fitzgerald probably wasn't for me unless the topic really appealed, but with Offshore, it does. I hope it would allow me to appreciate more what others like in her writing.

This seems like a great opportunity to catch up with novels from the past few decades (I don’t even dare to say how few I’ve read from the list), so you may expect me to chime in on some of them. My university library has copies of all of the books (it always amazes me) so that’s even better.

Just bought another 10 of these - 2 each by Atwood, Bainbridge, McEwan, Spark and Trevor. Not bad for a provincial branch of Waterstones! Might take a while to get round to reading them as the Goldsmiths shortlist will take priority.

I have only read a few and have a few. But I too am looking forward to reading more of the list.

What approach are you that have lots to read using? Is it better to read several at a time from one author and thus be prepared for the first part of the tournament where each authors’ 4 works are pitted against each other OR read as many authors as possible from the start?
I have located the earliest work of each author (some of whom I have read nothing by) and plan to read those first to familiarize myself with each style.

I don't have a plan yet - I will probably just read the ones that appeal to me and fit my alternation of male and female authors.

I have read 25. On this list I have read
0 Murdoch
3 Bainbridge
1 Atwood
4 Fitzgerald
1 Smith
2 Spark
3 Lively
0 Lessing
0 McEwan
1 Trevor
2 Rushdie
3 Ishiguro
1 Carey
0 Kenneally
3 Barnes
1 Moore

Like most of us I have read something by every listed author, except maybe Murdoch, just not the books listed here so this is a great reason to finally read more of them!

I read Offshore, but it didn’t appeal to me at the time. While reading Everything Under I decided so should reread Offshore at some point so I’m glad it made the list.

I don’t have a plan either, I will probably start with authors I feel least familiar with, then move in the books I’ve wanted to read, but haven’t.

Thank you for all the time and energy you put into this Trevor!

The Paris Review just tweeted about an interview with Lively (1 of the 8 authors in the list above whom I've never read):
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/7209/penelope-lively-the-art-of-fiction-no-241-penelope-lively

I think I have read 16 but I am not sure whether I have read a couple of the Fitzgerald or not so it might be slightly more. For some reason, the titles of hers don't stick in my head except for The Bookshop and Offshore (I loved Offshore).

I have read 0 Keneally at all, never mind these 4, and he appears to be the most prolific.

Edit: As suspected, a Fitzerald I had read, so 17 read but many many on hand in either Hardback, Paperback, or Kindle.

I have read 2 Keneally novels - Schindlers Ark and one I found in a second hand shop and wouldn't recommend called Jacko: The Great Intruder. None of the other three on this list were in stock in my local Waterstones, so I may look out for those in London this afternoon...

Hugh, I admired your book photo on Twitter today and especially your new Bainbridge books! Years ago I couldn’t find her and someone suggested abes (which was a lifeline for me for years after) and I was able to get a few used titles there. Now I see they reprinted titles in 2010. It’s very tempting to gaze upon pristine Beryl Bainbridge books.

Keneally, Moore and the Abbess seem to be the hardest to find new copies of but I am sure Abes can fill the gaps.

Hugh, I have a paperback of Black Robe you can have.

I already have a copy of Black Robe - it is Judith Hearne and the Doctor's Wife that are difficult to find new, but I am sure they will be pretty cheap at Abe's

nyrb published The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Hugh.

https://www.nyrb.com/collections/read...

I thought I had read The Doctor's Wife, I was wrong. I read The Magician's Wife.

WndyJW wrote: "I thought I had read The Doctor's Wife, I was wrong. I read The Magician's Wife."

Ooh, you are in for a treat, then.

I have 15 of these now so I am not in any hurry to track down the last 6. Availability of NYRB books in the UK can depend on local publishing rights but in any case The Lonely Passion was never rare enough to make second hand copies expensive...

My son just made me aware of this award for JM Coetzee:

https://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/event/mah...

We'll never know if he could have added Mookse Madness to his long list of awards.

I went to a used bookstore today hoping to spy a few of the books I don't have. I was only able to find a copy of The Fifth Child and Shalimar the Clown. They did have one Thomas Keneally book, but not one we are reading!

Have decided to read one book by each author first in my planned attempt to get to the whole list before MM starts. Since I read Midnight’s Children (many years ago) I went straight to his second big work, Moor’s Last Sigh. So amazed at the complex writing style with a heavy mix of Indian history, mythology and family saga that I realized I must now REREAD Midnight.... in order to be able to vote for my fave (and of course the other two).

Then went on to Penelope Lively, thinking she would be a quicker read. Halfway through The Photograph and think I may have discovered a new favorite author! This could involve a detour into reading some more of her many works right away!

I am SO glad we have the list this early and look forward to many more interesting discoveries in the next months....hope it isn’t too early to talk about specific works and is this the right place to do so?

I have been looking at prices for my missing 5 on Abe Books and none of them are likely to be difficult to find or expensive.

Peg, I would love to hear your thoughts on specific works here! I’m also very glad to hear you’re enjoying the books you’ve opened due to the list. I hope that continues!

