2016 - Possible Contenders

[Drew]

I ran across this link to the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize in today's issue of Shelf Awareness: http://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-and-...

[Gayla]

I just came here to post that!

[Lark]

I really like the way this thread produces a running list of new novels that someone has loved (in the link to the side "Books Mentioned in this Topic").

I want to add two to the list, even though I don't think either of them has much of a chance to make the TOB:

Fifteen Dogs . I mentioned this one in the Rooster group already--a very unassuming-but-deep novel from Andre' Alexis that deserves more attention than it's getting--even in my very terrific independent bookstore I needed to special order it.

The Sympathizer. I'm still not finished but I'd love to know if anyone else has read it or plans to. I'm feeling both challenged and enlightened by it.

[Gayla]

Ron Charles really liked The Sympathizer so it is on my list. I have no idea when I'm going to get to it, though.

I know nothing about Fifteen Dogs.

[Lark]

Gayla wrote: "Ron Charles really liked The Sympathizer so it is on my list. I have no idea when I'm going to get to it, though.

I know nothing about Fifteen Dogs."

Gayla, I wouldn't have known about Fifteen Dogs except I read Kirkus Reviews in advance of publication and it sounded intriguing. I am a sucker for sentient animal stories, though, esp. when Greek gods are involved.
Here is a review:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/...

[Janet]

Poingu wrote: "I really like the way this thread produces a running list of new novels that someone has loved (in the link to the side "Books Mentioned in this Topic").

I want to add two to the list, even thoug..."

Oh yeah, that is cool. What should I read next? Just consult the list.
Right now I'm reading A Little Lifeand I have pre-ordered Preparation for the Next Life from Audible. I guess this is my year to read about life.

[Lark]

Janet wrote: "Right now I'm reading A Little Lifeand I have pre-ordered Preparation for the Next Life from Audible. I guess this is my year to read about life. "

Oh, that's interesting that you're doing audio for Lish's book. I looked it up on Audible and listened to the narrator (for a different book since they don't have a sample up yet for PFTNL). Weirdly I had this very strong feeling that they should have chosen a female narrator even though it's written by a man. I don't know why.

[Deborah]

Poingu wrote: "I really like the way this thread produces a running list of new novels that someone has loved (in the link to the side "Books Mentioned in this Topic").

I want to add two to the list, even thoug..."

I plan to read The Sympathizer, too, but like Gayla, I don't know when I'm going to get to it.

[C]

Gayla wrote: "The new T. C. Boyle (The Harder They Come) looks really good. Has there been a Boyle book in the tournament before?"

Yes, in 2005 The Inner Circle was included by Boyle. But he has written so many since then. He should really be included again!

[C]

Poingu wrote: "I really like the way this thread produces a running list of new novels that someone has loved (in the link to the side "Books Mentioned in this Topic").

I want to add two to the list, even thoug..."

Yep. Many of these books are already on my radar, but when they are mentioned in this thread, they get moved up the (very large) list in my head.

[Karen Michele]

Gayla wrote: "The new T. C. Boyle (The Harder They Come) looks really good. Has there been a Boyle book in the tournament before?"

T. C. Boyle is one of my favorites and I am quite excited that I'm going to see him in Seattle Wednesday night!

http://elliottbaybook.d7.indiebound.c...

[Gayla]

Karen, I am jealous!

[C]

Karen Michele wrote: "Gayla wrote: "The new T. C. Boyle (The Harder They Come) looks really good. Has there been a Boyle book in the tournament before?"

T. C. Boyle is one of my favorites and I am quite..."

That sounds fun, Karen! I was wondering after I posted what others think is their favorite Boyle books. I consider myself a fan... he is certainly a favorite writer for me, but I've only had a chance to read a handful of his books. I feel like I couldn't NOT like any of his books though. I've enjoyed The Tortilla Curtain the best, and the four others I've read seem to be on the same level of great: East Is East, Drop City, A Friend of the Earth and When the Killing's Done. Many more on the shelves TBR including the two gigantic short story collections. I wish someone that has read most of Boyle's books would note which ones are the most important/necessary.

[Julie]

C wrote : I wish someone that has read most of Boyle's books would note which ones are the most important/necessary.

T.C. Boyle has slipped under my radar so I would love an idea of where to jump in ... his most recent? the favourite? the first?

[Lark]

Julie wrote: "T.C. Boyle has slipped under my radar so I would love an idea of where to jum..."

Julie, Boyle is a very accessible and even writer. I would recommend The Tortilla Curtain and Drop City. They are as engaging as commercial fiction. Or if you just want a sample, his short story collection Wild Child and Other Stories starts with a story that I think epitomizes Boyle's strengths--the story is called "Balto" and it was also published in Best American Stories 2007, if you happen to have that on your shelf.

[Sherri]

I'm in the middle of The Sellout and can say I've never read anything like it. Sherman Alexie is the only other author I can think of who deals with racism in such a straightforward but satirical way. Get ready to be yanked out of your comfort zone with this one.

