Women's Prize 2022 Shortlist Prediction/Longlist Discussion with Anna
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- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- My friend Anna James and I are back for a long friendly discussion about the books we've read from the 2022 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist and predict what we think will make the shortlist. Click ‘Show More’ for info & links.
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The Women's Prize for Fiction: www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk
Shortlist announced April 27th
Winner announced June 15th
Longlist prediction video with Anna: • Women's Prize 2022 Lon...
Violet Kupersmith in discussion with David Mitchell: • Violet Kupersmith in c...
Follow Anna James!
Twitter: / acaseforbooks
Instagram: / acaseforbooks
TikTok: / acaseforbooks
The longlisted books and purchase links:
The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
tidd.ly/3hJhuPp
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
tidd.ly/34nhqSy
Careless by Kirsty Capes
tidd.ly/35TaHQA
Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey
tidd.ly/3hQVsdv
Flamingo by Rachel Elliott
tidd.ly/3pLCdqp
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
tidd.ly/3IRvYsC
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
tidd.ly/33tV0yp
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
tidd.ly/3eJljD0
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
tidd.ly/336sNgD
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
tidd.ly/3uhXM2A
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
tidd.ly/2X1Y5CI
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
tidd.ly/3gIQCjg
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
tidd.ly/3tyPvFL
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
tidd.ly/3mcUivw
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
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Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé
tidd.ly/3hLZu7e
My reviews of the books I've read so far:
The Bread the Devil Knead by Lisa Allen-Agostini
lonesomereader.com/blog/2022/...
Salt Lick by Lulu Allison
lonesomereader.com/blog/2022/...
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
lonesomereader.com/blog/2022/...
The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
lonesomereader.com/blog/2022/...
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
lonesomereader.com/blog/2021/...
Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith
lonesomereader.com/blog/2022/...
This One Sky Day by Leone Ross
lonesomereader.com/blog/2021/...
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
lonesomereader.com/blog/2021/...
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
• Great Circle by Maggie...
Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé
lonesomereader.com/blog/2022/...
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:59 Longlist overview
6:39 The Books We Haven't Read
8:27 The Island of Missing Trees
14:41 The Book of Form & Emptiness
21:08 This One Sky Day
30:38 The Bread the Devil Knead
34:28 The Paper Palace
37:22 Creatures of Passage
48:37 Salt Lick
53:20 Build Your House Around My Body
59:53 Remote Sympathy
1:05:59 Great Circle
1:06:30 The Sentence
1:14:11 The Exhibitionist
1:25:01 Sorrow and Bliss
1:29:17 Our shortlist favourites
1:31:32 Joint shortlist prediction
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Great video! Have not read the whole longlist yet but the ones that stand out for me from the ones I've read are This One Sky Day, Ruth Ozeki and Salt Lick.
Always love this video thank you! My absolute fav was great circle, really enjoyed missing trees, careless, S&B and the sentence, didn’t love paper palace and I have to agree I absolutely hated the exhibitionist, have just started to build your house!
My six are Great Circle, One Sky Day, The Island of Missing Trees, Careless, Creatures of Passage and Remote Sympathy. I have a few to finish and dnf two. Yep agree with Eric on The Exhibitionist. Enjoyed your discussions very much.
Every minute of this is worth watching! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us ❤️I hope GC and Trees make the shortlist 🤞☺️
Thank you! 😊📚 I reckon they both have a very good chance of making the shortlist.
This was lovely as usual - you two are great - and such rich discussions! I'm so curious what will make the shortlist!
Thank you! 😊📚
Amazing video!!! I cannot wait!!! I did my own predictions and we have some overlap. April 27th!
I've been saving this video for a time I could watch it all in one go. Really enjoyed this discussion! My favourite that I've read so far from the longlist is definitely Flamingo. And my favourite from the shortlist is The Island of Missing Trees. I'm finding myself reading more books from the longlist at the moment rather than the shortlist! I'm just more drawn to them ☺
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and I definitely still need to read Flamingo. Read the books you’re drawn to. 📚
Puppet Show (pronounced popisho) A person so over- the - top, they have become a ridiculous spectacle, to be made a mockery of- hence the literal meaning: puppet show. It’s Jamaican Patois.
Thank you!
