Show Notes
Following the Booker Prize 2023 shortlist announcement, Jo and James share a hot off the press reaction to this year's six finalists before heading onto the topic at hand: which year saw the best ever Booker Prize shortlist? To help Jo and James along the way, they're joined by Bob Jackson – a man who has read every single book ever shortlisted for the award. That's over 300 books, spanning from the Booker's inception in 1969 up to the present day. So, listen in and find out which shortlist gets crowned as the best one ever.
In this episode Jo and James:
Ask Bob to reveal his favourite (and least favourite) books from the Booker archive
Hear how Bob approached his quest to reading every Booker-shortlisted book
Discuss their contenders for which year's shortlist is best
Argue it out until just one shortlist is crowned the winner
Reading list:
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
How late it was, how late by James Kelman
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
Last Letters from Hav by Jan Morris
The Good Apprentice by Iris Murdoch
The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J.L. Carr
Illywhacker by Peter Carey
A Disaffection by James Kelman
Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
Restoration by Rose Tremain
The Book of Evidence by John Banville
Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
Small World by David Lodge
Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
In Custody by Anita Desai
According to Mark by Penelope Lively
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
The Keepers of Truth by Michael Collins
When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
The Deposition of Father McGreevy by Brian O'Doherty
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
All That Man Is by David Szalay
His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
The Sellout by Paul Beatty
The Sea by John Banville
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
The Accidental by Ali Smith
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