Well, that's another year gone, then.

So, yesterday, the winner of the Man Booker prize 2010 was announced.

Meh.

This year, at least I don't disagree strongly. I'm mostly just satisfied that C didn't win, despite the worrying signs in the run-up to the announcement.

But on a personal front, I did end up reading all of the books on the shortlist before the announcement (finishing C two or three hours before it - having struggled with boredom to finally get to the end). Of the others on the long list, I read four out of the seven.

So, in other words, overall I read 10 out of the 13 longlisted books, in two months. Not too bad - one off of my record, of 11 out of 13 in 2007.

Looking at another person's record of their own Booker reading accomplishments, I think I probably will start compiling a single list - either here or elsewhere, just so I can remember down the line. I'd have a hard time coming up with just two words to describe my thoughts about each, though. I think the degree in literature snuffed out any ability I might have had to do that kind of thing.

And reading the Salon article about the Booker prize, in relation to the two main American literary prizes, I'm glad I "follow" the Booker. But at the same time, I think probably no one over here would agree with her feelings that the Booker rewards merit more than any other prize. It gets a lot of flack over here.

I do wonder about trying to read all of the National Book Award fiction finalists one year. Or maybe I should do something different from the Booker and read all the nonfiction finalists. Except those tend to be loooooong - so not sure I could do that many pages in a month.

Hmm.

Maybe next year.