The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

These are the 13 longlisted books:

Love Forms by Claire Adam (Faber & Faber)
The South by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate)
Universality by Natasha Brown (Faber & Faber)
One Boat by Jonathan Buckley (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Flashlight by Susan Choi (Jonathan Cape)
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth)
Audition by Katie Kitamura (Fern Press)
The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits (Faber & Faber)
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller (Sceptre)
Endling by Maria Reva (Virago)
Flesh by David Szalay (Jonathan Cape)
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (Viking)
Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga (Daunt Originals)

Love Forms by Claire Adam

The South by Tash Aw

Universality by Natasha Brown

One Boat by Jonathan Buckley

Flashlight by Susan Choi

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Audition by Katie Kitamura

The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits

The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Endling by Maria Reva

Flesh by David Szalay

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga

My non-negotiables (aka Praiseworthies) this year for the list were Audition, Universality and Endling. So massive credit to the judges for picking all three of them.

I had an optimistic 4th – Happiness and Love – but I didn’t expect to see as really one for Bernhard fans (of course that ought to be a basic criteria for any literary prize judge!).

And great to see a Fitzcarraldo book on the list – even if I really don’t think it’s their or the author’s best.

Given the judges taste in the 4 I’ve read I’m hoping that the other 9 yield some hidden treasures. Although first reaction from looking them all up is that none leap out. I will rely on my doppelganger – who will manage the “Booker longlist in July” challenge again – to tell me if there are any other “Paul books”.

Seems like a nice list, still quite a few titles I don't know!
Have read Audition and Universality, am currently busy in Endling. The rest will keep me busy over August!

Okay, officially going to buy Flashlight when the bookstore opens.

First reaction is that this is a very good list. Have only read four (I read The Rest of Our Lives over the weekend and liked it very much). Eager to read almost everything else on the list.

What a great list, in that it leaves me loads to read :-). Most years I've read all but a small handful, this time I've only read five of them. Looking forward to getting stuck in over August.

Great list. I read only 3 of them, so I'll have a busy August.

I read 5. Very happy for Katie Kitamura, even if Audition was not my favorite by her. Same for Natasha Brown, where I found her debut much more exciting.

Difficult to say anything about the list as a whole. Lots to discover! Curious mostly about Seascraper and Misinterpretation.

For US based fans, The Rest of Our Lives and Seascraper do not currently have known publication plans. The Land in Winter is not scheduled to be published until February 3rd.

One Boat, The Rest of Our Lives and Seascraper do not have US publication dates and The Land in Winter is not scheduled to be published in the US until next February, but I have two of them and have just ordered the other two from Blackwell's.

I agree with everyone that this is a great list or to qualify, one I am excited to read, even if I find some some books not to my taste. The judges had a tough job with so many entries and no real standouts in the early part of the year. No Book of Records, but we got Endling, so Canadian fans should be happy. Also there are a few books that I know little about so that should be fun.

I've just been lurking in this group, but I have to chime in and thank you all for making my first booker prediction watch so exciting :D

Cindy wrote: "One Boat, The Rest of Our Lives and Seascraper do not have US publication dates and The Land in Winter is not scheduled to be published in the US until next February, but I have two of them and hav..."

I show very limited quantities for One Boat, but it is available. Also it's digitally available for purchase in Overdrive.

Alwynne wrote: "Emmeline wrote: "Okay, officially going to buy Flashlight when the bookstore opens."

Is that one you think sounds worthwhile? So far, apart from Kitamura, this list brings out my not-so-inner mean..."

I haven't read Choi so I may end up agreeing with you, but I was curious about Flashlight anyway and this nudges me.

I disliked the Kitamura despite running to buy it when it came out, so I'm interested to see if the Audition-lovers can sway me.

The one I definitely won't read is the Desai; there's no way I'm going for an 800 page book.

I am really excited for this list! only one I have read is Universality. i'll try with the others, but the desai does not seems like my cup of tea and is massive. I am only tackling that if it makes the short list!

Alwynne wrote: "Emmeline wrote: "Okay, officially going to buy Flashlight when the bookstore opens."

Is that one you think sounds worthwhile? So far, apart from Kitamura, this list brings out my not-so-inner mean..."

I did not find the Markovits to be ANYTHING AT ALL like All Fours. Just saying. It was understated, sympathetic and without any easy answers.

I have read 11 of the list. The race to finish by July is on.

So pleased to see Natasha, Audition and Endling.

