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Orange Prize Other

The 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist

The 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist was announced overnight. I was impressed by the selection. I didn’t feel as though any major novels were left out and it was nice to see a few books that were new to me.

I’ve summarised my thoughts on those I’ve tried and found five words from the blurb for those I haven’t. Enjoy browsing the list!

Books I’ve tried:

The Signature of All Things

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Five words from the blurb: botanical, explorer, woman, independent, evolution

My favourite 2013 fiction release. Gilbert is so good she can even make a story about moss interesting! I’m hoping this wins the prize.

Eleven Days

Eleven Days by Lea Carpenter

Five words from the blurb: mother, soldier, Afghanistan, courage, love

Amazing writing which shows a mother’s relationship with her grown-up son. Fascinating information about US Navy SEAL training and society’s attitude to the armed forces. Highly recommended.

The Lowland

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri 

Five words from the blurb: India, brothers, crossroads, haunted, past

Gentle story about two Indian brothers who take different paths in life. It had some good scenes, but didn’t blow me away.

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing

A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride 

Five words from the blurb: experimental, girl, violence, personal, struggle

If you enjoyed Riddley Walker you’re in for a treat! I found the writing style too impenetrable to enjoy, but if you have the patience to persevere I’m sure you’ll be rewarded.

Almost English

Almost English by Charlotte Mendelson 

Five words from the blurb: London, Hungarian, relatives, strange, life

Quirky story about Hungarian family moving to London. Perfect for fans of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.

The Bear

The Bear by Claire Cameron 

Five words from the blurb: something, moving, shadows, woods, screams

Narrated by a five-year-old girl, this book was compelling but frustratingly simple.

The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 

Five words from the blurb: New York, wealthy, family, self-invention, suspense

I listened to the abridged BBC audio production of this one, but even that dragged! I don’t think Tartt is for me.

MaddAddam

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood  

Five words from the blurb: plague, group, survives, bio-engineered, humans

This is the final book in Atwood’s dystopian trilogy. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy Oryx and Crake (and so won’t be trying this one) but I’ve heard lots of good things so if you’re a fan of her other books then you’ll appreciate this.

Burial Rites

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 

Five words from the blurb: Iceland, murderer, remote, farm, execution

Fantastic piece of historical fiction, but I found it lacking the Icelandic mindset.

The Flamethrowers

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

Five words from the blurb: fascination, motorcycles, art, dreamers, education, Italy

Fantastic writing, but too disjointed for me. If you have an interest in art or motorcycles you’ll probably love it.

The Luminaries

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Five words from the blurb: New Zealand, goldfield, men, crime, mystery

Well researched ambitious novel, packed with interesting ideas. Unfortunately the pace was too slow for me.

Americanah

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Five words from the blurb: America, Nigeria, experiences, race, relationships

Fantastic characters, but plot was a little too simple for me.

 

Books that I haven’t tried yet:

The Undertaking

The Undertaking by Audrey Magee 

Five words from the blurb: German, soldier, Stalingrad, hierarchy, regime

Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen 

Five words from the blurb: photographer, herione, unexpected, journey, love

The Burgess Boys

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 

Five words from the blurb: accident, killed, father, childhood, trouble

The Strangler Vine

The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter

Five words from the blurb: India, notorious, son, missing, questions

The Dogs of Littlefield

The Dogs of Littlefield by Suzanne Berne 

Five words from the blurb: dogs, poisoned, manicured, lawns, Massachussetts

All the Birds, Singing

All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld 

Five words from the blurb: British, farmhouse, beast, sheep, strange

Reasons She Goes to the Woods

Reasons She Goes to the Woods by Deborah Kay Davies 

Five words from the blurb: childhood, escape, woods, mystery, normal

The Shadow Of The Crescent Moon

The Shadow of the Crescent Moon by Fatima Bhutto

Five words from the blurb: Pakistan, Afghan, border, war, choices

What do you think of the Baileys Women’s Prize for fiction longlist?

 

 

 

 

Categories
Orange Prize Other Uncategorized

Who will the longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction?

On 7th March the longlist for the 2014 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction will be announced. Previously known as the Orange Prize, it is awarded to the best full length novel, written by a women, that has been published in the UK between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2014.

It has been an amazing year for female writers and I found it very easy to think of books that deserve a place on the list. Narrowing it down to a shortlist will be very tricky, but here are the books that I predict will make the longlist:

The Signature of All ThingsMy Notorious LifeKiss Me FirstThe Flamethrowers

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

My Notorious Life by Kate Manning

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

The InterestingsThe GoldfinchThe LowlandGhana Must Go

The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi

The LuminariesAmericanahThe Blazing WorldThe Golem and the Djinni

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt

The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker

All the Birds, SingingBoy, Snow, BirdMrs. HemingwayThe Night Guest

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi

Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

The EngagementThe Woman Upstairs The Gospel of LokiThe View on the Way Down

The Engagement by Chloe Hooper

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris

The View on the Way Down by Rebecca Wait

What do you think of my selection? 

