Oct 16
Our panel collectively read all 13 nominated books and most of us read all, or almost all of the shortlisted books. Over the past several months we have posted our reviews, rankings, and thoughts of all the books. Keep reading to see which book we think will take home the prize. Read more
Aug 31
Next up for our shadow panel is Warlight by Michael Ondaatje who just this year won the Golden Man Booker for The English Patient. All of us read this book. Once again, our panel is pretty split on this longlisted book. For the record, Andrew is wrong (I’ll try to argue why in the comment section). Here are our reviews… Read more
Jun 4
Nov 2
Our contributor, Nicole is back with a beer-book pairing. Check it out…
Published in: 2017
Reviewed by: Nicole
Rating: ★★★
Find it here: The Resurrection of Joan Ashby
I got an email from Goodreads, but they said it was from A.M. Homes telling me I needed to read this book. I love her, so I listened. I knew it was a marketing ploy, but A.M. Homes!
Dec 12
White Noise by Don Delillo
Published in: 1985
Literary Awards: National Book Award
Reviewed by: Nicole
Rating: ★★★★★
Find it here: White Noise
“Helpless and fearful people are drawn to magical figures, mythic figures, epic men who intimidate and darkly loom.”
Jul 29
*Caution: controversial (and contains spoilers, but … uh … it’s history so … spoiler alert?!)
tell me, tell me, tell me the answer
you may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer
May 2
Has it come to this “great American novel?” Are you cliche? Are we? I know one thing, this book is.
Mar 28
Mount of Olives, Israel
I was fortunate enough to get to visit Israel this past November, and as I was standing in front of King David’s Tomb I realized I didn’t really know anything about him. A friend posted a review of The Secret Chord and I knew it was the perfect book to educate me. (I love Biblical fiction, but struggle reading the actual Bible.)
It wasn’t long before it clicked that this was David of “and Goliath” and “and Bathsheba” fame.
I love ancient history and I think that’s one of the reasons Biblical fiction is so appealing to me. I learned so many interesting things about David, which most of you probably already know, but which were news to me. Like, he wrote a bunch of the Psalms. I won’t say too much about him because I don’t want to ruin the story for those not in the know, but let’s just say, he was a maniac. He is also the first man in “literature whose story is told in detail from early childhood to extreme old age. Some scholars have called this biography the oldest piece of history writing… ” Kind of makes me want to read the bible. Kind of.
If a book ever cried out for an alcoholic beverage, it is this one. I wanted something tropical and refreshing so I selected Council Brewing Pineapple Tart Saison.
Saisons tend to be sour, low ABV (this one was only 4% making it wildly inappropriate for the book) are super carbonated, and often have some kind of a fruity component. In this case Pineapple. Supposedly this is killer on tap, but it wasn’t great in the bottle. I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. I got the sour, but didn’t get the pineapple at all. I’ve had other Council Saisons I’ve liked much better than this, but it really would be a good beer for sitting on the beach in Jamaica….
And if you were a character in A Brief History of Seven Killings, you’d likely lift the bottle to your lips and be killed in some horrific fashion. Bumbaclot!
I started reading this book right around the time the Man Booker Prize was announced and after 60 pages, I realized that the dialect was going to kill me, so I decided to do the audio. I spent a lot of time in Jamaica in the ’80’s and I felt I had enough of a handle on the Patois that the audio would be a breeze. It wasn’t.
nicoledelsesto