1. David Szalay 🇭🇺 / 🇬🇧
2. Maria Reva 🇨🇦
3. Katie Kitamura 🇺🇸
4. Benjamin Wood 🇬🇧
5. Kiran Desai 🇮🇳/ 🇺🇸
6. Natasha Brown 🇬🇧
7. Ben Markovits 🇬🇧 / 🇺🇸
8. Andrew Miller 🇬🇧
9. Ledia Xhoga 🇦🇱
10. Claire Adams 🇹🇹
11. Tash Aw - 🇲🇾
12. Jonathan Buckley 🇬🇧
13. Susan Choi - 🇺🇸

I based this on GR and Wikipedia, for all it’s worth. Although to profess a nationality is of course complicated - I should know, two passports and a permanent residency card. But I find different registers of English fascinating.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I have read 11 of the list. The race to finish by July is on.

So pleased to see Natasha, Audition and Endling."

Which two are you missing GY?

Yaaaay! At long last Jonathan Buckley is on the Booker list. Been waiting nearly twenty years for that!

David Szalay and Natasha Brown favourites? Assembly was one of the best books of the decade, I will never understand why the judges missed it.

Shame about Sean Hewitt though.

Reva is Ukrainian-Canadian and Szalay interestingly was born in Canada.

Based on Amazon page count (often not particularly accurate) the longlist page count is 3,984 which is not unusual, going by memory. What is unusual is that 4 of the books are under 200 pages (Buckley, Wood, Brown, Kitaruma). As always I've read none of them & read the bunch from longest on down, so I'm off to tackle the Desai (which Amazon lists at 688 pages).

And yes, I'm still grumpy about Praiseworthy.

So, no Nesting... No Hollinghurst... No Sarah Hall or Sarah Moss... No Colwill Brown... Is any of these the new Alexis Wright?

I have read six.

Endling I loved. The South, Universality, Flesh, Audition I enjoyed; The Land in Winter I liked well enough.

Excited to read the rest now, seems a pretty solid list.

OK, we now have all of the links, book discussions and bookshelves done. Weirdly, one book from each of the 2021 to 2024 shelves has disappeared, presumably because editions were merged or sabotaged by Amazon bots...

Of the three I've read (Universality, The Land in Winter, Flesh) I'd place the Miller slightly ahead of the Brown, with the Szalay losing ground as the months go by. Disappointed by the absence of Irish novels (Roddy!!), and had felt that this might be Sarah Hall's year - haven't yet read Helm, but love her work, and this one sounds wonderful. Have ordered the ten I haven't read - most looking forward to Seascraper, Audition and the epic Desai!

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I have read 11 of the list. The race to finish by July is on.

So pleased to see Natasha, Audition and Endling."

I´m surprised you´re missing Flashlight, GY... amateur mistake ;)

I have not read any of these, but apart from a few small press books I haven't been trying to read anything new other than a few from the women's prize list, so that is not very surprising.

Alwynne wrote: "So far, apart from Kitamura, this list brings out my not-so-inner mean girl."

You go girl, give us your meanest. :)

I mean, even the gay one is awfully conservative by any standards so I can only imagine the rest. I'm curious about the Xhoga though, Albanians are big bad wolves over here.

Szalay is considered a “Hungarian British” author… Tash Aw was born in Taiwan but holds Malaysian nationality (lives in England). And so on. But too bad Yorkshire English didn’t make the cut. I am still looking forward to Colwill Brown’s audiobook (I found reading her book difficult for me), but after I finish most of this long list.

I was sure We Pretty Pieces of Flesh was a shoo-in. Apart from that, an excellent list. I’ve read 5, looking forward very much to reading the rest, (apart from Flesh, which doesn’t appeal).

The world is not ready for Nicola Dinan, endrju.

It's always interesting to see who's gets to be tokenized.

On Susan Choi: I liked Trust Exercise and had not read any others. My feeling is if you liked Audition, you would like Trust Exercise, but if there is one prediction I can make, it is that I cannot predict who will respond in what way to any book.

I am looking forward to Sonia and Sunny. I do not find the length intimidating at all. I see different page counts on this BTW. I think 800 is the ebook which is usually longer. 688 pp is the hardcover count and unless the print is really tiny that is not that much. I fear we are becoming spoiled in our aversion of longer books.

So happy to see Endling, Audition, Flashlight, & Universality on the list! I've read 6 and look forward to reading the rest.

Alwynne wrote: "I'm also mindful of my friend Ari's conclusions particularly the notion that it leans towards whimsical"

Yes Endling is very whimsical. I wouldn't regard that as necessarily a bad thing when aligned with some playfulness with form but it will definitely push that button.

Paul wrote: "Yes it is very whimsical. "

Hard pass, haha. That's why this group is gold.

