The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

One of the judges has released the complete list of entries for the 2024 Prize for books published this year:

Tidal Lock by Lindsay Hill (McPherson & Company)
Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Biblioasis)
Indian Winter by Kazim Ali (Coach House Books)
Daughter, Son, Assasin by Steven Saliata (Common Notions Press)
Melvill by Rodrigo Fresan (Open Letter Books)
Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press)
The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva (Sandorf Passage)
Where the Wind Call Home by Samar Yazbek (World Editions)
The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew (Neem Tree Press)
The Propogandist by Cecile Desprairies (New Vessel Press)
To & Fro by Leah Hager Cohen (Bellevue Literary Press)
Ricky by Whitney Collins (Sarabande Books)
The Cipher by Genni Gunn (Signature Ediitions)
The World With It's Mouth Open by Zahid Rafiq (Tin House)
Overstaying by Ariene Koch (Dorothy, a publishing project)
Ixelles by Johannes Anyuru (Two Lines Press)
Cartoons by Kit Schluter (City Lights Publishers)
The Queen of Steeplechase Park by David Ciminello (Forest Avenue Press)
The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County by I.M. Aiken (Catalyst Press)
Sex Romp Gone Wrong by Julia Ridley Smith (Blair)
Beautiful Dreamers by Minrose Gwin (Hub City Press)
Norma by Sarah Mintz (Invisible Publishing)
In Their Ruin by Joyce Goldenstern (Black Heron Press)
Between this World and the Next by Praveen Herat (Restless Books)
Cadenza by Justin Courter (Owl Canyon Press)
The Woman and the Stone Knife by Dale Neal (Histria Books)
Clara Reads Proust by Stephane Carlier (Gallic Books)
Last Date in El Zapotal by Mateo García Elizondo (Charco Press)
Schism Blue by Christina Tudor-Sidari (Sublunary Editions)
A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest by Charlie J. Stephens (Torrey House Press)
Rabbit in the Moon: The Mexico Stories by Karen Brennan (Schaffner Press)
Lublin by Manya Wilkinson (And Other Stories)
Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim by Jacob Wren (Book*Hug Press)
The Gunman and the Carnival: Stories by Catherine Gammon (Baobab Press)
Like a Sky Inside by Jakuta Alikavazovic (Fern Books)
A Brutal Design by Zachary C. Solomon (Lanternfish Press)
RuFF by Rod Carley (Latitude 46 Publishing)
Gifted by Suzumi Suzuki (Transit Books)
Delinquents and Other Escape Attempts by Nick Rees Gardner (Madrona Books)
Us Fools by Nora Lange (Two Dollar Radio)
Amphibian by Tyler Wetherall (Ig Publishing)
The Lodgers by Holly Pester (Assembly Press)
How We Know Our Time Travellers: Stories by Anitia Felicelli (WTAW Press)
Aram's Notebook by Maria Angels Anglada (Swan Isle Press)
Everything Good Dies Here by Djuna (Kaya Press)

I think I've only read 5 - really liked first 3

1. Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson (Biblioasis)
2. Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press)
3. The Lodgers by Holly Pester (Assembly Press)
4. Everything Good Dies Here by Djuna (Kaya Press)
5. Last Date in El Zapotal by Mateo García Elizondo (Charco Press)

I have only read 4 but have several of the others checked out from the library currently. Have read:

Overstaying by Ariane Koch (Dorothy, a publishing project)
Last Date in El Zapotal by Mateo García Elizondo (Charco Press)
Lublin by Manya Wilkinson (And Other Stories)
Gifted by Suzumi Suzuki (Transit Books)

Lublin is the only one I would say I loved, I enjoyed parts of Last Date in El Zapotal though tired of it by the end, and Overstaying and Gifted were just okay.

I have only read Overstaying by Ariane Koch (Dorothy, a publishing project)

But have these scheduled.
Melvill by Rodrigo Fresan (Open Letter Books)
Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press)
The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva (Sandorf Passage)
Where the Wind Call Home by Samar Yazbek (World Editions)

The Case of Cem is an older book written in 1966 but just translated into English 2024. It runs 524 pages and I probably will hold off that for awhile.

