Booker Prize winners And now for something with serious literary cred. I aim to read as many of the Booker Prize long list each year as I can. From the last few years, my favourites included the following. Lincoln in the Bardot by George Saunders (Bloomsbury, 2017). I suspect this will remain in my top ten books of all time. I return to it in my mind often. It is about many things including Abraham Lincoln’s response to losing his young son Willie. Most of the novel takes place over the course of a single evening, as Lincoln grieves and Willie exists for a time in the bardot – the space between life and rebirth. Saunders won the Booker for this, his first full-length novel. Lanny by Max Porter (Faber and Faber, 2019). This is a beautiful, dark fable and a joyous celebration of childhood and family with an unconventional, almost poetic style. I would have awarded this the Booker for 2019, but the judges forgot to ask me. Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry (Canongate Books, 2019). Two men sit in a transit lounge, hoping to spot a lost daughter. This is a slow, powerful story that peels back and exposes the layered lives of two reprobates and the people they loved. Well, now there are 14 more books to add to your list if you’ve not met them before. But given my warning about the likely 3,000 book life limit, my advice is to hurry to your favourite (preferably indie) bookstore now.
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