Show Notes
đš An advance warning that this episode features spoilers for Atonement.
September is here, which means it's the start of another academic year. So get out your brand new stationery and settle down as we head back to school... no polyester uniforms or exams though, don't worry. This week, we're taking a look at Booker-nominated books that feature on school syllabuses in the UK and, particularly, we're diving into Ian McEwan's Atonement. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001, the novel explores how a young girlâs imagination runs riot with far-reaching and devastating consequences.
In this episode Jo and James discuss:
Their favourite Booker-nominated books that feature on school syllabuses
A brief history of Ian McEwan's writing career
The plot of Atonement
The characters and themes of the novel
How Joe Wright's film adaptation of Atonement compares to the books
The Booker Clinic: books to help quell homesickness
Reading list:
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Spies by Michael Frayn
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Waterland by Graham Swift
Love and Summer by William Trevor
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
Oxygen by Andrew Miller
number9dream by David Mitchell
Hotel World by Ali Smith
Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller
The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert
Black Dogs by Ian McEwan
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Further Resources:
Ian McEwan on BBC Radio 4's This Cultural Life
Ian McEwan on his novels as A-Level set texts via The Guardian
A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.
Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from The Booker Prize Podcast
Earlier this week, author Jenny Erpenbeck and translator Michael Hofmann were announced as the winners of the International Booker Prize 2024, for the novel, Kairos. Jenny and Michael join Jo and James to talk about whether their win has truly sunk in yet and what might be next, and administrator of the International Booker Prize, Fiammetta Rocco also joins to give some insight into how the prize works. It's our last episode of this season of The Booker Prize Podcast so make sure you don't miss this one â but all our previous episodes will continue to be available so you can listen whenever you want.
With under a week until the International Booker Prize 2024 ceremony, we're back with the second part of our deep dive into this year's six shortlist books. Listen in to hear what Jo and James think of the remaining three books on the list, common themes that run across the shortlisted reads and which book they want to see win the award.
We're three weeks away from the International Booker Prize 2024 award ceremony, so we thought it was high time to take a deep dive into this year's six shortlist books. In the first of two parts, we're exploring three of the books on this week's podcast episode. Listen in to hear what Jo and James make of them, common themes that run across the shortlisted reads and how the International Booker can expand one's world through literature.
Esi Edugyanâs thrilling novel follows the astonishing adventures of its titular character, Washington Black, whose escape from the brutal cane plantations of Barbados was only the beginning. Shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize and set to be released as a glitzy television adaptation starring Sterling K Brown and co-produced by Edugyan later this year, what better excuse to dive into the novel?
In 1984, many assumed that J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun had the Booker Prize in the bag. But actually, it was Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac that clinched the prize in the end. This week, we're exploring the bookies' favourite vs the Booker winner to ask which book should have won: Brookner's short, quiet novel set in a genteel Swiss hotel or Ballard's long and action-packed autobiographical epic set in wartime Shanghai.