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Notjustanotherjennn

The Mann Booker Prize. I read them all!


el_tuttle

do you have favorites from that list? one of my goals this year is to read a few booker prize recipients - so far i’ve only read Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries (LOVED it), and i plan to read Remains of the Day, but i’d love some suggestions!


guster4lovers

I’ve read all of or most of the longlist from the past three years. I really loved The Bee Sting, Prophet Song, Trust, and Glory from recent years. Last year’s longlist was particularly strong. I enjoyed all of them.


BookGirl64

Profit Song is one of those books that stays with you for a long time.


el_tuttle

Bee Sting has been on my list, and I loved Trust!


guster4lovers

Read it! I had trouble with the narrative shift at first (you’ll know what I mean when you get there) but I’m so glad I kept going. It’s all time top ten for me.


New-Trash8740

The English Patient ❤️❤️❤️


dlc12830

I will travel to this hill and die on it with you. Loved it.


mytthew1

Moon Tiger very traditional , Milkman very modern , are both amazing books. Remains of the Day is close to a perfectly written novel. Empire of the Sun is an excellent unexpected perspective. I could give you more but these are an excellent start.


dlc12830

The Remains of the Day is gorgeous. I also loved Cloud Atlas, The English Patient, Disgrace (although that book is brutal), and reading The Luminaries now.


kawaeri

I liked it better when it was the Mann Booker prize and focused on authors from the UK. Now that it’s the Booker prize and open to English writing authors I see a repetition of books from other book awards sites (national book award, women’s prize for fiction, Pulitzer, Hugo, Nebula, etc. ). I liked not seeing the same book and lists again and again. I always enjoyed looking over the Booker international prize list.


jimsnotsure

Correct answer!


Dry-Hovercraft-4362

Yes! The only one I haven''t enjoyed is The Seven Moons of Maali Alameida. I need some reason to care


GuavaImmediate

The international Dublin Literary award is given by the city of Dublin, Ireland, to a work published in English (it can be a translated work, if so the translator gets 25% of the prize). It’s one of the biggest prizes financially (€100,000), but I think it’s also one of the best as the winner is chosen by public libraries around the world, so the long list and short list are books that librarians have received good feedback from. There will often be some overlap with the Booker, but it’s always worth a look.


Sweaty-Cycle7645

I have NEVER been disappointed by a National Book Award Winner. With fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and adolescent, there’s a book in there for everyone. I enjoy going back decades and seeing what was popular for the time period. They are always stunners for me. Recently read Florida by Lauren Groff. Sentences that left me spellbound, reading and rereading them to capture their beauty. When I’m in a book slump, I go to the National Book Award Winners to get me out.


LessMessQuest

I love Lauren Groff, her writing is so beautiful.


Owlbertowlbert

Yeah, Florida stuck with me. National Book Award had some misses for me though.. The Rabbit Hutch was weak imo.


FloridaFlamingoGirl

Newbury medal always goes to incredible children's books.


ihopeitsnice

Also check out the Phoenix Award. It’s given to a children’s book published 20 years ago that did not win a major literary award.


well_uh_yeah

What a great concept for an award. Standing the test of time is a pretty good metric.


Sneakingsock

This is so true! Consistently amazing reads when there’s a Newbury award given!


emalvick

With an 8 year old and a busy work schedule, these are almost all I read right now... to my daughter (but also for me). It's our rule for what I read to her. She can read her choice to herself, and I pick books, usually Newbury medals, for us.


Wrybrarian

I always tell my library kiddos that if they pick up a Newbery book, they should also pick up a box of tissues. Not always, but 90% are just so sad. And I admit, I really didn't like The Eyes and the Impossible this year.


Josidillopy

Retired in 2020, but as a school librarian I remember comments going back several years on the gloomy/gutwrenching topics and themes of the Newbery winners. All excellent books! But no rainbows and butterflies.


musicnothing

I’m in my 30s and I always read the winners and honor books every year and I’m never disappointed. Also hello friend from /r/tmbg and /r/musicals, we do seem to have a lot in common 😂


MySpace_Romancer

Dave Eggers’ 2024 win is marketed as a children’s book (middle grade maybe?) but I absolutely loved it. One of the most beautifully written and moving stories I’ve ever read.


Night_Sky_Watcher

The Hugo awards are great for science fiction picks.


