Sea of Poppies: Loving the Booker

By Vicki Kellaway on Sep 11, 08 09:07 AM in New Releases

I love the Man Booker Prize.

It's handy for those "what should I read next" moments or when someone asks what you want for your birthday (Something from the Booker Prize shortlist please darling...and a pair of Jimmy Choo's while you're there)

I've rarely read any of the shortlisted books but this year it was nice to see one of my favourite authors make the list.

I discovered Amitav Ghosh when I was at university and I've loved The Glass Palace ever since. I can't even find my copy - I probably pressed it onto someone else in my usual rush of enthusiasm.

Sea of Poppies is Ghosh's latest book and one of the six which beat Salman Rushdie to the Man Booker shortlist.

It reminded me of The Glass Palace which is a beautiful tale of three Burmese families that spans 100 years of its turbulent history. I can only hope this latest one is as good.

The Glass Palace had me hooked from the moment the Burmese King and Queen were captured in the early 19th century.

What everyone loves about books is their ability to transport you elsewhere - which seems to be happening to me less and less often with every book I read (perhaps I'm getting more cynical and my imagination is wearing thin - or perhaps my standards just get higher)

I also loved The Glass Palace for the insights the characters give the reader into Burma - a country which is never far from the news.

I used to rush home from lectures to curl up in a duvet and devour it. I won't spoil the plot but if you do need a new book to read - and have inexplicably made your way through the entire Booker shortlist already - give it a try.

The Glass Palace was much better than Ghosh's next effort - The Hungry Tide - which I took on holiday.

It was a promising tale centred around a marine biologist who travels to the remote tiger-infested islands of the Bay of Bengal - searching for the elusive Irrawaddy dolphin.

Typically Ghosh manages to put you right there and the characters are brilliant without even trying. But it just dragged slightly more, for me, than The Glass Palace and I've yet to have the urge to read it again.

The Man Booker shortlist is: