The Booker Award

This has to be the scariest award I have ever received.  There is so much potential here to fall flat on my face.  Not that it’d be the first time, but I only have to look at the other recipients to tremble in my boots.  Madhu, whose work I revere, has nominated me, alongside The Wanderlust Gene and Jo Bryant.  How intimidating is that?  Or maybe I mean inspiring?

Reading the small print, “for those who refuse to live in the real world”- well,  I can certainly relate to that.  Such a cruel and heartless world it can be.  There’s every reason to escape into fantasy.  The nightly news horrifies me.  Why can we not live in peace and harmony?  Our minds are capable of so much that is amazing.  Why then are we so prone to destruction?  Naive I know, but I don’t understand it.

I couldn’t, hand on heart, describe my childhood as a happy one, and books were always my preferred means of escape.  The difficulty I find as I grow older is that my powers of recollection struggle.  Even books that make an enormous impression on me are hazy in the detail just a few weeks after reading.  So this award filled me with both joy and dread.

My solution?  Like Alice, I’m off to a fantasy world. I could so easily be the White Rabbit, scurrying along with never enough time.  I’m sure many of the nuances of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” were lost on me, but it is the ultimate in escapism.

Croquet on the village green

Oh my ears and whiskers, I’m late!

Growing up, I loved Kenneth Grahame’s “The Wind in the Willows”, of course, and Louisa Alcott’s “Little Women”. Graham Greene and Hemingway found me next.  Loving travel as I do, it’ll come as no surprise to find that I’m drawn to books with exotic backgrounds.  Thus it was that I found myself in Afghanistan with Khaled Hussein’s “The Kite Runner”.  I was swept along with Amir, on his quest for redemption, in a world of which I had no conception.  I guess that what I look for most in a book is an insight into, and hopefully a little understanding of, another world.  It’s not always a happy journey.  I found Dave Boling’s brilliant “Guernica” harrowing, no less so for its being based on real life events.  Escapism doesn’t always work out well.

Markus Zusak, however, held me enthralled with “The Book Thief”.  Making Death a narrator, sympathetic to humankind, was pure genius in my view. It seemed so appropriate in book burning, hatred filled Nazi Germany. The book is a real celebration of both the power of the written word, and the human spirit. I loved it.

“Some like it Hot”, iconic 50 years after her death- Monroe courtesy of Wikipedia

When I discovered Joyce Carol Oates I was stopped in my tracks by her formidable writing talent.  To me a great writer expresses things I would want to say, but don’t have the means.  Joyce Carol Oates has this in abundance.  I cannot conceive of writing a book such as “Blonde”, however drawn I am to the legend that was Marilyn Monroe.  Neither could I envisage penning “The Gravedigger’s Daughter”.

How am I doing?  I had to list my five favourite books for this award.  Not so easy, is it?  I’m going with the ones in bold, and that still leaves me one to choose.  I am an unashamed romantic, and “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”,  by Louis de Bernieres, gets my last vote.

Rugged Kefallonia

“What is left when the passion is gone” is how Pelagia’s father describes love.  It certainly has a lot to endure in the case of the Captain and his lady.  I saw the film before I ever read the book, and was quite happy to picture Nicolas Cage as my hero.  As always happens with a great book, it was better than the film, and truer to life.

If you followed the link to Madhu, you’ll be aware that I’m about to pass the Booker Award on to five more readers.

Just Add Attitude  As blog names go, this is a nice one, and I’ve enjoyed finding out about B’s love of London, Paris and Dublin (her native city).  Now to find out which books she likes?

Writing between the Lines Naomi is an inspiring writer and photographer whose warmth and affectionate nature shines through between those lines.

Colline’s Blog is “a potpourri of thoughts and experiences”, in her own words.  I’d like to hear more.

Travel with Kat  A true world traveller is Kat, with an interesting past and an absorbing present.  I hope she can find the time to accept this.

Read Me If you look at Patti’s blog it will immediately become obvious that she’s another Alice fan (and I don’t mean Cooper).  We both have two children with a huge gap between them.  I wonder what else we might have in common?

Thank you Madhu, for sharing this with me, though like your friend Rommel, I have my doubts.

51 comments

  1. You managed it with aplomb Jo 🙂 Congratulations!
    I actually considered Kite Runner for my list, absolutely adored it! And The Book Thief as well. Haven’t read Captain Corelli though, only seen the movie. Nor the Blonde. Should try and pick up a copy for the flight.

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    1. Thanks m’dear. It wasn’t too bad when I got going. I have a stack of posts to read and more and more people to “meet” in consequence. Oh this giddy social round! Fun though. Thanks for spending time with me today. Where are you off next?

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  3. What a lovely tribute to you – and your blogging pals! I can see you have traveled considerably. I have, too, considering I live “across the Atlantic”, but couldn’t do an A to Z on any country over there yet. Italy, almost. Travel is what I live for! 🙂 V

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    1. Thanks so much for reading and commenting. I sometimes wish I’d been born a little later when opportunities seem to abound, or is that just me wishing I was young again? Too much world and a reluctant husband!

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  7. I like exotic books too, especially reading about places I have been or want to visit. But Captain Corelli so didn’t do it for me. I like your pic of Kefalonia though, once Greek isle I never got to visit.

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    1. I only spent a day there, one year when we were on Zante, so can’t claim to be expert, but I liked what I saw.
      You must have enjoyed The Kite Runner or The Book Thief? Can’t please everybody…

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  9. Congrats Jo! I fell in love with writing through reading…I fear my urge to create has all but eliminated the time I spend immersed in other’s people pages…need to re-examine that!

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      1. Right in the middle of my reading moment post and my awards acceptance page! Super busy with work right now so time limited – only had 3 days off this month and working evenings – a mountain of ironing to do too. Help 😦

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  15. Thank you for your nomination 🙂
    Your post was an enjoyable read: well written and a suggestive introduction to some books I have not read. Alice’s story and the one surrounding toad were childhood favourites of mine.”The Kite Runner” was so sad but a beautifully written story.
    Now to get choosing for my post. Only five. Yikes! Hope I don’t go crazy and see you down the rabbit hole 🙂

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  16. Congratulations! You did a great job on this post! A few days ago I mentioned Corelli’s Mandolin as well – I said that If I could change an ending to a movie, I would change that one where she hurls the skillet at him at the end! I was so disappointed that the movie changed the ending!

    Great post, amiga!
    Z

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    1. Many thanks, Lisa. I didn’t see that- am I not following you? I’ll go check right away (before I forget!) I don’t always get to my Reader. I saw the movie ages ago, before I read the book, so I loved the real ending.

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  17. Congratulations, Jo! I’m putting your book recommendations on my GoodReads list! I adored Captain Corelli’s Mandolin! A great choice! 🙂 I haven’t yet seen the movie, but I have it uploaded and will watch it soon. I’m afraid it might be a great disappointment, because I love the feeling the book left me with…

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