The longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 has now been announced! And I managed to guess nearly half of the books on it, so I’m pretty happy about that (and it would have been half except I couldn’t find UK publication dates for one and thought it wasn’t eligible… but I’ll go into all that in a minute). So here is the full list, and how my predictions stacked up!
Books I guessed correctly:
And there was one more book that I heard might be eligible and that I considered including on my list. I couldn’t find any UK publishing dates that placed it in the eligible date range, though, so I left it off. But I did think of it, and it would have been top of my list had I been able to figure out if it was eligible, so I’m counting it as a half:
I listened to this on audiobook earlier this year and it’s probably my favourite read of 2019 so far. I’m really happy to see it on the list and would definitely recommend the audiobook. The book itself beautifully written and deals with some important and timely issues.
I read Normal People and part of Milkman during Man Booker season (Milkman having won the prize). I enjoyed Normal People and was quite annoyed when it didn’t make the shortlist. I could see the potential in Milkman and get why it won, but at the time it just wasn’t the book I felt up to reading as it takes some effort to get into the dense atmosphere created by the writing style (not a criticism, you just have to be in the headspace for it). I decided to wait until it was available on audiobook here because I heard from a few reviewers who had also struggled with it that it was much better on audiobook. My library now has it, so I’m planning to give it another try!
Since the list was announced I have also read My Sister the Serial Killer and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t have as much depth as the other books from the list that I’ve read. I’m not quite sure if I feel like it deserves to make it to the shortlist, but we’ll see what happens. It’s definitely worth a read, particularly if you enjoy unique thrillers like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. It definitely was not what I expected, and just on the basis of the book as a thriller I loved how it was structured and written. I’m just not sure how it stacks up in a one-to-one comparison with other books on the list like Milkman or An American Marriage.
Of the others I’m probably most excited to try Ghost Wall and give Milkman another try.
And here are the books I didn’t guess:
Of these there are three I’m really interested in. Ordinary People was already on my shelves, but I haven’t heard anyone talking about it, so it didn’t make it onto my Women’s Prize radar – though I was very pleasantly surprised to see it there. Remembered and Lost Children Archive are two that stand out to me as being interesting – I think I had the latter on my TBR but had forgotten about it. Three I am kind of interested in: Number One Chinese Restaurant, Freshwater, and Praise Song for the Butterflies which I hadn’t even heard of but that I’ve since heard positive reviews of. The last two, The Pisces and Bottled Goods don’t sound like my kind of thing based on the blurbs, so I’ll probably wait and see if they make the shortlist then decide if I want to give them a try.
For your calendars, the shortlist will be announced on April 29th and the winner will be announced on June 5th, so you do have some time to give at least a few of these a try if they appeal to you!
So that’s it for this year’s longlist announcement! You can find out more on the Women’s Prize website (this link also has blurbs of each book if you’d like to browse them all in one place). As always, I’d love to hear what you guys think of the list this year. Has it put any new and exciting books on your radar? Have you read any of these? What did you think? Will you be trying to read the longlist or waiting to find out which make the shortlist or which wins the prize? I’d love to hear any and all thoughts in the comments!
Nice post! hope I have Normal People soon–that cover!