'Stopping every twenty feet or so, to contemplate going back. To do what, I didn't know,' he said. 'But it was so mad to keep on going as if nothing had happened. And everything around me insisted that nothing had happened. The shops were open, people utterly oblivious, as though what I just witnessed was an event that occurred only in my mind. Yes,' he said, 'that's why I wanted to return. It was the opposite of madness.
#Booker24 Image via BBC
pickI liked this a lot. Hoping it gets shortlisted.
#Booker24 #Longlist
Powerful engagement with indigenous histories of the US. As the dedication suggests, also a deep dive into youth addiction. Hoping it gets shortlisted.
pickMixed feelings about this #Booker24 longlisted novel. I've not read Perry before as the book blurbs didn't sound like my kind of book. After the early chapters, the archival/astronomical mystery pulled me into the story.
I assume she's reaching for deeper things about love and reciprocity given how much that came up, but this felt a bit forced and a stretch for me as a reader.
So not one I'd shortlist (but the panel may well! @squirrelbrain )
They have each at some point been shot into the sky on a kerosene bomb, and then through the atmosphere in a burning capsule with the equivalent weight of two black bears upon them. They have each steeled their ribcages against the force until they felt the bears retreat, one after the other, and the sky become space, and gravity diminish, and their hair stand on end.
#Booker24
pickThe first book from the #Booker24 longlist I've read since the list was announced.
Gripping story set in small-town Ireland. I was worried about what was going to happen to the "nice" characters (and hoping for some kind of comeuppance for the awful ones).
A week until the #Booker24 longlist announcement.
Any predictions?
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2024