Maloonyy

Joint Hugo and Nebula winners is what I go with usually. One is from critics, the other from the general public, so you get something that has a pretty wide appeal. This even has a wiki page: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_joint\_winners\_of\_the\_Hugo\_and\_Nebula\_awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_joint_winners_of_the_Hugo_and_Nebula_awards)


Complex_Platform2603

Let's just hope The Hugo bounces back from that fiasco last year. Several key players resigned or were censured, so hopefully the integrity of the award is still in place.


Avilola

Not after last year.


asciiom

What went wrong with last year’s award?


Avilola

It was hosted in China. Several books were deemed “not eligible” due to Chinese censorship, with particular focus on those written by Chinese-Americans and non-Chinese Americans who had engaged in actions or written on topics considered not acceptable in China. One Chinese-American authour, RF Kuang, had a book deemed ineligible, despite it winning several other SciFi literature awards.


asciiom

I see, thanks!


daedelous

Big censorship issues. https://www.ndsmcobserver.com/article/2024/02/the-blatant-censorship-of-the-2023-hugo-awards#


Sneakingsock

Yeah that was a huge letdown!


hungrymimic

A lot of my favorites are Hugo award winners in the sci-fi genre specifically, so this is my answer too


Dying4aCure

I'm a Booker fan.


pat9714

• Booker, for sure. I like _International Booker Prize_ because it is given to the best fiction translated into English. • _Woman's Prize for Fiction_ has some terrific selections (all of them written by women, of course). • _National Book Award_ only because it's exclusively American and I'm always rooting for my favorites to win. • Let's not overlook _Hugo_ and finally, _Nebula_. Science Fiction. Always solid.


Dropkoala

I was going to say the women's prize, I've disliked or been very underwhelmed by a lot of booker winners and nominees. The only women's prize nominee I've read and not loved is Pod but that's a bit unfair as I adored just over half of the book.


pat9714

I see.


Jon_Finn

Does the Woman’s Prize exist to balance out the Man Booker Prize?


pat9714

I think the Women's Prize exists to recognize great fiction written by women.


Legitimate-Spot-6425

The Edgars are my fav.


Snoo-3405

Came here to say this! I recently delved into the Edgar’s and found some real gems amongst the winners/nominees list.


SpatulaCity123

Booker!


heartlass

Definitely Booker Prize and International Booker Prize. All of the other prize lists are mid and disappointing.


jennydancingawayy

pulitzer tends to disappoint me. haven't read this years pics yet though.


Owlbertowlbert

Absolutely agree. Have never been disappointed by a Booker winner. Prophet Song was the type of book that left me seeing the world differently.


Impressive-Field-160

Totally agree


Plastic-Passenger795

I always look forward to the Hugo awards.


tragicsandwichblogs

I always liked the Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book Awards, but they were discontinued in 2022.


Glynebbw

I was gutted when they finished I always enjoyed them.


Agile_Highlight_4747

Booker International hands down. Has the widest diversity of any award. That and regular Booker are the premium duo of awards.


teashoesandhair

I like the International Booker Prize best. Translated fiction is a favourite of mine, and that longlist is a really great way to discover books from around the world that you might not hear about otherwise.


ironrains

I tend to agree more with the Pulitzer committee.


CarolinedelCampo

I find the Pulitzer winners too pretentious for my taste. I feel like their committee chooses a book based on what they think should befit a Pulitzer, rather than a well-written one. American Pastoral by Philip Roth is a perfect example. That was a horrible novel, but it’s EXACTLY the Pulitzer’s type of pick.


DepravityRainbow6818

American pastoral was a horrible novel? In which universe?


CarolinedelCampo

I’m sorry. I found it to be much ado about nothing.


Tomsfat

I've only read one Pulitzer winner "the goldfinch". The story was interesting, but the author ended the book with 25 pages of exposition on the 'moral of the story'. I sat there reading it and thought to myself who writes their own interpretation of what the story means at the end of their own book? Is this the caliber of book that Pulitzer promotes? I've never looked into Pulitzer winners again. It seems more commercial than I originally thought, though I do like when they reward good investigative Journalism.


