How to read like a Booker Prize judge

The Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world. This year’s selection, chosen from 153 submissions, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between October 2024 and September 30, 2025. A shortlist of six novels has been selected by five judges. The winner will be announced in London on Monday, November 10.
 
According to broadcaster, literary critic and one of this year’s judges, Chris Power, here’s how to read like a Booker Prize judge:
 
Five minutes is better than nothing
“You’ll always encounter people who say, “Oh, I’d like to read, but I haven’t read a book in years. I just don’t have time for it.” And I always think, well, there probably is some time in your day for reading, it’s just filled with something else right now.
It’s a question of making time for it and prioritizing what’s important. Sometimes, it’s only going to be five minutes, but better that than waiting for the chimera of a whole day or a whole week, because that clearing of time is never actually going to arrive. Five minutes is better than nothing.”
 
Read whenever and wherever you can
“Fellow judge Kiley Reid told me that she did a lot of her Booker Prize reading in the bathroom. She’s got a very young child, and she’s been touring around and moving country during this process. So, if they were in a hotel because they were between houses for quite a long time, she would put her daughter to bed, and then she’d go sit in the bathroom and read in the empty bath.”
 
Accept that you can’t read everything
“There’s so much out there. How do you get to it all? Every reader is always sort of bedevilled by all the books that they haven’t read or will one day read, just as I am, even though I’ve read quite a lot this year. If is was published in late 2024 through 2025, I’m probably good with it, but not otherwise.”
 
Take notes
“I take a lot of notes. I write in the margins whenever I’m reading a book. As a judge, if I let the notes slide, which I did occasionally, it took a long time to get that book back in my head because I might have read another 26 books in between. So having those notes and looking over them before the judges’ meetings was invaluable.”
 
Traffic-light your thoughts and feelings
“We get sent a spreadsheet a couple of days before the judges’ meetings with that month’s books listed on it. We each label them as green, amber or read, as a general sort of feeling we have for each book. And then, the day before the meeting, we get the collated spreadsheets, when we get to see what everyone else is thinking. It’s really fun and helpful, but it’s also when notes become vital. I don’t have a good memory, so there’s no way I’m going to retain the 30 novels I’ve read that month.”
 
Embrace the unknown
“There’s something fun about encountering the unknown and not knowing what you’re going to get. If a book’s well-written, then it should win you over to it or persuade you of what it’s doing, whether that’s experimental or traditional or science fiction or crime or literary fiction.
I just want to read good writing. At the same time, I’m aware that it’s subjective and that’s why a five-person panel of judges is really valuable.”
 
Enjoy the conversation
“As judges we read between 25 and 30 books a month. Then, at the end of each month, we meet to discuss those books. That’s a really exciting time because when you read a book – whether you enjoy it or not – you’re desperate to share it with people. We have these joyous long meetings where we get to discuss everyone’s experiences with the books.”
 
Be willing to change your mind
“Although we’re all different, and people have different tastes and see virtue in something where you see a flaw or vice versa, I was very relieved when I started this [process] that I could see where everyone was coming from. Every judge has been able to articulate their positions well. And sometimes that means you come away from a meeting and see things in a different light.
Some of the people I asked for advice before I started this process told me I had to remember that “no one ever changes their mind”. That can be true of certain groups but, in my experience, it’s not true of this group. I think we have opened a space where you can have your mind changed, which is an amazing thing as a reader, I think.”
 
Hope you're finding some Booker Prize-worthy books to read this Fall. If something resonates, just hit reply and let me know.
And in the meantime, happy reading.
Joni