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#ToB #shortlist

Loved this! I found it sharp and snarky and it‘s one of those books where the MCs are rather obnoxious (this time in an arty-farty way) but you love them anyway.

I thought the ending was a little weak, but I can see why it made the #ToBshortlist.

Thanks so much for sending it to me! @BarbaraBB

ChaoticMissAdventures I want to read this one, the library list is so long. I am so curious about her and her husband and what their dinner conversations are like. they are both so smart and talented. 4w

BarbaraBB Glad you liked it! 4w

squirrelbrain OMG! @ChaoticMissAdventures - I had no idea they were a couple! 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ 4w

ChaoticMissAdventures @squirrelbrain I found out maybe a year or so ago and have to admit I am fascinated. 4w

CarolynM Great review. I‘m looking forward to this one now🙂 4w

66 likes4 stack adds5 comments

Deblovestoread

Beautyland: A Novel | Marie-Helene Bertino

#TournamentofBooks #Shortlist

I‘m liking this list. I‘ve only read 3 and have 4 on my shelves and am interested in a bunch more.

What do you think of the list? What should or shouldn‘t be on there? Enquiring minds want to know.

squirrelbrain I‘m a little disappointed, although it‘s nowhere near as bad as last year‘s shortlist. I wanted some of the more obscure books on there - these are either mainstream or they‘ve been talked about for months already. 🤷‍♀️ 3mo

ChaoticMissAdventures I can't believe I struggled through Creation Lake for nothing!! 🤣 3mo

BarbaraBB I agree with @squirrelbrain . I already read most of them while I‘d been hoping to be surprised by books I had completely overlooked for the past year! However there are some good ones among these! 3mo

41 likes3 comments

Graywacke

Held: A Novel | Anne Michaels

pick

What an interesting book. I‘ll have to reread this. It‘s a splintered narrative and I tried to focus on where and when and who, enjoying the romantic touches and the drifty feel, overlooking the mechanical and scientific commentary … until I saw two chapters titled “River Orwell…1984”. Then I started to look for something dark. It‘s a little buried and quiet, but pieces line up. A striking condemnation of our destructive society is built in here.

Graywacke #booker #booker2024 #longlist #shortlist 5mo

Graywacke @rmaclean4 @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @JamieArc @BarbaraBB @jlhammar @AnnaCecilie @JenP @TheKidUpstairs @charl08 @BookishTrish @Suet624 5mo

BarbaraBB Another great review. It is an exceptional Booker year don‘t you think? 5mo

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Suet624 My goodness. You‘ve made it sound quite intriguing 5mo

Graywacke @BarbaraBB thanks… but no, I don‘t think it‘s a good longlist 🙈 I feel i read several meh books and all soft or imperfect prose. But i like that my four favorites are on the shortlist - this, Held, James, and SYD. 5mo

Graywacke @Suet624 it is intriguing! 🙂 5mo

BarbaraBB @Graywacke I haven‘t read the whole longlist but I really love the shortlist except for the Kushner that I haven‘t read 5mo

Graywacke @BarbaraBB i have three on the longlist to go - Playground, Wild Houses and Headshot. I was mixed on CL 5mo

squirrelbrain I‘m going to start Playground soon too…. 5mo

Leniverse I didn't even notice the Orwell reference 🤦🏻‍♀️ I was so frustrated and bored by that point. This one just didn't work for me. 5mo

Graywacke @Leniverse what part do you think made it boring or frustrating? 5mo

Leniverse It was just too disjointed for me. The ghost thing was frustrating because it was introduced and then abandoned except for some woo woo musings by later characters. Because we jumped around so much I had trouble working out how some of the characters were connected, and I didn't feel invested enough to put effort into it. ⤵️ 5mo

Leniverse I get that the whole thing was snapshots from a family album, and that ties in with the photographer theme, and it's all very clever, I'm sure. I think if the book works for you, you probably get a lot from it. I can recognise that. But to me it was just paragraphs, polished to be very pretty with overblown language, and no connecting matter. 5mo

Graywacke @Leniverse Thank you for sharing. Very interesting. i‘m still pondering the ghost thing. My thought at the time was that it‘s kind of silly. Or that his assistant was doing it. But it might have a good reason to be there. I didn‘t think of the photo album relationship. I like that idea. I was thinking she was jumping around to create reader detachment (from our real world) and to create associations. 5mo

Leniverse There was a thread of mysticism and lingering ancestors throughout that made me think the ghost photos were real (but probably also allegorical in some way), and because they're highlighted in the blurb I didn't expect that whole narrative thread to be abandoned. I felt detached, alright, but from the story. After we left photographer John I only felt invested once - the story where the woman goes back to a war zone and her father & husband wait. 5mo

52 likes15 comments

Graywacke

James: A Novel | Percival Everett

pick

I found this so bold. And he pulled it off. It‘s a terrific book. Critical of Twain‘s classic, while deeply honoring it. And provoking the reader. Making us uncomfortable. Confront us with this alternate world take. It‘s a brilliant book.

