A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki
Five Star Billionaire, by Tash Aw
Almost English, by Charlotte Mendelson
The Kills, by Richard House
The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton
Harvest, by Jim Crace
The Marrying of Chani Kaufman, by Eve Harris
The Spinning Heart, by Donal Ryan
The Testament of Mary, by Colm TóibÃn
We Need New Names, by NoViolet Bulawayo
Unexploded, by Alison MacLeod
TransAtlantic, by Colum McCann
Of these, I've read exactly 0, though I do currently have A Tale for the Time Being checked out from the library per Nathan Dunbar's recommendation. As admitted above, I don't generally get around to reading as many award contenders as I'd like, though the longlists do open my eyes to books I'd otherwise not have known; The Harvest, above, looks particularly interesting and is one I'd never seen before, and Almost English is on my ever-growing to-read list as well.
Does anyone try to read award contenders? Any particular award you'll read the whole longlist for? I find this endlessly fascinating, so please share!
Cool! I'm looking forward to reading Lahiri's new book, and I'm rooting for A Tale for the Time Being because one of my fave illustrators (Jim Tierney) designed the cover. Shallow is me!
ReplyDeleteI've actually never read any Lahiri, so I'm wondering if this is a good place to start or if I should go back and start with an earlier work. And no shame or shallowness in rooting for a book with amazing cover design... I agree, that cover is stunning!
DeleteI've only read two of the books from the long list. A Tale for the Time Being was wonderful. But We Need New Names?? Ohhh my gosh, that book! Stupendous. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteI've heard good things about A Tale for the Time Being and am excited to start it. I actually had never heard of We Need New Names before this list came out, though, so I was excited to add a new one to my list. Because I needed more to read.
DeleteI've read three of those, and they were all good, but in preference I'd put Tale for the Time Being first, The Lowland second, and We Need New Names third.
ReplyDelete3 out of 13 ain't too shabby! Interesting that those three tend to be the most talked about (at least in my circles, as of today... so not a statistically relevant sample in any sense!).
DeleteI haven't read any either! I have been lusting over The Luminaries for a while now, but it's not out for a few more months here. I guess I have a few more to add to that massive TBR pile, though.
ReplyDeleteI'd never even heard of the Luminaries until this list was announced, but it sounds wonderful.
DeleteI have the worst luck with award list books. That said, seeing Lahiri's new book here - that's the one I"ll read. Love her books.
ReplyDeleteI've read none of these, though I did read an excerpt of Transatlantic in Tin House, which was really good. Besides that, I'd really like to get my hands on the Ozeki, House, Catton, and Aw books.
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