According to The Observer's panel of judges, it's Disgrace by the South African writer Coetzee. Martin Amis came in second. He was overheard grumbling about those"miserable bastards" who don't even live in Britian and keep winning all its prizes.
I like Disgrace but can't say it's my favorite novel. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what my favorite novel is.
2 comments:
Hi Amal,
I simply can't understand how things that have multiple characteristics can be ranked by a committee. I find the idea that a panel can come up with the "Best English Novel in Past 25 Years" meaningless.
I understand how one person can personally rank novels, art poetry, even idea. But not a panel of individuals.
There is an old idea in economics which says that anything goes on a committee when it comes to ranking things like novels. In fact, it all depends on the agenda of the committee meeting. Switch the sequence of items on the agenda and you get a different result. In fact you can get any result you want if you control the agenda.
Hi Rabee,
I agree. It's interesting to read some of the responses of regular readres. Many of them pointed out how the result is predictable considering who they asked. It's also worth noting that some people refused to be on the panel because they don't believe in this ranking system.
Frankly, I don't I can come up with a list of my favorite novels. I will go crazy trying to decide.
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