Everyone seems to have such different reactions to the longlist this year. It is so interesting to see how people's reactions and hear their reasons. I bet the judges had some very interesting discussions this year!
The ones I have read and LOVED them all. I hope they make the shortlist. This One Sky Day, Island of Missing Trees, Great Circle, Build your House and Sorrow and Bliss. I think my absolute favourite was This One Sky Day. Such an amazing novel. So unique. An all time favourite. Thanks for recommending it! I loved Build your House Around my Body also. Fantastic.
Loved this - you two are great together. My first read was Sorrow and Bliss, then The Sentence - both great. I'm currently having lots of laughs out loud with Build Your House Around My Body so happy to see you both enjoyed it. Next up will be Elif Shafak and maybe Paper Palace if it's on the shortlist.
Thank you! Hope you enjoy Shafak and Heller's novels. 📚
Careless is brilliant. I hope you like it when you get to it.
My prediction is Great Circle, The Island of Missing Trees, Sorrow and Bliss, The Sentence, Careless and The Book of Form and Emptiness.
Yussss so many people seem to be overlooking Careless. I loved it. x
Lots of love on here for Careless so I really hope to read it soon. Thanks! 📚
Great video! I’ve actually read all 16. Highly recommend Flamingo, which was the nicest surprise of what I thought was a fairly lackluster longlist (although I don’t think it will be shortlisted). Careless had such a strong YA vibe for me that while it was fine, I do not think it belonged on the list. I actively disliked Paper Palace. My two favorites are This One Sky Day and Sorrow and Bliss and so I really hope they are both there.
Thank you! And well done! 📚 Really interesting to hear your general reaction.
I just want Great Circle to be shortlisted if not win! It was my favourite book of 2021.
🍀👋☘️📖☕️📚
Yes! 👍
Great Circle is the next book on my TBR list. I'm so excited to read it now.
I'm weirdly glad that it was The Exhibitionist that you hated! It's also at the bottom of my list right now. I agree that they felt very caricatural (one sided) and there was no growth, I was like why am I even reading this? Urg. Great conversation about Creatures of Passage, I agree it could have been less explicit and I almost DNFd it at that point, but then it was so important to the plot and I thought it was amazing overall as a book. Loved your wee prediction section at the end, and I'm hoping for basically that list too! Can't wait for next week's announcement!
Yeah, I completely agree about the lack of character development in The Exhibitionist. It was so frustrating. Fingers crossed we’re right on Wednesday. 😊📚
I finished Sorrow and Bliss last night
I’m so glad you loved it too and agree! 😊📚
I really enjoyed The Final Revival of Opal and Nev. halfway through Great Circle and Sorrow and Bliss. The Island of Missing Trees is on my TBR - not sure I want to read any of the others
Great, I hope to get to it.
loved this video - always enjoy hearing your thoughts! I've read a few from the list - really enjoyed Build Your House Around My Body and This One Sky Day, though don't think either of them are necessarily shortlist fodder for me (though maybe I should be less picky!). The Sentence was okay for me, but I thought it was actually v incoherent having the two storylines (of the ghost story in the bookshop and also the pandemic) next to each other - I know that's how the pandemic happened irl but as a reading experience it was incredibly unsatisfying! but the one that I am EVANGELICAL about - and I cannot WAIT for you both to read it for the first time because you're going to have the best time - is Opal and Nev. it captured me entirely and, while it wasn't the most polished book in the world, was incredibly moving and very successful for me. I'd be very disappointed if it wasn't shortlisted!
Thank you! 😊 You’ve made me so eager to read Opal & Nev!
@@EricKarlAnderson I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!
Love this video 🤗 totally agree with Anna on The Island of Missing Trees but I was shouting at her when she was defending The Exhibitionist 🤣🤣 if your combined shortlist is right I'd be soooo happy, Great Circle and Build Your House were two of my absolute favs
Haha! 📚
I feel like I'm the only one in the world who has read Careless haha. 😅 I really loved that book and hope it's shortlisted so more people read it. 😘
I've read it and loved it too! I sadly don't think it'll be shortlisted but I really enjoyed my experience of reading it.
Oh no, I’ve seen lots of other people praising it. I hope to read it soon.
