Litsy

Without a doubt the most pleasant surprise that was bookish this past week was the positive response to my #bookerdozen post. I loved seeing all of the posts & added quite a few to my TBR. I loved @thekidupstairs #womensdozen post & the response posts. Some great reads for #weekinbooks The real standouts though are “Convenience Store Woman“ which I finished yesterday. Something so magical about a lot of contemporary Japanese fiction. (CONT)

vivastory The other two pieces that stood out the most are from my current story collection: Gaiman's “Fragile Things.“ First is “Bitter Grounds.“ Gaiman does something at the end of this piece that he did at the end of a few other pieces in this collection that I just really love. It's a twist or ambiguous, but it doesn't feel cheap at all. I'm thinking of other stories like “Study In Emerald“ & “Closing Time.“ The second piece is the poem (CONT) 3mo

vivastory “Instructions.“ There are a few poems strewn throughout Fragile Things, but this has been the one that has caught my attention the most. It is pretty meta, including a few references to other stories within FT, but I think it would work by itself & it is a beautiful poem in its own right. 3mo

merelybookish So cool. It was fun to scroll through and checked out people's lists! Just as a twist, here's the Booker I hated. 😆

The Finkler Question: A Novel

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MicheleinPhilly @merelybookish Pretty sure that‘s the book that ceased my obsessive Booker reading. Ugh. What a dud. 3mo

merelybookish @MicheleinPhilly Terrible. So much penis talk. 🙄🙄 3mo

LeahBergen I never got around to making my own list but I sure enjoyed reading everyone else‘s! 3mo

Aimeesue I have the illustrated book of Instructions. It was illustrated by Charles Vess, who is a patron of my librarian friend‘s library. I get jealous because she talks to him all the time. And tells me about it, of course.

Instructions

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vivastory @Aimeesue It's so funny you mention that! I have a decidedly mixed reaction to the graphic adaptions to Gaimain's work. I was *reallY* disappointed in the graphic novel of American Gods that I read, IMO it really added nothing to the story, while on the other hand you have a BRILLIANT illiustrator such as Chris Riddell doing the illustrations for several of his works (!!!) I recently saw a video on booktube of the Vess & am def intrigued! 3mo

vivastory @merelybookish Although I have read my share of favorites, I apparently haven't read enough from the list to have a nominee for one that I really disliked. HOWEVER, the MB International is a different story: Dangers of Smoking In Bed & The War of the Poor. (To be far, I have Our Share Of The Night & am looking forward to it) 3mo

Aimeesue @vivastory Riddell is so brilliant! And yeah, I can‘t say graphic novelizations of his longer stuff appeal to me at all. Short stories, maybe - A Study in Emerald worked well, I thought - but novels, not so much. 3mo

CBee I really enjoyed Convenience Store Woman 👏🏻 3mo

vivastory @CBee I'm looking forward to exploring Murata's other works! 3mo

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kspenmoll

Hamnet | Maggie O'Farrell

These are six of the women‘s prize for fiction long/short lists that are unread on my shelves.I am sure I have more. I just have to dig them up. I have decided to try to read one per month starting in February.Ones that I have read so far in the past few years are:
The bookshop
The Silence of the Girls
Sing Unburied Sing
Circe
An American Marriage
Black Butterfies
#womensdozen #womenshalfdozen

TheBookHippie, TheKidUpstairs, vivastory

Ruthiella Great idea! 👍 3mo

vivastory Loved the Lockwood. The Shipstead & O'Farrell are high on my TBR. I'm looking forward to your thoughts on these! 3mo

Tamra There are several in your stack that are wonderful! 😍 3mo

TheKidUpstairs What a great idea! I loved loved loved Hamnet, Trespasses, and Great Circle. You have some wonderful stories ahead of you! 3mo

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CarolynM

The Vintner's Luck | Elizabeth Knox

#WomensDozen Again, embarrassed by how few I‘ve read. There are only 10 that I really loved.
The Vintner‘s Luck Elizabeth Knox
Bel Canto Ann Patchett
Gilgamesh Joan London
Small Island Andrea Levy
Disobedience Naomi Alderman
Digging to America Anne Tyler
A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson
Actress Anne Enright
Detransition, Baby Torrey Peters
The Vanishing Half Britt Brooke
Thanks for the idea @TheKidUpstairs

