Who

Some years ago I read a review of a hotel in Turkey where the entry said : “If you like the kind of place where people go for a week to read the Booker short-list…” and I thought that was a good idea. And for a few years I tried it, somewhat up against the deadlines and sometimes had to read on with hindsight.

I got frustrated in the sense that not only did I not agree with the judging but often I found it crazily skewed and misguided like the judges having been forced to read so much had lost their direction. They lost their compass. Or were over awed. Or whatever. That’s down to them and writing prizes often say more about the judges than the supposedly judged.

I am not out to diss the Booker or any other writing prize but just to pick up the gems – as I see it –  they miss or anyone else might have missed.

I don’t read a lot really, although perhaps more than most, usually depending on how much I travel because I tend to like to read on trains and planes. So this blog can only progress as slowly as that…