2021 Booker Prize Speculation Showing 1,101-1,150 of 1,196

[Paul]

Jo wrote: "WndyJW wrote: "Jo listed books I haven’t heard of: The Book of Form and Emptiness, Razorblade Tears."

That's a new one to me as well - thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[Nicole D.]

Paul wrote: "I have read back to post 320 and compiled a list of wishes/predictions from those I could easily see.

Actually not many from people posting here - most are links to bloggers/booktubers - and I ha..."
Wow, that was a lot of work. Went to add mine and it was already there :) thank you

[Debra]

Tommi wrote: "I have just finished Assembly and I guess I’m not quite as excited about it as some people here. It’s definitely Booker worthy and I loved many things in it, but as a whole it appeared to me more as therapeutic autofiction plus social critique in the form of a novella or short story rather than a full-fledged novel. Am I becoming the opposite of Paul in terms of preferred page count?"

I'm usually in the Paul camp when it comes to page count, but I wanted more from Assembly. For me, the book was like an exquisitely prepared appetizer -- I savored every bite, but was left hungry in the end.

[Paul]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "One of Paul’s amusing predictions was that there would be a number of books which after the event would seem “obvious “based on some kind of tenuous/convoluted Ted Rodgers style link to the judges...."

So confident of How Beautiful We Were you've included it twice? I will add in Panenka for the duplicate.

[Sam]

I am with Paul with my preference for shorter novels but I appreciate the longer ones that are well written and think there are certain things that an author can accomplish in a longer format that isn't possible in shorter novel. I tend to associate the Booker with longer works and was thinking this group of judges might lean toward longer historically based fiction that has been favored in past Booker years. I wouldn't mind. I am in the mood for that kind of novel.

[Paul]

Having said the lists have a lot of overlap, there are now 91 different books nominated on the M&G predicition list.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

The Great Circle perhaps or The Magician or Tenderness (that would be an interesting DH Lawrence double with Second Place).

For interest Assembly was when submitted to publishers even shorter - this is the expanded version. I can see what you mean re We Are All Birds of Uganda covering similar ideas - I would like to see them both on the list.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Anyone seen a single preview in the mainstream media?

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Paul another list from social media this time by a bookstore owner Righton Books.

Very standard

Popisho (sic)
Still Life
Transcendent Kingdom
Living Sea of Waking Dreams
China Room
Book of Form and Emptiness
Chronicles from Land …
Bewilderment
Palmares
Harlem Shuffle
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Klara and The Sun
Infinite Country

[Roman Clodia]

Jo wrote: "I have just finished Razorblade Tears and really liked it. Reminded me of An American Marriage."

Razorblade Tears is one I'd like to read (though I wasn't impressed with American Marriage) - I still have to read his Blacktop Wasteland too.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Watchingtheworld blog

1 Lean, Fall, Stand by Jon McGregor

2. The Promise by Damon Galgut

3. The Magician by Colm Toibin

4. The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

5. Talk to Me by T. C. Boyle

6. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

7. Second Place by Rachel Cusk

8. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

9. The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

10. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

11. The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore

12. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

13. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyazi

[Nicholas]

Paul wrote: "I will cease tallying predictions around 8pm UK time (3 hours from now) and declare a forum/blogger longlist, if anyone wants to get in any last minute wishes/predictions, or indeed see any elsewhere."

This deadline finally convinced me to make a list. My strategy is chaotic – a mix of things I expect to happen and want to happen, with a slight tilt towards books not from the US/UK to compensate for what I'm seeing on other lists.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Assembly by Natasha Brown
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
The Performance by Claire Thomas
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan
Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka
China Room by Sunjeev Sahota
Silent Winds, Dry Seas by Vinod Busjeet (wild card!)
The Yield by Tara June Winch
The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
little scratch by Rebecca Watson
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

[Paul]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Anyone seen a single preview in the mainstream media?"

Telegraph and Times had coverage

Consisted of Frederick Forsyth complaining that the books are all nonsense - "If it is a Booker prize-winning novel and I dip into it and after 50 pages I say I don’t know what the hell I am reading [then] I have lost interest. I don’t think I have finished a Booker prize for years and years and years.”

And Lee Child chiming in and saying thrillers were now acceptable as poncy Booker readers were sucked in by the Scandis:

"What we have is sales and what they have is prizes. But I think the snobbery against thrillers and crime has reduced dramatically, in as much as a lot of focus went on the Scandinavian type of crime story or thriller. Because I think for the kind of reader who feels a little embarrassed reading what they think is downmarket stuff, they found that acceptable because it was foreign and the author had a long name with umlauts and all that kind of thing."