Who do you think will make the Baileys Women’s Prize for fiction longlist?

 

Categories
Orange Prize Pulitzer Prize

Two Literary Prizes

The 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize Shortlist

The shortlist for the 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize was announced this morning. I wasn’t surprised to see any of the books on the list, as all are strong enough to justify their place, but I was sad that the list consisted of so many well-known authors.  Many of the longlisted books by lesser known authors were equally good, if not better, than those selected and it is a real shame that they don’t get a chance in the spotlight.

I was especially disappointed that The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber didn’t make the cut as her novel, written entirely in verse, is an amazing achievement that deserves more recognition.

Here are the six lucky books that made the shortlist:

Where'd You Go, BernadetteNWMay We be Forgiven

 

Bring Up the BodiesFlight BehaviourLife After Life (Signed, Limited Edition)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

Five words from the blurb: genius, Microsoft, child, charismatic, comic
Wonderfully entertaining and quirky – I recommend this to anyone looking for something a little different.

NW by Zadie Smith

Five words from the blurb: Londoners, estate, moved, different, lives.
The writing in this book is fantastic, but its disjointed nature won’t be to everyone’s taste.

May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes

Five words from the blurb: quiet, life, family, strange, finding
Engaging book, packed with satire. Lots of people love this one, but I’m afraid the plot twists were a bit too unrealistic for me.

Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Five words from the blurb: Thomas Cromwell, rise, destruction, Anne Boleyn, Catholic
Over the years I’ve come to realise that Mantel isn’t for me, but it is no surprise to see her on the shortlist.

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

Five words from the blurb: Appalachian Mountains, mother, discovers, nature, miracle
Global warming is an important subject and this book has many fantastic passages, but I’m afraid it was a little preachy for me.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Five words from the blurb: turbulent, events, chances, past, moments
This is the book that everyone is raving about. It didn’t work for me, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it win the big prize. I think this is Atkinson’s year.

What do you think of the shortlist?

 

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize

The Orphan Master's Son

WINNER: The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

Five words from the blurb: North Korea, kidnapper, spy, glory, love

The first half of this book was outstanding, but unfortunately I found it became unrealistic and silly as it progressed. I’m surprised to see it winning the Pulitzer – especially since the prize is supposed to go to books dealing with American life. This ones seems far too rooted in North Korea to be eligible, but what do I know!?

 

The Snow Child

FINALIST: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Five words from the blurb: Alaskan, wilderness, snow, girl, magical

I loved this book. It was like a modern day fairy tale and was gripping throughout. I’m surprised to see it on this prize list though. I found it hugely entertaining, but didn’t think it had the depth to justify a Pulitzer. Those judges are doing strange things this year!

 

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank

FINALIST: What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander

Five words from the blurb: comic, dark, vision, universe, questions 

I’m not a fan of short stories so I haven’t tried this one, but I’ve heard lots of great things about it. Were the judges right to select it?

What do you think of the selection?

Categories
Orange Prize Other

Ranking the Women’s Fiction Prize Longlist

I’ve now finished trying all the books on the longlist and thought it would be interesting to summarise my thoughts before the shortlist is announced on Tuesday 16th.

I haven’t posted about all the books yet, but rather than inundate the blog with lots of (mainly negative) reviews I thought it was best to focus on the positives and then move on to books that are more to my taste. So here are the books I most enjoyed reading:

The six books I most enjoyed reading:

Honour

  1. Honour by Elif Shafak 
  2. Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam 
  3. Ignorance by Michèle Roberts 
  4. Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
  5. A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Aldridge 
  6. Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany 

As you can see I didn’t love many books from the longlist, but my taste isn’t everything. Many of the books were fantastic, just not for me. So here is the more important ranking:

The longlist by literary merit:

The Marlowe Papers

  1. The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber
  2. Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
  3. Ignorance by Michèle Roberts
  4. NW by Zadie Smith
  5. The Forrests by Emily Perkins
  6. Honour by Elif Shafak
  7. Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson
  8. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
  9. May We Be Forgiven by AM Homes
  10. Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam

Who will make the shortlist?

That question is almost impossible to answer as it is all down to the personal taste of the judges on the day, but I suspect their discussions will mainly involve the ten books I’ve listed above. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gone Girl on the shortlist, but if I had to stick my neck out I’d predict these six books will make the cut:

  1. Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
  2. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
  3. Ignorance by Michèle Roberts
  4. NW by Zadie Smith
  5. Alif the Unseen by G Willow Wilson
  6. The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber

Who will win?