I have a backlist title that I can pick from Sandorf Passage as a part of their 2025 subscription and The Case of Cem was one I was looking at but did not notice the page count...might need to pick out a shorter one!

Really impressive list.

Melvill, Lesser Ruins, Case of Cem, and Your Absence is Darkness were all already on my radar. In Their Ruin, Aram's Notebook, and Where the Wind Calls Home look interesting as well.

One of the judges owns my local indie bookstore here in Dallas, so I'll have to pick her brain over the coming weeks for more recommendations from the list!

Thanks for posting this--I hadn't seen it. I think I've heard of only 3 or 4 and definitely haven't read any yet (which comes as no surprise).

I'll put in a good word for Indian Winter, which I thought was an overlooked gem from earlier in the year.

looks like they'll be announcing the longlist on January 15th with a zoom on February 19

Yes Zoom is Wednesday, February 19 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86364268657...

The ten longlisted titles are:

Like a Sky Inside by Jakuta Alikavazovic, translated by Daniel Levin Becker @fffernbbbooks

To & Fro by Leah Hager Cohen @bellevueliterarypress

Melvill by Rodrigo Fresán, translated by Will Vanderhyden @openletterbooks

Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber @coffeehousepress

Tidal Lock by Lindsay Hill @mcphersonandcompany

Overstaying by @ary_coach, translated by Damion Searls (Dorothy, a publishing project)

The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva, translated by Angela Rodel @sandorfpassage

Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson, translated by Philip Roughton @biblioasis_books

Gifted by Suzumi Suzuki, translated by Allison Markin Powel @transitbooks

Lublin by Manya Wilkinson @andotherpics

I'm on the app so can't link them.

I'm really liking this list

Thanks Yahaira. I will start a rankings thread later today.

Thanks, Yahaira!

I've only read Lublin, and I've got Lesser Ruins on the top of my stack to start next week.

Several others on the list have caught my eye, and three are in stock at my local indie bookstore. Let's see if they're still there tomorrow!

I've only read Lesser Ruins (really liked it although I preferred his other 2 novels which were strong 5 stars) and Your Absence is Darkness (also very strong)

As per below these were by 2 favourite of the 5 entries I've read - so suggests I will like the judges choices more generally.

I've only read 3. I found Gifted and Overstaying just okay, but I really loved Lublin, it ended up as one of my favorites of 2024.

I've had Melvill checked out from the library for months so would like to get to that eventually!

I've read two, Lesser Ruins and Overstaying. My thoughts are similar. Lesser Ruins was good but it's my least favorite Haber novel so far. I wanted to like Overstaying more than I did. I have Melvill on my shelf.

List of longlisted books with links:

Like a Sky Inside by Jakuta Alikavazovic tr. Daniel Levin Becker (Fern Books)
To & Fro by Leah Hager Cohen (Bellevue Literary Press)
Melvill by Rodrigo Fresán tr. Will Vanderhyden (Open Letter Books)
Lesser Ruins by Mark Haber (Coffee House Press)
Tidal Lock by Lindsay Hill (McPherson & Company)
Overstaying by Ariane Koch tr. Damion Searls (Dorothy, a publishing project)
The Case of Cem by Vera Mutafchieva tr. Angela Rodel (Sandorf Passage)
Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson tr. Philip Roughton (Biblioasis)
Gifted by Suzumi Suzuki tr. Allison Markin Powel (Transit Books)
Lublin by Manya Wilkinson (And Other Stories)

I like the list but it is not without issues. First, Like a Sky Inside, also longlisted for NBCC Greg Barrios translated longlist is not available as ebook in the translated edition. This is one of my bigger complaints because like it or not, this happens to be the vehicle of distribution at the moment and if the publisher distributing the book is not making it available in ecopy, then the book should not be eligible for a prize (unless a specific format more fit for print may be evident), IMO. There needs to be consistency among competitors,

That rant past, I have read Overstaying and am in process Melvill. Overstaying was kind of fun but Melvill is of the fiction I prefer though maximalist fiction seems less to the reader's liking presently. Looking foward to a couple of others.

I've only read Your Absence is Darkness but others look very good.

Instinctively not sure I agree on ebooks as some small presses don’t do them (particularly Kindle as Amazon nick all the profits)

And not a criteria we would impose for the UK prize (where I do get to help set the rules).

But that said one of the strongest International Booker contenders I’ve read this year was Hunchback, written by an author with muscular dystrophy, and narrated by a character with the same condition, which points out the ableist nature of physical books

Being able to see; being able to hold a book; being able to turn its pages; being able to maintain a reading posture; being able to go to a bookshop to buy a book – I loathed the exclusionary machismo of book culture that demanded that its participants meet these five criteria of able- bodiedness. I loathed, too, the ignorant arrogance of all those self-professed book-lovers so oblivious to their privilege.
[...]
Here was I, feeling my spine being crushed a little more with every book that I read, while all those e- book- hating able- bodied people who went on and on about how they loved the smell of physical books, or the feel of the turning pages beneath their fingers, persisted in their state of happy oblivion.
[...]
The publishing industry is rife with ableist machismo. The world of sports, which all those literary types who play up their physical weakness display so much vitriol for, has in fact done far better at affording a space in its corner for those with disabilities

Anyone planning on taking on the books on the longlist?

Yes I am planning to read all of them - although a lot hard to get in UK (Blackwells claims to have them all - but I do find they often do that and then 3 weeks later the order is cancelled)

Paul wrote: "Yes I am planning to read all of them - although a lot hard to get in UK (Blackwells claims to have them all - but I do find they often do that and then 3 weeks later the order is cancelled)"

Great! you helped sell a book. I was on the fence about buying a print copy of Like a Sky Inside. You helped me decide.

I'm in for reading them all. I just bought 4 in print, 1 in audio, and 5 in ebook. All sound interesting.

As expected my Blackwells order does seem to have gone into the void. Do others find this with them as I know they are a popular choice to get UK books overseas. There “10+ copies in stock” appears to be a cheeky marketing tactic rather than a proper stock check.

I'm only pre-ordering from them and had no issues with that. Sometimes publishing dates get pushed back but that's all.

LindaJ^ wrote: "I'm in for reading them all. I just bought 4 in print, 1 in audio, and 5 in ebook. All sound interesting."

I am pecking away at several longlists still, trying to keep one or two books in play from each. The NBCC Barrios Translation longlist was a big surprise for me with a number of literary nonfiction to go with the fiction and poetry. I will read almost all of that list, and BTW, shortlist is tomorrow. I have most of the ROC-US/Can as well but have just been taking the one at a time. I will finish Melvill this week and move to Gifted because it is quick and I have audio,

Not sure what you expect from a dark blue bookshop. Is there not a decent bookshop in Hull?

endrju wrote: "I'm only pre-ordering from them and had no issues with that. Sometimes publishing dates get pushed back but that's all."

I usually order from them books that seem hard to obtain from Amazon. Which Blackwells claim to have in stock. And basically make that up it seems. Has caused some real issues with textbooks for my daughters which they need for school and don't turn up (can live with it when it's a novel).

I haven't experienced this with Blackwells. Quite often they say the thing I want is not in stock, so the 10+ copies doesn't seem to be a default anyway.

Perhaps it's because they know i'm a light blue?

And as if on cue, email from Blackwells saying they have found 2 books of the 5 I have ordered and which were definitely in stock, but the other 3 are delayed.

Not sure if we noted this previously on thread and adding as much for my own benefit

The shortlist of five books will be announced on Thursday, February 27 and the winner announced on Wednesday, March 12.

I’d better get reading!

I doubt I will get them all read before the shortlist unless I read more than I have recently done while traveling, although possible if I do not watch movies on the international flight.

I have started Like a Sky Inside in audio. The narrator of the audio is great. The problem is missing transitions that would be obvious in print, which have required backing up to find out the genesis of the delightful tale (memory) I'm hearing.

Case of Cem arrived today - may take up most of the time to the shortlist by itself from the size of it!

