I’ve got used to being hopelessly out of touch with the Booker prize, so I was rather startled to discover that I’ve read some of the longlist:
4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster (US) (Faber & Faber) (I’ll need a lot of persuading, I haven’t liked his fiction up to now)
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry (Ireland) (Faber & Faber)
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (US) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), debut novel, but I’m open to persuasion (Update 18/10/17 see my review)
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan-UK) (Hamish Hamilton)
- see my review and
- Becky’s at Becky’s Books
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack (Ireland) (Canongate)
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (UK) (4th Estate)
- see my review
- see Susan’s review at A Life in Books
Elmet by Fiona Mozley (UK) (JM Originals), debut novel, but I’m open to persuasion (Update 18/10/17 see my review)
The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (India) (Hamish Hamilton), already on my TBR
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (US) (Bloomsbury), not keen on the sound of this, but (Update 18/10/17 abandoned at page 62)
- see Becky’s review at Becky’s Books
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (UK-Pakistan) (Bloomsbury), probably not, not keen after reading her previous one, but see Claire’s review at Word by Word
Autumn by Ali Smith (UK) (Hamish Hamilton), maybe…
- see my review, and
- see Becky’s summary for the totally confused at Becky’s Books
Swing Time by Zadie Smith (UK) (Hamish Hamilton),
- see my review, and
- Becky’s review at Becky’s Books
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (US) (Fleet),
- see my review, and
- Becky’s at Becky’s Books
But nothing from Canada, anywhere in Africa or Australia? Hmmm..
The shortlist of six books will be announced on Wednesday 13 September and the 2017 winner will be announced on Tuesday 17 October.
Congratulations to all the authors, editors and publishers!
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog
I wasn’t keen on Lincoln in the Bardo but after listening to The Book Club on ABC iView last night I have changed my mind. If you have not seen it have a look. Series 11, episode 5 or 6 I think. I didn’t like Underground Railroad at all. Personally enough people think (in USA) think it was a real train. This doesnt help with history. Trump probably thinks it is a real train as he thought Frederick Douglas was still alive. Roll eyes into forehead. Good review .
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By: travellinpenguin on July 27, 2017
at 3:25 pm
Abandoning my French verbs homework to check out iView now…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 4:02 pm
This is the link: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/s4663440.htm
I still think I’ll wait till someone I know has reviewed it…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 5:43 pm
You’ve already read a lot of them actually.
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By: Emma on July 27, 2017
at 4:18 pm
I think that’s because it’s quite a mainstream list by well-known writers, most of whom are writers who I read anyway.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 5:45 pm
I’m relieved I won’t have to go looking for a hat to eat now Reservoir 13 is safely on the list!
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By: A Life in Books on July 27, 2017
at 5:10 pm
Yes, love his stuff. Was it your review of this that I read just recently?
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 5:46 pm
I did review it a little while back, somewhat rapturously. It’s the one book I was desperate to see on the list.
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By: A Life in Books on July 27, 2017
at 6:05 pm
Thanks, Susan, I’ve added a link to your review above.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 10:04 pm
Thank you, Lisa. Very kind!
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By: A Life in Books on July 27, 2017
at 10:36 pm
You know what, I have read it, I read it on your recommendation! And not so long ago either.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 10:46 pm
I hope you liked it.
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By: A Life in Books on July 27, 2017
at 11:20 pm
I did! Terribly sad, but beautifully written with great empathy. But somehow the title failed to register with me when I was whipping up this post. I was rushing to go out to a solar power info night run by our local council…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 11:28 pm
Well, that’s a relief!
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By: A Life in Books on July 27, 2017
at 11:29 pm
It does seem rather mainstream… I’ve read the Irish ones but this list seems predictably Anglo-American centric. Still, I’m keen to read Reservoir 13 but was waiting for paperback release.
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By: kimbofo on July 27, 2017
at 5:14 pm
You know, what it’s made me realise is that we lack a champion for books from Canada and Africa.
For English publishers to take up interest in books outside the US and UK, and to buy the rights to publish them in the UK, they need to know about them. Now we no longer have Kevin, and Kinna isn’t reviewing books any more, it’s hard to know about the books that matter. I follow a couple of blogs from Ghana and Nigeria and a couple from Canada, but it’s a bit hit-and-miss and I’m certainly not constantly adding books from those countries to my TBR like I used to.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 5:51 pm
Well I usually haven’t even heard of most of the books shortlisted for this prize and I’ve even read one this year (The Underground Railroad) and I have one on my tbr pile (Days Without End).
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By: sharkell on July 27, 2017
at 5:57 pm
I really liked Days without End. Quite different to everything else I’ve read by Barry but that just shows how versatile he is.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 9:31 pm
He is one of my favourite authors and I received this for Christmas but for some reason I have been put off reading it. I think I’m scared of being disappointed like Kim from Reading Matters.
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By: sharkell on July 27, 2017
at 9:47 pm
I know what you mean, there’s something very comforting about knowing an author and feeling confident that it’s going to be a good book…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 9:52 pm
I have only read two, Reservoir 13, which still lingers on with me, and Exit West. which I enjoyed. I will read Lincoln in the Bardo soon. As for the others, I will wait for the short list before I commit to any more of the nominations.
