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Hello! Welcome to the ManBookering group where we will be reading and discussing the nominees for the 2015 Man Booker Prize.

I'm really excited that you've decided to join myself and Jenny, the moderators of this group, in reading as many of the long-listed books for this year's prize as we can. If you only want to read 1 or if you want to read all 13--like we do--welcome!

A few items of information:
1. I have started a thread for each book, and hopefully as I read them I will be posting some discussion questions for us to use as a catalyst for conversation.
2. If you feel compelled to start the discussion of a book that Jenny and I have yet to read, please feel free to do so! There are no rules about discussion except that you should warn if you are posting a spoiler and please be respectful of one another.
3. There is absolutely no pressure to read all of these books. In a perfect world I would read them all before the winner is announced, but that never seems to work out. So just enjoy the ones you do read and let's discuss!

I would love to hear a little bit about you! Why don't you share about your interest in the Man Booker Prize, how long you've been following it, and what one or two of your favorite past winners have been in the comments below.

I'll go first. I heard about the Man Booker Prize about 4 years ago and have been following it ever since. It was recommended to me by a college literature professor as a place to turn when I needed book recommendations. And now I love to try and read all the longlist nominees before the October announcement. I think my favorite winner that I've read so far has been Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries (2013). Though both of Hilary Mantel's winning novels are phenomenal as well.

So if you enjoy these next few months of reading and discussing, I thought maybe we could turn November through June (a.k.a non-Man Booker season) into a normal readalong where we read a different past winner each month.

Thanks again for joining. I am really excited to hear everyone's thoughts on the nominees and have some great conversations!

Happy reading,
Max

Hello party people,

My name is Jenny and I'm also a moderator for this group. I'm following Max's lead introducing myself to the masses.

I knew of the prize for the last couple years but the list this year really excited me. If you follow me, you'll know I love a good challenge and I would like to read them all before the shortlist is announced (which isn't realistic but whatever).

I'm currently reading The Remains of the Day, a past winner and it is AH-mazing.

Welcome and happy reading!

Awesome I'm so glad this group has been created. The readlongs sound good too!

My name is Lisa and I feel like a fake Booker groupie. Because I think I'm way too interested in this prize given that I never seem to be able to read any of the nominated books before it is awarded. Despite this I'm always excited when the list is released and when I have read a past winner they are usually really good.

I am really excited about this years list and have ordered A Brief History of Seven Killings from Book Depository. I hope to also get to A Spool of Blue Thread, A Little Life, and The Year of the Runaways...

A past winner I really liked: Vernon God Little - Would NEVER have read this usually, it was so different from what I usually read and I thoroughly enjoyed it - but it still strikes me as a really weird winner for the Booker prize?

I hope I'm not alone here but I have never really followed the process of the Man Booker Prize every year as I was not that aware about the date of long lists and short list or even how long those lists were!

I have obviously heard of the prize and I have very strong regards about the winners so hearing about this makes me very excited. We'll see how many I get to in time though XD

I don't really know where to start so if someone could recommend one on the list that would be very helpful in determining my starting place :)

Hello, my name is Alex and I'm pretty much the same as Elize. I'm a complete newbie to this prize, I have of course heard of it before, but I have never followed it. I also honestly don't think I have ever read a long- or shortlisted book. I'm only 18 and for the most part, my past years have been spent following the current YA trends, which I think was perfectly fine, but recently I've felt the need to somehow get... I don't know, more out of the books that I read than you can get from your typical YA novel. That's why I've decided I want to focus on adult literature a bit more from now on and when I heard of this group on twitter I figured reading some of the books nominated for this prize might be a good place to start.
Let's see how many I'll actually get to :D

Hello everyone!

My name is Alexandra and I'm 21. I became interested in the Man Booker Prize last year thanks to a bunch of people who kept on posting about it on Twitter. This year, I decided to take a closer look at the books that made the longlist partly out of curiosity, partly because I wanted to read some of them before the big October announcement :). I would more particularly like to read The Chimes by Anna Smaill, The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan, Satin Island by Tom McCarthy and The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami.