[Gayla]

That is on my list, too. But I have to finish the Bailey's Women's Prize books first, and there are so many I haven't read this year.

[Karen Michele]

C wrote: "Karen Michele wrote: "Gayla wrote: "The new T. C. Boyle (The Harder They Come) looks really good. Has there been a Boyle book in the tournament before?"

T. C. Boyle is one of my fa..."

I would second The Tortilla Curtain as a good starting place for Boyle and as one that still stands out as a favorite for me. I don't think there are any of his books that I have not liked. Of his earlier works The Road to Wellville is fun and was also a movie. I've enjoyed all of his recent work including The Women which hasn't been as well reviewed by others. I was fascinated by the Frank Lloyd Wright story. I have ordered Water Music, but it is one that I have yet to read that is well-reviewed. You can't go wrong with his short stories either. He is a master of that form as well as a top notch novelist.

[Karen Michele]

Gayla wrote: "That is on my list, too. But I have to finish the Bailey's Women's Prize books first, and there are so many I haven't read this year."

I'm working on these, too. It will be interesting to see what's shortlisted tomorrow! It will probably be all the ones I haven't read;)

[Juniper]

Gayla wrote: "That is on my list, too. But I have to finish the Bailey's Women's Prize books first, and there are so many I haven't read this year."

i am working on these too!! quite keen for tomorrow's shortlist. i have to say that, so far (9/20), i am fairly meh about most of them. at the moment, i would like to see I Am China and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night advance.

there is a women's prize group here on GR. (i hope it's okay to mention? i'm not a mod so have no personal interest or intend to promote it, other than as a reader.) it's small and not hugely active, but everyone is very nice. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Julie]

Ahhh so I have read Boyle after all!! I really enjoyed The Road To Wellville

[Gayla]

I haven't read The Girl Who Was Saturday Night yet, but I honestly wasn't crazy about I Am China.

I loved Outline much more than I expected, so I'm hoping to see that.

[Dianah (onourpath)]

I'm really enjoying Hausfrau by Essbaum. I haven't finished it yet, but so far it seems very rooster-worthy. Also, I just finished the new Kent Haruf: Our Souls at Night -- definitely rooster-worthy.

[Juniper]

Gayla wrote: "I haven't read The Girl Who Was Saturday Night yet, but I honestly wasn't crazy about I Am China.

I loved Outline much more than I expected, so I'm hoping to see that."

hi gayla! i actually didn't love 'i am am china', but i liked it and thought the idea creative and interesting. i gave it 3½-stars. i guess since i have been having not the best luck with the longlist reading, it has stood out as better than some of the others. i definitely have not had a 5-star read from the list. and i don't even think i have had a 4-star either. yet. i am still hopeful though. :)

[Gayla]

I Am China definitely had some good ideas, but I thought the writing was a bit off, and I also thought the author was trying to cram every single idea she'd ever had into one book. It maybe needed another editing pass.

Station Eleven is my only five-star read from the longlist so far. But my husband is reading The Offering right now and keeps saying that I will really like it, so I'm looking forward to that.

I'm reading After Before right now, and at first I thought it might be a five-star read, but the author has now annoyed me with one plot turn that would have been avoided if the people involved had had a simple, logical conversation, and another plot turn which is just ridiculously implausible.

[Juniper]

Gayla wrote: "...if the people involved had had a simple, logical conversation..."

i seem to be encountering this quite a bit lately in my reading and it is driving me nuts!

heh, i do agree that 'i am china' could have been tightened up a bit more. same with The Country of Ice Cream Star (which actually would have been a very interesting ToB candidate - did it come out in the US?) it's like an amped-up for bleakness 'station eleven'.

i haven't read either 'the offering' or 'after before' yet.

[Ellen]

I finished Preparation For the Next Life on Friday and really don't know what to think. I certainly didn't love it, but there were things about it that I found very strong. I feel it could have used some editing -- but I say that about almost everything, so I'm not sure that's a very productive comment.

Not germane to the topic -- but I just finished a 2014 book by Rachel Joyce, Perfect -- has anyone else read this book? I found it lovely and heartbreaking and funny. I don't know how it ended up on my list, and thus went into it knowing nothing about it, and that probably helped make it that much more special. A little on the too pat and sentimental side, but I recommend it.

[Topher]

Previous finalist Tom McCarthy's Satin Island looks like a contender.

[Ellen]

It's on my list.

[Ohenrypacey]

Thanks for the suggestion of Fifteen Dogs! I have decided, for my own reading life, that I am actively searching for diversity and authors of color. It's no secret that there remains an over-representation of white male voice in the mainstream of literary fiction, so I am making the choice to seek out as much as i can find of the other voices.
Paul Beatty, T. Geronimo Johnson, Kobo Abe, Denaw Mengetsu, and Lily King are my TRB list for now.
I am certain this group will provide me with others as the year progresses, and I am hoping to see as much diversity as possible in next year's ToB!