I've read it too! ☺
I've read two of the three you haven't read, Flamingo and Opal & Nev. I loved the writing in Flamingo, so interesting there is a talking river in it. Opal & Nev is definitely worth the read.
Oh gosh, I wish I’d known that about Flamingo when comparing it to the other two with talking aspects of nature. I hope to read it soon.
@@EricKarlAnderson .it was a fun read in many ways. I really liked the author's style. I enjoyed some of the characters. They are very quirky.
It's so interesting how subjective book experiences are. I heard _The Paper Palace_ was amazing.
Definitely!
Currently reading the whole longlist. I loved Careless and Build Your House Around My Body. Really enjoyed The Bread the Devil Kneed as well. I’m a quarter of the way through The Exhibitionist atm and it’s a real struggle!
Feel free to bail on The Exhibitionist! I didn’t feel like I got anything extra from reading it till the end. I know I need to read Careless.
@@EricKarlAnderson really not enjoying the voice! Careless is a really quick read, super engrossing and heartfelt!
My four favourite books from the eleven I've read were The Sentence, Build Your House, Sorrow and Bliss and Remote Sympathy, so I'd really like to see those four on the shortlist! Unfortunately, nothing else really felt shortlist-worthy to me this year. In terms of predictions, I think The Sentence, Sorrow and Bliss, Remote Sympathy, The Bread The Devil Knead, This One Sky Day and The Island of Missing Trees will make it.
I'd agree with the other comments that Careless is worth reading. It is indeed better than its blurb. I enjoyed reading Opal & Nev but thought it was ultimately too simplistic and cliched, so I hope it's not shortlisted!
Great! Thanks for your favourites/predictions. It’ll be so exciting to see what makes the list tomorrow. I adored The Sentence but as a complete novel it just wasn’t satisfying enough for me.
I had some similar and some quite different views. There are a few of the books I haven't been able to get my hands on, I'm keen to read Creatures of Passage for instance but it's not available here until June or July. I did not like Build Your House Around My Body, I just couldn't get invested in the characters, not a fan of Sorrow & Bliss (though I feel it needs a re read) and I also hated The Exhibitionist. Of the ones you haven't read I did enjoy them all but Opal & Nev was the standout. So my top 6 are probably Great Circle, This One Sky Day, The Island of Missing Trees, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev, The Sentence and maybe The Paper Palace. But maybe one of those I haven't read deserves a spot in the shortlist too.
Thanks for your reaction and I hope to get to Opal & Nev still. So glad you agree about The Exhibitionist.
CareLess was really worth reading, very sorry you didn't get to it...it left me with so many feelings..
Thank you! I still have it so will definitely get to it in the future based on your enthusiasm and even sooner if it’s shortlisted.
@@EricKarlAnderson I am reading Isabel Allende A long petal of the sea which you recommended and I am really enjoying it...so thanks...
Nadia - completely agree!!!! Loved it.
Remote Sympathy is brilliant. I hope it makes the shortlist. I feel it is classically well written. Makes me think of Hannah Arendt and her philosophy of the banality of evil.
I’m finding it very compelling.
I love Louise Erdrich and have read so many of her books but I have started The Sentence 3 times and put it down again. So not for me. Do not like Elif Shafak at all, although I know many people love her. Just finished Build Your House Around My Body and so so enjoyed it. The Paper Palace was OK. Not a fan of Sorrow and Loss. Loved The Great Circle. So far, not been that impressed with this year's list, but hopefully the ones still to be read will help change my mind
Sorry to hear you’ve not got on with The Sentence. Hope you enjoy more of the other books! 📚
Also The Exhibitionist was the only book I would have happily thrown across the room had I had a physical copy so I am with you there 😂
I'm so glad you agree! 😊
I think I've yet to hear a positive review of The Exhibitionist. It's the only one I've not heard anything good about. I think you should both read Careless, I thought it was wonderful!
Sarah Moss was fairly positive in her Guardian review of The Exhibitionist though she conceded it won’t be everyone’s thing. I really need to read Careless. Thanks!