#booker #booker2024 #longlist #shortlist

Graywacke @rmaclean4 @squirrelbrain @Leniverse @JamieArc @BarbaraBB @jlhammar @AnnaCecilie @JenP @TheKidUpstairs @charl08 @BookishTrish @Suet624 5mo

BkClubCare 🌟 (Have you read The Trees? ) 5mo

Graywacke @BkClubCare hi. I have. Terrific book. But, whoa. I haven‘t read anything else by him. I want to read

Erasure: A Novel

5mo

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BkClubCare @Graywacke 👍 I haven‘t yet read Erasure. Have enjoyed So Much Blue, Telephone, and Wounded. I own I am Not Sidney Portier but … it‘s here somewhere 🤷🏻‍♀️ 5mo

Graywacke @BkClubCare you‘re a definite fan! I‘ve heard a little about all of these, except Wounded. 5mo

BkClubCare @Graywacke - he seems to have wiggled his way onto the must-read list 🤷🏻‍♀️ 5mo

Graywacke @BkClubCare I‘m feeling some of that now. More so after this book, although i think most readers find The Trees more powerful. I found this one really sharp in ways I could follow. Very insightful for me. 5mo

Suet624 @Graywacke I love your review. I thought he couldn‘t write something more powerful than Trees but I was wrong. This one, like you said, is so bold. And in that it is just as powerful. 5mo

Graywacke @Suet624 thanks! Different than the trees, and less funny. But just a satirical and challenging to the readers comfort. 5mo

squirrelbrain I haven‘t read many others yet, apart from The Trees. I‘ve read Dr No, which I think you‘d like. 5mo

67 likes10 comments

Graywacke

Held: A Novel | Anne Michaels

My last left from the #shortlist - I just started this morning and I‘m have The Sound and the Fury and Tinkers vibes. But it‘s also totally different. #booker #booker2024 #longlist

CatLass007 😻 5mo

Jari-chan 😻😻😻 5mo

dabbe Those mesmerizing green eyes! 🖤🐾🖤 5mo

55 likes3 comments

Graywacke

Orbital | Samantha Harvey

Starting my next book

#booker #booker2024 #longlist #shortlist

Itchyfeetreader That is a fab cover 5mo

Enchanted_Bibliophile #CoverLove 😍 5mo

Leniverse Curious what you\'ll make of this one. I thought it was slooow, but beautiful. But basically just alright. I read it six months ago and it has stayed with me since, and grown in my estimate. I think I might have to re-read it 5mo

Graywacke @Leniverse 16 orbits can get old quick. Will see. I‘m on page 8 ☺️ 5mo

Graywacke @Itchyfeetreader @Enchanted_Bibliophile it is quite a pretty cover. 5mo

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charl08

No Title | None

I suppose four of six I'd liked/wanted isn't bad?

The Enright and Grenville are good reads but not my favourites of their work - wondered if they were carried by their other books / body of work rather than this book? IDK 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

#womensprize #shortlist #nopleasingsomepeople

Leniverse Yes, I wonder the same. But honestly, that might be reason to longlist them, but not shortlist. I'm baffled. Especially about Dolly. 10mo

TheKidUpstairs @Leniverse Dolly Maunder was a surprise for me, too. It was a good read, but nothing special. Definitely not Shortlist material! 10mo

charl08 @Leniverse exactly! @TheKidUpstairs I'm not alone 😀 10mo

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charl08 I'm rubbish at remembering to tag! @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain 10mo

squirrelbrain Yes, I had 4 of the 6 as well. And I‘m surprised about Dolly. I pretty much expected the Enright to be there though 10mo

AnneCecilie I haven‘t read any Grenville before and find that Dolly is growing on me and is a book I keep thinking about 10mo

ChaoticMissAdventures The Wren was the first I read of these and I cannot tell you what it was about. It had so little impact on me I cannot remember a thing. 10mo

BarbaraBB 4 out of 6 is good but my two favorites are missing though! I still need to read Dolly! 10mo

charl08 @squirrelbrain maybe I should reread the Enright. 10mo

charl08 @AnneCecilie glad she has some fans! 10mo

charl08 @AnneCecilie (Dolly, not Grenville, I mean - I've enjoyed her other books more) 10mo

charl08 @ChaoticMissAdventures I remember it - I was impressed how she wrote the yp's voice. But I've liked (some of) her earlier books more. 10mo

charl08 @BarbaraBB hope you can find a copy - would love to hear more comments about it. 10mo

49 likes13 comments

charl08

No Title | None

Oh go on then...

https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/features/features/watch-the-2023-winner-...

#WomensPrize #Shortlist

Tamra Of all strange things, I was dreaming about the prize this morning! 🤪 Black Butterflies is my hope. 2y

37 likes1 comment

charl08

Marriage Portrait | Maggie O'Farrell

Listening to Maggie O'Farrell last night (on catch up) talking about visiting the grave of her RL character in Italy.

The nuns said no one ever asked to visit the grave. 😢

I want to listen to all the other shortlist interviews now!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001mll9

#WomensPrize #Shortlist

jlhammar I'll have to give that a listen. Thanks for the link! 2y

40 likes1 comment

charl08

Trespasses | Louise Kennedy

V good.

https://womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2023-prize
#WomensPrize #Shortlist #Ireland

51 likes

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