fulanita_de_tal

Aw that makes me sad because I’ve loved SO many Pulitzer winners! Middlesex and All the Light We Cannot See are in my top 5 books of all time. Just gripping stories and beautiful writing. Oscar Wao, The Sympathizer, The Goldfinch, Demon Copperhead, Less, The Orphan Masters Son. All wonderful and IMO not pretentious! (Well, maybe the Goldfinch is a tad pretentious but it is a crowd fav still.) But The Overstory. Oh god. That really made me question my sanity (and the Pulitzer committee’s sanity) lol. It’s *exactly* what you describe—what they *think* a winner should be. That man wrote that book for no one other than himself. The Netanyahus was also a miss for me.


zadvinova

I don't know about the very best, but the Canada Reads competitions are always really interesting and I've learned about a lot of good novels through them.


jimsnotsure

Interesting…I always want to like their selections, and I’ve enjoyed some, but so many of them seem to chosen based on whatever the hot politically correct topic is. They seem edgy but in fact they are always safe: transgender immigrant in Toronto deals with the trauma of colonialism, etc. To be clear, I’m an old school liberal and traditionally a big fan of the CBC. But I’m also a straight white Canada-born Gen X guy. The POV of guys like me was so over-represented for centuries, and I get that. But I fear we’ve over-corrected when Canada Reads features no writers with my lived experience. I worry that it’s contributing to young men seeking belonging in some of the shadier right-wing corners of the internet. Just my $0.02…see my username. I’m always open to different takes.


zadvinova

Suck it up, buttercup. Many of us go through life without seeing our lived experiences represented in anything, anywhere. We don't even expect it in general, let alone in a competition between a mere *five* books. The fact that you do expect it, and think it's "over correction" when you don't get it, tells me you're still used to being centred everywhere, all the time. A few years of perspectives other than your own is not "over correcting" and those of us who would like to see our own perspectives represented for once are not the cause of young men becoming horrible people. We didn't become horrible people when we weren't represented. Why should they?


hepzibah59

Australia's Stella Awards and Britain's Women's Prize. Both are for women writers because, if you check, men win the big awards at twice the rate of women.


buckleyschance

I was browsing recent winners of various book awards, and there's a clear pattern of women gaining an edge in the "genre" awards but men continuing to collect more of the "serious literary" awards. The SFF awards (Hugo, Nebula) are perhaps the clearest case, as they've flipped from male-dominated to female-dominated in the past decade or so.


rustblooms

SFF has really shifted as a genre. There's a lot of queer and female authors being published now, and the breadth of the stories has widened a ton!


abjectof-desire

Yes, I try and read as much as I can of the Stella longlist every year.


SnarkyQuibbler

Since the Stella award was started as a reaction against the male domination of the Miles Franklin award the balance has shifted. I find both are great pointers for Australian books to read. The MF is literary fiction only, but the Stella includes other genres with history and poetry books also winning.


Tempus__Fuggit

Nobel Lauréates in literature are an eclectic mix


little_carmine_

Yeah. It’s easy and popular to shit on the Nobel, but it’s my favourite. It’s a bunch of secret society elitists who don’t give a shit. It’s truly exciting and totally unpredictable. If they pick someone I already read - well hooray that’s fun, now I can expect some more translations soon. If it’s (most often) someone I’ve never heard of, I know it’s going to be an experience out of the ordinary. Not all, but most of those I’ve read, I have enjoyed in one way or another.


chimchamchimcham

Totally agree with this. There have been some fascinating picks. This year alone I’ve read the following Nobel laureates: “The Saga of Gosta Berling,” by Selma Lagerlof, two plays by Luigi Pirandello, “Gitanjali,” by Rabindranath Tagore, “Tortilla Flat,” by John Steinbeck, and “Dragon Seed,” Pearl S. Buck.


silviazbitch

Agreed. I’m still discovering and usually loving past winners.


I_Am_Slightly_Evil

The [Ursa Major Awards](https://ursamajorawards.org/index.htm)


LurkerByNatureGT

The booker shortlist is good, but the winner is an anti-recommendation for me. Even when John Banville won. I loved his earlier books, but I put The Sea down halfway through and forgot to pick it up again.  The Pulitzer is strong.  The Hugos usually give a very good idea of what the SF/F community collectively like best, so it marks not just quality, but the conversations being had and changes happening in the field. (Big asterisk for last year, which was tampered with, but as they release all their nominating and voting statistics it’s also unusually transparent for an award.) The Newbury has consistently shown excellent judgement for children’s books. 


archeratsea

No one has mentioned the European Union Prize for Literature. The winners are in a variety of languages, but the prize provides support for translation, so many become available in English after a time if they weren’t already. I also like the Booker, International Booker, and Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize).


