Love this kind of video. I've been following the Costa since back when it was still the Whitbread. I think the first book I bought and read because it won the prize was 1987's overall winner Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan. I also have a soft spot for 2015's The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge. I don't read that much YA, but this was a truly astonishing and moving read. And congrats on your contribution to Ingrid Persaud's win. I loved that book also.
I am not familiar with the Costa book awards. Love the history about the prize! Wow. Amazing that you were a judge. Very cool. So many great books to check out!
This list brings so much joy to my heart. I learned about the Costa Book Awards because of you and now I am a huge fan. This is a great list. Thanks Eric. :)
Great to see two of my favorite authors on here, Colm Toibin and Jeanette Winterson, I hadn’t heard the news about her earlier this year so I’m intrigued. I do think “Written on the Body” is her masterpiece, but “Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit” has a special place as the first of her works that I read. I’m also always happy about the triumph of my beloved Philip Pullman and “Amber Spyglass” winning, cementing the importance of it not just as a work for young readers, but for all readers and capping it off with the third in the trilogy, and thus reinforcing its weight as a cycle of books.
I've been wondering if I should read the Costa awards, and this video has helped make my mind up, so many excellent books, Love After Love is one of my favourite reads of the year, Normal People is fantastic and I loved Unsettled Ground and Open Water and they're both nominated too... I'll have to go book shopping this weekend now. 😁
Oh Eric you celebrity! I had no idea you judged the Costa Awards that's so cool!!! I've been following them ever since I saw them mentioned on the cover for Normal People. Good work!
This is a really great way to demonstrate the quality of the Costa Book Award because so many of the books you’ve mentioned have really stood the test of time. H is for Hawk may be my all-time favorite nonfiction book, and I did not know it won the overall prize in 2014. Brooklyn really is an amazing novel, and of course Ali Smith and Hilary Mantel are just gifts. There are riches galore here. Thanks so much for pointing out this retrospective list.
This is fantastic! Your videos always make my tbr much longer! Have you read As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann? It sounds a little like the Sebastian Berry. It made Maria McCann into one of my all time favorite authors.
This was a fantastic video, Eric! I didn’t know the prize went back that far. I’m definitely going to check out their site. And I’m definitely going to listen to Love After Love.
I have read most of the books you mention in this video, and have enjoyed them all. I must say that Wolf Hall, by Hillary Mantel, is one of my favorites books of all time. I still haven’t read the last book in the trilogy, but it is sitting on my book shelf in a place of honor, and I can’t wait to get into it. How to Be Both is also fantastic, as is The Accidental, both by Ali Smith. You have similar tastes to mine, so I guess that great minds do think alike.
Love hearing about your experience with the prize and the titles you talked about. I confess, I do think that way about World Wars. Military and war fiction has to be the lowest go-to for me now. At any intersection. Nice being reminded that there are ones that come at it from angles you haven’t seen. Really want to get to Reservoir 13. Recently been hearing about it constantly!
Mmm...love so many of the books you discussed. And yes, yes, what was it about Brooklyn that affected us so?! Remember doing that weird thing that only book lovers do -- hugging and kissing it and sobbing when it was over. 😂😂😭
@@fmarginalia oh yes! I just saw his 2018 post on his bookshelf where he very briefly mentions about his first (& only) novel - Enough. Though he says that he barely finds time to write, absorbed as he always is in his voracious reading; I hope he still gets around to write his second book. 🤞
The Wolfson History Prize (UK) is 49 years old. I read the 2003 Costa overall winner: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. By Mark Haddon.
I had no idea this prize had been going for so long! I’ve only read the two Ali Smith and Hilary Mantel’s but you’ve reminded me of how many great books have been featured. I have Love After Love and The Mermaid of Black Conch to read and looking forward to them both. If there was a prize you could choose to be a judge of next Eric which would it be?
you know, i had no idea the costa award was so old? i bought both reservoir 13 and days without end a few years ago but never read them, maybe i should push them up my list... life after life by atkinson i loved, i never read the sequel though really enjoyed the vid Eric :-)
What a great reference list to have! After a DNA test last year (for genealogy purposes) I discovered I was related to the 1987 winner Christopher Nolan. I like to think a love of words is in my blood.
Many interesting things there Eric. Some authors seem to have done better with this prize than the Booker such as William Trevor, Andrew Miller, and William Boyd - Children of Dynmouth is the earliest one on the lists that I have read. Some excellent winners such as Satanic Verses (which the Booker had an argument about), Day by A L Kennedy is brilliant, and I love Artist of the Floating World - my 2nd favourite Ishiguro novel after the Unconsoled! What is really interesting is the 2 years that the children’s category winners went on to win the overall award - Amber Spyglass probably goes without saying but my daughter thinks The Lie Tree is extraordinary.