Loved The Sentence! 📖👻
📚📚📚
Many thoughts! First off, I think that Careless by Kirsty Capes is so much better than the blurb suggests. It surprised me by having a very strong narrative voice and I wouldn't be unhappy if it made the shortlist. Second, I must be the only person in the world who didn't like Sorrow and Bliss, but the tone, the cobbling together of symptoms, and the humour just really did not work for me. I DNF'd The Paper Palace, The Exhibitionist and Flamingo, and I really should have DNF'd Salt Lick - they were extremely not for me. My personal shortlist would be: The Book of Form and Emptiness (my personal winner), The Bread the Devil Knead, The Island of Missing Trees, This One Sky Day, Great Circle, and Build Your House Around my Body. I feel like this year's list has sparked such divisive opinions, which can be quite fun as everyone seems to have different favorites. Also, I just want to say that I look forward to these videos every year - they are such a highlight. Thank you for taking the time to make them :)
The audiobook of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev is soooo good! :)
Good to know! Thanks
I think Careless is poorly marketed and IMO is the most likely book to make the longlist. Hope you find the time to read it soon. 🙂
Yeah, I’ve been getting that sense from readers’ responses. Thanks for the encouragement! I do hope to get to it.
Love love LOVE Eric’s blouse! 😍
Haha! I'll have you know, that is a top my partner let me borrow and it is a very manly SHIRT that just happens to be decorated with dainty flowers. 🌸 😂
@@EricKarlAnderson Well into my Saturday night bottle of wine, I left a really perverted punny reply to your reply just now but decided to delete it. A small part of me hopes you saw it and maybe even chortled before I made it disappear. 😜
Back like a shark attack... Build your house around my Body sounds quite disturbing.... The Sentence sounds fun and brave (I like books about bookshops, too)
First!
I don’t like sexual abuse ( especially of children) being added to a story for shock value. If it doesn’t add to the character/plot/understanding, it’s even worse. I stopped reading a short story collection ( by a writer I love) because the second story “slapped” me with sexual abuse.
Yeah, it absolutely ruined one of Harukamis books for me when I was reading it and got hit with it for no reason in the middle of one of his books
Sorrow and Bliss - unfortunately I hated this one. I found the characters' behaviour utterly bizarre. I don't think characters in books always have to act realistically, but it's coupled with a constant attempt at relatable AF-ness. What kind of person says "Finally!!!" when their daughter has an impulsive engagement to someone she's not even dating? After a previous disaster impulsive engagement, I would add. Maybe try being boyfriend and girlfriend for a bit first.
The depiction of mental health is also unrealistic. How does she get an endless supply of medication without a follow-up appointment? No counselling? Obviously these magic pills work immediately with no side effects. See also: curing her mum's decades-long alcoholism by yelling at her to stop drinking.
Island of Missing Trees - I agree with Anna a lot on this. A lot of it was beautifully written but the some of the dialogue clanged. The aunt speaks almost exclusively in idioms. I agree that Ada's voice was off. She occasionally takes on this smart-alecky humour that didn't seem to suit the character. I also agree that she seemed way too unbothered about going viral.
I thought the structure and order of the storytelling seemed completely random too.
This One Sky Day - very good, fun, witty, highly original.
Careless - very moving, brilliant sense of time and place. It's shockingly brutal at times but not gratuitously so.
Opal and Nev - I'm 3/4 of the way through. It's really solid right across the board, great characters, brilliantly performed on audio. I wish Opal and Virgil were real!
I think it’s difficult to say a depiction of mental health is unrealistic when everyone’s experience with it is so varied and so very personal. So much of this book resonated with me whereas another book’s discussion of mental health might not work for me at all.
@@KatieFinnElliott it is difficult to say and I don't say it lightly! But I'm glad you had that experience of it resonating with you.
Great to read your thoughts on these, thank you! I didn’t mind that their romance happened so quickly in Sorrow & Bliss because they had already known each other most of their lives. So it made sense to me.
@@EricKarlAnderson thanks! It was understandable that the emotional side of things was sped up for them as they had known each other for a long time. But I don't think it's controversial to say that they would have really benefited from gradually building up the relationship as she clearly struggled with living with him and being a wife.
And it was more the "Finally!" response from her family that I found very odd - to say something like "what a lovely surprise!" would be more logical. I think that Martha leads an extremely unconventional life - which is fine, good to read about different kinds of people! But I felt the tone of the book and a lot of the explicit narrator voice was trying super hard at mundane everyday relatableness and that's what really didn't work for me.