Booker Prize 2024 Longlist REACTION!

My best girlfriend and I are planning to read all the long listed books and hopefully before the short list is announced. We have both read James and loved it. We woke up early to FaceTime when the list was released and then sat on FaceTime buying all the books hahahah. I have now spent most of the day watching booker list videos-book nerds unite!!!!!! And we are just as excited as you-thank you for all these great video’s Shelly!!!!!

What a great video intro to the long list. Having been disappointed with past long lists, I share your excitement with this one. I chanced upon your video looking for a quick intro to the 2024 listed novels/authors. I’m so glad I stumbled into your channel. Next time I see a goat, I expect I will immediately think of you ….and I mean that in the best possible way. Thank you for your time and effort. I can’t wait to follow up as you read through these exciting selections to hear your further thoughts.

Looking forward to checking a few of these titles out of my library! I just read James and sobbed my eyes out. I’m hoping it at least gets shortlisted!

The safe keep is one of the best books I’ve read this year

It's fun to watch you get so excited! Hope you find some more favorites!!

I love these Booker reaction videos. Thanks you for joining the Booker party.

You really should read Orbital; I think you're being misled by the blurb. It's just over 200 pages and is filled with beautifully written passages. She really fleshes out the six characters with a sparse number of words as they adapt to living in space focus on their new jobs and reflect on their lives back on Earth. It's profound and silly at times, happy and sad, and filled with exquisite, lush writing. I really think that it's going to make the short list. Hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this book.

Normally I’m not super into the booker picks. I love seeing the list each year but rarely want to read very many of the books. I’m very intrigued by 11 of them this year! I’ve got lots of library holds and am about to start my first one!

I’m excited about this list too! So happy to see James, Wandering Stars, Orbital and Held. I gushed about all four of these when I read them. (Shelly, start with There, There because otherwise Wandering Stars is spoilery.) Several books are already on my library holds list—Wild Houses, My Friends, Safekeep and This Strange Eventful History. Messud’s novel is a whole lot longer than Held, btw. Also, Held is written in a fragmented circuitous style, which I am guessing is quite different from Messud’s prose style. I’m quite curious about Headshot, even though boxing would not normally attract my interest. We shall see!

Creation Lake is not yet available in South Africa. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Yesterday i did watch as an unsubscribed person, but that lasted maybe three minutes before repeatedly hitting subscribe...which as it turns out unsubscribed me resubscribed me, unsubscribed me...well you get the picture. Im sorry, but like you i was excited. Moreso than i think i ought to be. Anyway im so excited about this years booker even if i still dont think ive yet to read one book on said list, but i will. In fact i just finished rereading Huckleberry Finn to prep myseld for James although it seems i didnt have to. Anyway im sorry for wroting a small novel, but your excitement is contagious!

Oh my gosh. Thank you for your video and making me laugh too. After all, goats are funny!

Powers and Kushner books not out until September. Happy to start in on this list, and my local library is only missing one on the list of already published books. Probably won’t read Headshot though, not interested in boxing which I find to be an accepted form of physical violence, so not for me. I plan on reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and There There before reading Everett and Orange on this list. I’ve read Overstory but not Bewilderment by Powers. Some people say Bewilderment is better and more of an intimate novel as it is told in the first person narrative. Intriguing list…thank you for your excited overview of this list! Happy reading.

OK I can never look at Wild Houses again without laughing at the goat eyes!! It's on a 3 week wait on my Libby!

I’m about 80 pages into James and loving it.

So glad a Canadian made the list. Anne Michaels has won several awards, including The Women's Prize in 1997 with Fugitive Pieces which I really need to read. There are several authors on the list that I want to read. 😊💙

Interested most in The Safekeep, then Orbital & Headshot. I really want to read James but I've never read Huck Finn so not sure if I need to do that first ?? Tried to read There, There a while back and DNF'd so not super into Wandering Stars but I understand the pick. I DNF'd Richard Powers' last novel so that one is not going to be for me. Overall several things I'm interested in, but I have noticed people saying that there are far too many US authors on this list

Shelly you need to read safekeep so good xx

I really liked James! I wanted more development in the part that I can't say here without spoiling the fantastic twist in the novel. And also, the philosophers appearances threw me off and I would have preferred a more realistic approach. Nevertheless, what Everett did with the language switch is brilliant! It is a great book for discussions. I have borrowed the There There by Tommy Orange from libby on my kindle one too many times and I still haven't read it yet. I put it again on my kindle to read it soon after I saw the Wandering Stars on instagram. Like you, I didn't want to read Wandering Stars before reading There There. I hadn't heard of My Friends by Hasim Matar, but somehow I had heard of the author. I'd love to read My Friends.

No Praiseworthy! I hope Wright has another great one in her. Hoping James wins.