2013 Booker Longlisted: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Rating 5
The Luminaries
A Novel by Eleanor Catton

2013 /756 pages (ebook)
Synopsis from Goodreads


Reading the synopses of each of the 2013 Booker Long Listed novels made it very difficult to choose which book to read first.  At first glance each book appeared to have a very good opportunity to not only make it to the short list but also win out right.  Slowly picking through the list using various means of choice including random number generator I finally picked up The Luminaries.  I am very glad I did.

2013 Booker Longlisted: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Rating 4.5
A Tale for the Time Being
A Novel by Ruth Ozeki
Narrated by Ruth Ozeki
2013 /Audio 14 hrs and 45 min

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki is a very intricate and layered story.  I listened to the audio version read by the author.

At first glance this is a coming of age story as told through a diary of a 16 year old Japanese girl, Nao (pronounced Now).  The diary is being read by a middle aged female writer from Canada, Ruth, after she found the diary washed up on the shore presumably from the Tsunami several years earlier.

2013 Booker Longlisted: Harvest by Jim Crace

Rating: 3
Harvest
A Novel by Jim Crace
2013 / 224 pages

Jim Crace’s Harvest has the best odds of winning the 2013 Man Booker according to The Daily Beast, the online home of Newsweek Magazine.  Thus, I chose Harvest as my third long listed book to read.  The book is a first person narrative from the point of view of the widower and former man servant, Walter Thrask.  Walter is a villager who tells the story of all things that have gone wrong in his village the week after the year’s harvest.  The time and location of the book are unknown, but I figure it takes place in the English countryside sometime in the 1800s.  The writing itself is in a nice descriptive tone.  The plot is intriguing.  The way Crace brings it all together will bore you to tears!  Make sure you have a bottle of 5 hour energy handy for this snooze fest.

2013 Long Listed: TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Rating: 3
TransAtlantic
A Novel by Colum McCann
Audiobook Narrated by Geraldine Hughes
2013 / 10 hours 46 minutes
Goodreads Synopsis

If I had to describe Colum McCann's TransAtlantic in one word, I would call it melancholy.  If I was not involved in the Man Booker shadow project, BookerMarks, I would leave my review at melancholy, lament over the fact that the book just did not speak to me as his award winning Let the Great World Spin did and pick up another book to read.  Alas, I am participating in BookerMarks so a review I must do!