THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
The Costa Book Awards "celebrates the most enjoyable books of the year by writers resident in the UK and Ireland." The awards were formerly known as the the Whitbread Literary Awards from 1971 until 1985 when the name changed to the Whitbread Book Awards. Costa Coffee took over over in 2006, changing the name, but not the purpose, of the awards.
There are five categories of Costa Book Awards: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry, and Children's Book. The Book of the Year Award debuted in 1985 and is chosen from any of the five categories.
I am not going to keep updating the winners after 2021. My enthusiasm for prize-winners is waning with the 2020s. I plan to focus my efforts on reading the winners up to 2020 then declare victory and move on to other bookish projects.
I'm working my way through the Costa "BOTY" list, but because I'm not much of a poetry reader and I'm no fan of sci-fi, I don't know know if I will ever get through all the books on this list. On the other hand, if they really were "most enjoyable," then maybe reading these prize winners would be the easiest way to expand my reading horizons.
If I've read a book or it is on my TBR shelf, it is noted in the list below. So far, I've read 13 of the winners.
2021: The Kids by Hannah Lowe
I'm working my way through the Costa "BOTY" list, but because I'm not much of a poetry reader and I'm no fan of sci-fi, I don't know know if I will ever get through all the books on this list. On the other hand, if they really were "most enjoyable," then maybe reading these prize winners would be the easiest way to expand my reading horizons.
If I've read a book or it is on my TBR shelf, it is noted in the list below. So far, I've read 13 of the winners.
2021: The Kids by Hannah Lowe
2020: The Mermaid of Black Conch: A Love Story by Monique Roffey ON OVERDRIVE
2019: The Volunteer: The True Story of the Resistance Hero Who Infiltrated Auschwitz by Jack Faitweather ON OVERDRIVE
2018: The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found by Bart van Es ON OVERDRIVE
2017: Inside the Wave by Helen Dunmore
2016: Days Without End by Sebastian Barry FINISHED
2015: The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
2014: H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald FINISHED
2013: The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer FINISHED
2012: Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel FINISHED
2011: Pure by Andrew Miller TBR SHELF
2010: Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott
2009: A Scattering by Christopher Reid
2008: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here) FINISHED
2007: Day by A.L. Kennedy
2006: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (reviewed here) FINISHED
2005: Matisse the Master by Hilary Spurling
2004: Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here) FINISHED
2003: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon FINISHED
2002: Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin
2001: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman ON OVERDRIVE
2000: English Passengers by Matthew Kneale TBR SHELF
1999: Beowulf by Seamus Heaney FINISHED
1998: Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes TBR SHELF
1997: Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes
1996: The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney FINISHED
1995: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (reviewed here) FINISHED
1994: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor FINISHED
1993: Theory of War by Joan Brady TBR SHELF
1992: Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington TBR SHELF
1991: A Life of Picasso by John Richardson
1990: Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley TBR SHELF
1989: Coleridge: Early Visions by Richard Holmes TBR SHELF
1988: The Comforts of Madness by Paul Sayer
1987: Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan
1986: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro FINISHED
1985: Elegies by Douglas Dunn
NOTES
This post is a redo of the original Cota BOTY list I posted in 2009. Updated December 28, 2022.
OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS
2016: Days Without End by Sebastian Barry FINISHED
2015: The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
2014: H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald FINISHED
2013: The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer FINISHED
2012: Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel FINISHED
2011: Pure by Andrew Miller TBR SHELF
2010: Of Mutability by Jo Shapcott
2009: A Scattering by Christopher Reid
2008: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (reviewed here) FINISHED
2007: Day by A.L. Kennedy
2006: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney (reviewed here) FINISHED
2005: Matisse the Master by Hilary Spurling
2004: Small Island by Andrea Levy (reviewed here) FINISHED
2003: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon FINISHED
2002: Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self by Claire Tomalin
2001: The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman ON OVERDRIVE
2000: English Passengers by Matthew Kneale TBR SHELF
1999: Beowulf by Seamus Heaney FINISHED
1998: Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes TBR SHELF
1997: Tales from Ovid by Ted Hughes
1996: The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney FINISHED
1995: Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (reviewed here) FINISHED
1994: Felicia's Journey by William Trevor FINISHED
1993: Theory of War by Joan Brady TBR SHELF
1992: Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington TBR SHELF
1991: A Life of Picasso by John Richardson
1990: Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley TBR SHELF
1989: Coleridge: Early Visions by Richard Holmes TBR SHELF
1988: The Comforts of Madness by Paul Sayer
1987: Under the Eye of the Clock by Christopher Nolan
1986: An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro FINISHED
1985: Elegies by Douglas Dunn
NOTES
This post is a redo of the original Cota BOTY list I posted in 2009. Updated December 28, 2022.
OTHERS READING THESE BOOKS
If you are working through the books on this list, please leave links to your progress reports or reviews of these books in the comments and I will list them here.