So that was constructive (and I can only assume Lee Child was outvoted last year on the jury).

[Roman Clodia]

Paul wrote: "I will cease tallying predictions around 8pm UK time (3 hours from now) and declare a forum/blogger longlist, if anyone wants to get in any last minute wishes/predictions, or indeed see any elsewhere."

I'll add some late-published possibilities - I found them all uneven so not a wishlist:

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill
Animal by Lisa Taddeo
The Pages by Hugo Hamilton
Maybe Insatiable by Daisy Buchanan?

And has anyone mentioned Lionel Shriver's Should We Stay or Should We Go?

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Lionel Shriver would cause a woke backlash

[Cindy]

I'm quite interested in Razorblade Tears. The author was on the New York Times Book Review podcast, and he made many very interesting comments.

Wendy, The Book of Form and Emptiness is Ruth Ozeki's new novel, which is due out (in the US) on September 21st. It sounds excellent, but it clocks in at just under 600 pages.

[Debra]

A few more from The Reader's Room shadow panel.

[Roman Clodia]

Ha! So maybe not if this is a 'safe' judging panel.

[Paul]

Debra wrote: "A few more from The Reader's Room shadow panel."

My heart sunk when I saw all those to add! Luckily one of the panel had already posted some time back so I had already entered them!

[Paul]

Roman Clodia wrote: "Ha! So maybe not if this is a 'safe' judging panel."

Yes I'd skip one of hers if included. Filed alongside JK Rowling in the cancelled section.

[Cindy]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Lionel Shriver would cause a woke backlash"

Also, to be honest, I thought the novel was not good at all, so it would cause a personal backlash as well.

[Robert]

Plus lately she’s said some derogatory statements about race

[Sam]

The chances of this making the longlist are miniscule and despite her winning a Pen/Faulkner for her last, readers love to hate her style, but I like her, so I shout out Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi's Savage Tongues.

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

She writes for the Spectator which has unfortunately lost it completely in lockdown / COVID

[Cristiano]

I am actually ready to be surprised by the longlist!

I would want to see

Second Place
Open Water
Beautiful World, Where Are You
Detransition, Baby
Luster
Mrs Death Misses Death
Dictionary of Lost Words
The Performance

I am in the camp of those who does not like Assembly as a novel. It is very good, but something is missing. Like the other short novel - Open Water - the characters did not stay with me. For me it is an interesting collection of experiments…

[Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer]

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi’s previous novel unfortunately has one of the lowest Goodreads rankings I have seen - 2.8 overall and 2.6 among my Friends (the latter is about 20 reviews so not a small sample)

Top review on this new one is 1 star.

That would certainly generate some discussion.

[Paul]

Big Ben has struck 8 and the polls are now officially closed.

The M&G Booker longlist is .....

1. Klara & The Sun (26)
2. Assembly (25)
J3. This One Sky Day (Popisho) (19)
J3. Transcendent Kingdom (19)
J5. Open Water (18)
J5. The Yield (18)
7. Bewilderment (16)
8. Lean, Fall, Stand (15)
9. Detransition, Baby (14)
10. No One is Talking About This (13)
J11. We Are All Birds of Uganda (11)
J11. Second Place (11)
J11. The Promise (11)

Rest of top 20 were:

China Room, Harlem Shuffle, The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, The Prophets (10)
The Performance(9)
Little Scratch and Panenka (8)

Link to full results here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

[Paul]

And the Listopia longlist is:

1. Klara and the Sun (41)
2. Transcendent Kingdom (32)
3. The Living Sea of Waking Dreams (24)
4. The Yield (23)
5. Second Place (20)
6. Assembly (20)
7. This One Sky Day/Popisho (16)
8. No One is Talking About This (16)
9. Lean Fall Stand (15)
10. Open Water (15)
11. The Committed (13)
12. Unsettled Ground (12)
13. The Promise (12)

[Sam]

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi’s previous novel unfortunately has one of the lowest Goodreads rankings I have seen - 2.8 overall and 2.6 among my Friends (the latter is about 20 reviews so not a smal..."

Yes, I think part of the reason is her background. The Iranian literary roots come out in her writing, which seems too uncontrolled to a Westerner. She has not been ignored by peers. Multiple grants including a Fulbright scholarship, Whiting Award, National Book Award' s 5 under 35 honoree, and an Associate Professor at Notre Dame. I loved Call Me Zebra, but only after the fact. I cursed it more than once while struggling to read it.

