Booker Prize 2024

A place to share on your reading around the Booker Prize - thoughts, plans, reviews.

Here is the 2024 longlist

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Playground by Richard Powers
My Friends by Hisham Matar
Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
James by Percival Everett
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Held by Anne Michaels

And here are my notes on all 13 books

Ordered longest to shortest. Release dates are USA.

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
- Pages 448
- Audio 16:33
- Author notes: Born in Greenwich, CT, USA 1966, childhood in Australia and Canada. Her mother is Canadian, and her father is from French Algeria.

Playground by Richard Powers
- Pages 400 (release sep 30 or 24)
- Audio 13:30 (release sep 24)
- Author notes: Born in Evanston, IL, USA 1957

My Friends by Hisham Matar
- Pages 418
- Audio 13:24
- Author notes: An American born British-Libyan writer, born in NYC USA 1970

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry
- Pages 384
- Audio 13:04
- Author notes: Born in Chelmsford, Essex, England 1979, into a family of devout Christians who were members of a strict Baptist church. She is Chancellor of the University of Essex

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
- Pages 416 (releases Sep 9, or 3)
- Audio 11:10 (releases Sep 3)
- Author notes: Born in Eugene, OR USA 1968, later grew up in San Francisco. The daughter of two scientists she has called "deeply unconventional people from the beatnik generation."

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange
- Pages 416
- Audio 9:37
- Author notes: Born in Oakland, CA USA 1982. A citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden
- Pages 272
- Audio 9:30
- Author notes: Born in Tel Aviv, she is Dutch and Jewish and lives in Utrecht
- Interview: https://pagesofjulia.com/.../maximum-shelf-author.../

James by Percival Everett
- Pages 368
- Audio 7:49
- Author notes: Born in Ft. Gordon, GA USA 1956, grew up in Columbia, SC. A Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
- Pages 320
- Audio none
- Author notes: Born in Cooma, NSW, Australia 1965, lives in Sydney

Wild Houses by Colin Barrett
- Pages 272
- Audio 6:50
- Author notes: Irish-Canadian. Born in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada 1982, grew up in Knockmore, County Mayo, Ireland

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
- Pages 224
- Audio 5:24
- Author notes: Born in Redwood City, CA, USA 1988. Lives in San Francisco and teaches at the California College of the Arts. She is an editor of McSweeney’s

Orbital by Samantha Harvey
- Pages 136
- Audio 5:07
- Author notes: Born in Harleston, Norfolk, England 1993

Held by Anne Michaels
- Pages 240
- Audio 4:29
- Author notes: Born in Toronto, Canada 1958

Are you reading or planning to read any Booker books?

I read Enlightenment recently (there’s a review on my thread) and really enjoyed it.
I don’t make a point of reading Booker prize books as such, but if there are any that sound intriguing once people around here start reading them, I will check them out. Richard Powers is always interesting to me, and this one sounds intriguing.

>4 japaul22: I remember your review. I’m reading Enlightenment now. I’m enjoying the Victorian style -it’s the first Perry I’ve read.

Your review was very helpful to me because I’m so unfamiliar with Perry’s novels. I’m reading in audio and it’s well-narrated. Crisp and clear and narrated rather than acted as I prefer.

I’m more interested in the characters rather than the story. They are well developed, though so far I’m finding the males more intricate and nuanced than the female ones.

—- edited to fix a number of typos

>4 japaul22: I'll hunt down your review.

I've read and reviewed Wandering Stars but was pretty underwhelmed. Ten books arrived yesterday, although one, Held, came damaged and I've sent it back. Awaiting a replacement. I think I will try This Strange Eventful History, but I may not start for a week or so as I'm reading other books.

A nice overview of the Booker longlist from Lisa Allardice in the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/30/the-booker-longlist-might-...

>7 rv1988: great article

>8 dchaikin: I really appreciated this overview - it placed the books in perspective. Surely James will win.

Thanks, Kate, for the link!

Last weekend I finished my second book This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud. I wrote at the time that closed it feeling very in-tune with the story, its lovely language and its recreation of moments. I can’t comment on its shortlist promise yet, but i would rank it below most of last year’s list. Still, I’ll remember it more than most books I have read. It imprints. Also, I adored the preface.

It reads slow, especially for me. It took me 17 hours to read, whereas it’s only 16 hours on audio.

Working on My Friends, which reads much faster.

At this point I've read My Friends and James, and thought highly of them both. Taking a little break from Booker titles—reading for my book club—but will probably be back for a few more.

I'm starting book six. I've read Wandering Stars, This Strange Eventful History, My Friends, Enlightenment, and, as of this morning, Stone Yard Devotional (easily my favorite so far). And now I'm starting Creation Lake.

I can’t find any reviews of Creation Lake. I’m interested in whether it would work in audio.

>14 kjuliff: I can't speak to your second question, but Creation Lake been getting great reviews—NYT, Guardian, etc. I think I may read it next.

>15 lisapeet: I see it is only recently released and is read on audio and narrated by the author herself; this is usually a good sign..

I have read Orbital by Samantha Harvey.

The book has an original structure. The cadence of the story is tranquil and dreamy, but after about 50 pages this wears off, and it becomes boring. The book leaves no impression because there is no plot.

I have bought The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden but have not yet started reading it.

>17 edwinbcn: I think you will enjoy The Safekeep especially after Orbital. It has a good strong plot. I reviewed it on my thread here.

I couldn’t finish Orbital.

I just finished Creation Lake. Trying to decide if I liked it, and if so, how much.

Finished another just ok longlist book - The Safekeep. I've started James

Three of the long list are on the U.S. National Book Award long for fiction.
James
Creation Lake
My Friends

I’m betting the same three will be included qin the Booker long list..

