The 2024 Booker Prize winner will be announced Tuesday, and this is the first year I have read the entire longlist prior to the announcement. (I will not meet my Goodreads goal, so this is my reading accomplishment of the year!)
If you’ve followed me, you know I had some predictions prior to the announcement as well as some predictions regarding the shortlist (I nailed four of six!). You would also know that I think two books were shortchanged on that shortlist. (Justice for My Friends and Headshot!)
My winner is Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional with Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep close on its heels. But how would I rank all 13? Depending on the day you ask, my rankings might shift, but there are some books consistently in my top and some consistently in the bottom. I picked my shortlist selections due to what I preferred and also what I thought would be chosen, so there are some that I predicted that don’t appear in my personal top six. (Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn’t have shortlisted James – The Trees, absolutely, but not James.)
Without further ado, here’s my ranking of the 2024 Booker Prize longlist.
- Stone Yard Devotional (Shortlisted)
- Headshot
- Enlightenment
- My Friends
- The Safekeep (Shortlisted)
- Playground
- Creation Lake (Shortlisted)
- James (Shortlisted)
- Wandering Stars
- Orbital (Shortlisted)
- Wild Houses
- Held (Shortlisted)
- This Strange Eventful History
All reviews are posted on my website. What do you think? Any surprises?
Should my goal be the entire longlist before the shortlist announcement next year? As for now, I’ll resume chipping away at “Tommi Reads the World” (eventually) and getting as close to my 90 book goal as I can. I’m currently loving The Mighty Red, but I’m not surprised – reading an Erdrich novel is like lunch with an old friend.
May the remainder of 2024 be full of excellent reads. And remember, books and reading are political.
A Girl Named Tommi 