Firstly, I should point out that this site is not sanctioned by anyone other than myself.
I have no contact with the organisers of the prize (though if they'd like to send me the books on
the longlist or shortlist each year I won't complain) and so can't hope to influence anything they do.
In other words it's a labour of love, or dementia, depending on the day.
I am trying to provide as much information about the Booker prize as I can here on the one site. So you'll
find details about all the shortlists and the winners. I have attempted to provide a description
of each book (cover, synopsis, quotes and first paragraph), but occasionally I just can't find a copy of the
book anywhere. Some of the missing items will be available on second-hand book lists but the current state
of the Australian dollar makes purchasing books from overseas particularly prohibitive. Even new books in
Australia - at least in hardback - are moving rapidly out of reach.
As the site progresses I hope to add further items of interest. I thought about adding a page for each
author nominated, but that way madness lies. Unfortunately I've also had to reduce the number of external
links I can provide - too many of them were going bust and maintaining them became a bit of a nightmare. I
can only rely on the pages I produce myself. If the Booker Prize goes into that great bit-bucket in
the sky you can pretty much guarantee that the rest will as well.
I hope you find the site useful. Feedback is always welcomed and I do try to get to emails as fast as I can.
Perry Middlemiss