The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

These are the longlisted books:

A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (Canongate Books)
Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber)
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein (Granta Books)
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (Fourth Estate)
How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney (Harvill Secker)
This Other Eden by Paul Harding (Hutchinson Heinemann)
Pearl by Siân Hughes (Indigo Press)
All the Little Bird-Hearts by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow (Tinder Press)
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Oneworld Publications)
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (Atlantic Books)
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo (Picador)
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Hamish Hamilton)
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng (Canongate Books)

first impressions: Every judge has loved a book and wanted to includ it on the list . it is not coherent at all

The year of the Pauls

Some left field choices.

By the way the Eng is not published by Bloomsbury in the UK.

The only one I've read is A Spell of Good Things and I'm surprised it's on the list - not as good as her first novel and awkwardly structured. I'd expected it to make the Women's Prize longlist, not this one! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have read 7 - which is about average (last few years going back in time have been 9,7,6,20,2,10

I've read on : In Ascension. The only problem is that I had to order 12 of the books so they'll arrive by the end of August but I am glad that they went the different route.

Which of the ones you haven´t read are you excited about GY?

At first viewing it feels very British (sorry Ireland, I am grouping you here) and white. Even the Tan Twan Eng is written through the eyes of colonial white people. A closer look may prove me wrong.

I have only read Old Gods Time (I did not think it was his best) and The House of Doors (which was excellent). I am looking forward to reading a few of these.

Wow. I did not see most of those titles coming. I am surprised. The only book that I expected to see was the Paul Harding. I have read exactly zero books off this list--I had better get cracking!

On Listopia as taken last night (and David I am assuming you added Feeney post us speculating over it so I am not counting it)

3 House of Doors
9 in Ascension
19 This Other Eden
23 Old God's Time
27 A Spell of Good Things
32 Study for Obedience
47 The Bee Sting

Not listed (well I could not see them)

If I Survive You
How to Build A Boat (it did get a bite from David but I suspect after the leak)
Pearl
Western Lane
Prophet Song
All the Little Birds Sing

To contrast that to say 2017 when 12 of the longlist was in the top 20

Props to Yahaira for being the first person I saw mention Western Lane - good call!

Cannot help but think, I only read two… Mom and Dad won’t be happy with me!

Nationality I make

4 Irish
4 UK
2 US
1 Malaysia
1 Nigeria (living partly in Norfolk)
1 Canadian (living in Scotland)

Publishers I think is

Big 4 - 6
3 PRH
1 Hachette
1 Harper Collins
1 Pan MacMillan

Faber Indie Alliance (big Indies) - 6
2 Canongate
1 Atlantic Books
1 OneWorld
1 Granta
1 Faber

Genuine small press - 1
1 Indigo

Note Indigo may not even have submitted Riambel

I've read 4, which I think is par for the course or even a bit better than usual.

In Ascension I enjoyed with reservations, This Other Eden was okay, Study for Obedience I didn't enjoy reading much at all. House of Doors I enjoyed a great deal.

BookerMT2 wrote: "Some left field choices.

By the way the Eng is not published by Bloomsbury in the UK."

Will fix that later. I blame the new book page - you can't see the full list of editions at a glance any more, and the Twitter version of the longlist I saw first didn't list the publishers.

I haven't read any of these - this could be expensive.

Ben wrote: "I've read 4, which I think is par for the course or even a bit better than usual.

In Ascension I enjoyed with reservations, This Other Eden was okay, Study for Obedience I didn't enjoy reading muc..."

I loved the writing in Study for Obedience, I liked her first novel but this was so much stronger. Haven't read any of the others, the only one that's tempting is Pearl and that's simply because I'm keen on medieval poetry.

What a surprise! Almost all the popular picks were completely ignored!

Only 5 of the titles are currently available in Canada, with release dates for 4 others (though these release dates are largely well past the shortlist) which leaves 4 that are entirely unavailable.
This is about what I expected - the past few years were surprisingly available by comparison. (I've ordered everything in from the UK; as long as the post is kind to me, I hope to read everything before the shortlist is announced. [I have read precisely 0.])

According to my calculations, the 13 titles total 4133 pages which is slightly longer than last year's but about average (last year featured a particularly lean page count).

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For those interested in data, among 41 prediction lists I compiled, this is how often each title was mentioned. (Demon Copperhead with the most predictions at 26 appearances for reference.)