Thank you Max and Jenny for giving life to this amazing group!

Hello everyone! I'm Ana Luisa and I'm 18. I became interested in the Man Booker Prize last year after branching out to literary fiction, and I've been trying to read past nominees since then. This year's list made me very excited because there were some great sounding stories and a big diversity, which I always like. I'm particularly interested in reading The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, since many people whose opinions I trust have been reading and loving it.

Thank you Max and Jenny for creating this group, and I'd be very interested in doing readalongs for past winners in the non-Booker season :)

Hello everyone, my name is Liz and I'm 19. I've never really had a specific interest in the Man Booker prize before but I'm trying to branch out into adult literary fiction and this seems like a great way to do so. I read The Narrow Road to the Deep North last year, and I've also read Life of Pi, and I enjoyed both of them. This year I'm particularly interested in A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan, and The Moor's Account by Laila Lalami.

Thank you Max and Jenny for creating this great group!

Hey everyone, I'm Abdullah and I'm 20. I've never really followed the Man Booker Prize before, but I've been wanting to read books I don't usually pick, and those books seem amazing :D
I see that a lot of people are like me, which is kinda relieving :)

Thanks guys for the invite! Happy reading :D

Hello Everyone!

My name is Sara. Actually I've never followed The Man Booker Prize before. But I'm glad to join you here to know more about it and take a chance to read some, or all, the listed books.

Thank you guys for creating this group.

I've been aware of the list for a number of years because of my work (library), although it's only been the last couple of years that I've made more of an effort to read the list myself. I'm looking forward to discussing the books, I'd like to read all 13, it won't happen before the winner is announced but maybe by the end of the year.

Hey all! I'm Emily and have used the Man Booker winners as a guidepost for picking books for a while now. The Mantel's are definitely my recent favorites. I can't wait to start digging into the nominee list!

Hi everyone!

I'm Sabrina and am found on YouTube at the channel unmanagedmischief. I have never really followed the prize before, although I've known about it for years. This is the first year since I've been on BookTube that I have access to my home library, so I can get a lot of the titles very easily. I don't know why I'm so intrigued by it this year of all years, but I decided I might as well start now. I'm hoping to read as many of them as I can, and I was all the more intrigued when I saw that A Little Life was on the list.

Hello, I'm Ameriie.

I have a youtube channel (Books Beauty Ameriie). I have wide reading tastes: adult, non-fiction (science mostly), upper-YA and some middle grade (mostly childhood favorites for nostalgic reasons). I've followed the Man Booker long & shortlists for the last few years but I've never tried reading several as a goal. This year I might be most interested in A Little Life, though I read a bit of People in the Trees and it wasn't able to keep my attention. Max absolutely loves A Little Life, however, so I'm willing to give it a go.

I think joining this group and being able to discuss with you all will add more enjoyment to reading the Man Booker novels. ^_^

Hey there, peeps!
I think I know about the existence of Booker for many years (more than 10 if I remember corectly, because I've first heard about it in school), but I've never really followed it or read the works of nominees.
My interest picked up when I started watching booktube videos and especially Barry (our well-known and loved troublemaker =D bazpierce). I still wasn't that escited about the award, but at least I've read about short'n'longlisters and about previous winners.
This year, however, I've decided to take part and try and read as many of the nominees as I can.
Also I hope to read all of the winners since 2000 in near future and then move to pre2000.=)

Recent update: I've already DNFed 3/13, because I just wasn't feeling 'em and didn't want to waste my time.
Currently reading: The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma and FINALLY I like the read. I've only started, but it's really good so far. *fingers-crossed*

Thank you so much for creating this group! I hope to have a lot of chats here with you guys.

Hello. I'm Justine. I've read quite a lot of Booker Prize winners in the past but last year was the first time I followed the whole process and tried to read the longlist/shortlist before the winner was picked.

I didn't manage to read them all last year - real life got in the way. But this year I hope to read more.

I'd already read A Spool of Blue Thread before the longlist was announced and I'm now working my way through the rest.

