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Low pick 3.5/5
I wasn't too interested in the book overall but there are some things I really enjoyed, mostly the structure. The book is laid out following the bracket of the tournament. We learn about each fighter as they fight. The story has a great flow back and forth from the boxers present, past and future. This kept me interested enough to finish the book even though the overall story was a bit bland.

The device of telling the story through boxing matches is done skillfully but still became a little tedious and repetitive after a while. My dad's family are (or were; I'm not sure anyone still does it) amateur boxers, so it was interesting for me to imagine these young women boxers in their place. It was also interesting to see the motivations of each boxer, how each reacted to successes and setbacks and related to each other through the sport.

I liked this a lot more than I expected to! It had innovative storytelling and just the right amount of quirky and feral teen girl energy. Will it stand out in my mind a year from now? Probably not. But I really enjoyed my time with it. In all but the final match it was perhaps too easy to work out who would win based on how their story was told, but in the end that's not truly what the book is about.
(Personally I was #TeamWeirdHatEnergy)
#Booker

The book from the Booker long list that I thought sounded the most interesting has ended up the one I have liked least so far (although I still have several to go). Eight teenaged female boxes competing for a title, we get glimpses of their thoughts during their matches, what brought them there, and what their futures hold. But that is all that is, glimpses- not enough to be satisfying or give this story much impact.

On the Dallas play-grounds, Rose Mueller played the same hand-clapping games that Tanya Maw played growing up in Albuquerque, but some of the lyrics were slightly different, as if each group of clapping girls were connected by a thousand- mile-long tin can and string.

In San Diego Rachel runs long paths in the woods to forget where she is, what her body looks like, that she has a body that people talk to, that she knows how to talk. Running for Rachel turns into a hovering above her own head after the first two miles. It's good for the muscles, Rachel's regular coach from her hometown gym tells her. But really Rachel thinks running is best for forgetting she has a head.

Next up #Booker24 #Longlist

#Booker 6/13

The idea is cool: a book about 8 teenage girls boxing for the Daughters of America Cup. Each girl with her own past, dreams and future. We jump between times and girls and the boxing matches. It could definitely be interesting but unfortunately only some parts are. There‘s just too little of each girl or the matches to become really invested.

Eight girl boxers fight to be the champ. The concept - each chapter is one fight and the inner and physical lives of the two girl boxers - took me a few chapters to get into. But then I did and really enjoyed the rest #booker

#whereareyoumonday

Great idea, @Cupcake12 , it‘ll be fun to see us all over the place each Monday!

I am in Bob‘s Boxing Palace in Reno, Nevada, watching the Daughters of America Cup for women‘s 18 & under!

Please share your bookish whereabouts 🌎!

I liked the concept and enjoyed the ways in which the author described the intersections between women‘s bodies and competition/physicality in a different way. But it became repetitive for me and halfway in I found myself bored.

Our panel‘s full reviews are on the blog. I‘ll be tagging everyone who has tagged me in our final blog post.

https://thereadersroom.org/2024/08/12/2024-booker-longlist-headshot-by-rita-bull...

#WeeklyForecast 34/24

I am reading the fun The Husbands, a #CampToB contender. I am in the middle of The Warehouse too, which is a good dystopian, based on a near-future Amazon kind of company 😱

Catching up on the #Booker longlist with the tagged book, once I finish one of my current reads.

This might be my sleeper hit of Booker season 2024. I really loved this gritty story of a young women‘s boxing tournament in Reno. Bullwinkel looks at how small and big moments in our lives lead to other, considers complex families, poverty, the trials of adolescence and identity, female aggression, and the issues in youth and women‘s sport. It‘s told in dispassionate, direct prose. Highly evocative of place, and very sensory.

#booker #longlist 7/13

I liked this, but didn‘t love it.

I liked it for its unusual concept and style - following 8 girl boxers as they compete in Reno.

I didn‘t love it because there wasn‘t enough depth to make me care about the characters, and they all seemed to blend into one. It started well, but got rather repetitive as it went on.

I don‘t think it will make my personal shortlist but I think the judges might like it.

The second part of my Booker longlist order. Now I just need some time to read! #Booker2024

This quick, quirky book follows 7 women‘s boxing matches…in the minds of the boxers. Not only is each boxer unique in their boxing style and life, but you read their thoughts about their life not boxing strategy. It reminded me va of my mind wandering as I run- and the writing was incredible. This book may not get a lot of hype, but it‘s creativity of storytelling should.

Headshot is about girls boxing which my brain immediately needs as a comparison to the amazing “Knockout Queen” from Rufi Thorpe. Sadly this is nothing like that novel. This is short; readers only get snippets of info of 8 competitors. I would have liked to zoom in on one or two of these young women, because the 8 separate profiles ran together for me, in audio. I did have the print which probably would have worked better if I‘d had the time.

For me, if you‘re going to fight for sport, you better have some passion behind it. Unfortunately, that‘s what this overly cerebral novel that follows 8 teenage girls as they compete in a national tournament lacks. I did find the girls‘ backstories interesting, but I didn‘t feel any sort of energy or enthusiasm while in their heads. The epilogue, read through the eyes of a journalist covering it, was the only passion to be had.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Bodies are weird things to live in.” Indeed they are. This slim novel about teen female boxing was a bit less developed than I‘d hoped, but stylistically, the snippets ended up working well. The incessant firstname lastname repetition started driving me mad by the halfway mark, though.

#coverlove

Started a new book during my boys‘ soccer training. It‘s a chilly, windy day, but the park is beautiful!

#audiowalk