[Hugh, Active moderator]

Thanks for all that work Paul

[Sam]

I imagine so of you waiting for the longlist are beginning to wish for a news leak about now,

[Paul]

I keep refreshing the Guardian page but not a pipsqueak

As GY pointed out downthread there seems to have been zero press speculation, e.g. not even in the Irish Times which tends to consider these things.

[Paul]

Hugh wrote: "Thanks for all that work Paul"

Glad to help. I know life is about to get busy for you and midnight is a bit annoying!

[Paul]

I am using the time to draft my denunciation of the list and the prize, and my moans about various of the possible books that may be included :-)

[Hugh, Active moderator]

I plan to close this thread and open the longlist discussion thread as soon as we have the list. I will make a list of the books with links and covers for that thread and the rankings thread, create the individual book discussion threads and update the group bookshelf before I go to bed - with a bit of luck that won't take more than an hour. I am not promising to start the league tables tonight but I have a template spreadsheet ready for that.

[Jo]

Thank you Paul and Hugh for all your admin efforts. It is appreciated.

[Ann Helen]

I'm a bit late to the party, but my prediction this year is the following longlist:

- The Yield (Tara June Winch)
- Lean Fall Stand (Jon McGregor)
- Open Water (Caleb Azuma Nelson)
- The Promise (Damon Galgut)
- Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr)
- Bewilderment (Richard Powers)
- Great Circle (Maggie Shipstead)
- The High House (Jessie Greengrass)
- The Magician (Colm Toibin)
- A Town Called Solace (Mary Lawson)
- Still Life (Sarah Winman)
- The First Woman (Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi)
- Names of the Women (Jeet Thayil)

I've maybe tried too hard to get geographical variation, and I've gambled on a lot of the bigger names not getting nominated (though there are some big names on my list). I'm probably way off, but I'm going with it. I'm not likely to ever beat my own record of 5/13 correct predictions anyway. Most years I only get one right.

[Jo]

Ann Helen wrote: "I'm a bit late to the party, but my prediction this year is the following longlist:

- The Yield (Tara June Winch)
- Lean Fall Stand (Jon McGregor)
- Open Water (Caleb Azuma Nelson)
- The Promise ..."

Think it will be interesting to see who got the highest number right. Hoping those who have put tgeir list forward get a chance to post their number outbof 13. Love a bit of competition :)

[Paul]

Ann Helen wrote: "I'm a bit late to the party, but my prediction this year is the following longlist:

- The Yield (Tara June Winch)
- Lean Fall Stand (Jon McGregor)
- Open Water (Caleb Azuma Nelson)
- The Promise ..."

I've made an exception to the 8pm cutoff and added your vote - as it neatly breaks what was otherwise a 5-way tie for 13th place and leaves us with an actual longlist

[Cindy]

Jo wrote: "Thank you Paul and Hugh for all your admin efforts. It is appreciated."

What Jo said. It is indeed very much appreciated.

[Paul]

Jo wrote: "Think it will be interesting to see who got the highest number right. "

I may have a go at doing that based on ones I have. One or two people have picked more than 13 books though...

[Jo]

Paul wrote: "Jo wrote: "Think it will be interesting to see who got the highest number right. "

I may have a go at doing that based on ones I have. One or two people have picked more than 13 books though..."

I would only include the first 13 on their lists. Giving you another admin task Paul...

[Paul]

Most people have listed 1-13 and then said “here are some others”. There are a couple of external bloggers who haven’t so I may randomly delete a book from their list eg Eric the Lonesome Reader.

[But_i_thought_]

A Booker Prize "hint" was just posted here:
https://twitter.com/arhomberg/status/...

It leads to a long list of books though.

[Jo]

But_i_thought_ wrote: "A Booker Prize "hint" was just posted here:
https://twitter.com/arhomberg/status/...

It leads to a long list of books though."

Well that is a cryptic clue...

If anything that is more frustrating as a number of books I am keen to see on the Longlist aren't featured.

[Sam]

But_i_thought_ wrote: "A Booker Prize "hint" was just posted here:
https://twitter.com/arhomberg/status/...

It leads to a long list of books though."

Thanks for that. Fun to speculate.

[But_i_thought_]

Here is the overlap with Booker eligibles:

The First Woman
The Great Mistake
The Island of Missing Trees

[Paul]

And Interior Chinatown? Indeed aren't a lot of them Booker eligible albeit not books anyone has mentioned.

Naughty really though to do that - publishers etc are sworn to secrecy I think and I rarely see hints like that.

[Sam]

A Passage North should be a Booker eligible

[Paul]

Hadn't heard of JellyBooks before - sounds interesting. Like a more curated/restricted version of Netgalley - could be a good way to get a free ecopy of whichever book does appear.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...