Looking forward to the challenge, chats and trying to guess the winner

Hello! I'm Bethany, 24. I'm very active in posting what I read and anything bookish on Instagram as @behcunanan.

So happy that Max and Jenny came up with this group! Finally, a Man Booker Prize readalong group. I always notice "Man Booker" when they are mentioned on the blurb in front of the book covers but I never really understand what it's about until last year. I realized all the books that I enjoy so much lean towards literary fiction. Especially when YA becomes too redundant and childish to me sometimes. Little did I know, some or most of them are nominees for this award. That's how I came to realize that if I read a Man Booker, chances are, I'm gonna love it.

The first Man Booker Prize that I read was Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro many years ago and I remember I really loved it. Also read A Tale for The Time Being by Ruth Ozeki and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagiraha. All of them I truly adored.

Right now, I'm reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. Next on my list will be The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel and The Narrow Road to The Deep North by Richard Flanagan!

Happy reading guys

Hello All! I am Kris and have been aware of the Man Booker prize for quite a while but have only recently started reading the long list. I'm excited to have people to discuss the books with as most of my friends are not big readers.

I have A Little Life and The Fisherman out from the library. I'd like to get to The Fisherman next but need to finish off Gilead first. Not sure if I will get to Lila as soon as I would like but will see how my reading flows.

Hello! I am Shari, and this is the seventh year that I have tried to read all the long-list before the shortlist is posted. I am just starting my sixth book, and feel that I will succeed! (A long-term personal goal.)

When the list was announced, I had recently finished The Green Road, which I liked better than The Gathering.

I then read Lila, which intrigued me and made me want to re-read GIlead #1 and #2.

A Spool of Blue Thread had some interesting characters; however, it didn't really cohere for me.

A Little Life both fascinated and repelled me.

This morning I finished Illuminations, which I loved (although it may be that I was able to read it straight through without interruptions) and I am just starting The Fishermen.

Past years, I have been irritated that all the books weren't available to US readers or even general readers (I can't get one either in England or the US until September 8.)

That said, this year, I think I can actually finish them all, and I am very excited about participating in discussion (although I wish they were in real time and face to face.... ah well.... I live in Maine, so not likely!)

Hello!

I'm Clara. I've been aware of the Man Booker prize for a very long time, but I've never followed it closely until this year. Out of the past winners, I've only read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and Life of Pi, both of which I loved!

I doubt I'll read all the nominees (My To Read list is already fair bursting with books), but I think I'm most interested in The Chimes, Satin Island and The Moor's Account.

Thanks for making this group! Happy reading, people!

Hi, I'm Katrina, I've been following the prize for several years now, some years I've tried to read all of the short list but I've never quite managed it. I loved last year's winner, but have disagreed with other choices.
Ive downloaded tgose books on the long list which I'm interested in as some don't appeal.

Hi I'm Robert - great to find this group. I've been reading the shortlist for the Booker for several years, but want to start tackling the longlist now - it'll be great to be able to discuss the books with others!

Hi. I have been reading as much of the long list as I can each year for several years now. Last year I read all but one, but that was because I really had no interest in Us. This year, I plan to read the full set. At the time of writing, I have read 4.5 of them. I look forward to seeing what other people make of these books. The list itself was a bit of a surprise with many I thought might make it not appearing.

Hi there and thanx to Maxwell & Jenny for starting the group...my name is Doug and I seem to be one of the oldest here at 61. Although I determined I'd read about 25 previous nominees before then, I really only started following the Booker in earnest 2 years ago when I read the entire Shortlist - having been impelled to do so to see if anything could beat The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, which surprisingly turned out NOT to be my favorite that year (I liked Harvest more). Each of the six books were so compelling, that last year I determined to read all 13 of the Longlist; I didn't make it prior to the announcement of the winner, but eventually made it through them all. Although last year's winner was towards the bottom of my rankings (my pick would have been History of the Rain), I still thought each of the nominees again well worth reading - and since my top four hadn't made it onto the Shortlest, determined to get through the Longlist again this year. I'd already read A Little Life prior to the announcement, and have since read The Illuminations and am almost finished with The Moor''s Account.. I have 4 more out from the library, and ordered three not readily available through Book Depository. I post my reviews on my home page, but will add them here on each book's thread. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's opinions...and happy reading!

