The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

These are the longlisted books (links to follow):

Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Trust by Hernan Diaz
The Trees by Percival Everett
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Case Study by Graeme Macrae Burnet
The Colony by Audrey Magee
Maps of our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

I love how The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida has been out since April, yet has no ratings or reviews on this site. The judges certainly did their homework.

I have 5 of the longlist and of those I’ve read 2 and about 1/3 of another.

As resident Booker cynic - this actually feels an impressive list (including some welcome omissions).

Great to see 4 small presses as well including Seven Moons which wasn’t even on my radar (I will have to check if the press even enters the RoC Prize).

It's not out in the UK yet David, due in early August according to Blackwell's and Amazon UK

I’m thrilled to see Percival Everett on the list!!

I've read three of these (The Trees, The Colony, Small Things Like These) and they were all 5 star reads for me. I'm suddenly more interested in the Booker, ha.

Paul wrote: "As resident Booker cynic - this actually feels an impressive list (including some welcome omissions).

Great to see 4 small presses as well including Seven Moons which wasn’t even on my radar (I wi..."

And no doorstoppers it seems - I think Booth is the longest.

I have read 9 of the 13.

Of the 70 or so eligible books I read my top 3 appear (Maps, Colony, Small Things).

I also liked albeit with small reservations on each - Glory, Oh William (go Lucy!!), After Sappho (just had a message from Sam/Elly who are overjoyed), Nightcrawling (youngest longlistedauthor?)

Trust and Booth I was less keen on but both three stars for me

The other 4 all look interesting.

I feel very positively about this list. A good mix of books I’ve read and liked, books that will lead to interesting discussions, and new books to discover.

I’m very happy to see Glory and Trust longlisted . I’m getting started on The Trees. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida is one I hadn’t heard about

I realise that I have read the previous novel by Shehan Karunatilaka - Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew. But that was 12 years ago and other than it was about cricket I remember little about it.

It was quite a prominent novel at the time. Won several awards.

On omissions both of the automatic entries from Picador

I have read six. Trust is my least favorite, although I can’t say it’s not deserving. As long as it doesn’t win.

I've read 8. Liked most, did not care for a few. Quite eager to read most of the others. Have not heard of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida at all. Blackwells order is in and Trees is on hold for me at the library.

I am disappointed not to see To Paradise and not at all disappointed not to see Young Mungo, so I guess that's a fair trade.

I am more disappointed on Chouette really only

WndyJW wrote: "I’m thrilled to see Percival Everett on the list!!"

Same! This is the universe telling me to finally read him.

Seven Moons is interesting as, even for an August book, seems to have zero buzz. But Chinaman won some major awards (more in Asia to be fair) and the publisher although small tends to sell a lot of books. They do the Uk editions of Tove Jansson’s adult novels and it’s the people originally behind the Rough Guide travel books.

Oh William seems odd to me to see on the list as I have already read the sequel which I think is better!! By the way it’s I would say it’s good to read Lucy Barton first if possible.

I’ll be saving Oh William for the end. I need to decide if it’s worth the investment to read the prior novels (I’m leaning toward no).

I read five and it actually seems feasible to read the whole longlist for once! ´Seven Moons´ is this year´s 'An Island' and will be the hardest to source...

I am curious what you all make of Graeme Macrae Burnet making it again. I loved His Bloody Project and then immediately read his other two novels about the French detective. But Case Study got very mixed reviews... Looking forward to the discussion on the appropriate thread.

I haven’t taken part in any speculation or pre-list discussion. I know I am odd but that doesn’t interest me at all. I have read 3 of these. Two of those were 5 stars for me which bodes well. On the other I am like GY in that I have read the follow up and preferred that (although I liked them both).

I'm actually thrilled with this list! Managed to guess 4, a few others were on my extended wishlist and then some complete surprises that sound very promising. And NO Lapvona which I was deathly afraid of. Having read four other novels by her, I never want to read another Moshfegh again.
Also pleased about Oh William - I finally read the other two Lucy Barton novels earlier this year and have been itching to pick up this one.

How the list measured with grand tally:

The Colony (38 lists)
Glory (24)
Maps of our Spectacular Bodies (24)
Trust (18)
After Sappho (5)
Small Things Like These (5)
The Trees (5)

And the Special Mentions:

Booth (2) - Nicole (The Reader's Room)
- Stephen Dilley

Nightcrawling (2) - Charlie Brook and Charles Heathcote
- Aled Rhys Jones
(Elizabeth too but late submission wasn't counted.)

Oh, William (2) - BookWorm (The Reader's Room)
- Stephen Dilley
(Derek too but late submission wasn't counted.)

Neither Treacle Walker nor The Seven Moons of Maali appeared on anyone's list.

Seeing Alan Garner on the list takes me right back to my childhood. I grew up very close to where Weirdstone… etc. are set and they were firm favourites in my formative reading years.

I think all of the threads are up now. I will do the group bookshelf later. I have tried to pick the UK editions for the covers but for the topic links it is not easy to override default editions.

They have 4 of the books I was most hoping to see, so I can’t complain! And others I enjoyed or that are on my TBR. So excited for Leila Mottley, what an accomplishment. Also happy there are so many women on the list…although I was pretty meh about Glory and Oh William (much as I love Strout.)

