see Joseph’s review at Rough Ghosts
The Dublin International is a prize that’s a bit hit-and-miss for me: any longlist that has both Submission by Michel Houellebecq and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins can’t be really be trusted to deliver good reading, IMO.
Still, there are some titles – especially amongst the translated fiction – that I know are good reading because I’ve seen reviews from trusted bloggers, and it’s nice to see that we in The Antipodes are so well represented on the list as well.
The shortlist will be announced on 11 April 2017 and the winner on 21 June 2017, and you can find out more at the official website.
FWIW, here’s the longlist, with links to my reviews. Australian and New Zealand nominees are in bold, and they feature in the slideshow. When I have time I will hunt around to find my fellow-bloggers’ reviews of other ones as well.
A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa – Translated from the Portuguese by Daniel Hahn, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker and Joseph’s at Rough Ghosts
Woman of the Dead by Bernhard Aichner – Translated from the German by Anthea Bell, see the Complete Review
The Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany – Translated from the Arabic by Russell Harris, see my review
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende – Translated from the Spanish by Nick Caistor & Amanda Hopkinson
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Dry Season by Gabriela Babnik – Translated from the Slovene by Rawley Grau, see Joseph’s review at Rough Ghosts
My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman – Translated from the Swedish by Henning Koch
The Blue Guitar by John Banville, see my review
Beatlebone by Kevin Barry, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume, see Kim’s review at reading Matters
The Sellout by Paul Beatty, on my TBR
Inside the Black Horse by Ray Berard
The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney
Sweet Caress by William Boyd
The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle
Clade by James Bradley, see Peter Pierce’s review at the Sydney Review of Books
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks, see my review
The Weather Changed, Summer Came and So On by Pedro Carmona-Alvarez – Translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley
Out in the Open by Jesus Carrasco – Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa
Forever Young by Steven Carroll, see my review
It I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
The Birthday Lunch by Joan Clark
Did You Ever Have A Family by Bill Clegg
Confessions of the Lioness by Mia Couto – Translated from the Portuguese by David Brookshaw
Coming Rain by Stephen Daisley, see my review
The Meursault Investigation by Kamel Daoud – Translated from the French by John Cullen, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker and Joseph’s at Rough Ghosts
Ancestral Affairs by Keki N. Daruwalla
The Devil You Know by Elisabeth de Mariaffi
The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev
Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
Hollow Heart by Viola di Grado – Translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar
The Heat by Garry Disher
The Green Road by Anne Enright, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
Against Nature by Tomas Espedal – Translated from the Norwegian by James Anderson, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
The Mirror World of Melody Black by Gavin Extence
Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy
The Pope’s Daughter by Dario Fo – Translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar
Purity by Jonathan Franzen
Hope Farm by Peggy Frew, see my review
Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale, see my review
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George – Translated from the German by Simon Pare
Craving by Esther Gerritsen – Translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Gliding Flight by Anne-Gine Goemans – Translated from the Dutch by Nancy Forest-Flier
The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov – Translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb
Chappy by Patricia Grace, see my review
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
The Silent Room by Mari Hannah
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
One Minute to Midnight by Diyar Harraz
Dictator by Robert Harris
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
This Place Holds No Fear by Monika Held – Translated from the German by Anne Posten, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
The Making of Zombie Wars by Aleksandar Hemon
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill
Submission by Michel Houellebecq – Translated from the French by Lorin Stein, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
Black River by S.M. Hulse
The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys
Avenue of Mysteries by John Irving
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro, on my TBR
The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson
Day Boy by Trent Jamieson
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Where All Light Tends To Go by David Joy
The World Without Us by Mireille Juchau, see my review
Man on Fire by Stephen Kelman
The African Equation by Yasmina Khadra – Translated from the French by Howard Curtis
The Helios Disaster by Linda Boström Knausgård – Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Imperium by Christian Kracht – Translated from the German by Daniel Bowles
The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera – Translated from the French by Linda Asher, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
Fortunate Slaves by Tom Lanoye – Translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison
The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine – Translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken
The Great Swindle by Pierre Lemaitre – Translated from the French by Frank Wynne, see my review
Birdie by Tracey Lindberg
The Discreet Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa – Translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman
The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli – Translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney, see my review
Bits of Heaven by Aishah Madadiy
Don’t Forget to Remember by Sonia Mael
The Offering by Grace McCleen
The Antipodeans by Greg McGee, on my TBR (I keep forgetting to read it because it’s on my Kindle)
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Slade House by David Mitchell, on my TBR
