Last week I posted my last review of the shortlisted books for the 2015 Walter Scott Historical Fiction Prize. That means it’s time for this feature, where I give my opinion about whether the judges got it right.
The shortlist for 2015 is a tough one to like. There were seven books on the shortlist, but for various reasons, four of them just didn’t float my boat at all: Zone of Interest by Martin Amis, In the Wolf’s Mouth by Adam Foulds, Arctic Summer by Damon Galgut, and A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie.
Of the other three nominations, Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre is the most inventive in approach and is well grounded in its historical background. Looking back at my review, I think I enjoyed it more than I remembered. The Ten Thousand Things, that year’s winner by John Spurling, is probably the book that most qualifies as literary fiction, and it certainly conveys both a historical context and a sense of time and place. It had such a detached viewpoint, however, that I was never fully engaged with it. For me, The Lie by Helen Dunmore was the most engaging, but of these three, it conveyed the least about its historical time. So, for this year’s prize, taking into consideration both how involving the book was and its reflection of its time and place, I guess I would have picked Viper Wine, with a plus for its wildly inventive approach.
What? Me Read? 
I still have a few of these left to read, including Viper Wine, but I don’t think it’s one of the better shortlists. The Lie is my favourite so far, but I’ll probably change my mind once I’ve read all seven.
I liked The Lie best as a story.
You seem to be doing well with this challenge. Too bad it wasn’t a great year. I think you’ve sold me on The Lie. 🙂
Yes it’s a good one.
This is a great way to pick books to read. I was inspired by your idea and decided to do something similar but with the GoodReads Choice Award winners from 2017. Since I don’t read fast enough, I decided to read the top 3 voted books from 4 genres – fiction, mystery, sci-fi and debut. Maybe 3 isn’t enough number of books to pick from, but thats what I can manage because there’s so much more I want to read beyond these.
The fiction bit just got done and it was a really good experience because all the books were great, even though I had my favorites. 🙂 So thanks for the idea!
I feel like I’ve been reading books that are generally better than the ones I pick out when left to my own choices. I hope your project works out well for you. It sounds like it’s going fine.
🙂 yes it’s definitely a way to read better books, and more updated / recent titles too. Thanks! I hope to continue and complete the rest of the project.