I really enjoy Penelope Lively, her books are (gasp) readable and intelligent. I have not read two of the listed books so I’m happy for a reason to read them.

The Golden Notebook is 99p in the UK Kindle autumn sale.

I have copies of "According to Mark", "Felicia's Journey", "The Abbess of Crewe", "The Moor's Last Sigh" and "The Beginning of Spring" lined up. Then I just need to finish "The Golden Notebook" and find something by Thomas Kenneally and I will have read at least two by each author. I also decided to add Anita Desai's "Clear Light of Day" to my list, as I had not read any of hers.

Here is my Booktube video announcing my plans to read all the books before March and chat about them. I realize it is “preaching to the choir” here when I encourage viewers to join this forum, but I have almost 1000 subscribers and I know some of them would love everything M&G!

https://youtu.be/dB0IYqHtUMw

Trevor, can you let me know if I am getting info about you correct? Is “Gripes” pronounced with a long I? And is the term from FW?
Also, when did you start that first web forum discussing the Booker?

SO much looking forward to this reading adventure and also to some great discussion here in the coming months!

Thanks for sharing here, Peg! I was coming in to share it if you hadn’t! It’s a great video and definitely makes me enthusiastic for all of my reading. And thanks so much for the kind words!

As for all Gripes, you are correct in how you say it and it is from FW.

For the history, several of us on here met at the old Booker website which had a forum. I think I stumbled in there in 2007 or 2008. Ang was there. MHG. A few others. Then in 2012 they revamped their website and did away with that forum. I came in and created my own. Not long after it became clear that GR was a better place for the forum so we started it up. And we all lived happily ever after!

Thanks for the info...I thought I had seen you around the web longer than that but guess that is because you put out so much great content in different areas ! Happily ever after indeed (reading wise anyway).

My website has been running since July 1, 2008, and I'm sure I poked around a bit before then, but that's when I really started Mookse!

Hi Peg, I just saw your video and subscribed. I am reading through the list too. Though, I am pretty sure that I won't be able to get to all of them. I am looking forward to hearing your opinion of the books on the list. I am also interested in seeing the progression the authors make in their writing lives. I am starting with Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride. I have only read one book by her, The Handmaid's Tale, which I think most people are fairly familiar with.

Trevor, thanks for your work on this.

I won't embarrass myself by providing my reading stats. I don't know how many I will have time to read, but there are more than one or two authors I've been interested in reading for years (that's outting myself).

I will not be presumptuously impertinent and ask for extra time this year. I'll still be procrastinating, but I won't make it Trevor's problem.

Ctb, in the first one plenty of people voted on books they hadn't read. (Although at least some, like me, abstained from matches where they knew very little about an author or hadn't read any of their stuff.)

I'm still glad it prompted me to read Lispector - Hour of the Star is one I still think about quite often, or rather the characters and story. I sometimes forget where they were from as I really didn't get on with another of her books I'd read a small bit of a few years earlier.
And even more so To the Lighthouse which I found an amazing experience and which contained stuff I never expected it would.

That first year really had some great books! I was just thinking about using it as a TBR list after MM2019 is over. Maybe he would consider redoing that year’s list (perhaps with some changes) for 2020 and give us lots of lead time to read them?

Antonomasia wrote: "Ctb, in the first one plenty of people voted on books they hadn't read. (Although at least some, like me, abstained from matches where they knew very little about an author or hadn't read any of th..."

Year One of MM I voted several times for or against an author based on books I'd read that weren't part of the Madness or reading only excerpts of the competing books.

Last year, the year of the Short Story, my votes were based on reading almost every story more than once.

I'm interested in all the women except Atwood. I'll be skipping McEwan. Two novels and a short story are enough of him.

I'm going to make an attempt to read or reread some of list but I'm not sure how far I'll get. If I can get enough read I will join in. I am interested in how the evaluations will go, especially when comparing the older books to the newer ones. I'm also interested to see how books do that have been made into films. I just finished Remains of the Day and realized that my visualization of the book has changed from my last read due to my more recent memory of the film. Thankfully the filmmakers did a somewhat faithful adaptation.

Here is my Booktube report on the latest books I have read for MM...8/64 at this point.
https://youtu.be/CQ98wYgqDXc
I am happy to see that some of my viewers have joined in the discussion here! So fun to see what everybody plans to read from the list. Don’t forget that you DON’t have to read them all to take part in the voting fun....it is a great way to be introduced to the backlists of Booker winning authors.

I am off now to read the 4 for next week’s video!

Keep these coming, Peg! At least, as long as you're having fun with it! I know I will continue to look forward to all of your thoughts.

And thanks so much for taking part and sharing your experience!

As Peg says, you don't have to read them to take part in the discussions and voting. Of course, you also don't have to take part in the voting! But even if you didn't read a book, this is more about getting together in a room and talking books and reading, including why we didn't read something!

In any case, I hope you all get at least one good read out of all of this!