A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell
The Legend of Winstone Blackhat by Tanya Moir, (abandoned, on my Kindle, maybe I should try it again)
The Promise Seed by Cass Moriarty
Signs for Lost Children by Sarah Moss
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, see my review
Till Kingdom Come by Andrej Nikolaidis – Translated from the Montenegrin by Will Firth, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker and Joseph’s at Rough Ghosts
Girl at War by Sara Nović
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma, see my review
The Little Red Chairs by Edna O’Brien, see Kim’s review at Reading Matters
Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor
The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan
Orhan’s Inheritance by Aline Ohanesian
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
When The Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen – Translated from the Finnish by Lola M. Rogers
Asking for It by Louise O’Neill
A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk – Translated from the Turkish by Ekin Oklap
The Horn of Love by Bozin Pavlovski – Translated from the Macedonian by Vesna N Krsteski
The Lost Child by Caryl Phillips
A Measure of Light by Beth Powning
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash
You Have Me to Love by Jaap Robben – Translated from the Dutch by David Doherty
Feast of the Innocents by Evelio Rosero – Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean & Anna Milsom
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie, see my review
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
The Kindness by Polly Samson
The Mystics of Mile End by Sigal Samuel
A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler – Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins, see Tony’s review at Messenger’s Booker
Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag – Translated from the Kannada by Srinath Perur
The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard
Yo-yo by Steinunn Sigurðardóttir – Translated from the Icelandic by Rory McTurk
The English Spy by Daniel Silva
The Chimes by Anna Smaill, see my review
Golden Age by Jane Smiley
Before the Feast by Saša Stanišić – Transtlated from the German by Anthea Bell
The Winter War by Philip Teir – Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally
Duke by Sara Tilley
The Last Flight of Poxl West by Daniel Torday
Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar, see my review
The Orange Grove by Larry Tremblay – Translated from the French by Sheila Fischman
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant
Aquarium by David Vann, see my review
The Illogic of Kassel by Enrique Vila-Matas – Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean & Anna Milsom, see Tony’s review at Messsenger’s Booker
Yugoslavia, My Fatherland by Goran Vojnović – Translated from the Slovene by Noah Charney, see Joseph’s review at Rough Ghosts
The Dying Grass by William T. Vollmann
Ledger of the Open Hand by Leslie Vryenhoek
My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins
These Are The Names by Tommy Wieringa – Translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett
The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood, see combined reviews
Weathering by Lucy Wood
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Eighty Days of Sunlight by Robert Yune
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
You say: “any longlist that has both Submission by Michel Houellebecq and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins can’t be really be trusted to deliver good reading, IMO.”
I don’t know either of these books and have only heard of one of the authors – but that is because I rarely read fiction but intend to do so more now. Can you expand on this comment because I don’t understand it.
Thanks!
Lynne
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By: Lynne Kelly on November 22, 2016
at 4:54 pm
That sounded rude and it wasn’t meant to be – I am curious, not critical and I do usually put question marks on questions.
Sorry!
Lynne
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By: Lynne Kelly on November 22, 2016
at 4:56 pm
No problem, Lynne, I didn’t interpret your comment as rude at all.
Michel Houellebecq writes difficult, provocative philosophical stuff, and The Girl on the Train is a popular fiction bestseller, so what I was trying to say was that this longlist is such a ‘broad church’ that you can’t rely on it to guide your reading because the award doesn’t really stand for anything. It’s just done from library nominations, and libraries vary wildly in what they promote as good reading. Some years the winner is wonderful, and other years it’s disappointing or lacklustre.
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By: Lisa Hill on November 22, 2016
at 5:12 pm
Some of my favourite books ever, and my introduction to seriously reading in transition came from this award, but it is wide ranging, especially at this stage. Still there is always something new to look for (or sitting on the shelf that should be read sooner rather than later). I am thrilled to see three Istros Books entries (and I have reviewed all three, btw—Yugoslavia, My Fatherland is quite good). Two Seagull Books and a couple of my favourite independent publishers get a nod too, so I’m happy for them.
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By: roughghosts on November 22, 2016
at 5:20 pm
Hi Joseph, can you please get back to me with the URLs of the other ones you’ve reviewed? I don’t know which ones of these are from Istros (though I was very pleased to see that Will Firth did the translation for one of them, he did a guest post for me called The Perils of Translation so I take a special interest in his work.)
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By: Lisa Hill on November 22, 2016
at 5:27 pm
Also Istros:
Yugoslavia My Fatherland: https://roughghosts.com/2015/10/06/caught-in-a-vicious-circle-yugoslavia-my-fatherland-by-goran-vojnovic/
Till Kingdom Come: https://roughghosts.com/2015/08/24/time-space-and-truth-till-kingdom-come-by-andrej-nikolaidis/
Also: (I know Tony’s reviewed these too)
Mersault Investigation: https://roughghosts.com/2015/06/14/naming-the-unamed-the-meursault-investigation-by-kamel-daoud/
General Theory of Oblivion: https://roughghosts.com/2015/12/20/never-forgetting-not-forgotten-a-general-theory-of-oblivion-by-jose-eduardo-agualusa/
I have a few of the titles on hand that I would like to try to get to now, so I’ll let you know if I get them read & reviewed.