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By: Meg on July 27, 2017
at 6:48 pm
Yes, I’m going to get Reservoir 13 because I was always going to get it anyway, but the rest can wait until I see a good review from someone I trust…
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 9:53 pm
And I’ve already read 5! Yikes! I’ve never done that well before. So I’ve just downloaded 4 of the others as samples on Kindle. There are 2 others which are pre-orders (means they’ll likely be available before too long) and 1, Elmet by Fiona Mozley, which is not even mentioned in the US Amazon site. – I guess that was a huge surprise to all.
I’ve read these (my reviews are linked):
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/032017-2/exit-west-a-novel-by-mohsin-hamid/
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Bloomsbury)
The best of the lot so far as I’ve read.
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/032017-2/lincoln-in-the-bardo-by-george-sanders/
Autumn by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)
Nice – I do enjoy Smith
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/42017-2/autumn-by-ali-smith/
Swing Time by Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Random House)
Not so happy with this one
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/012017-2/swing-time-by-zadie-smith/
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Fleet, Little, Brown)
A very good book and quite enjoyable but I’m not sure it’s Booker Prize material –
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/o82016/the-underground-railroad-by-colin-whitehead/
** I’ve got samples of these:
4321 by Paul Auster – starting out very nicely –
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
** These are pre-orders but not by me – not yet
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
** This is not available in the US yet at all
Elmet by Fiona Mozley
I wonder if I can read the lot of them prior to the short-list coming out in mid-September – ??? (Do I want to? – seriously.)
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By: beckylindroos on July 27, 2017
at 9:13 pm
Fantastic, Becky, I’ll add your links up above.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 9:31 pm
I’ve only read one, but a few that look enticing on the list, although I’m not in a rush to read them with #WITMonth coming up and others still to read! Still look forward to the reviews to confirm which I might splash out on, I haven’t hear anything about the Kamila Shamsie novel.
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By: Claire 'Word by Word' on July 27, 2017
at 10:41 pm
That’s the dilemma, isn’t… so many competing demands on our reading time.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 27, 2017
at 10:54 pm
Well you beat me as I haven’t read any.
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By: Guy Savage on July 28, 2017
at 12:45 am
I’m sure the fact that I’ve read more than half of them means something, but I’m not sure what it is.
Three of them were just serendipitous finds at the library, so it might just be that my library is brilliant at finding books?
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By: Lisa Hill on July 28, 2017
at 9:55 am
Might be. I’m not that tempted by any of them.
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By: Guy Savage on July 28, 2017
at 2:25 pm
i’ve not read any of these which is not surprising since my focus this year has been on what i already owned rather than new titles.. My first reaction to the list was that it was rather predictable. Other than the two debuts the books are all ones that i could have expected. i’m missing the excitement factor.
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By: BookerTalk on July 28, 2017
at 1:27 am
I’m missing the global factor. I do like to discover authors from round the world and sometimes the Booker can turn up really interesting books.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 28, 2017
at 9:58 am
I plan to read (soon) Solar Bones and the Arundhati Roy. Two from a Booker longlist is probably an all-time high for me.
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By: wadholloway on July 28, 2017
at 8:46 am
I’m interested in the Arundhati Roy. I’ve read some awful reviews of the novel, but then, she’s so political, I’d expect some people to dislike the book just because of that. And clearly these Booker judges think it’s worthy of long listing.
#LuckyMe I just bought it yesterday, before the longlist was out.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 28, 2017
at 10:01 am
wow, you’ve read an impressive amount of the list. But then again I’m not one to read new books. Frankly I’m very unimpressed by this longlist; too many UK/US authors.
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By: Michael @ Knowledge Lost on July 28, 2017
at 12:05 pm
Yes, it’s got a rather monocultural feel about it. But having said that, I don’t think that wishing for more diversity should obscure the fact that there are some very good books here, telling important stories. Solar Bones is a very good book indeed, and so is Reservoir 13.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 28, 2017
at 12:16 pm
I will admit that both Solar Bones and Reservoir 13 (along with Paul Auster) have been on my radar but I haven’t been buying books as of late; trying to get to those ones on my shelves. Maybe I’ll check the library.
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By: Michael @ Knowledge Lost on July 28, 2017
at 1:02 pm
This is an interesting lineup of writers and books. I’ve read Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Underground Railroad. I look forward to reading the novels by Arundhati Roy and Zadie Smith.
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By: smaxine27 on July 28, 2017
at 1:25 pm
I’m not sure but I think Roy’s novel might be the longest one in the list.
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By: Lisa Hill on July 28, 2017
at 9:57 pm
[…] Longlisted for the 2017 Booker, Autumn (2016) is first of what will apparently be a series of four. (Winter is due for publication in November). I hesitate to call it a novel because although this Hamish Hamilton edition is 259 pages long, it is printed in such a large font that it feels like reading a Large Print edition. It takes only an hour or two to read and if it were printed in a normal font it would be more of a novella. I looked up the rules of eligibility for the Booker Prize – and found that entries appear to be limited to novels, but presumably they’ve had that argument and resolved it in Smith’s favour. […]
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By: Autumn, by Ali Smith | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on August 20, 2017
at 10:16 am
[…] only read two of them. I’m disappointed to see that only one of my favourites from the longlist, Exit West made […]
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By: 2017 Man Booker shortlist | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on October 18, 2017
at 11:20 am