Hilary Mantel is the most likely contender, but I think there is a strong chance Kate Atkinson will pip her at the post on this one. Shame as all my fingers are crossed for The Marlowe Papers – it hasn’t received the attention it deserves.

The Marlowe Papers

Who do you think will make the shortlist?

Which books on the longlist did you enjoy reading?

Categories
Orange Prize

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life Longlisted for 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: born, lives, change, chances, destiny

Life After Life is getting rave reviews everywhere. I’ve seen more people declare it as their “book of the year (so far)” than any other title.  I loved the concept and with all the buzz I was expecting to enjoy it. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I found it repetitive and I couldn’t engage with the central character, Ursula, at all.

The book begins well, with Ursula shooting Hitler. It then jumps back in time to Ursula’s birth, but Ursula doesn’t survive. In a strange twist of events Ursula is born again and this time survives. Ursula continues to die at regular intervals, each time being reborn, living slightly longer, and learning from past events.

Staircases were very dangerous places, according to Sylvie. People died on them. Sylvie always told them not to play at the top of the stairs. Ursula crept along the carpet runner. Took a quiet breath and then, both hands out in front of her, as if trying to stop a train, she threw herself at the small of Bridget’s back. Bridget whipped her head round, mouth and eyes wide in horror at the sight of Ursula. Bridget went flying, toppling down the stairs in a great flurry of arms and legs. Ursula only just managed to stop herself from following in her wake. Practice makes perfect.

Unfortunately I couldn’t connect with the the format. Every time Ursula died I groaned inside. I found the repetition of each scene irritating and even though new details were added each time there was more to annoy me than entertain. It could be down to the fact I’ve never had much success with this type of structure – The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver also annoyed me.

Another problem was that the fragmented nature of the plot meant I struggled to become emotionally attached to Ursula. The fact she kept being reborn also meant each tragedy had an increasingly small impact on me.

On a positive note, the writing quality was good – a big improvement from When Will There Be Good News?, the only other book by Kate Atkinson that I’ve read.

Due to the volume of glowing reviews I persevered with this book for longer than I normally would, giving up after 175 pages. I seem to be the only one who didn’t fall in love with Life After Life so please don’t take my word for it. Give it a try!

DNF

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

Every little detail has a purpose, every single decision was made for a reason and carried a particular consequence. The Pretty Good Gatsby

…the structure, rather than create difficulties or disjointedness in the reader’s understanding, brings us to a deeper knowledge of Ursula and her motives. The Writes of Woman

…one of the most extraordinary books you’ll read this year. Alex in Leeds

Categories
Orange Prize

Honour by Elif Shafak

Honour Longlisted for the 2013 Women’s Fiction Prize

Five words from the blurb: Turkey, London, traditions, mistakes, families

Honour is the story of a Turkish family who are haunted by their mistakes. Pembe and Adem Toprak move to London in order to start a new life, but Turkish traditions are never far from their mind. Maintaining the family’s “honour” is vitally important, but this book questions how far a person should go to protect it.

The book started really well with the introduction of some fantastic characters. I was instantly engaged in their story, keen to work out what was happening. It was a little confusing at first because the book jumped forwards and backwards in time, but each chapter was so vivid that I didn’t mind this.

The most impressive thing about Honour is the way it portrays both Eastern and Western cultures with sensitivity and respect. I didn’t know much about Turkish tradition, but this book introduced their beliefs in a way that was easy to comprehend. I understood the dilemmas they faced in maintaining their public image and found the way this impacted on their life in London fascinating.

In England things were topsy-turvy. The word couscous, though ordinary, was treated with reverence. Yet the word shame, though substantial, was taken quite lightly.

Unfortunately I lost interest in the story towards the middle of the book. Everything came together and I felt as though I knew where the story was heading. Luckily I was wrong, but I still felt this middle section was overly long and lacked the sparkle of the rest of the novel.

I ended the book with mixed feelings, expecting to award it 4 stars. But this is one of those rare books that improves with time. On reflection it kept getting better – an impressive number of issues were raised and it is only with hindsight that I realised how clever some of the earlier scenes were. I’m sure that even more would be revealed on a re-read, making this a strong contender for the shortlist.

It is one of my favourite books of the year so far and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys character driven novels that investigate how culture impacts on our lives.

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The thoughts of other bloggers:

Note: I couldn’t find a bad review for this one!

Personally, Elif Shafak looks set to be my favourite author. JoV’s Book Pyramid

I love Shafak’s style of writing – it is lush and hints at magic realism. Winstonsdad’s Blog

It continues to make you read it even after you have closed the last page. Just a Word