A Spell of Good Things - 5
Old God's Time - 7
Study for Obedience - 0
If I Survive You - 0
How to Build a Boat - 0
This Other Eden - 15
Pearl - 0
All the Little Bird-Hearts - 0
Prophet Song - 0
In Ascension - 14
Western Lane - 0
The Bee Sting - 1
The House of Doors - 20

Hugh wrote: "I haven't read any of these - this could be expensive."

Then you should start with The Bee Sting, Hugh - apparently it is about people buying things online without having the money for it :)

Just did a bunch of research on U.S. availability, sharing in case helpful to others...

In catalog at my local U.S. library: A Spell of Good Things, Old God's Time, If I Survive You, This Other Eden, Western Lane

U.S. pub dates I could find for others:
The Bee Sting – Aug 15
Study for Obedience – Aug 22
Pearl – Oct 3*
The House of Doors – Oct 17
How to Build a Boat – Nov 7
All the Little Bird-Hearts – none
In Ascension – none*
Prophet Song – none

*Despite not being out in the U.S. yet, I was able to purchase Pearl and In Ascension on Audible for some reason.

Alwynne wrote: "the only one that's tempting is Pearl and that's simply because I'm keen on medieval poetry."

That’s the one I immediately picked up on Kindle, extended my lunch a little, and am 10% into it now. The link to the Pearl poem got me interested, too.

As for the rest of the list, the local library will serve surprisingly well. May visit the bookshops in the evening to see if they carry any of these.

Tommi wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "the only one that's tempting is Pearl and that's simply because I'm keen on medieval poetry."

That’s the one I immediately picked up on Kindle, extended my lunch a little, and am 1..."

That's great, I look forward to your comments, will help me decide whether to go for it or not!

Nicholas wrote: "Just did a bunch of research on U.S. availability, sharing in case helpful to others..."

This matches the availability in Canada with one exception - there is no release date for The Bee Sting. (I didn't check audio versions, so not sure about availability there.)

Nicholas wrote: "Just did a bunch of research on U.S. availability, sharing in case helpful to others...

In catalog at my local U.S. library: A Spell of Good Things, Old God's Time, If I Survive You, This Other Ed..."

Pearl is available as Kindle ebook as well for the present.

Ok - book threads are all in place now - no captchas today. Will sort out any edition errors and the group bookshelf later when I have space to use the laptop. I didn't check editions for the ones Derek didn't mention so they may need to change.

Alwynne wrote: "I loved the writing in Study for Obedience, I liked her first novel but this was so much stronger. Haven't read any of the others, the only one that's tempting is Pearl and that's simply because I'm keen on medieval poetry."

Yes, it's great to see Study for Obedience on the list. One of the better ones that I've read this year. I definitely intend to get to The House of Doors, others somehow do not sound all that appetizing.

I’ve noticed that happen a few times before where the audiobook and e-book are available in the U.S. even if it is not technically published here yet. My theory is when the publisher controls the rights in both territories and they don’t have grand plans for a U.S. release, they will go ahead and pull the trigger on the digital publishing timed to the UK pub date. I suspect it saves some time or money to do it that way. But at least once when a book subsequently made the Booker longlist they pulled down the digital option and made plans for a more formal U.S. rollout, which is why I check and grab things quickly when I can.

There is so much grieving in this list.
Where is hope?

Only really interested in In Ascension and Prophet Song, as it tackles problems that are less personal/human centered and more post-anthropocene.

Well I have read precisely zero and will read a couple (Pearl and Study for Obedience) - others I'll await recommendations.

Generally I was only aware of 2-3 of these books but that's more a comment on how little I follow the anglo literary scene (e.g. I didn't know Barry had a new book out).

Seems a decent list - although lacking any of the 18 books I'd wished to see!

Tommi wrote: "The year of the Pauls"

Paul Murray is a traitor to Paulkind given the length of his tome.

Dylan wrote: "According to my calculations, the 13 titles total 4133 pages which is slightly longer than last year's but about average (last year featured a particularly lean page count)."

So which ones are SafeforPaul ie < 200 pages?

Chetna Maroo seems to be the shortest....so if you like squash...

Given Paul's annual Booker predictions: #8 Many of the choices will be “obvious” after the event based on a complex analysis of the judges’ part history that would put Ted Rogers to shame

Well here are a list of judges' history made in advance that turned out to be prescient (I have tried to reference to the Booker speculation post in case anyone wants to check)

Spell Of Good Things - linked to Adjoa Andoh as narrator of the author's previous book (post by me at 918)

The Bee Sting - called by Ben as the first of possible comedic books linked to Robert Webb. I can't find the initial post but there is a whole series of replies and side discussions - eg a debate about whether Soldier, Sailor was funny (as someone outside the group had claimed) and a whole series on Grimmish (which Ben mentioned).