Hi! I found this group from Max's YouTube channel and I'm looking forward to discussing this year's nominees with everyone!

I'm 28 and I have a blog () which is a bit of a work in progress as my little one has decided she doesn't want to sleep anymore so I don't get much time to sit and write posts!

This is the first year I'll be attempting to read my way through the Longlist but I do always like to see what's on there and who wins.

I'm starting off with The Illuminations and then I have A Brief History of Seven Killings, A Little Life and Lila although I'm not sure if I need to read the first two Gilead books before I can get to that one?

I have reserved as many of the others as my library carries but they don't have them all so I need to locate the rest elsewhere.

Hi! I'm Chuck, and I'm excited to find this group.I KNEW there had to be some other Man Booker geeks out there! Just about to finish up A Brief History of Seven Killings. It's been very, very good, but it's pretty tough. Definitely one that makes the reader work, but it's been so worth it.

Look forward to talking to you all about the books!

Chuck wrote: "Hi! I'm Chuck, and I'm excited to find this group.I KNEW there had to be some other Man Booker geeks out there! Just about to finish up A Brief History of Seven Killings. It's been ..."

Welcome Chuck! Glad you could join us!

Hi there - My name is Rob and I'm a big Booker fan. Usually I read the shortlist but this year I'm attempting the longlist. So far I've read 8 out of the 13 books and I haven't been disappointed. My favourite at the moment is Bill Clegg's did you ever have a family

I am so enjoying this company this summer... thank you for creating this!

Shari wrote: "I am so enjoying this company this summer... thank you for creating this!"

Me, too. It has been great "meeting" some new people and hearing everyone's thoughts on a varied selection of books.

Ditto what Neil & Shari have expressed...it was rather lonely the last two years reading the Bookers on my own and not being able to share the enthusiasm for them!

Doug wrote: "Ditto what Neil & Shari have expressed...it was rather lonely the last two years reading the Bookers on my own and not being able to share the enthusiasm for them!"

Shari wrote: "I am so enjoying this company this summer... thank you for creating this!"

So glad to have you all on board! I love finding people with shared enthusiasm and excitement over the Man Booker!

Doug wrote: "Ditto what Neil & Shari have expressed...it was rather lonely the last two years reading the Bookers on my own and not being able to share the enthusiasm for them!"

I'm glad to have you in the group!

Hello Everyone! I was so glad to see this group.

I started becoming interested in Man Booker after loving Hilary Mantel's books and The Luminaries. Last year I read 8 of the long list and this year I am attempting to read more. So far I have read 7 and The Fisherman is my favorite so far. I almost did not read Did You Ever Have a Family, because it sounded sooo sad, but I ended up really liking that book too. I love how some of these books would never cross my path if it were not for Man Booker! Exciting!

Hi Jill - that is exactly why I read the Booker books. This year, I have read 12 books I probably would not have looked at otherwise and at least 6 or 7 of them have been ones I am really glad to have read.

Jill & Neil- I was just talking to a friend today about literary prizes and how I appreciate, especially with the Man Booker, how they introduce me to so many books I might never have read! It's such a great thing to be able to talk about and share with others as well. Glad you're both here!

Happy to join in! A bit late for short list-predictions but still in time for discussing the short list and predicting a winner.

Britta Böhler

Hi, my name is Sibyl. I'm 49 and a librarian. I really only started seriously following Man Booker stuff last year. This year I've gotten more into book-related podcasts and so I've just been thinking about it more. My favorite Man Booker winners of all time are probably Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies but I also really loved The Narrow Road to the Deep North, True History of the Kelly Gang, The Blind Assassin, and The English Patient.

Welcome Sibyl and Britta!
This group has been and hopefully will continue to be quite a bit of fun!

