Pages at the Ready...

THE HIT LIST

Karen Joy Fowler: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Joshua Ferris: To Rise Again at a Decent Hour 

Richard Flanagan: The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Siri Hustvedt: The Blazing World

Paul Kingsnorth: The Wake

Neel Mukherjee: The Lives of Others

Richard Powers: Orfeo

Niall Williams: History of the Rain 

31st July: Joseph O'Neill: The Dog

14th August: Howard Jacobson: J 

1st week in September: David Mitchell: The Bone Clocks 

4th September: Ali Smith: How to Be Both

30th September: David Nicholls: Us

There has been a great deal of press about how several books on the Man Booker Prize 2014 list have not yet been published.
Yes, this may seem a  slight snag in the attempt to read all books by the deadline, but this only means that we need to allow time to read them when they do come out, and there is nothing stopping us from getting cracking with the eight other books which are already gracing the shelves.

I am beginning with at the top of this list, starting with the modest read of "We Are Completely Beside Ourselves". For slender books, like this one, I'm aiming to finish it before the 9 day bracket which will give me more time to read those of a longer nature without feeling like I'm cramming before an exam. Each book should be given the grace and appreciation, and indulgent pleasure that go hand in hand with reading. This is purely for enjoyment.

Take the chart below and roll with it in whichever direction takes your fancy. Once finished with a book, make a comment and we can get swapping copies to save money, to save time running around bookshops and knocking down libraries and to meet, converse and cheers bookends with others.

Challenge Accepted!

I was emailed a link to the Man Booker Prize 2014 website, and from constantly having my nose in a book and following all things literary, I was, of course, intrigued to find out had made the list. I have always worked with books. Both job wise and pleasure wise. What an excellent form of escapism they are when our own worlds seem too much, or too mundane.

As an off-hand comment I shared the link on my Facebook with the words "13 books in 3 months; 1 book every 9 days" to see if I could convince any off my friends to read the list with me.

I love a challenge, I love setting a goal and aspiring to it.
Hitting a target.
This is an epic challenge, but a great one.
 A chance to actually give a valid and informed opinion should I have the question "and who do you want to win The Man Booker Prize 2014, Kat?" thrown at me.

One can only answer properly if all the books on the list have been read. This same thought came into action when there was that rather controversial debate over the Fifty Shades of Grey series. You couldn't really dismiss it, or indulge in it if you hadn't read the book. The nation got a little heated. In corresponding discussion, obviously, not because of  the Red Room....

As I was a true eager beaver, I was actually the first person to comment on the link and thus opened my Facebook, and the Man Booker Prize 2014 Quest to a plethora of like mind book folk across the globe.

Instead of shying away, I'm embracing this. The quest will begin here. this will be a hub of reviews, where to find the books, which books to start with, exclusive author interviews and features, reading events and social antics aplenty.

So come with me, let's us enter tomorrow with the mighty reading list.
Let us walk the street clutching a book to our face.
Let us dog-ear pages as we're packed into tubes.
Let us sneak in a few paragraphs while waiting for the kettle to boil.
Let us gasp out loud at the turn of a page.
Let us underline sentences that are beautifully sequenced.
Let us collect and swap copies with those around us.
Let us smugly slam shut the heavier novels once finished.
Let us read, let us read let us read.

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/man-booker-prize-2014