WndyJW wrote: "I’m thrilled to see Percival Everett on the list!!"

Me too!

Overall I'm pretty excited about this list

I have only read three so far but all of them were 5 star books.

David wrote: "I’ll be saving Oh William for the end. I need to decide if it’s worth the investment to read the prior novels (I’m leaning toward no)."

Same here, I'll wait to see if it makes the shortlist before reading this one.

David wrote: "I’ll be saving Oh William for the end. I need to decide if it’s worth the investment to read the prior novels (I’m leaning toward no)."

I wouldn´t say it is absolutely necessary to read the previous ones but it does make for a richer experience (and actually a new one is coming soon, Lucy by the Sea). In any case you will fly through them as the writing is so fluid.

Whirlwind of a morning! Canceled many library holds, added many more, and got a Waterstones order in for three of the books not yet published in the U.S.

I have only read one book from the list (The Colony). Looking forward to the rest, especially After Sappho, which sounds fascinating. Yay!

My order of The Many Moons of Maali has already been canceled. Flashbacks to An Island.

Ruben wrote: "David wrote: "I’ll be saving Oh William for the end. I need to decide if it’s worth the investment to read the prior novels (I’m leaning toward no)."

I wouldn´t say it is absolutely necessary to r..."

Lucy By The Sea really brings it all together.

My brother is going to be in London at the end of next week and I am thinking to ask him to head to a book shop and buy it for me. There is certainly going to be a shortage of that one!

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Ruben wrote: "David wrote: "I’ll be saving Oh William for the end. I need to decide if it’s worth the investment to read the prior novels (I’m leaning toward no)."

I wouldn´t say it is absolutely ..."

Definitely looking forward to it. Anything is Possible is actually my favorite of the three Lucy books I've read thus far but I'm delighted for Strout.

Finally finished obtaining the ones not already in hand (3) or those already read (3). Was able to get 4 in audio, and ordered 3 from Blackwells. Not the easiest thing using my phone on a train but an hour we’ll spent (and only 2 more hours to NYC). I like the long list - a nice mix. And glad to see Oh William there. I have all the authors books on my shelf but had not read Oh William.

I've spent the last weeks reading the only Booker eligible books I own, The Colony, Small Things Like These, Case Study and Venomous Lumpsucker. Surprised and pleased that three out of four made it, though Case Study was only a three star for me (the two Irish novels were five stars). I'm looking forward to hearing other opinions on Case Study, though, because I do think it has a lot going for it, but it didn't quite live up to His Bloody Project for me.

I've now ordered five from Bookdepository, one from my local bookstore and the rest I'll read on my Kindle, starting with Booth. I've read both Fowler, Bulawayo and Strout before, and I didn't love either one, but I'm hoping Fowler and Bulawayo might be a positive surprise this year. I really doubt I'm going to like Oh William, but I'll give it a shot.

Who's book is the Seven Moons? I'm clearly missing any reference to that publisher other than here.

EDIT: Ignore me. It's the title, not a publisher. lol. Too much excitement flicking from page to page here

Overall, a more exciting list than last year.

Very pleased.

Neil wrote: "Seeing Alan Garner on the list takes me right back to my childhood. I grew up very close to where Weirdstone… etc. are set and they were firm favourites in my formative reading years."

Me too, although I never stopped reading his work. I've been waiting for the paperback of this one - think I may be the only one here who actively dislikes hardbacks. This one is supposed to hark back to elements explored in Elidor and The Moon of Gomrath but has a cryptic structure that echoes Red Shift

This is an outstanding list! I don't love all these books but they are all unique, all trying to do something new.

I did have a twinge of disappointment but it was surprisingly tiny. It helps that Lapvona isn't on there. It helps that I just finished a next novel. Most of all it helps that this list is really outstanding.

I'm especially tickled to see Booth on the list. It got slammed in most of its US reviews for not being about John Wilkes Booth when he was obviously NOT what the author was writing about.

lark wrote: "I did have a twinge of disappointment but it was surprisingly tiny. It helps that Lapvona isn't on there. It helps that I just finished a next novel. Most of all it helps that this list is really outstanding."

I was holding my breath, so hoping for you. If it helps at all, I saw several Booktubers predicting it would be there. But yes, so much competition, so many incredible books in the past few months.

Elizabeth wrote: "But yes, so much competition, so many incredible books in the past few months. ..."

because of covid some publishers held back publishing their big guns until late last year, and on into 2022, so that makes this long list all the more delightful, that the judges blithely ignored them.

I went straight from watching the Tour de France Femmes to the Booker longlist. If I get fired from my job, you can find me camped out at the library. What a delightful morning. :-)

Impressive list. Really happy to see Maps and Trust on the list. it seems odd to me to see Oh Williams.
tried to read after Sapho this morning but could not concentrate but will give it a shot

That’s my normal holiday - watching the end of the Tour and reading the Booker list.

The prize has quite correctly I think been criticised for picking some often fairly flawed debut novels.

But the three authors this year have in Nightcrawling, MooSB and After Sappho produced three exceptional debuts (even more so given the age of the first two writers).

I have to say that Trees and After Sappho are the two books of the five I have not read that I am most looking forward to.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "That’s my normal holiday - watching the end of the Tour and reading the Booker list."

I'm a slow learner. :D