This Other Eden - blurbed by Esi Edugyan and again a Ben call (767) after we confirmed judges picking books they had blurbed was a definite thing. On my Instagram post I also listed as likely to attract James Shapiro due to lots of use of Shakespeare (albeit second to the bible) - although I explicitly failed to list here

Study for Obedience - ok this is very Ted Rodgers but it was before the event not after ... linked on my Instagram for her love of Paulo Re go, a quote by who inspired the book

The House of Doors - linked by me (again on Instagram although I think I mentioned here) to the author being an International Booker judge and a possible a Goldsmith style revolving door

Good Morning All: Here with my coffee having absorbed the list and read through these comments carefully (thanks especially to Nicholas for the US publication dates, which saved me some time). I have read four, which for me is low, and apart from Old God's Time, did not enjoy them (strong writing, apart from the Escoffery) but incredibly bleak. I echo Cristiano's comment that there is so much grieving and so little hope. What a grim looking list. I am deflated by it, I confess. But I will start reading the one book out in the US (Western Lane) that I have not read and wait for The Bee Sting. Going to place a Blackwells order today for some of the others. We'll see.

This feels like one of those lists where any other group of 5 judges would have been unlikely to have even picked half of them.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "This feels like one of those lists where any other group of 5 judges would have been unlikely to have even picked half of them."

Completely agree. I somehow had expected something a bit more lighthearted from this group.

I managed to download 12 of the 13 titles onto my Kindle- the only one not currently available is Prophet Song. I've read two so far, one of which I really enjoyed (The House of Doors) and one of which I hated pretty much every page of (In Ascension). Interested to see how this year's longlist is!

Laura wrote: "I managed to download 12 of the 13 titles onto my Kindle- the only one not currently available is Prophet Song. I've read two so far, one of which I really enjoyed (The House of Doors) and one of w..."

There goes my hope for In Ascension.

Cristiano wrote: "Laura wrote: "I managed to download 12 of the 13 titles onto my Kindle- the only one not currently available is Prophet Song. I've read two so far, one of which I really enjoyed (The House of Doors..."

Oh no, it could be just me! I just couldn't gel with the book because I felt it was too scientific, but if you're okay with a strong focus on science in relation to the ocean and space, you'll probably enjoy it.

I've read none, put hold on a few at the Canadian library to check them out, but I'm not sure I have time to read them! Pearl appeals for the Medieval poetry. And A Study of Obedience, which somehow isn't out yet in Canada.

I will say it's nice that it isn't stacked with Americans this year.

This is very true.

Emily wrote: "I will say it's nice that it isn't stacked with Americans this year."

Wow, this group again. Sorry English is a language and I don't support any kind of nationalism whatsoever. If there is superb quality being written in the US then I am fine with all 13 book being American.

I said it last year and I will say it again. I hate this discussion around nationality!

Alwynne wrote: "Ben wrote: "I've read 4, which I think is par for the course or even a bit better than usual.

In Ascension I enjoyed with reservations, This Other Eden was okay, Study for Obedience I didn't enjoy..."


I used to buy from Book Depository for delivery to US. what seller did you use?

I think there's room for a nuanced discussion of language, culture and the role of different book prizes without going straight to assuming nationalism.

A surprising number of these books are on Scribd. I enjoyed listening to The House of Doors on audio, and I'm currently listening to Western Lane (the audio version is fine, but I'm not finding the story engaging in any way). I've reserved three of the books from my local bookshop, the rest I'll read on Kindle.

I guessed Western Lane (she says now and with no posted evidence) because there's been a lot of quiet hype and the author won the Plimpton Prize (previous winners Ottessa M, Emma Cline and Atticus Lish). It looks quite tasteful and potentially less divisive than some of the other choices on the longlist.

Emily wrote: "I think there's room for a nuanced discussion of language, culture and the role of different book prizes without going straight to assuming nationalism."

Well a one sentence statement without any further explanation is hardly a nuanced discussion. The booker is an English Language book prize without borders. This group just likes seeing the US as the baddies, but when looking at population which speaks English then the US and India is underrepresented (just as an example).