TheKidUpstairs Bel Canto was on my list, too 😊 I really do have to read A God in Ruins, I loved Life After Life! 3mo

Ruthiella I only looked at the shortlist and winners to narrow it down for my brain, but definitely Detransition Baby would have been there if I‘d included longlisters! I‘ve not heard of Gilgamesh, so definitely adding it to the TBR now! 3mo

Centique Ohhhh The Vintners Luck - its been such a long time since I read and loved that. Small Island is a fave too. (edited) 3mo

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TheBookHippie

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION JOURNAL. | THE. WOMEN'S PRIZE

Well then #womensdozen @TheKidUpstairs
Here‘s my 12 📚📚📚📚

@vivastory

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The Tiger's Wife: A Novel

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Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel

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vivastory I *really* need to read the Ward. I read “Salvage The Bones“ a few years ago & was completely floored by it & by all accounts it seems like this one is even better, I started “Hamnet“ recently“ & was loving it but had to return it, but def plan on returning to it. I keep seeing “On Beauty“ pop up which REALLY intrigues me bc I know a lot of people prefer Z. Smith's essays. Looking forward to both the Obreht & the Waters. Great list! 3mo

TheBookHippie @vivastory I‘ve read everything Ward, Smith and Waters has written 😅🙃 I believe other than her memoir this is Wards best work. There‘s something about On Beauty that just hits. I‘ve loved Waters for 25 (?) years. Hamnet was so hard to read, but so very good. 3mo

vivastory Was this the one that was compared to the Odyssey? (I 💙 the Odyssey) 3mo

TheBookHippie @vivastory Circe is the Odyssey and it is brilliant. 3mo

vivastory @TheBookHippie I have that one on my TBR shelves. I thought that there was one Jesmyn Ward novel that was a loose retelling of the Odyssey? I might be mistaken. 3mo

TheBookHippie @vivastory I would say sing unburied sing is said to be a modern day Odyssey. I think I read that in an article when it came out. (edited) 3mo

vivastory @TheBookHippie Thanks! 3mo

BarbaraBB It IS weird that we have only one in common right?! 3mo

Ruthiella Great list! I really need to read something/anything from Tayari Jones! 3mo

TheBookHippie @BarbaraBB I was so happy to see you like Sarah Waters too I love her writing! 3mo

TheBookHippie @Ruthiella the way she writes is swoon worthy "Love makes a place in your life, it makes a place for itself in your bed. Invisibly, it makes a place in your body, rerouting all your blood vessels, throbbing right alongside your heart. When it's gone, nothing is whole again.”
― Tayari Jones, An American Marriage 3mo

TheKidUpstairs On Beauty is my favourite Smith, too. I will read anything she writes, but that one is forever a stand out! 3mo

BarbaraBB Me too! Everything I‘ve read by her so far is a winner. I have this one my shelves to read soon:

The Little Stranger

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kspenmoll Sadly, I own many of these but have not read them! @TheKidUpstairs These posts have spurred me on to read One per month off my shelf. Thanks all! 3mo

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vivastory

Untitled | Unknown

I loved the idea that @thekidupstairs had to create a #womensdozen Twelve books that have either been longlisted, shortlisted or won the stellar Women's Prize For Fiction. Below are my 12 (w/ no overlap from my #bookerdozen
Zadie Smith: White Teeth
Margaret Atwood: The Blind Assassin
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Half A Yellow Sun
Madeline Miller: The Song Of Achilles
Kamila Shamsie: Home Fire
Oyinkan Braithwaite: My Sister, The Serial Killer

vivastory Susanna Clark: Piranesi
Yaa Gyasi: Transcendent Kingdom
Patricia Lockwood: No One Is Talking About This
Louise Erdrich: The Sentence
Ann Patchett-The Dutch House
Ghost Wall-Sarah Moss
The Essex Serpent-Sarah Perry
Using my dozen in the sense of baker's dozen, thanks to the pointer from @ruthiella 3mo