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By: roughghosts on November 22, 2016
at 5:55 pm
Thanks, Joseph, I should have remembered these because I read your reviews when you posted them. (I often read posts just from my email so I don’t always actually visit the blog).
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By: Lisa Hill on November 22, 2016
at 6:20 pm
Ye Gods! What a lengthy long list!
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By: residentjudge on November 22, 2016
at 5:45 pm
Imagine being a judge!
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By: Lisa Hill on November 22, 2016
at 6:45 pm
Their longlists are ridiculously long!!
I’ve read 3 and 1/2 of them, Mr Books 2. Several more in my TBR pile, but such a diverse list – it’s doing my head at this time of night after a long day at work!!
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By: Brona on November 22, 2016
at 7:57 pm
Yes, it’s not a list you can actually use to help you choose what to read. But they have come up with some beaut winners in the past, so maybe the judges are good at weeding the list – though how they do it, I don’t know. It would take me the best part of a year to read 147 books…
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By: Lisa Hill on November 22, 2016
at 8:24 pm
What a l-o-n-g list! There doesn’t appear to be any culling at all of the nominated titles from all the public librairies. The list, as such then, isn’t of much use until the short list is announced. What an ‘interesting’ way to administer a book prize.
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By: Debbie Rodgers @Exurbanis on November 23, 2016
at 12:04 am
It would be good if someone could explain the process for getting to a shortlist. I mean, I reckon I could whittle it down to about a hundred just by knowing and being not very interested in some author’s names. (This kind of prejudiced judging would hardly be fair, of course, I know). But then what? I’m a fast reader but it would still take me six months at least to read a hundred books.
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By: Lisa Hill on November 23, 2016
at 8:34 am
I’m happy to see 15 Canadian books on this list (10 of which I’ve read). I’ll be interested to see if you can rustle up a review of Inside the Black Horse by Ray Berard, a Canadian living in New Zealand. This is the first I’ve heard of him.
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By: Naomi on November 23, 2016
at 2:57 am
Well done, Canada! Here’s a review of Black Horse: https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-inside-black-horse-ray-berard , it’s at a site called Australian Crime Fiction so *chuckle* it looks like us Aussies have appropriated him!
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By: Lisa Hill on November 23, 2016
at 8:38 am
Thanks, Lisa! It sounds like a good book. And, yes, I have a feeling that he is just as Australian now as Canadian. We can share. :)
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By: Naomi on November 24, 2016
at 4:13 am
Absolutely: it’s a global world!
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By: Lisa Hill on November 24, 2016
at 8:37 pm
Thanks for all the links, Lisa! I’ve also read Hausfrau (and hated it), Our Endless Numbered Days, A Place Called Winter, and This Place Holds No Fear (a wonderful book that didn’t get any attention from press or bloggers last year).
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By: kimbofo on November 23, 2016
at 10:13 am
Ah yes, I remember reading your Hausfrau review at the time!
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By: Lisa Hill on November 23, 2016
at 2:06 pm
Great piece & a lovely slide show!! (I’m a woeful Luddite). There are indeed some phenomenal reads on the IMPAC longlist; many I utterly adored & impassioned sell. inclusion of from the Canadian nominees (my forte), it’s reassuring to see included: Did You Ever Have A Family by Bill Clegg / The Turner House by Angela Flournoy /The Story of My Teeth by Valeria Luiselli / The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan /The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota & more.) However, “Girl on a Train.” Yikes! Methinks the ‘hit & miss’ has horrendously ‘missed’ on that & few other nominees we call’ light reads.’ I agree with Naomi that it is sometimes difficult to get access to published works from New Zealand & Australia. Oftentimes, anything ‘non’-U.S.A. is not easily available &/or, it’s released far after the book’s initial pub. date. It’s is a ‘serious peeve’ for me & other booksellers & a disservice to literary fiction readers everywhere.Ah well…simply makes me more determined! I’m curious to see the (much-shorter) shortlisted titles. Thanks Lisa for the post & review links, BB’s
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By: Bibliobroads on November 24, 2016
at 5:25 am
Thanks, BB … what I find surprising is that we here in OZ can easily mostly get books from all over the world – but our books aren’t so readily available elsewhere. We need to be much better at exporting them IMO.
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By: Lisa Hill on November 24, 2016
at 8:35 pm