pick#booker #booker2024 #longlist
My last longlist book. This is an interesting narrative style, a series of snapshots from each fighter‘s past, future, and rather violent present. The 8 girls fighting for the u-18 boxing championship in-front of 12 fans in a neglected arena. But the narrative is doing a lot more than just following our neglected lady gladiators.
My full longlist summary will go in the comments.
pickA drugs-related kidnapping of a young lad: not a book I'd have picked up, were it not for its #bookerprize longlisting.
I enjoyed the characterisation (poor Dev, especially, and hapless Doll, and prematurely adult Nicky). There's something feels not quite complete about it though, and it could do with one more edit: not least to clear up the nonsensical imagery I kept tripping over (eg. the appearance of a distant building compared to an aspirin).
pickOstensibly about a drug-deal related shakedown, this is actually an exploration of the lives of people living at the margins and at risk. It‘s described as “darkly funny” and I don‘t agree at all—I found it to be an encouragement to look more deeply at quiet desperation. #TOBlonglist
@TheKidUpstairs tagged me in a post about favorite books from our #AuldLangSpine matches from previous years. It was fun to reflect on books I wouldn‘t have otherwise read without @monalyisha and her matchmaking skills.
2022 @Mitch “The Book of Memory” - Petina Gappah
2023 @TheKidUpstairs “The Colony” - Audrey Magee
2024 @IndoorDame “Foster” - Claire Keegan
2025 @Singout — SO looking forward to digging in to your list next month!
pickPosing Copper with the🎄has been a challenge this season! Or maybe he only cooperates when I tell him it is for Litsy?! 😂
Audio 🎧 was a good way to experience this and I give kudos to the narrator Cassandra Campbell 🌟 Her voice was perfect for the present tense and the repetition. We get such interesting insight into a broad view of the female psyche; how diverse our wants and needs might be. We are fighters all.
“Her head feels like it is filled with undercooked pie”
#LitPie #PieinBooks #iLovePie #CaresPieShow #ToBShortList #ChocPearPie 🥧
Starting my last from the #Booker2024 #longlist. This is my first book after drowning in Faulkner‘s Absalom, Absalom! for 20 hours at 4-minutes a page. So, this one is so far crazy fast and clear
pick#bookerprizelonglist (Yes, I'm still making slow progress through the longlist ?)
To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this much. Given the subject matter, I imagined it would be rather "tough" in a blokeish way: the book it would have been had Mustafa been the narrator, perhaps. As it was, I found it surprisingly tender. I felt for Khaled, whose life seems permanently provisional despite 30 years of staying put.
I'd have shortlisted it.
My top two:
- Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
- James by Percival Everett
Other books I really took to and that are really well done:
- Orbital by Samantha Harvey
- Held by Anne Michaels
The book that was just too cautious to be great
-My Friends by Hisham Matar
The imperfect but with terrific elements
-Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
-Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel 3d
-Playground by Richard Powers
-Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
The book that never quite took off and overcame itself
-This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
The ones that I didn't like (although I can talk about some of their strengths)
-The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
-Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
-Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange 3d