Wolf Hall

I will hold up my hands and admit that I had preconceptions about Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. The Tudor period of history was not one that I had much prior knowledge of, excluding the names involved, nor one that interested me; truth be told, I expected it to be as turgid a reading experience [...]

The Quickening Maze

Of the 2009 Man Booker contenders, The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds was the book that I anticipated the most and I left reading it until last. The blending of fact with fiction and the literary appropriation of history excited me; although historical novels were a recurring feature on this year’s Booker lists, The Quickening [...]

The Children's Book

I had preconceptions when I went into the challenge of reading The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. When I say challenge I am not solely referring to the challenge of reading the Man Booker 2009 longlist/shortlist but that The Children’s Book was a challenge in itself. I was daunted, not by its length as 615 [...]

The Glass Room

When the Man Booker longlist of 2009 was announced I didn’t know anything at all about The Glass Room by Simon Mawer and it didn’t appeal. In fact, I was deterred because the book’s cover reminded me of one of my University textbooks. The Booker enabled me to read a book that I would not [...]

How to Paint a Dead Man

This is my seventh review of the thirteen longlisted titles for this year’s Man Booker Prize. The shortlist is announced tomorrow and as I am only just over halfway through reviewing them (by design, intending to read them all by Awards night on October 6th) I am unable to make an informed decision as to [...]

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