Ruthiella Great list! I‘ve actually read 10 of them already! The three I haven‘t, the Ann Patchett, Kamila Shamsie and Sarah Moss, are definitely on my TBR. (edited) 3mo

vivastory @Ruthiella Thanks! Both are quick reads that have staying power for different reasons. 3mo

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vivastory @Ruthiella I read the Patchett over the Thanksgiving holidays not realizing how much of a Thanksgiving book it is, A real surprise. One of the characters, Maeve, ended up being one of my favorite characters I encountered last year. 3mo

Ruthiella @vivastory Ooh! Maybe I will try to read it this November ! 🦃 3mo

youneverarrived So many good books on your list! 3mo

vivastory @youneverarrived Thanks, Katie 🙂 I'd love to see your list if you're able, if not no worries. I know that you have your hands full with your kiddos 3mo

BarbaraBB We‘ve got four in common, which doesn‘t surprise me, and I should have included The Sentence! 3mo

vivastory @BarbaraBB Tookie was such a wonderful character. I can't wait to explore more of Erdrich's backlist. I really loved your list. I'm esp. looking forward to reading the books by Waters, Hustvedt, Luiselli & Woodson. 3mo

BarbaraBB Those four are really so so good! I hope you‘ll read them! 3mo

vivastory @BarbaraBB I plan on making them a priority. I'm looking forward to it! 3mo

batsy Great list! Quite a few that I love in here. I'll be reading The Essex Serpent next month and I'm glad it's on your list. I'm so bad at knowing/keeping track off award books but it'll be interesting to comb through the website to see what I've read... 3mo

TheKidUpstairs Great list. A few on yours almost made mine, but there were so many I had to cut some! 3mo

TheKidUpstairs @batsy it's only been the last few years that I've really paid attention to the awards, so it was a fun exercise to go back and see which books I'd loved were nominated without me knowing. And to explode my TBR with all the great titles I missed! 3mo

Branwen Excellent list! 💕📚 I absolutely love The Essex Serpent and totally think it deserves more love! 3mo

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Ruthiella

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION JOURNAL. | THE. WOMEN'S PRIZE

Inspired by @TheKidUpstairs and @BarbaraBB here‘s my #womensdozen using only the short list and winners. Purposefully no overlap with my #bookerdozen with either author or title. Some are my favorite books of all time.

1. The Poisonwood Bible
2. Bel Canto
3. Purple Hibiscus
4. Old Filth
5. The Observations
6. The Tiger‘s Wife
7. Life After Life
8. The Goldfinch
9. Do No Say We Have Nothing
10. The Idiot
11. Girl, Woman, Other
12. Piranesi

Christine This is an amazing list, and now I‘m of course wondering which are your favorite books of all time! 3mo

vivastory I have read only 2 of these! I have a lot of reading to do as several of these are on my TBR 3mo

Ruthiella @Christine Thanks! Bel Canto, Old Filth, Life After Life and The Idiot would go on that list. 😃 3mo

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Ruthiella @vivastory So many books, so little time! 😃 3mo

vivastory So true, so true. If only work didn't keep interfering! 😅 3mo

vivastory @Ruthiella I have to ask: have you read other Atkinson books? I'm just curious, because I read “Case Histories“ & really loved it but it's the only Atkinson that I have read so far. 3mo

Ruthiella @vivastory I LOVE Atkinson. I‘ve read most of her novels and the entire Jackson Brodie series. I highly recommend it. When Will There Be Good News is IMO the best, but they‘re all great. @CarolynM is also a fan. 3mo

vivastory @Ruthiella Thanks! *Noted. I am def. planning on continuing the Brodie series, but also plan on checking out Life After Life. 3mo

BarbaraBB Such a great selection 😍. I loved Old Filth too. And Piranesi. And I should read

The Tiger's Wife: A Novel

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Ruthiella @BarbaraBB Discovering Jane Gardam was a revelation to me. I want to read everything she‘s written! 3mo

