Last year was the 50th anniversary of the Man Booker Prize and the committee hosted #ManBooker50 which was a challenge to read all previous winners. I tried and failed to read all the books in the calendar year so this year, I thought I would try again, but this time, I am reading all the previous winners in the order of publication. By the end of 2018, I anticipate there will be 54 novels to read, including the 2019 winner.
I am also trying to build a collection of all the prize-winning books. Right now, I own a few but several of the ones I read last year, I sourced from the library. There are others that aren’t even in the extensive NYPL collection because they have been out of print for a while. However, most of the books were reprinted last year for the anniversary celebration so it seems like a good time to get my own copies.
If you’d like to buy me a gift, I set up a wish-list on Amazon which you can access by clicking here
Below is the list of winners and my timeline for reading them. I will keep this post updated as I acquire and read them. A red highlight means I have read it in 2019/20 and * means I own a copy
| 1 | 1/7/19 | 1969 Something To Answer For /P. H. Newly * |
| 2 | 1/14/19 | 1970 The Elected Member /Bernice Rubens * |
| 3 | 1/21/19 | 1970 Troubles /J. G. Farrell – Lost Man Booker Prize awarded in 2010 * |
| 4 | 1/28/19 | 1971 In A Free State /V.S. Naipaul * |
| 5 | 2/4/19 | 1972 G. /John Berger |
| 6 | 2/11/19 | 1973 The Siege of Krishnapur /J. G. Farrell * |
| 7 | 2/18/19 | 1974 The Conservationist /Nadine Gordimer |
| 8 | 2/25/19 | 1974 Holiday /Stanley Middleton * |
| 9 | 3/4/19 | 1975 Heat And Dust /Ruth Prawer Jhabvala * |
| 10 | 3/11/19 | 1976 Saville /David Storey * |
| 11 | 3/18/19 | 1977 Staying On /Paul Scott |
| 12 | 3/25/19 | 1978 The Sea, The Sea /Iris Murdoch * |
| 13 | 4/1/19 | 1979 Offshore /Penelope Fitzgerald |
| 14 | 4/8/19 | 1980 Rites of Passage /William Golding |
| 15 | 4/15/19 | 1981 Midnight’s Children /Salman Rushdie* |
| 16 | 4/22/19 | 1982 Schindler’s Ark /Thomas Keneally * |
| 17 | 4/29/19 | 1983 Life and Times of Michael K /J. M. Coetzee |
| 18 | 5/6/19 | 1984 Hotel du Lac /Anita Brookner* |
| 19 | 5/13/19 | 1985 The Bone People /Keri Hulme* |
| 20 | 5/20/19 | 1986 The Old Devils /Kingsley Amis |
| 21 | 5/27/19 | 1987 Moon Tiger /Penelope Lively * |
| 22 | 5/30/19 | 1988 Oscar and Lucinda /Peter Carey * |
| 23 | 6/7/19 | 1989 The Remains of the Day /Kazuo Ishiguro * |
| 24 | 6/14/19 | 1990 Possession: A Romance /A. S. Byatt |
| 25 | 6/20/19 | 1991 The Famished Road /Ben Okri |
| 26 | 6/27/19 | 1992 The English Patient /Michael Ondaatje * |
| 27 | 7/3/19 | 1992 Sacred Hunger /Barry Unsworth |
| 28 | 7/10/19 | 1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha /Roddy Doyle* |
| 29 | 7/17/19 | 1994 How Late It was, How Late /James Kelman |
| 30 | 7/24/19 | 1995 Ghost Road /Pat Barker |
| 31 | 7/30/19 | 1996 Last Orders /Graham Swift * |
| 32 | 8/7/19 | 1997 The God of Small Things /Arundhati Roy * |
| 33 | 8/11/19 | 1998 Amsterdam /Ian McEwan |
| 34 | 8/18/19 | 1999 Disgrace /J. M. Coetzee |
| 35 | 8/25/19 | 2000 The Blind Assassin /Margaret Atwood |
| 36 | 9/1/19 | 2001 True History of the Kelly Gang /Peter Carey * |
| 37 | 9/8/19 | 2002 Life of Pi /Yann Martel* |
| 38 | 9/15/19 | 2003 Vernon God Little /DBC Pierre * |
| 39 | 9/22/19 | 2004 The Line of Beauty /Alan Hollinghurst * |
| 40 | 9/29/19 | 2005 The Sea /John Banville |
| 41 | 10/6/19 | 2006 The Inheritance of Loss /Kiran Desai * |
| 42 | 10/13/19 | 2007 The Gathering /Anne Enright |
| 43 | 10/20/19 | 2008 The White Tiger /Aravind Adiga * |
| 44 | 10/27/19 | 2009 Wolf Hall /Hilary Mantel * |
| 45 | 11/3/19 | 2010 The Finkler Question /Howard Jacobson * |
| 46 | 11/10/19 | 2011 The Sense of An Ending /Julian Barnes |
| 47 | 11/17/19 | 2012 Bring Up The Bodies /Hilary Mantel * |
| 48 | 11/24/19 | 2013 The Luminaries /Eleanor Catton * |
| 49 | 12/1/19 | 2014 The Narrow Road To A Deep North /Richard Flanagan * |
| 50 | 12/8/19 | 2015 A Brief History of Seven Killings /Marlon James * |
| 51 | 12/15/19 | 2016 The Sellout / Paul Beatty |
| 52 | 12/22/19 | 2017 Lincoln In The Bardo /George Saunders * |
| 53 | 12/29/19 | 2018 Milkman /Anna Burns * |
| 54 | 12/31/19 | 2019 TBA |
What about you? Please tell me what reading challenges you’re working on this year.
Watch my announcement video here:
You can do it!
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