The Booker Prize released its thirteen book longlist on August 1st and as frequently happens to me with literary prize longlists, I was intrigued, surprised, and a tiny bit intimidated. Literary prize lists, especially the internationally minded Booker, can be a great way for me to discover books that I would never have picked up otherwise. I look to them to find titles that will challenge me as a reader and blow me away with the level of their craft. And I have to admit that I like reading them so I can have an opinion, preferably before the winner is announced. I derived a great deal of satisfaction from telling people to read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida last year, both before and after it won the Booker. (It is a mesmerizing, wild ride and I still think about some of the scenes and language in it regularly.) But as much as I would like to be the kind of reader who reads the entire Booker, Women’s Prize, and National Book Award longlists every year, I’m not. This year, as we inch closer to fall and peak literary fiction season, I’m trying to figure out how these prize lists fit into my reading life and how they can bring the joy of a truly revelatory reading experience into it.
One thing I struggle with when it comes to prize-winning fiction is that I usually don’t find myself drawn to unrelentingly grim books or titles that pile tragedy on top of tragedy, which seem to be a staple of prize lists. I don’t mind reading about hard things but I do usually want those hard things to be tempered with moments of hope or humor or grace, like some of my favorite Maggie O’Farrell novels. Last year’s National Book Award longlist was full of books described as violent or unsettling and I felt spectacularly unmotivated to pick up any of them. (I also bear a minor grudge towards the National Book Awards for shortlisting Lauren Groff three times and still not giving her the top prize. If it happens again with The Vaster Wilds this fall, we riot.) Yet at the same time, there’s the occasional devastating book that really does work for me, like The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. I do want to leave room for those books to come into my life and to expand my reading horizons, but I want to get better at identifying when and how they might work for me.
I’m also trying to feel a little less internal angst about the need to keep up with everyone else and to embrace the pleasures of reading on my own schedule. A truly wonderful book is wonderful no matter when you read it, as I found out when I finally dove into The Whalebone Theatre last month. I’m the kind of reader who likes switching genres every book or two, so I won’t be systematically making my way through a longlist in a matter of weeks any time soon. But I’m on my way to making peace with that. This season, I’m trying to hone in on the titles that really excite me and take my time with reading them, savoring every page and turn of phrase.
So here’s four titles from the Booker longlist that I want to prioritize, based on plot summaries, the Booker committee’s descriptions, and of course, the eternally ineffable general vibes:
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
Pearl by Sian Hughes
Let me know your best strategies for conquering literary longlists and most unexpected discoveries from prizes of years past!
Currently reading: Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann, a portrait of a seventeen year-old girl attending her first dance and all its accompanying anxieties and daydreams. My run of less well known British female authors continues!
What’s bringing me joy lately:
I went to The Ripped Bodice Brooklyn!!! It’s a romance lover’s dream.
The return of Only Murders in the Building and my favorite comedic trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. This season has a Broadway setting, a gleefully obnoxious Paul Rudd as the murder victim, and Meryl Streep and I love it already.
A trip out to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge to spot birds and drink in some spectacular views of downtown NYC.
I saw the Ripped Bodice pop up on my Instagram feed and immediately thought of you! Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the prize lists. I am committed to reading the Booker and Women's prize short lists (I have yet to read an entire long list) and occasionally that means I read a book I really don't enjoy - even if it's "good" (and usually the short list ones are ... I don't think that's true for the long lists!). But I mostly read for structure and writing and I have enough reading time to balance the hard ones with not-so-hard. I loved House of Doors and think you will, too. Next up for me is Pearl and I have high expectations!
I had this grand plan at the beginning of the year to read all the Women’s fiction prize shortlists and winners and so far I’ve read...five. I love the idea of reading award winners and love making lists of books to read but the fact of the matter is that I’m a complete mood reader so going down a list of books is never going to work for me. I like the idea of picking and choosing the intriguing ones because there are gems in there but coming to terms with the fact is that it is unlikely I would ever read them all.