I've just found out that the 2nd book won Booker Prize too. I wonder if this is the first trilogy that has 2 prizes on it. I'm not sure about the worthiness of it, though. It's rather uncomfortable to have 2nd book in a trilogy winning the same prize. Is it influenced by the quality of the first book? Would the 3rd book win it too? Weren't there any other quality book this year? Booker Prize is the book award of my choice just for the fact that I like a lot of the winners (I haven't read many Pulitzer winner, somehow they have this aura of being heavy read), which usually nudge me to find the long list or at least short list every year and try to judge them myself. This year has been such a crazy year that I hadn't even think about it, nor thought that BUtB would have a chance of winning it. Considering it was a slight let down for me, I wonder how the quality of the short list were... I think I should start hunting them down now.---------------------------------------------It's not as good as I wanted it to be; not as good as Wolf hall. First the beginning where she tried to get a balance between introducing to new reader & reminding the rest who these people are. I know that's important, but I just don't like reading tiny bit of synopsis smuggled between the narration. This is where my strategy of re-reading wolf hall before BUtB backfires. the opening annoys me because to me this people are still fresh in my memory and I just want the story to continue instead of having to shake hand w/ them all over again.Then there's this nick name "Crumb"... dearie me, if there is something more ridiculous than that. It jarrs me each time I read the word. Is she trying to show how the peers ridicule cromwell? well, for me it feels like a wink2 nudge2 to reader going flat. i can't imagine courtiers and peers calling him that no matter how they despise and look down on him. sure, i know that brits do have some outrageously silly nick names, but still...third would be how the effect of making him a "he" is not as powerfull as in the first book. maybe because we got used to it? or maybe because mantel gave too many indication that this "he" is cromwell to differentiate him from other "he". which i suppose helped many from confusion, but she hadn't done it in 1st book & everything was fine.last... i'm not really clear myself but this book seems to drag eventhough it's shorter. Maybe because the time span itself is shorter & this is basically just the downfall of Anne. also i'm so fed up w/ these men......... the character of cromwell itself, I feel like I'm not progressing in getting to know him. it's like building him up in the 1st book then just parade him around now. Anyway you can say that it's also because the time span is just too short.I don't regret reading it despite the whole complains, i'm just thinking I might only re-read wolf hall before reading the future 3rd book instead of making it a cromwell orgy.
