Booker Predictions in 2024 | Last minute, a bit of a Hail Mary and CHAOTIC!

First time viewer - gr8 vid! Thanx for the shout out to my Goodreads Listopia list! (I've been the creator and administrator for the last 8 years!) I DO try to keep it current and keep the ineligible out, but it's a daunting task! I've read the entire longlist for a decade now and am hoping to make this the 11th. :-)

It's so dangerous for me to follow booktubers, because EVERY time I watch a video, I add more books to my infinite TBR list.

The Things They Carried might be one of my all time favorite books.

Pure chaos! I am so here for it. Thanks Shelly.

Oh please please please read Martyr! It is wonderful and so honest and necessary! I chose it for the book club I run at the indie I work for, and it was beloved by all. Long Island is fantastic and not as much a sequel as you’d think. It’s been a while since I read Brooklyn and I had no trouble picking up on Eilis’s life and there is enough exposition you don’t HAVE to read Brooklyn (although I think you should.). It’s BETTER than Brooklyn, if that’s possible. Heaven and Earth Grocery Store! Chef’s kiss! Divine! James is excellent. I did a side by side read with Huckleberry Finn and it was perfect. He clearly is intimately knowledgeable with his source material. The Vulnerables was good. Not cheesy like it sounds. But not good enough to win, in my opinion. My favorite book of the year is Beautyland by Marie-Helen Bertino (Martyr! is second), and I am crossing my fingers it at least makes the longlist. So worthy and stunningly beautiful and humane. Highly recommend. ❤ Gotta go to work! 📚

I just finished James. And before that, I reread The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which enhanced the reading of James even more.

Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy is an amazing, amazing book. My favorite of those I’ve read on this list by a country mile. Challenging doesn’t mean bad. Books should occupy our attention. It’s beautiful, and so is Carpentaria, another book of hers recently published in the US. The late Paul Auster is amazing too. Baumgartner is a sad, beautiful book about an old man grieving a loss. Auster wrote at the end of his life. His longer novel 4 3 2 1 is a masterpiece. Just sayin’.

Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria - as Australian as any of us can be. She has already won the Stella for Praiseworth and shortlisted for the Miles Franklin. I've not read any of her work - as it is said to be very experimental but I think given she one of Australia's most celebrated writers I really need to!

I haven't really had luck with the Booker either... I'm currently reading Long Island right now and it is quite good, but I really feel like you need to read Brooklyn first (which is excellent).

I really enjoyed Brooklyn and and trying to hold out for the paperback edition of Long Island!

Definitely recommend Carys Davies books, all of them. Hahaha. Thank you for the shout out. Would love to see that and Blackouts on the list. And Charlotte Wood. I keep getting tempted to make a predictions video, yet the pressure!!! Hahaha.

I've read James, My Friends, Clear and Praiseworthy on the goodsread list. I've contributed to that list and the goodreads eligible lists of previous years. It's not really indicative of what the Booker judges will choose for the longlist. But the books are usually really great books. I've given 5 stars to those ones I've read but Praiseworthy is in another class above the other ones I've read. Praiseworthy has already won other awards and I expect it to win more. If it's not on the Booker longlist (and possibly win) I'll eat my hat. Can't stress how brilliant it actually is. I don't think it will appeal to everyone, but IMHO that's more an indication of the reader and what they can commit to their reading rather than the book. I've got quite a few more on my tbr but I'm really interested to see what makes the Booker list this year. Thanks for the video Shelly and the opportunity to put forward my 2 cents worth 🙂

Ohhh, a new Elizabeth Strout. Definitely going to read that!

Thanks for this Shelly. Clear by Carys Davies just became my next read 😁 Islands, I am there for that.

I read Whale Fall on my flight home in May and loved it! Another island book 🙂

I read Outline by Rachel Cusk and really liked it. Some interesting themes in there.

I HATED The Vulnerables... You should read it. 😜

I'm sorry, wasn't that into Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, but I still really want to read McrBride's other books, especially The Good Lord Bird

I really liked Wellness (and The Nix) a lot! I would be surprised if it makes it on the long list…. It doesn’t have the booker vibe in my opinion.

Wellness is good.