Monthly Archives: July 2023

The Booker Prize 2023: Predictions, Possibilities and Preferences

The Booker Prize 2023In my Booker Prize blog post last year, I noted that my longlist predictions lists in 2020 and 2021 included the eventual winners in those years: Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart and The Promise by Damon Galgut. I posed the question of whether I could make it three years in a row. The answer was a resounding no, but I think it’s fair to say that last year’s winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka didn’t feature in too many other predictions lists either, so I guess that was a small consolation.

As ever, my annual list of predictions consists of what I think could be some strong possibilities alongside my own personal preferences, based on a few novels I have read and others I have heard about. Novels published in the UK between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023 will be eligible. It’s impossible to know for sure which novels have been submitted for consideration, although the latest efforts by previous winners are usually considered automatically. Continue reading

6 Comments

Filed under Books

Books I Read in June 2023

Regenesis George MonbiotI went to the Hay Festival for a couple of days at the end of May and picked up Regenesis by George Monbiot from the signed copies table in the Festival Bookshop (climate and food seemed to be big topics at the Festival this year). The first half of Monbiot’s book about the state of the food and farming industry is terrifying, with disturbing statistics about the impact of land use for farming livestock and evidence that some types of organic farming can actually be worse for the environment. Luckily, the second half is more positive with examples of how food production can be genuinely sustainable, although it feels like it would take a miracle for these methods to be widely adopted across society to make a difference. Monbiot has clearly been deeply immersed in his research on soil ecology, but also addresses social issues around food bank use, and he puts forward a persuasive case for reducing farming of animals for food.
Continue reading

5 Comments

Filed under Books