“Those were the stories we were given. When we were children, we learned what happened to girls in fables: eaten, married, lost. Then came our bouts of classical education, imparting to us the fates of women in ancient literature: betrayed, raped, cast out, driven mad in tongueless grief.” My Booker 2022 longlist reading journey isContinue reading “AFTER SAPPHO – Selby Wynn Schwartz”
Tag Archives: 2022 Booker Prize Longlist
THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA – Shehan Karunatilaka
“All stories are recycled and all stories are unfair. Many get luck, and many get misery. Many are born to homes with books, many grow up in the swamps of war. In the end, all becomes dust. All stories conclude with a fade to black.” “I was there to witness. That is all. All thoseContinue reading “THE SEVEN MOONS OF MAALI ALMEIDA – Shehan Karunatilaka”
CASE STUDY – Graeme Macrae Burnet
“Perhaps it’s half truth, half fiction. But the real truth – the important truth – is that on this day, in this room, this is the story you chose to tell. Even if there is not an ounce of veracity in what you told me, that would still be true.” That quote pretty much sumsContinue reading “CASE STUDY – Graeme Macrae Burnet”
MAPS OF OUR SPECTACULAR BODIES – Maddie Mortimer
“That the peace aches more than the misery.” My ninth read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Maddie Mortimer’s debut novel, Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies (Scribner 2022). Much like many of the other books on the longlist, Maps is rather a unique story. Mortimer elects to use font and format to provide anContinue reading “MAPS OF OUR SPECTACULAR BODIES – Maddie Mortimer”
NIGHTCRAWLING – Leila Mottley
My eighth read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist (and my last read before the shortlist is announced tomorrow) was Leila Mottley’s Nightcrawling (Alfred A. Knopf 2022). Mottley, a poet, was 17 when she started this novel, and there is a vibrance and urgency of youth that hums through the poetic prose. The words areContinue reading “NIGHTCRAWLING – Leila Mottley”
GLORY – NoViolet Bulawayo
My seventh read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory (Viking 2022). Coming in at 400 pages, it’s considerably longer than the last Booker book I read and at my sweet spot for size. Bulawayo is also not new to the Booker Prize, her debut was shortlisted in 2013. Postcolonial literature isContinue reading “GLORY – NoViolet Bulawayo”
SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE – Claire Keegan
My sixth read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These (Grove Press 2021). This slim novella is the shortest entry in Booker history (I think), and it’s easily read in one sitting. Set at Christmas in 1985 Ireland, it’s best read during the winter months, ideally with snow onContinue reading “SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE – Claire Keegan”
THE TREES – Percival Everett
My fifth read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Percival Everett’s The Trees (Graywolf Press 2021). I read it in two days, devouring each hilarious and devastatingly brutal word. I didn’t have a funny novel about lynchings and racism on my bingo card but thank goodness the Booker longlist put this novel in frontContinue reading “THE TREES – Percival Everett”
OH WILLIAM! – Elizabeth Strout
My fourth read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Elizabeth Strout’s Oh William! (Random House 2021). Despite being the third in a trilogy, Oh William is crafted such that it can be read as a standalone. Written as a fictional memoir, the novel scratches at some things I typically dislike in fiction. Not surprisingly,Continue reading “OH WILLIAM! – Elizabeth Strout”
BOOTH – Karen Joy Fowler
My third read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Karen Joy Fowler’s Booth (Putnam 2022). While Fowler is no stranger to the Booker Prize (she was shortlisted in 2014), this is my first novel by her. While reviews are relatively mixed, I found it a fascinating, well researched and executed historical saga about theContinue reading “BOOTH – Karen Joy Fowler”
A Girl Named Tommi 