The 2013 winner has been announced while I
have been reflecting on the process of reading its predecessors and I look
forward to reading Eleanor Catton’s ‘The Luminaries’, all of the much
publicised 832 pages. In my
opinion, it’s good for the gender balance of the prize that it was a women, and
her age of 27 on finishing her novel is impressive – as I happen to be the same
age and the thought of writing any novel, let alone a complex, prize-winning
one is daunting enough!
I will try
to get hold of a copy of the book at the library, although for the time-being I
am thoroughly enjoying reading whatever takes my fancy. I do think it’s a shame that publishers
don’t publish books in volumes anymore, as the various comments about the 2013
winner’s size wouldn’t have been such an issue. For example, I found that reading ‘War and Peace’ in volumes
made the whole experience more pleasurable for one’s arms and gave a sense of
achievement as I progressed through.
And no, I don’t believe that e-readers are the way forward and I hope
that the world’s attention span is not shrinking to such an extent that thick
books are passed over in favour of shorter ones. In fact, the much lauded complex structure of the book, contributing to its length makes me all the more excited to read it!
