Eh, I hate inventive fiction

I loved Byatt’s Possession, too. Such a beautiful book.

Serious favorites:
Midnight;s children (salman Rushdie)
The ice cream war (William Boyd)
An artist of the floating world, never let me go, and remains of the day (kazuo ishigiro
The sense of an ending, Julian Barnes
My sister, the serial killer (oyinkan braithwaite)

Others i enjoyed:
Nice work (David lodge)
Alias grace (Margaret Atwood)
Possession, a s byatt
Amsterdam and atonement, Ian mcewan
A short history of tractors in Ukrainian, Monica lewycka
Netherlands, Joseph oneill

Graham Swift’s books are wonderful. Waterland is his best known.

White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Life of Pi
Midnight's Children
The English Patient

Yessss that’s what I was looking for- thank you!

I've read a lot of these, though not necessarily intentionally as Booker winners. Here are some of my favorites - winners and short list.

The Troubles by JG Farrell
Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (though her Excellent Women is my favorite of hers)
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
A Month in the Country by JL Carr (fantastic!!!)
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Possession by A.S. Byatt (try the Children's Book too if you loved this - oh, this is one too!)
Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
The Secret River by Kate Grenville
Wolf Hall by HIlary Mantel
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman (long, but so inventive and memorable)

Here’s a project to read all of the Booker winners: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/what-i-learnt-reading-and-ranking-every-booker-prize-winning-book

Most of the Booker list disappoint TBH but I read one a couple of years ago that was stellar:

Audrey Magee's The Colony

I’m having a lot of fun reading previous Booker selections, sometimes going back decades. I’ve read a lot of books I wouldn’t normally come across. Does anyone have any favorite Booker picks, long list or short list, to recommend?

Here are two of mine:
AS Byatt, Possession (1990 winner)
Barry Unworth, Morality Play (1995 short list)
And a bonus: Martin McInnes, In Ascension (2023 long list)