My name is Malvina and I enjoy reading literary award long lists and short lists. I've read 4/6 of the Man Booker short list so far and am rooting for Marlon James to take the prize. I think A Little Life was my favourite from the list but A Brief History was the most impressive literary achievement. Go Marlon James!
For anyone that is interested, National Book Award dropped their fiction long list on Thursday and it's worth checking out. Bill Clegg's book made it as did A Little Life.



I am very excited about the new Man Booker International Prize. It will overlap time wise with National Book Critics Circle award so it looks like my early spring TBR is set!

Hi all! I'm Melanie and have been reading the Booker nominees and winners for awhile now. Every year I have great aspirations of reading the longlist, but never get close. :)

I think my favorites have been The Blind Assassin and The English Patient.

Looking forward to reading and discussing with everyone!

Hello. My name is Anne and I'm new to the concept of the Manbooker prize award, but very interested and even enthusiastic about it though. I'm working towards being more active in group activities and hope to get along with everyone.
I hope I'm not too late.

P.S. I apologize in advance if I seem ignorant about certain things relating to the Manbooker in future, and would appreciate if I'm helped along as well.

Welcome Anne! We are all learning and we even have a discussion thread just for questions, so you can see that questions are more than welcome.

Melanie wrote: "Hi all! I'm Melanie and have been reading the Booker nominees and winners for awhile now. Every year I have great aspirations of reading the longlist, but never get close. :)

I think my favorites ..."

I'm there with you - one year I AM going to finish all of the books before the winner is announced!

Neil wrote: "Welcome Anne! We are all learning and we even have a discussion thread just for questions, so you can see that questions are more than welcome."

Thank you! I'll be sure to follow those.

Hi everyone! I'm Diana and I can't say that I've read many Man Booker winners or nominees but I have lots of them on my list and plan to get to them soon I hope :) University keeps me awfully busy and unfortunately I couldn't read this year's nominees but I've been following this group for a while and I'm dying to read this A little life and A history of seven killings!
I've really become interested in the Man booker only this year after reading Midnight's Children, the 'booker of bookers'.
I'm liking this group very much thanks to Max and Jenny for creating it! :)

Hello everyone! My name is Lisa and (rather predictably) I love reading. I first became interested in the Booker in 2012 when I saw a short series on BBC2 where various critics were discussing the Booker shortlist. At the time I happened to be reading Wolf Hall so I wanted to see what the critics had to say about Bring Up the Bodies (which I am reading now) and how they could compare such different books on the shortlist to come up with a winner.

Before that I had inadvertently read a number of Booker winners (Oscar and Lucinda; The God of Small Things; On Beauty; and possibly my all-time favourite The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst). I then started to seek out Booker winners and nominees and have really enjoyed the variety that it has added to my reading - e.g. Midnight's Children which I might not otherwise have attempted but which was well worth the effort.

I have a long list of Bookers on my to-read list (yes I have a sad spreadsheet) - The Luminaries and The Blind Assassin are two fatties waiting for my diary to allow them the attention they deserve. I also have about half of the 2012 shortlist left to read including Umbrella by Will Self which I am going to give a fair crack even though stream of consciousness is not really my thing. Perhaps Mr Self can change my mind!

Thank you for setting up this group and I look forward to joining in with some group reading!

Hi all!

My name's Drew, I'm an attorney from the Seattle area, and I love books. I've followed most of the major literary awards for several years and have always enjoyed the Man Booker shortlisters, longlisters, and winners.

I'm finally getting my account here current and doing a better job of keeping track of what I read and what I want to read (hopefully more organized than the various lists I have spread across my life on papers and on my phone). Looking forward to it!

I know what you mean Drew - I have a sad spreadsheet for all the books I have read and another even sadder (colour-coded) spreadsheet for books that I want to read, and then if someone recommends a book to me I put it in a note on my phone. It took a while to update everything onto Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ but now it is done it feels good to have them all in one place!

Hi all, I was recommended this group by a fellow reader, because I boasted about my Man Booker shelve, and my goal to read all the winner-books, along with all my other challenges of course. I´m from Denmark and have just recently started reading seriously a few years ago, I´m going to be 50 next year, so it´s about time too. Hope to read a lot with you, and get new friends.