[Lark]

Ohenrypacey wrote: "Thanks for the suggestion of Fifteen Dogs! I have decided, for my own reading life, that I am actively searching for diversity and authors of color. It's no secret that there remains an over-repr..."

Me too Ohenrypacey. Here is an interesting essay I just read yesterday on the possible overconfidence of white authors when imagining the lives of others--written by Claudia Rankine and Beth Loffreda:

http://lithub.com/on-whiteness-and-th...

[Ohenrypacey]

Wow Poingu, all I can say at this point is that that essay demands several, closer readings in order to digest everything. It touches on many things that I have been thinking over the past few years, and i imagine its main points could make for quite a discussion, not only regarding literature, but film, music and the whole of the art world. Thanks for posting it.

[Juniper]

Poingu wrote: "Me too Ohenrypacey. Here is an interesting essay I just read yesterday..."

lithub has been a great resource since its launch.

[Deborah]

Ellen wrote: "I finished Preparation For the Next Life on Friday and really don't know what to think. I certainly didn't love it, but there were things about it that I found very strong. I feel it could have u..."

I really enjoyed Perfect and gave it 5 stars.

[Lark]

Ohenrypacey wrote: "Wow Poingu, all I can say at this point is that that essay demands several, closer readings in order to digest everything. It touches on many things that I have been thinking over the past few ye..."

I have to say I was troubled by the essay, but mostly in a good way. I'm also planning to read it a few times. It's been sort of sacrosanct to me that any writer has permission to write about any character. I do like the idea that these authors introduce, though, that we need to really question what we believe about others, both when we're writing, and when we're reading. It's easy for me to say "Wow, this author really wrote a believable character" when actually the author only succeeded in confirming my stereotype of a character who belongs to a given category of race or gender or class etc.

I also like the observation they make that most white writers fall into a trope of making the main character white and the non-white character an exotic "other." So these authors really don't even try to normalize their non-white characters.

Sorry to hijack the thread!

[Lark]

I just finished The Sympathizer with very mixed feelings. I do recommend it though--part of its goodness was that it was very unexpected and wouldn't conform to the novel I wanted it to be.

[Karen Michele]

I've been to see T.C. Boyle and finished The Harder They Come and it was a 5 star read for me. Here's my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gayla]

I am still in the middle of the Bailey's Women's Prize longlist, but I am really looking forward to reading the Boyle.

[Karen Michele]

I'll be looking forward to hearing how you like the Boyle, Gayla. Sometimes I like things that other people don't see the same way, so I'm always curious!

[Sherri]

John Warner says The Sellout is is his favorite book so far this year. I 5-starred it too.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifesty...

[Drew]

Has anyone mentioned The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma? It sounds amazing.

[Gayla]

Did you read the Millions review? It does sound really good.

[Juniper]

Drew wrote: "Has anyone mentioned The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma? It sounds amazing."

i just acquired this one last week!! :)

[Dianah (onourpath)]

Hausfrau by Essbaum is amazing.

[Jan]

Just got the audio of The Fishermen after reading The Millions review. Diana, I'm with you on Hausfrau, really liked it, and also Outline--have you read that one? Recently read the Children's Crusade, West of Sunset, and Green on Blue and was kind of meh on all of them. I recently reread Life After Life as a warmup for Atkinson's forthcoming semi-sequel and enjoyed it just as much the second time through. Also looking forward to the second book in Jane Smiley's trilogy coming next week. So, yeah, the ToB has definitely led me to increase my reading of contemporary fiction. :-)

[Sherri]

Jan wrote: "Just got the audio of The Fishermen after reading The Millions review. Diana, I'm with you on Hausfrau, really liked it, and also Outline--have you read that one? Recently read the Children's Crusa..."

Early Warning came out yesterday! I'm glad to find someone else enjoying this trilogy.

[Karen Michele]

Sherri wrote: "Jan wrote: "Just got the audio of The Fishermen after reading The Millions review. Diana, I'm with you on Hausfrau, really liked it, and also Outline--have you read that one? Recently read the Chil..."

I loved the first book. My copy of Early Warning is waiting at the library!

[Jan]

Sherri, so it did! Thanks!!

[Katie]

I'm so behind on adding books on my TBR and catching up on 2015 but I just started (about 50 pages in) to A Little Life and I'm already finding it impossible to put down. I respected The People in Trees but for parts I really hard to force my way through. A Little Life is just beautiful so far!

Now I need to go back through and add some of these other books you have all been mentioning!

[Lark]

I got so energized to read new fiction from this year's TOB that I've since read, I just realized, 30 novels published in 2015. I usually only get around to reading three or four in their year of publication so this has been different and exciting.

Of those novels these are my 3 favorites:

Fifteen Dogs
After Birth
Satin Island

These were the ones I couldn't stand:

The Buried Giant
The Shadow of the Crescent Moon
Hausfrau

with a lot of good reads in between--a lot to love this year. If The Buried Giant wins anything at all or even appears as a finalist I will have to ... I don't know. Get really mad about it, I guess.