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[Ratrat]

https://www.nobelprize.org

Was just announced.

I was hoping for Murakami but this is a great pick!

Ishiguro is one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world, having received four Man Booker Prize nominations, and winning the 1989 award for his novel The Remains of the Day. In 2008, The Times ranked Ishiguro 32nd on their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[1]

His seventh novel, The Buried Giant, was published on 3 March 2015 in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Ishiguro "who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world".[2]

 

[Egida]

Congratulations to the guy. Love some of his stuff.

Poor Murakami is crying right now.

 

[wandering]

I love Murakami but I don’t know that he’s deserving of the Nobel.

Happy for Ishiguro

 

[PuppetSlave]

Don't think I have heard of him before, did not recognize any of his books.

Seems he writes science fiction though, so I may try one of his books.

 

[Discotheque]

I've only seen a couple movies based on his books (both of which were pretty damn good), but I've been meaning to read the actual novels themselves.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Well deserved.

 

[StrawberryJam]

What are his best novels? Need a new read to get into.

 

[Window]

I've got Remains of the Day on my Kindle. I should get to it soon.

 

[Uzzy]

What are his best novels? Need a new read to get into.

The Remains of the Day is a masterpiece.

 

[Shauni]

I love Murakami but I don’t know that he’s deserving of the Nobel.

Nonsense, he's deserving for Underground and after the quake alone. But they won't give it to him because he's popular and apolitical. They'll probably wait until he kicks it and award it then lol

Anyway, never read Ishiguro, so not familiar with his work though I have heard good things.

 

[Ratrat]

What are his best novels? Need a new read to get into.

Remains of the Day and Never Let me Go are his best.

 

[Seiryoden]

I was sure it would be Murakami's year. AGAIN. Many congratulations to Ishiguro, I think it's between him and McEwan for best contemporary British author. I heartily recommend An Artist of the Floating World to anyone who hasn't read it.

 

[Egida]

What are his best novels? Need a new read to get into.

Never Let Me Go
The Remains of the Day
The Buried Giant (I haven't read this one yet)

My personal favourite would be Nocturnes.

 

[peakish]

That's really cool. I'm a big fan of Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, they both have very specific moods in them. Nostalgic, but with subtle undertones of something being wrong. I also liked the Nocturnes short story collection.

The Buried Giant was a very dry read compared to the others even if the central theme was interesting. But I still need to read lots more of him.

E: Both Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go might be among my favorite books, I'm just not sure where to rank them to each other. Not that it matters, they're both great and quite different from each other. I also get mildly nostalgic thinking about them, since I borrowed them from a very nice library after just moving to a new city. Reading fantastic books was a big help while getting used to a new life. I never go to that library anymore, but I should. There's something about picking free books from a vast selection that is just great. Libraries are the best <3 *end boring anecdote*

 

[hey_monkey]

I've got Remains of the Day on my Kindle. I should get to it soon.

It is a contender for my favorite book of all time.

The Remains of the Day is a masterpiece.

This dude knows what's up.

 

[Fuu]

Not familiar with his work. I’m going to grab one of his novels based on suggestions in this thread.

 

[Piichan]

Murakami is like the DiCaprio of the Nobel prize at this point.

Spoiler

So he'll get it eventually.

 

[Dynamite Ringo Matsuri]

Man I've had a hard copy of Remains of the Day for like 5 years or so now. I should probably read it at some point :l

 

[War Peaceman]

Remains of the Day is such a beautiful book about missed opportunities. Ishiguro has the gentlest of touches, he captures the ordinary elements of the human condition with remarkable clarity.

 

[El Topo]

Murakami is like the DiCaprio of the Nobel prize at this point.

Spoiler

So he'll get it eventually.

Some people never get it. I don't see it as a given that Murakami gets one eventually.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

READ THE BURRIED GIANT

 

[Kill3r7]

Read Never Let Me Go and The Buried Giant thought they were pretty good.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Certainly more deserved than Murakami.
Come at me GAF

 

[whatevermort]

My hero. I named a spaceship after him in one of my novels. He is a dude.

 

[NekoFever]

Looking at the list, Ishiguro is the first Nobel laureate since Golding in 1983 whose book/s I've actually read.

Deserved, though. Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are brilliant and, to a lesser extent, The Buried Giant is very good too.

 

[Goldmund]

Maybe I'll give him another chance. I only read Never Let Me Go and found the prose to be unremarkable. I quit half-way through when I just couldn't bear the sentimentalism any longer, although it was more looming than present at that point. Like putting Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight on repeat in the room next door. On a pure technical level (crafting an arc, structuring passages, characterization etc.) it was good but pretty much everything that publishers deem marketable internationally is.

Maybe I'm just mad it's never Pynchon, not that he'd want or accept it.

 

[Timbuktu]

Wow. I didn't expect that. I lover his work, but I thought he is still relatively young for a Nobel and can still produce better novels in the years to come.

 

[Ratrat]

Maybe I'm just mad it's never Pynchon, not that he'd want or accept it.

He wouldnt accept a million dollars?

