Bailey's/Orange Women's Fiction Group discussion

There is no March 2018 book. We are waiting for the announcement of the new long list.
Are there any books you would like to see on it?

Books I've read this year which I'd be pleased to see in the list are Home Fire, The Break, Goodbye, Vitamin, Sing, Unburied, Sing,

I will be disappointed if Home Fire is not on the list. Looking through my shelved books, I have apparently read ten which are eligible (assuming I shelved the correct UK edition) and this is the only one of them I want to read again. I haven't read your other suggestions, although I have heard a lot about Sing, Unburied, Sing.
We have a parallel discussion on the general Bailey's/Orange Women's Fiction Prize thread about books which have been listed for other awards and are eligible for this one.

Val wrote: "I will be disappointed if Home Fire is not on the list. Looking through my shelved books, I have apparently read ten which are eligible (assuming I shelved the correct UK edition) a..."

Home Fire was a five star read for me, Val. I think The Break was my favourite of the four I listed, but Home Fire would be second.

Thanks for mentioning the thread, I'll go check that out.

I'm hoping for Home Fire too, because I have had a signed copy sitting on my shelves waiting to be read for months!

Lagullande wrote: "I'm hoping for Home Fire too, because I have had a signed copy sitting on my shelves waiting to be read for months!"

Lucky you!!

I now have a second book I hope to see on the list, We That Are Young by Preti Taneja.
It is based on King Lear, in that it has equivalent characters, and the 'kingdom' is an Indian business corporation of the size of the Tata Group. The characters are not simply good or bad however, they are given a back story and it is the decadence and corruption of the business world which makes them behave as they do.
It is quite a long book and I haven't finished it yet, but I can strongly recommend it from what I have read so far.

I would include Winter, but I am not sure it will be submitted for consideration.

The 2018 Women’s prize for fiction longlist

H(A)PPY by Nicola Barker (William Heinemann)
The Idiot by Elif Batuman (Jonathan Cape)
Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig (Grove Press)
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (Corsair)
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar (Harvill Secker)
Sight by Jessie Greengrass (John Murray)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (Harper Collins)
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy (Atlantic)
Elmet by Fiona Mozley (Hodder & Stoughton)
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton)
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt (Tinder Press)
A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert (Virago)
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (Bloomsbury)
The Trick to Time by Kit de Waal (Viking)
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (Bloomsbury Circus)
Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

Thanks Val you did a much better job of posting the list (with links) than I did in the other thread.

Aren't you in the UK? You stayed up for the announcement, impressive!

I'm excited about this list. But as I mentioned on another thread I would have liked to see a Canadian author here, we had a few crackers this year.

Most excited to read See What I Have Done, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, and Sight. But I would be happy to read most of the books here.

The list is dominated by UK and US authors, as they tend to be, but it looks quite varied in subject and style.

On the list too is Three Things About Elsie - I'm looking forward to this one - but almost all of them too!

Penny wrote: "On the list too is Three Things About Elsie - I'm looking forward to this one - but almost all of them too!"

Yes I just read bit more about this one and agree it sounds great!

Sorry, blame the hour.
I have added it to the list.

There is a poll to vote on the next few group reads, but it does not open until midnight PST or 8:00am GMT.
I was going to leave it and go to bed. I got as far as the clean teeth and cosy dressing-gown and then:
Daughter: Ah, you're awake. I want to talk about the best way to help my boyfriend with the depression he is suffering from at the moment.
Dog: Ah, you're awake. There is a fox in the garden I need to stare out the window and bark at or go out and chase away.
Cats: Ah, you're awake. It must be breakfast time.
Me: I'm awake. I might as well add the 2018 shelf and the poll.

I have read H(A)PPY, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Elmet, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness and Home Fire, and so far I would pick the last of those as the winner.
I collected See What I Have Done and Sing, Unburied, Sing from the library yesterday, so I will read those next.
I also have had Manhattan Beach on my kindle for a few months and Sight for a few days, but haven't read either yet.

Of the longlist, I've only read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. But I have on my shelf, e-reader, or library access to all the rest except:

* Sight
* The Trick to Time

So I have plenty of reading to do for this list! :-)

It is one of the five I have reserved at the library, but it has to come from another branch. I'm glad you are enjoying it.
I started reading my way through the list with See What I Have Done, based on the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. I would rate it somewhere between Little Deaths and Alias Grace, both of which cover similar territory.
Next up: Sing, Unburied, Sing

This is a link to the poll. Please vote if you have not already done so.
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

I liked Sing, Unburied, Sing and it would be on my shortlist.

Unless there is a massive last day surge for something else, we will be reading it together in the next months, along with Home Fire and The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock.
I have read those three and they are all both very different and very good in their own way, so I think everyone will find something to enjoy in them.

The poll has ended.
Thank you for your votes everyone.

Our next three books will be the following
April: Home Fire
May: The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
June: Sing, Unburied, Sing

The prize winner will be announced on 6th June 2018.

and don't panic but I actually have a copy of it!!

Great! Looking forward to the next 3 months of reading!

I have just finished Home Fire, and had previously read The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. It seems bonkers that they are competing for the same prize.

Lagullande wrote: "I have just finished Home Fire, and had previously read The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. It seems bonkers that they are competing for the same prize."

just this morning, i finished Home Fire too. i've really been on the fence about The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock.. but then it went and got nominated for the women's prize. ;)

Jennifer wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "I have just finished Home Fire, and had previously read The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. It seems bonkers that they are competing for the same prize."..."

I did really enjoy The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock - it was fun, but that was all. Home Fire was also easy to read, but just so much more thought-provoking.

In fact even Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which I really didn't like, had a bit more depth.

Imogen Hermes Gowar had clearly done her research and made the eighteenth century society setting feel authentic.
I like historical fiction and I enjoyed it, but as light relief rather than a serious prize contender (unless this was the Walter Scott Prize).

Val wrote: "Imogen Hermes Gowar had clearly done her research and made the eighteenth century society setting feel authentic.
I like historical fiction and I enjoyed it, but as light relief r..."

I agree with everything you wrote, Val. Both books are great, but for totally different reasons, so I am finding it hard to judge one against the other.

H(A)PPY is another good book for a different prize.

The Goldsmiths Prize was set up to 'reward fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form' and this one clearly does.

Jen wrote: "Most excited to read See What I Have Done, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, and Sight. But I would be happy to read most of the books here."
Two of those made the shortlist, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, which I think is a potential winner, and Sight, which a few people in another group do.
See What I Have Done didn't make the shortlist, but could easily have done so in a weaker year.

Val wrote: "Jen wrote: "Most excited to read See What I Have Done, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife, and Sight. But I would be happy to read most of the books here."
Two of those ma..."

I agree that When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife is a potential winner. I'd be more than happy to see it take it. But I'm sticking with my original prediction that Home Fire wins.

I still need to read Sight which I'm hoping my library will get a copy of now that it's shortlisted.

Val wrote: "There is a poll to vote on the next few group reads, but it does not open until midnight PST or 8:00am GMT.
I was going to leave it and go to bed. I got as far as the clean teeth and cosy dressing-..."

you have to smile!

There is less than a week until the winner is announced. If it is not one of the three we have already chosen to read as a group, it will be our July book. If is one of the three, we will have a vote on which book to read next.

The others on the shortlist are:
The Idiot by Elif Batuman
Sight by Jessie Greengrass
When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy