The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Just posting the longlist link since there are so many titles.

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carne...

Sam wrote: "Just posting the longlist link since there are so many titles.

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carne..."

Thanks for the link. With the shortlists coming October 24, might as well wait. I've read seven of the fiction longlist but none on the non-fiction.

Carnegie fiction finalists:
Washington Black
There, There
The Great Believers

Nonfiction:
The Line Becomes a River
Heavy
Dopesick

Awards to
The Great Believers

Heavy: An American Memoir

The longlists are out and there are favorites and a few surprises. UK is well represented.

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/carne...

I'm pleased to see Inland and The Dutch House there. I thought Inland was wonderful. I'm reading The Dutch House now and being reminded of how much I enjoy Ann Patchett.

Thanks for posting that, Sam!

These are great lists - including many of the books members of this group felt had been slighted too, so that's nice. Good to go down the list and see a bunch of really good reads. I'd throw in plugs for favs, but honestly, it's a little hard to pick from this group. I don't envy the people who have to do that.

Thanks es a great list and agreed lots of books that have missed out elsewhere. Going to be tough for judges to whittle that list down.

Interesting shortlists and another example that shows a lack of consensus about what should be considered best for this past year.

Fiction
1The Water Dancer
2.Lost Children Archive
3. Feast Your Eyes

Nonfiction
1.Figuring
2. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present
3.Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster

Lost Children Archive wins - which is great as it had seemed to be just missing out on a number of other awards.

Interesting list of past winners - some big hitters here:
2020 Lost Children Archive
2019 The Great Believers
2018 Manhattan Beach
2017 The Underground Railroad
2016 The Sympathizer
2015 All The Light We Cannot See
2014 Goldfinch
2013 Canada
2012 The Forgotten Waltz

This also makes the Pulitzer much more interesting since I believe Luiselli is ineligible for that award.

Sam wrote: "This also makes the Pulitzer much more interesting since I believe Luiselli is ineligible for that award."

Darn. If Valeria Luiselli is ineligible for this year's Pulitzer Prize in fiction, that totally puts a kibosh on my 2020 predictions, as I had 'Lost Children Archive' being a finalist, if not the winner.

She's of course Mexican, but I presume she's an American citizen equally. Yes? No? Her Wiki bio only states her Mexican nationality.

The Pulitzer rules stipulates "Only U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for the Prizes in Books, Drama and Music (with the exception of the History category, in which the book must be a history of the United States but the author may be of any nationality). Permanent residents are ineligible."

Source: https://www.pulitzer.org/page/frequen...

If that's the case, I'll have to go back to the drawing board, since 'Lost Children Archive' was my top choice for the win.

C I N D L E wrote: "Sam wrote: "This also makes the Pulitzer much more interesting since I believe Luiselli is ineligible for that award."

Darn. If Valeria Luiselli is ineligible for this year's Pulitzer Prize in fic..."

That's the rub--her eligibility. I had seen seen where she was not eligible, but I don't know for certain. I like that the U.S. awards aren't replicating one another since I didn't see any ompne standout this year.

In a FT interview in 2017, she said she wasn't a US citizen but seemed open minded as to whether she might become one in future.

Carnegie lists are out. The fiction list doesn't offer much new and oddly snubs Hilary Mantel while including her best competitors. Not many surprises, though Matsugo Ono with Echo on the Bay made it for Two Lines Press. I am interested in Héctor Tobar's The Last Great Road Bum but will probably read other books from the list.

The nonfiction list seems seems overwhelmed with memoirs, which troubles me, since memoirs don't exactly fit my definition of nonfiction and I do not like them in the category. Of those, Wayétyu Moore's, The Dragons, the Giant, the Women: A Memoir interests me the most.


http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/carneg...

Good to see Pew there - and I did like Echo on the Bay a lot - Masatsugu Ono in Angus Turvill's translations is very impressive.

And always nice to see a Mantel snub!

Echo on the Bay was very good.

Carnegie fiction finalists:

A Burning
Deacon King Kong
Homeland Elegies

Nonfiction:

Fathoms: The World in the Whale
Just Us: An American Conversation
Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir

The fiction award went to Deacon King Kong. I was not too fond of this novel and felt it clichéd and full of stereotypes that should have been left in the seventies. I'm not sure what to think here. Good to see Mcbride recognized but this work at this time is not what I wanted to see.

The nonfiction award went to Fathoms.

I want to read more McBride and was hoping to like Deacon King Kong.

I thought the good lord bird was a solid novel

I’ve only read Song Yet Sung and heard McBride in interviews.

I liked Deacon King Kong.

LindaJ^ wrote: "I liked Deacon King Kong."

So did I, very much indeed. I felt it was a worthy winner.

One of my favorite prizes has released the 2022 longlists. I have read ten of the fiction. I will examine other selections but I will probably read some of the bigger name late releases that did not get selected.

https://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/carne...

That’s an interesting list, Sam, thanks for sharing. In the US prize landscape, where does the Carnegie Medal fit in? Compared to say the NBA and the PEN/Faulkner. Incidentally, I like that the shortlist will be three titles.

I’ve read 12 of the fiction and 5 of the nonfiction titles. Like Sam, I will definitely read more of the fiction titles that are only just now being published. The longlist is always extra long, I find, and the shortlist much more intriguing. David, the Carnegie Medal is fairly low profile, much more so than the NBA and more accessible I would say than Pen/Faulkner. As a librarian I love the prize, but I don’t have the sense that it has real oomph in literary circles.

David wrote: "That’s an interesting list, Sam, thanks for sharing. In the US prize landscape, where does the Carnegie Medal fit in? Compared to say the NBA and the PEN/Faulkner. Incidentally, I like that the sho..."

The thing I like about the Carnegie medals is that the selections are made by library professionals which IMO, can make a more balanced list. This year it seems there are just so many possibilities that good books will be left off. There seems a decent Asian American representation this year but I am not sure of quality having not read many. But the various lists are not in consensus so readers are going to have to do more sampling from various lists and taking recommendations from fellow readers. Note Zorrie and Bolla are missing from this list despite being two of the better books I have read. There are also a number of books that made Booker or other lists that are not the best books. I like seeing consistency and Hell of a Book is one of the more interesting books making this and other lists. It is one of my favorites this year. I like to see this one compared to the Publisher's Weekly Best and New York Times best. Between the three there are often good sleepers. Publisher's Weekly should be out this month and NYT at the end of the year.

Thanks, Cindy and Sam. That’s helpful for context. The PEN/Faulkner has always been my favorite but it definitely varies from year to year. This longlist seems to be a mixed bag, but definitely some good things on here!

I’ve only read 3 of the fiction, no nonfiction, but I am prized out.

WndyJW wrote: "I’ve only read 3 of the fiction, no nonfiction, but I am prized out."

You'll get to cherry pick the favorites. I am just getting into the prizes. I am reading two from the Giller shortlist that I love and just got the last two Goldmith's books. I got pumped up with Hell of a Book and Bolla so I'm all excited now.

I think that will be the plan next year, instead of feeling compelled to read every book nominated for prizes, I’ll cherry pick.

I make that resolution every year but then ….

Ha! I almost added that, Paul. I wasn’t going to read the entire Booker list or the entire Women’s Prize list, but got drawn in and got all the books!

The Booker does have the benefit of fulfilling my 1-3 star quota. If I only read good books I would struggle.

I struggle to understand reading bad books for statistical reasons. :)

Doesn’t everyone do that - “I need a couple of 2 stars next”? I actually have a spreadsheet that tells me what I need the next 15 books to score so I can plan my reading. Just me?

I’m fairly certain only quirky mathematicians purposely read books they know are bad just to accommodate stats they keep as a hobby.
Do you look for bad books that you enjoy or just bad books? Like I didn’t mind The Spoon Stealer and it was a bad 2* book.

I just read the Booker longlist every year.

I have read 10 of the fiction and none of the non-fiction. I have one of the non-fiction on the shelf and will put that on the pile for my November non-fiction month reads.

WndyJW wrote: "I’m fairly certain only quirky mathematicians purposely read books they know are bad just to accommodate stats they keep as a hobby.
Do you look for bad books that you enjoy or just bad books? Like..."

Never with books - it puts me in a bad mood (like last year's Booker Longlist)

I'm like that with films though - Sometimes I have an itch to watch a terrible film. Lately I've been trying to find Hot to trot - an 80's movie featuring Bobcat Goldwaithe and a talking horse called Don - voiced by the late John Candy. It is hilariously bad and stupid but I last watched it in 1998.

My bad movie taste runs to big special effects adventures like Indiana Jones, Jumanji, Jurassic Park.

The shortlist fiction:

The Five Wounds Kirstin Valdez Quade

Matrix Lauren Groff

The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu Tom Lin

Nonfiction:

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 Ibram X. Kendi

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance Hanif Abdurraqib

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness
Kristen Radtke

A note on the above. Four Hundred Souls. Ibram X. Kendi is the editor and authors the introduction. The book is a compilation of various authors from 1619 to present.

Also Seek You is a graphic work. It is available as an audiobook the book would be compared to a graphic novel.

The winners were
Fiction:
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
Nonfiction:
A Little Devil in America:Notes in Praise of Black Performance

Another interesting but very long longlist

https://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/carne...

Very long longlist is an understatement! From 43 to a six-list short list (3 fiction, 3 nonfiction) is a challenge. I've read 7 or 8 of the fiction, and the Kingsolver and the McCarthy will arrive soon, but have read none of the non-fiction.

I’m pretty sure our group will select a better fiction list than this at the end of the year.

The Carnegie Award longlist is always way too long. The shortlist usually deserves some attention. I've read 8 of the novels and only 2 of the nonfiction titles. As Linda wrote, I'll be reading a few of the novels that are only just being released now soon. But I suspect the shortlist will be more interesting.

8 fiction for me also.