Hi Eric I'm really enjoying your videos and wondered if you'd read Melissa Harrison's CLAY ? I love nature writing and social realism and this short novel is a lovely combination of these . CLAY is one of my favorite novels and at 65 I've covered a lot of ground. Apologies if you've already read it Eric , but if not if you give it a whirl I don't think you'll be disappointed. Kind regards Mike Connell
@@EricKarlAnderson Thanks for your reply Eric. You've introduced me to some great contemporary writers and I'm very grateful. May I mention two gems from the past? Firstly, The Citadel by AJ Cronin ( the book that helped launch the NHS ) and On The Beach by Nevil Shute ( the book that saved the world from nuclear oblivion!) Sounds heavy but they're not , just two brilliant novels ! All the best Mike Connell
I’ve only read six on your list. Love After Love The Mermaid of Black Conch The Confessions of Frannie Langton Normal People Brooklyn Oranges are Not the Only Fruit I’m waiting to hear the winners of the Irish Post book awards.
How many teaspoons of sugar are in your tea?I'm a little hungry that's why I ask.Have you ever heard of a book called ,"mercy has no God or God has no mercy?"...When I was a little girl my grandfather had a copy,he must have given that copy away,because I know he bought it but after he read it disappeared.I suspect its a erotica.I have google it and I can't find it🤔
Love this kind of video. I've been following the Costa since back when it was still the Whitbread. I think the first book I bought and read because it won the prize was 1987's overall winner Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan.
I also have a soft spot for 2015's The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge. I don't read that much YA, but this was a truly astonishing and moving read.
And congrats on your contribution to Ingrid Persaud's win. I loved that book also.
I am not familiar with the Costa book awards. Love the history about the prize! Wow. Amazing that you were a judge. Very cool. So many great books to check out!
Love this video! Just shows there are so many good reads out there that might have passed us by. Oh to be in lockdown with Eric’s bookshelves :)
This list brings so much joy to my heart. I learned about the Costa Book Awards because of you and now I am a huge fan. This is a great list. Thanks Eric. :)
Great to see two of my favorite authors on here, Colm Toibin and Jeanette Winterson, I hadn’t heard the news about her earlier this year so I’m intrigued. I do think “Written on the Body” is her masterpiece, but “Oranges Aren’t the Only Fruit” has a special place as the first of her works that I read. I’m also always happy about the triumph of my beloved Philip Pullman and “Amber Spyglass” winning, cementing the importance of it not just as a work for young readers, but for all readers and capping it off with the third in the trilogy, and thus reinforcing its weight as a cycle of books.
Great video, never thought to go back to look at previous winners and shortlisted books of this prize before
I've been wondering if I should read the Costa awards, and this video has helped make my mind up, so many excellent books, Love After Love is one of my favourite reads of the year, Normal People is fantastic and I loved Unsettled Ground and Open Water and they're both nominated too... I'll have to go book shopping this weekend now. 😁
Oh Eric you celebrity! I had no idea you judged the Costa Awards that's so cool!!! I've been following them ever since I saw them mentioned on the cover for Normal People. Good work!
Great share, very interesting books...!
This is a really great way to demonstrate the quality of the Costa Book Award because so many of the books you’ve mentioned have really stood the test of time. H is for Hawk may be my all-time favorite nonfiction book, and I did not know it won the overall prize in 2014. Brooklyn really is an amazing novel, and of course Ali Smith and Hilary Mantel are just gifts. There are riches galore here. Thanks so much for pointing out this retrospective list.
Thanks! Yeah it brought some of the excitement back seeing how these books were celebrated in the year they were first published. 📚❤️
Costa as in the coffee shop chain?? :D Love both the shops and the award choices! 🤗
Yep! 📚
This is fantastic! Your videos always make my tbr much longer! Have you read As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann? It sounds a little like the Sebastian Berry. It made Maria McCann into one of my all time favorite authors.
This was so great to listen to the history and books
This was a fantastic video, Eric! I didn’t know the prize went back that far. I’m definitely going to check out their site. And I’m definitely going to listen to Love After Love.
Thank you! Hope you enjoy and listening to Love After Love on audio is a must!
I have read most of the books you mention in this video, and have enjoyed them all. I must say that Wolf Hall, by Hillary Mantel, is one of my favorites books of all time. I still haven’t read the last book in the trilogy, but it is sitting on my book shelf in a place of honor, and I can’t wait to get into it. How to Be Both is also fantastic, as is The Accidental, both by Ali Smith. You have similar tastes to mine, so I guess that great minds do think alike.
Love hearing about your experience with the prize and the titles you talked about. I confess, I do think that way about World Wars. Military and war fiction has to be the lowest go-to for me now. At any intersection. Nice being reminded that there are ones that come at it from angles you haven’t seen.
Really want to get to Reservoir 13. Recently been hearing about it constantly!
Mmm...love so many of the books you discussed. And yes, yes, what was it about Brooklyn that affected us so?! Remember doing that weird thing that only book lovers do -- hugging and kissing it and sobbing when it was over. 😂😂😭
I own a few of these that I never got to, so I'll need to prioritise them soon I think!
Hope you enjoy them! 📚
Eric, I think hidden behind every avid reader is a secret writer. Having read so much, don't you desire to be a novelist yourself, someday?
He has published a novel I believe!
@@fmarginalia oh yes! I just saw his 2018 post on his bookshelf where he very briefly mentions about his first (& only) novel - Enough. Though he says that he barely finds time to write, absorbed as he always is in his voracious reading; I hope he still gets around to write his second book. 🤞
The Wolfson History Prize (UK) is 49 years old.
I read the 2003 Costa overall winner:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. By Mark Haddon.
I had no idea this prize had been going for so long! I’ve only read the two Ali Smith and Hilary Mantel’s but you’ve reminded me of how many great books have been featured. I have Love After Love and The Mermaid of Black Conch to read and looking forward to them both. If there was a prize you could choose to be a judge of next Eric which would it be?
Yeah, it has a much longer history than I realised. And judging the Booker would obviously be a dream! 😄📚
you know, i had no idea the costa award was so old? i bought both reservoir 13 and days without end a few years ago but never read them, maybe i should push them up my list...
life after life by atkinson i loved, i never read the sequel though
really enjoyed the vid Eric :-)
What a great reference list to have!
After a DNA test last year (for genealogy purposes) I discovered I was related to the 1987 winner Christopher Nolan. I like to think a love of words is in my blood.
Wow
Can we get a new book shelf tour? Please :)
I’ve been thinking lately I ought to do an updated one so thanks for the request! 📚
Many interesting things there Eric. Some authors seem to have done better with this prize than the Booker such as William Trevor, Andrew Miller, and William Boyd - Children of Dynmouth is the earliest one on the lists that I have read.
Some excellent winners such as Satanic Verses (which the Booker had an argument about), Day by A L Kennedy is brilliant, and I love Artist of the Floating World - my 2nd favourite Ishiguro novel after the Unconsoled!
What is really interesting is the 2 years that the children’s category winners went on to win the overall award - Amber Spyglass probably goes without saying but my daughter thinks The Lie Tree is extraordinary.
Hi Eric
I'm really enjoying your videos and wondered if you'd read Melissa Harrison's CLAY ?
I love nature writing and social realism and this short novel is a lovely combination of these .
CLAY is one of my favorite novels and at 65 I've covered a lot of ground.
Apologies if you've already read it Eric , but if not if you give it a whirl I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Kind regards
Mike Connell
Hello, thank you! And no, I’ve not read Clay. I’ll look into it. All the best! 📚
@@EricKarlAnderson
Thanks for your reply Eric. You've introduced me to some great contemporary writers and I'm very grateful.
May I mention two gems from the past?
Firstly, The Citadel by AJ Cronin ( the book that helped launch the NHS ) and On The Beach by Nevil Shute ( the book that saved the world from nuclear oblivion!)
Sounds heavy but they're not , just two brilliant novels !
All the best
Mike Connell
@@michaelconnell8896 Those sound really interesting! Thanks for the suggestions. I've noted them down.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. Dr.seuss
“So many books! So little time!”
📚📚📚
Squee! 💓
I’ve only read six on your list.
Love After Love
The Mermaid of Black Conch
The Confessions of Frannie Langton
Normal People
Brooklyn
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
I’m waiting to hear the winners of the Irish Post book awards.
What's your astrological sign?
Do you have a husband ?
Does he like books?
How many teaspoons of sugar are in your tea?I'm a little hungry that's why I ask.Have you ever heard of a book called ,"mercy has no God or God has no mercy?"...When I was a little girl my grandfather had a copy,he must have given that copy away,because I know he bought it but after he read it disappeared.I suspect its a erotica.I have google it and I can't find it🤔