BarbaraBB I‘ve been thinking that too! And I noticed I already read The Tiger‘s Wife. Not even that long ago, in 2020. I don‘t remember a thing, isn‘t that weird? Or maybe it‘s because it‘s the damned Covid year… 😱 3mo

Ruthiella @BarbaraBB I definitely have read books where I have no memory. I sometimes wonder if I briefly had an out of body experience. 😂 3mo

BarbaraBB I am really shocked. I often don‘t remember what a book was about but not remembering that I read a book in the first place hasn‘t happened before, I think 👵🏼 3mo

vivastory @BarbaraBB If it's any consolation I recently started reading a short story collection thinking I had never read it & halfway through it I checked goodreads only to discover that I had read it 6 years ago 🙃 3mo

TheBookHippie The Observations is the only one I didn‘t read in your list!!!! Wow. 3mo

Ruthiella @TheBookHippie Wow! The Observations was great. I‘d recommend it to anyone who likes Sarah Waters. 3mo

Christine Worthy picks! Though I have to admit I‘ve never heard of Old Filth! 3mo

CarolynM Yep, big Atkinson fan. That one is probably my favourite Brodie (very hard to choose) I haven‘t read all of her non-Brodies yet @vivastory Of the ones I‘ve read I love Life After Life but my favourite is its companion novel

A God in Ruins

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batsy Purple Hibiscus, The Idiot, and Piranesi! 💜 So many here that I must read. 3mo

Tamra I‘m still irritated by the The Goldfinch. I was downright angry at the time! 🤣 3mo

TheKidUpstairs So many good ones! Totally stacking The Observations and Old Filth! 3mo

Ruthiella @CarolynM The way the plot of When Will There Be Good News winds up was so amazing. I still get goosebumps. (edited) 3mo

Ruthiella @batsy A lovely list of possibilities! 😃 3mo

Ruthiella @Tamra I get that! Donna Tart‘s style can be indulgent and long winded. 😆 3mo

Ruthiella @TheKidUpstairs I hope you enjoy them! 3mo

Caryl Ooh! Some of my favorites (Bel Canto, Old Filth, Purple Hibiscus, Life After Life) and some shelf-sitters I need to get to (Piranesi, The Idiot). 3mo

Ruthiella @Caryl so many books, so little time! I hope you enjoy both when you get to them. 😃 3mo

Readerann Have read 7 of these and mostly agree with you, especially on 1 and 2! (edited) 3mo

Ruthiella Both were the first I‘d read from Patchett and Kingsolver and they knocked it out of the park. 3mo

BkClubCare Oh my, there are 5 on this list that I have yet to read.🧐 3mo

Ruthiella @BkClubCare Looking through the shortlist, I saw lots of books I already have on my mental TBR. 3mo

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BarbaraBB

WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION JOURNAL. | THE. WOMEN'S PRIZE

Okay @TheKidUpstairs I checked out the history of the Women‘s Prize for Fiction and it turned out some of my all time favorites were nominated on it. So here are my #womensdozen (I didn‘t use books I already posted in my #bookerdozen post).

Titles below in the comments!

BarbaraBB Anne Michaels: Fugitive pieces
Helen Dunmore: A spell of winter
Yaa Gyasi: Transcedent kingdom
Jacqueline Woodson: Red at the bone
Valeria Luiselli: Lost children archive
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah
Elizabeth Strout: The Burgess boys
Siri Hustvedt: What I loved
Sarah Waters: Fingersmith
Margaret Atwood: Blind assassin
Jane Urquhart: The underpainter
Anna Quindlen: Black and blue 3mo

TheKidUpstairs Fugitive Pieces has been on my TBR since high school when a teacher recommended it. I'm thinking I should finally get to that one soon! Only 26 years late! 3mo

TheKidUpstairs And I really have to read Lost Children Archive. I absolutely loved

Tell Me How it Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions

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sarahbarnes Some great books here! And Fingersmith is on my list! 3mo