 

[Palette Swap]

Man, I had completely forgotten about Ishiguro.
I read Remains something like 20 years ago and loved it. I remember it as one of these books where style and substance are so interwoven you can’t really tell where one ends and the other begins.
I should reread it or read another one of his books.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

Maybe I'll give him another chance. I only read Never Let Me Go and found the prose to be unremarkable. I quit half-way through when I just couldn't bear the sentimentalism any longer, although it was more looming than present at that point. Like putting Max Richter's On the Nature of Daylight on repeat in the room next door. On a pure technical level (crafting an arc, structuring passages, characterization etc.) it was good but pretty much everything that publishers deem marketable internationally is.

Maybe I'm just mad it's never Pynchon, not that he'd want or accept it.

Read Remains of the day and The burried Giant

 

[IlGialloMondadori]

READ THE BURRIED GIANT

Loved The Buried Giant. It almost felt a little Gene Wolfeish.

Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are masterpieces. Remains of the Day single-handedly got me interested in a broader range of literature.

 

[Blader]

I've only read Never Let Me Go but I thought it was great.

 

[tonysidaway]

The film of The Remains of the Day, with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, picked up eight Oscar nominations in 1993. I wonder how it would hold up to a viewing now. The central relationship of the novel, really, is between Mr Stevens (Hopkins) and his employers, particularly Lord Darlington played in the film by James Fox. The latter is a fictionalised embodiment of the British policy of appeasement in its relations with the ascendant Nazi Germany. As a butler Stevens sacrifices everything in his life to the needs of his master, even when his father, in service under his son, suffers a stroke during a peace conference.

It was a Merchant Ivory film with all the period costume drama style associated with those productions. How would that kind of film would hold up in today's world of CGI blockbusters?

 

[Goldmund]

He wouldnt accept a million dollars?

I think it would compromise his street cred but I can't say for sure.

Read Remains of the day and The burried Giant

Will do.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

The film of The Remains of the Day, with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, picked up eight Oscar nominations in 1993. I wonder how it would hold up to a viewing now. The central relationship of the novel, really, is between Mr Stevens (Hopkins) and his employers, particularly Lord Darlington played in the film by James Fox. The latter is a fictionalised embodiment of the British policy of appeasement in its relations with the ascendant Nazi Germany. As his butler Stevens sacrifices everything in his life to the needs of his master, even when his father, in service under his son, suffers a stroke during a peace conference.

It was a Merchant Ivory film with all the period costume drama style associated with those productions. How would that kind of film would hold up in today's world of CGI blockbusters?

Book >>>> Film

 

[PudieRSC]

I've only read Never Let Me Go, but it's one of the books that stuck with me most. For some reason I just love Ruth. Not as a person, but as a character. She's just so well written. I had a few quips with the ending, but it's still one of my favourite books.

The movie adaptation is pretty good too.

 

[Fevaweva]

Remains of the Day is one of the best books I have ever read. Utterly beautiful from start to finish.


Good for him!

 

[tonysidaway]

Book >>>> Film

As if I needed to make that clearer, yes. His writing in the voice of Stevens is pitch perfect.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

As if I needed to make that clearer, yes. His writing in the voice of Stevens is pitch perfect.

Love Christopher Reeve's performance in the film, though!

 

[tchocky]

He wouldnt accept a million dollars?

He would probably like the money but part of the deal in accepting a Nobel is you have to go and make a speech which Pynchon would almost certainly refuse to do.

 

[Majine]

Haven't read a book in awhile.

Remains of the Day it is?

 

[Shake Appeal]

He's an alum of the same creative writing master's I did. Maybe this will have some sort of magical halo effect where I actually work on my novel more than twice a week.

 

[harriet the spy]

He wouldnt accept a million dollars?

Sartre didn't, so maybe not.
On the Di Caprio of lit nobel prize - I thought that was Philip Roth.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

He's an alum of the same creative writing master's I did. Maybe this will have some sort of magical halo effect where I actually work on my novel more than twice a week.

Any GAFers in your novel?

 

[Ratrat]

He would probably like the money but part of the deal in accepting a Nobel is you have to go and make a speech which Pynchon would almost certainly refuse to do.

You can send in an audio recording like Bob Dylan.

I think it would compromise his street cred but I can't say for sure.

I see.

 

[Sean C]

The film of The Remains of the Day, with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, picked up eight Oscar nominations in 1993. I wonder how it would hold up to a viewing now.

It holds up very well. One of the best films of its year.

Ishiguro was an unexpected choice to win, but he's a great choice.

For trivia fans, he's the tenth British author to win, and the fifth author of East Asian descent. his back-to-back wins with Bob Dylan last year make this the first time since 1993 that multiple Laureates in a row have written in the same language (the last time was Nadine Gordimer, Derek Walcott, and Toni Morrison all winning from 1991-1993; they all wrote in English as well).

 

[Shake Appeal]

Any GAFers in your novel?

Nope. Maybe that's what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Pepboy]

I read Never Let Me Go, what an absolute disappointment. Virtually nothing of note from a sci fi perspective, and it boils down to something that could be written by Nicholas Sparks.

 

[Vivalaraza]

Awesome.

Love his books. Remains of the Day is a classic and Never Let Me Go broke my damn heart.

 

[Matski]

Congrats Kazuo. The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go were captivating from start-to-finish. When We Were Orphans was a worthwhile read too. Well deserved.

It holds up very well. One of the best films of its year.

Indeed. I hadn't seen until recently. It's a very worthy adapation of the book.