Ruben wrote: "Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I have read 11 of the list. The race to finish by July is on.

So pleased to see Natasha, Audition and Endling."

I´m surprised you´re missing Flashlight, G..."

I thought about Flashlight and nearly got it last week - as it was the most speculated book I had not read. But in the end I decided one chunkster in S&S was enough and was more focusing on the prediction compilation the last few days.

Alwynne wrote: "Emmeline wrote: "Okay, officially going to buy Flashlight when the bookstore opens."

Is that one you think sounds worthwhile? So far, apart from Kitamura, this list brings out my not-so-inner mean..."

I'm really unexcited by this list too, which is a shame given that I was so pleasantly surprised by last year's list. I've read exactly none of the longlisted titles but it features a lot of writers who have underwhelmed me in the past: Choi, Kitamura, Aw, Markovits, Adam. With the exception of the Natasha Brown, which does sound great, I doubt I'll be trying much from it.

cindy, thank you for your remark on Markovits. I was a bit reluctant since I found All Fours a bit... middle of the road. your characterisation sounds much more appealing.

As for the Mini-series: I might. I don't mind long books, but it just doesn't interesting me thematically either.

Oh and I'm also not a Miller fan!

Emmeline wrote: "Paul wrote: "Yes it is very whimsical. "

Hard pass, haha. That's why this group is gold."

Well whimsical but also very political. E.g. the link - see the book thread - to the Canadian history of defying American attempts to annex the country (in 1812 and now 2025)

My approach to the longlist this year is going to be slow. I have far too many commitments to different group reads that I am very much enjoying, plus there are a number of recently released or soon to be released books that I am anticipating as much as anything on the longlist.

Way back on June 1st, GY posted the list below in our speculation topic. At that time, I was going to suggest adopting that list instead of the Booker list as a group read since I was familiar with some of the books and trust GY's taste. Instead, I offer it up today to anyone dissatisfied with today's longlist. What I am saying is there are a hell of a lot of good books out there, so don't just limit yourself to the Booker. While I only read three off the Booker longlist, I read seven of those below and despite not liking them all, I found all worth reading. BTW, I could post most of your prediction lists and state the same thing.

“We Pretty Pieces of Flesh” by Colwill Brown
“Universality” by Natasha Brown
“Theft” by Abdulrazak Gurnah
“Our Evenings” by Alan Hollinghurst
“Saraswati” by Gurnaik Johal
“Audition” by Katie Kitamura
“Edenglassie” by Melissa Lucashenko
“The City Changes Its Face” by Eimear McBride
“Dream Count” by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
“Nesting” by Roisin O’Donnell
“Endling” by Maria Reva
“Flesh” by David Szalay
“The Book of Records” by Madeline Thein

So happy to see The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller on the longlist. Miller, to me, is such an elegant writer, and I did love this book. It's the only one I've read, but I have several others on my TBR list, which I'll move up now. I've been concentrating on my own prose and poetry.

Glad to see a writer as elegant as Miller on the list, along with younger, more innovative writers. Plenty of room for both.

Sam wrote: "My approach to the longlist this year is going to be slow. I have far too many commitments to different group reads that I am very much enjoying, plus there are a number of recently released or soo..."

Thank you, Sam. I am far more attracted to that list than to the Booker longlist!

I guess I'm with Sam. I've read four on the list and just started a 5th. One other was already on hold and another is available so I'll probably read those also. The others I'm not overly motivated to buy, which I'd have to do. There are so many other great books I'm looking forward to reading.

At the same time, I have really enjoyed following the Listopia and reading in anticipation of the longlist announcement. I read some great books that I might not have otherwise, including Our Evenings, Theory & Practice, Theft, and Disappoint Me. So no regrets!

This looks like a fairly strong list to me, and I’ve only read one of them (Audition, which I liked a lot). I’m always pleased when there are a few not yet published in the U.S. I enjoy the scavenger hunt to find copies of those. I’m particularly excited about the 600+-page Desai. I loved The Inheritance of Loss. I know that opinion is not shared by many on this site, but I found that novel to be full of heart, the good kind. The new one sounds equally good.

Is anyone seeing links between books / themes? Or indeed have judges called them out?

Gumble's Yard commented to me earlier that there are several books that up-end themselves and play with fiction and fiction-within-the fiction. All four I've read - One Boat, Audition, Universality, Endling - have aspects of this.

But that's a bit of a biased sample - as those are the sort of books I like to read. So it may be a coincidence. It does give me hope though that a book like that may win.

If any of the longlisted books are good on audio, please share the title. I have a lot of Audible US credits.