I am now tempted to read Creation Lake whether or not it’s shortlisted. It’s narrated by Rachel Kush er in Simon & Schuster Audio.

>21 kjuliff: i’ve heard good things about the Creation Lake audiobook

Another thing about the NBA - Martyr is on and Wandering Stars is not, opposite of the Booker. These are brother books in a way, the author’s sharing chapters throughout their writing.

>22 dchaikin: I listened to the audio sample of Creation Lake and it really got me interested. Neanderthals smoking cigarettes, just my sort of thing.

>23 kjuliff: it's a great opening line!

>24 dchaikin: Agreed
”Neanderthals were prone to depression”, he said. He said they were prone to addiction too, and especially smoking.
I am so tempted to read start this book immediately , but am deep into The Radetzky March.

>25 kjuliff: I haven’t read The Radetzky March, although I have a copy. Sounds terrific

I just posted this today on the Facebook Booker Prize Book Club, including my little disclaimer of sorts at the end:

Thoughts on James by Percival Everett

What is this book doing? What is this book doing to you, reader?

I recently finished this. It’s a quick thought provoking read. I’m finding it hard to boil down. I adored it and I’m trying to process it. It’s oddly different from what I guessed from the posts here, although entirely in keeping with the mindset of the author who also wrote The Trees

Some perspectives I have seen here (in the FB group) that I think are crazy. I disagree with all these. Please forgive. I’m appreciate everyone’s opinions. Just, I have strong ones. ☺️😁🙂😉 ☮️ I have read here posts that say: it’s derivative of Huck and less because of that; its not respectful of the literary qualities that make Huck such a great classic. (This opinion obviously comes from very dedicated Huck and Twain readers. I appreciate this, but still think you’re crazy. 🙂); It replaces Twain as a better book ‼️; It should be taught in school next to Twain’s Huck; It’s boring or fades? ( 🤔⁉️): It’s not realistic that Jim could be so well read (this is true. But how relevant is this?)

James is, of course, satire. It’s fun on the surface, bitter underneath. (As is The Trees). It’s provoking the reader. You should be provoked and offended or you might not be reading it correctly. It loves and hates Twain. It loves and hates Huck. It loves and discards Jim. It loves and undermines justice, equality, fairness. It loves and undermines history and the wild Mississippi River. It hates and lies in impotent, inadequate rage against slavery and its history. It stairs down hard at slavery and at your role in it, dear reader. Its hates and will not tolerate racism. This is all - fantastic. It’s what hard literature should do - keep your attention and make you uncomfortable. Make you aware you are flawed. And ask yourself what can you do better.

I have two (more?) rants. One is that calling this derivative is a comment deeply out of touch with the world of literature. IMO (not a humble opinion). Literature talks. Writers who want to sell spend a lot of effort trying to find ways to hold these literary conversations such that underread readers (That is - anyone who doesn’t read literature for a living) can appreciate. Subtlety is beautiful but doesn’t reach enough readers. Everett has gone big here. Unsubtle. He’s thrown down the gauntlet. He’s telling us with the title that he’s challenging Mark Twain’s most famous and iconic work. It’s not derivative. It’s bold. As bold as you can be. He’s claiming success with his title. As a critical reader, no one should be questioning whether he’s stealing or imitating. The question you should be asking is, is this challenge successful? Has he honored his title? Did he pull it off?

Second rant - this isn’t Jim. This James is worth some consideration. He’s not realistic. He’s not supposed to be. He’s also not nice or heroic. He’s angry. He’s contemporary. He’s practically a professor of literature at USC. This Jim/James is not simply defined. He’s a mixture of Percival, Twain’s Jim, every fictional and nonfictional slave narrative, Hollywood survival heroes, and a hot red anger at the history of slavery and the modern perception of slavery. He’s a composite, bursting. There is love in James. And what a wonderful Huck he creates. But James has many sides. Reading Locke and other philosophers, quoting logical and literary theories, playing with how to talk to who, and what our misappropriated assumptions are, murdering. These are all this James. And you, me, us, readers, may be the ones who are truly lynched, drowned, blown up, strangled, and shot in the heart. Be provoked. Be upset.

This - 👆- is what James has done to me. It’s the boldest title we have seen in a while. And yes, I think he had pulled it off. It’s a terrific addition to the Booker legacy.

Hugs to anyone offended. I think the book is terrific and I find myself a little overly passionate. Coming back down to earth, I’m still open-minded, and playful with my literature, if seriously playful sometimes. And I’m always open to any critical responses. As always, i encourage you to have fun here in whatever you post. Cheers

>27 dchaikin: I didn’t read James as I felt I needed to know the Huck Finn story to appreciate it. But I read your review of James on FB and knowing Everett’s style, beliefs and passion, I feel I can agree with you on James. You put it so well. Of interest - how do you compare it to his The Trees? I thought Trees was sheer brilliance.

BTW it’s not only that I haven’t read Huckleberry Fiin that I didn’t read James - I don’t really understand Dixie. Maybe many of those FB users don’t understand American cultures?

>27 dchaikin: What a fantastic, invigorating post, Dan! I haven't read James yet, but wow, I need to after reading this. Thanks for bravely putting your thoughts out there!

>28 kjuliff: James is not like The Trees, but it’s very much the same author. Surface story is fun, heavy satire with dark anger underneath. The Trees was, of course, wildly funny. James isn’t funny. It’s more heartfelt. The surface story more of an adventure. The humor of the dialogue in The Trees does make its appearance, sometimes with ghosts.

>29 labfs39: thanks Lisa. I can’t believe it didn’t win the Pulitzer. 🙂 (The winner was a little soft, I think). I hope you enjoy.

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood is now available in paperback at Amazon US. Audio version will not be available till next year. Kindle???