It is Your Absence is Darkness that I am reading in audio. I just finished the quite short Like a Sky Inside. It’s not great but I enjoyed it, although the end was very anticlimactic and disappointing. It makes everything before it a tease.

On Like a Sky Inside are you referring to the illicit object she took inside the Louvre? I found it a mixed bag as I liked the writing about art, the land art in particular, but the actual experience of the Louvre stay was less compelling.

I hadn't realised until after reading that was part of an artistic project - Ma nuit au musée - which lots of other authors have also done.

ChatGPT translation of the idea: Locked alone in the museum of their choice for the night with only a camp bed, the writer must, at the end of this unique experience, compose a text inspired by the night’s events. Fiction, non-fiction, essay… A blank slate is offered to those who take on the challenge. The collection is not bound to any literary genre, nor is the resulting piece intended to follow the conventions of an art book. On the contrary, the writer is invited to explore the solitude sparked by this night of confinement. Cut off from the world, with only the artworks as intermediaries, they naturally enter into a dialogue with the pieces and the meanings or stories they convey. But above all, it is an introspective conversation—one that unfolds in the quiet depths of the night.

https://www.alinagurdiel.com/ma-nuit-...

How are people finding the list. I'm about to start the 10th and final book.

I am afraid I am moving at a slow pace, trying to juggle other reads. Since the shortlist is due the 27th, I have been trying to catch up on the books I thought would not make it and save the others for later. But Tidal Lock has proved to be tedious for me and I can only take about 10% of it every other day or so. I will add my ranking of those I read before the shortlist, but on the whole I am mixed on those I have read. Melvill has been the only book I have enjoyed so far.

Tidal Lock is the 10th book - it's definitely a slow and difficult read - although for me in a good way.

From an interview

Author: There’s no question that I write the kind of work that I also enjoy reading. So I like being challenged by leaps that I have to make. It does put a good deal of responsibility on the shoulders of a reader. Not all good readers are interested in that kind of project, but I think some readers are.

Q: You’re co-creating with the reader.

Author: Exactly. And once again, I think that comes from my background in poetry, where readers are traditionally asked to make a lot of leaps. In linear fiction, there’s a lot more guidance. And to some degree—maybe it’s presumptuous to say—a lot less risk.

It's only 160 pages, and apparently the original version was 1,500 pages so we should be thankful for, the fact that Galley Beggar didn't publish it (yes I am the Bob Mortimer of small presses in my inability to let it lie)

I love at one point how the narrator wonders why her mother has abandoned her after her father went missing: I don't know what happened to my mother after she left—or we left her-whichever it was— those times my father swept me away on trains to save my life he said. Maybe she declared us perfectly dead and married an actuary.

Seems a sensible approach by the mother.

Reminder that there's a virtual "party" to celebrate the longlist tonight (6pm central time, U.S.) via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86364268657...

(not sure I'll be able to attend, but if I'm back in time, I will)

Would love to be there - but a 1am start….

Yeah, that's rough. I enjoyed last year's event, but not enough that I would stay up that late for it.

If anyone is wondering what happened to comment 46, I deleted it because it is obvious and irrelevant spam posted to a number of groups, and had no relevance to the topic.

Shortlist out on Thursday.

LESSER RUINS by Mark Haber (@coffeehousepress)
LIKE A SKY INSIDE by Jakuta Alikavazovic, trans. Daniel Levin Becker (@ffernbbbooks) MELVILL by Rodrigo Frésan, trans. Will Vanderhyden (@openletterbooks)
THE CASE OF CEM by Vera Mutafchieva, trans. Angela Rodel (@sandorfpassage ) YOUR ABSENCE IS DARKNESS by Jón Kaplan Stefánsson, trans. Philip Roughton

it's funny that I only found out the list because the publishers themselves are posting it. I thought we would have gotten an email at least

I'm a bit disappointed with the list as my two least favourite book made it.

And a bit pleased as my two favourite books made it.

1. Lesser Ruins 4.5* - my review
2. Your Absence is Darkness 4.5* - my review
3. Like a Sky Inside 3.5* - my review
4. Case of Cem 3* - my review
5. Melvill 2.5* - my review