My Favourite Booker Winners- 1969-2023!

Hello, I'm Bob, and as part of my Booker project, I have chosen my top 12 Booker winners! There were so many books I almost included, but I had to draw a line somewhere, so here are the 12!

Books Mentioned:

00:00 Introduction
02:07 1978 Iris Murdoch- The Sea, The Sea
03:54 1987 Penelope Lively- Moon Tiger
05:46 1989 Kazuo Ishiguro- Remains of the Day
07:49 1991 Ben Okri- The Famished Road
10:17 1999 J.M. Coetzee- Disgrace
13:02 2002 Yann Martel- Life of Pi
16:07 2004 Alan Hollinghurst- The Line of Beauty
18:14 2007 Anne Enright- The Gathering
20:45 2011 Julian Barnes- The Sense of an Ending
22:45 2012 Hilary Mantel- Bring Up The Bodies
24:36 2017 George Saunders- Lincoln in the Bardo
27:07 2018 Anna Burns- Milkman
29:58 Round-Up and Honorable Mentions

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[BookishTexan]

The end of Life of Pie is genius. Wonderful list. Not only because it contains books that I love and respect, but because it gives me a new list of books that I want to read

[solenncful]

Loved this list Bob and I keep meaning to read Moon Tiger. My favourites from your list are The Remains of the Day, probably one of my all time favourite books and Milkman which is just incredible.

[terileekline]

We have very similar sensibilities. I did not disagree with any of your choices or honorable mentions. This is astounding to me! Cheers! Thank you for all you contribute to BookTube 😊

[ht]

I'm the lone Rushdie nut then lol. A list like this without Midnight's Children on it, yeah. Also loved Disgrace and Life of Pi from your selections. I'll throw in another favorite of mine, The White Tiger, which is one of the quirkiest Booker winners I've ever read. I've stayed away from Iris Murdoch mainly b/c of the perception that her writing is so difficult and philosophical. Not sure if that's for me. I really tried with Wolf Hall, but it wasn't the right time. You've put Ben Okri on my radar and made an outstanding case for him, so thank you for that, BOB! 🤓

[curioushmm]

i'm so glad you mentioned the humor in 'milkman' which so delighted me in the midst of the drama.

[SupposedlyFun]

Fantastic video! I enjoyed hearing about the many Booker books I have not read yet. I'm a big fan of the Booker books I have read on your list--especially The Remains of the Day. Disgrace felt like a sucker punch when I read it a long time ago, but I've been feeling like I should reread it lately because I've had a couple of people comment on it not aging well. And I agree that the ending of Life of Pi is fantastic--I was so glad I read it not long after it was published in the United States so no one had a chance to spoil it for me. And I'm always glad to find someone else who agrees that Bring Up the Bodies is better than Wolf Hall (I do think there's a benefit to all the work that goes into reading Wolf Hall, but mostly because it sets the stage for such a delicious and profound sequel).

PS Yes, the audio of Lincoln in the Bardo is incredible.

[jenniferlovesbooks]

Adding all the ones I haven't read to my tbr! The Remains of the Day is one of my favourite books ever. Disgrace was a five star read. I wasn't interested in Life of Pi but when I've heard you talk about it before I actually looked up the ending and it really makes me want to read. (I'm behind on book tube viewing hence the super late comment!)

[wavaleebranch]

Every one of your posts are simply fantastic!

[KierTheScrivener]

I love hearing all your favourites.

My friend's father went to university with Yann Martel and loves to rant about how he asked dumb questions in class and how he's mad he won a Booker. I just find it really funny and try to mention him whenever possible. But I haven't read Life of Pi yet.

[AmalijaKomar]

Life of Pi is phenomenal. And the movie also. Love stories about most kind of cats. They for some reason entertaining to me. Very inspiring video. But also love Amsterdam. Some years ago Booker became my favorite award.

[SelinaAllinson]

Ah fantastic video Bob! I agree with many of your selections particularly The Remains of the Day, Milkman, The Sea, The Sea. I'm very keen to read more of your choices. The Line of Beauty and Moon Tiger are high on my TBR. Thank you for sharing ❤ I didn't love The Gathering or The Promise as much. Others I've read that stood out were The God of Small Things, Hotel Du Lac, The White Tiger, The Blind Assassin and Possession! I'm looking forward to trying to read more of the winners in the future. Thanks again!

[neens]

Looking forward for your shortlisted favorites. I love this list

[marenpergamino]

Oh, I really enjoy this video😃. My favourite book of this list is the sense of an ending. I agree, it's brilliant! You should make a part 2❤ (sorry for my pour writting. I'm from Argentina and i struggle with english😬)

[rebecca.reader]

Hi Bob. This was such a good video! I have, to my shame, only read 6 Booker winners. Those are Remains of the Day, Life of Pi, Girl, Womam, Other. The Testements, The Promise and Prophet Song. I thought they were all phenomenal! My favourite probably being Remains of the Day. I will definitely be reading more in the future.

[eyesonindie]

I'd love to see a full video of the books that almost made it to your top 12! Wonderful list - love it!

[drawyourbook]

The famished road is absolutely great! I cannot believe the life of pi is that old… 😊

[kimswhims]

Such brilliant books! The only one that was really not in my scope is The Famished Road, I really should try to get to it. The others I've either read or are still sitting on my TBR.
Life of PI, I put off reading for ages, thinking I wouldn't be able to suspend disbelief, but it's just so brilliant. It's a firm favourite of mine and I still think about how brilliant it is over a decade later. I only just got to Moon Tiger this year after sitting down with Oleander Jacaranda, a memoir of Penelope Lively's. She's revisited Egypt and writes about her childhood years there.
A great list, thanks for sharing Bob. I'm biased and love the Aussie winners too but that's just me 🙂
Some on the longlists are more my favourites than the winners too.

[janicedowson]

Thanks Bob! You've inspired me to want to revisit some of these brilliant books. Cheers!

[jf]

Really enjoyed this video, Bob! You have such thoughtful commentary about each of your choices. I have read Remains of the Day, The Gathering, The Sense of an Ending and Lincoln in the Bardo and thought them all excellent reads. I have The Famished Road sitting on my shelf and you’ve inspired me to add it to my TBR in January! Thank you and congrats for reading all the Booker winners- what an accomplishment! Love your Booker year shortlist roundups too!

[GregHarness]

Of the books on your list, "The Gathering" is my personal favorite. And "Shuggie Bain" ranks among my absolutely favorite books of all time, so it would have made my own list. Those two would definitely have been joined by "The Sense of an Ending, " "Lincoln in the Bardo, " and " Milkman." Thanks, Bob.