Ruthiella Great list! 👍 Looking at the Women‘s Prize shortlists over the years made me want to read all of them! Anna Qindlen is an author I need to try. (edited) 3mo

vivastory I feel like between the #bookerdozen & the #womensdozen I could easily be stocked up on books to read at least until the summer! So many wonderful recommendations on these posts & reminders of books that I have been meaning to read 💙 3mo

vivastory @TheKidUpstairs I saw a virtual event with several incredible authors early days of the pandemic & Valeria Luiselli read from that one & I haven't forgotten it. I keep meaning to read it. 3mo

BarbaraBB @TheKidUpstairs Thanks for the Luiselli recommendation! And looking at your choices I was thinking: I should finally read

Fall On Your Knees

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BarbaraBB @vivastory Yes! I felt a renewed appreciation for them: so many authors I probably wouldn‘t have discovered without them! (edited) 3mo

TheBookHippie Wellllll my my my we have a similar choice !!! 😳👀♥️😘

Fingersmith

3mo

squirrelbrain Some great books! ❤️ 3mo

BarbaraBB @TheBookHippie Finally! And it‘s a good one 👌🏽 3mo

batsy Great list! Many I have yet to read but Fingersmith and The Blind Assassin are excellent 💜 3mo

Tamra Loved Blind Assassin! 3mo

TheKidUpstairs @BarbaraBB one of my favourites by one of my favourite authors! 3mo

Readerann I loved Americanah and The Blind Assasin. Anna Quindlen is a writer who I feel is predictable but I‘m perfectly happy to read anything she writes anyway! We only part ways at Elizabeth Strout. 😁 3mo

BarbaraBB @Readerann You‘re no Strout fan? I loved everything she‘s written 😃. I haven‘t read many Quindlen books but this one stood out at the time (long ago!) and I still remember it! 3mo

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TheKidUpstairs

Fall On Your Knees | Ann-Marie MacDonald

The Women's Prize longlists have delivered some of my favourite reads over the past couple years. So, inspired by @vivastory and the #BookerDozen, I decided to look back at my top twelve reads from the history of the Women's/Orange Prize (Longlists, Shortlists, and Winners). Feel free to play along!

Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
Ann Patchett - Bel Canto
Nicole Krauss - The History of Love
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun

👇

TheKidUpstairs Madeline Miller - Song of Achilles
Hannah Kent - Burial Rites
Pat Barker - The Silence of the Girls
Louise Kennedy - Trespasses
Becky Chambers - Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Namesake
Ann-Marie MacDonald - Fall on Your Knees 3mo

TheKidUpstairs #TwelveWomen #WomensDozen 3mo

TheKidUpstairs Tomorrow, maybe the Giller for a good dose of #CanLit? 3mo

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TheBookHippie The History of Love one of my all time favs! 3mo

BarbaraBB Another great list! I have to find an overview of all nominated books but that shouldn‘t be too much of a problem! 3mo

BarbaraBB How weird that we don‘t have any similarities (just posted my #womensdozen)! 3mo

TheKidUpstairs @BarbaraBB true. Speaks to the strength of the selection! My original list was about 40 books to narrow down to these 12. 3mo

ShelleyBooksie Fall on your knees - what a book! Bell Canto has been on my shelf.for several years but I've not picked.it up 3mo

Chelsea.Poole I love these lists! Some here I haven‘t read so I‘ll have to add to my ever-growing list 😆 I also have really enjoyed several of your selections, namely

The Namesake

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TheKidUpstairs @ShelleyBooksie I've been meaning to do a re-read of Fall on Your Knees since I saw the stage adaptation in Toronto last year. Such an exquisite gut-punch of a novel. And Bel Canto was my first Patchett, I fell in love with it. It was always my favourite of hers (but Tom Lake just may have passed it - it was as near to perfect as a book can get, IMO) 3mo

TheKidUpstairs @Chelsea.Poole Ah, the joys of a never-ending, ever-growing TBR! 3mo

Ruthiella Great idea! 3mo

vivastory This was such a great idea! 3mo

CarolynM Great idea. I will get on to it🙂 3mo

ShelleyBooksie I'm listening to Tom Lake on audio right now (my first Patchett). Meryl Streeps voice is an amazing narrator. 3mo

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