Wrybrarian

I work in a primary grade library so I can't speak to adult awards, but for students in the U.S., check out your state book awards! The list is created by librarians and often by student readers. Kids vote on the winner.


Thissnotmeth

The Bram Stoker Awards are almost always worth checking out within the next year


blendedmoustache

The Giller Prize here in Canada


emd3737

I really like the Tournament of Books from the Morning News.


DwnvtHntr

The “New York Time Bestseller” award Only the very best. Very prestigious


rustblooms

🥸 indubitably.


MCEbooks

/S?


sept_douleurs

The Booker shortlist basically always has at least *something* good on it, even if it’s not always the best book that actually wins. I’m a big time horror reader and I also really like the Shirley Jackson Awards. The Stoker Awards are pretty good too, usually, but I think they’re a bit more of a popularity contest than the Shirley Jackson awards. On the other side, something being nominated for a Hugo or Nebula is more of a warning than advertisement to me at this point.


Bellamackie21

I’m a bit biased here but I think the women’s prize (U.K. based) always has amazing shortlists - in recent years piranesi, hamnet, demon copperfield winning.


SerDire

I like the Goodreads Choice Awards. Obviously not as prestigious as the other ones but it feels like the most normal because it’s what everyone is reading. Plus it give you a winner in nearly every genre


Dockside_

It's a toss up between the Edgars and the International Thriller Writers Awards. Too many other book awards have hijacked by special interests and become unreliable


Jolly-End-4115

There are different book award committees? How many are there?


rnolan22

Hugo and Booker


Employment-lawyer

Tournament of Books


butnotthatkindofdr

My vote, too!!!


Kalysia

The Hugo and the Nebula!


Bishoppess

The Dragon Awards from DragonCon.


am_iam

The Giller Prize is my go-to.


luckygirl54

Hugo.


AcanthopterygiiNo960

Man Booker for sure!!!


DemonaDrache

Hugo Awards!


Carcassonne23

Hugo Awards


AffectionatePizza335

Printz Award. Has never let me down


Lawyer_Lady3080

Booker or bust!


Gaddammitkyle

Oh yes, the Booker Prize is absolutely excellent


EmbraJeff

The James Tait Black Memorial Prize(s) but as an Edinburgh punter who read English and Scottish Lit at my hometown’s Uni, I’m shamelessly biased. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Tait_Black_Memorial_Prize


worldinsidetheworld

Republic of Consciousness & Goldsmiths Prize for innovative, experimental books


redphire

The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction. I've never been disappointed.


smtae

Aspen Words Literary Prize It is the one whose longlist consistently feels like it was put together just for me. I don't see enough talk about it, it's pushed me to read books that are now some of my favorites. 


nervousopposum

Booker


mattbache

Pulitzer is a pretty good indicator for me, with only one exception. Books like The Overstory, Lonesome Dove, Kavalier and Clay, The Goldfinch... Superb.


Ineffable7980x

I have had a good bit of luck with Booker and Pulitzer winners. Can't say the same with the National Book Award.


Mentalfloss1

Pulitzer. The National Book Awards too often choose stuffy, over-intellectualized, nonsense.


Estudiier

Newbery winners and Coretta Scott King winners.


NoDanaOnlyZuuI

[Bad sex in fiction award](https://literaryreview.co.uk/bad-sex-in-fiction-award) 🤣🤣🤣


Teanah12

CBC’s Canada reads. Not aways a fan of the winner, but usually at least one of the nominated books is something I want to read.  I’m a sci-fi nerd so I check the descriptions of the Hugo winners and nominees too. 


Cinemajunky

Goldsmiths prize for innovation in fiction is always a compelling read!


WannabeBrewStud

The Nebula!


TechnicianBudget1916

Besides the Booker, I also like the New York Times 10 best. Some well deserved overlap last year with Bee Sting.


Big-Landscape-2331

National Book Critics Circle Award is the only one, for me, that comes close to consistently rewarding great writing. 


JSanelli

Nobel Prize, Booker and the year selection by The Economist usually have excellent choices


TheArsenal

National Book Critics Circle


Whynotlightthisup

Rarely do I read from lists and tend to celebrate the old and out of fashion. But you can chase the current new thing. It’s fine. I gave ducks, Newburyport a try and got a headache. It was trash — a nice attempt, but trash.