Here’s the list:
Flashlight by Susan Choi
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Rest of Our Lives by Benjamin Markovits
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Flesh by David Szalay
What do you think? Are any of these on your list?
I’ve read (and reviewed) the Desai novel, and I own Flashlight. The only book on the list I don’t have a lot of interest in is The Rest of Our Lives. I think I might pick up Flesh next.
Several are on my short list and more to be added. I finished Flashlight a few days ago. +++++ The author included a short list of books about North Korea; some I’ve read. Such brutality!
I’ve read Audition (5 stars) and have Flashlight and The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny but haven’t read them yet. Very interested in The Land in Winter and The Rest of our Lives.
I’ve read Flashlight, which I loved. The story has really stuck with me. I’ve also read Audition. Both of these were unique in their own way. I would have to say that I enjoyed Flashlight more. I own The Adventures of Sonia and Sonny and will read it soon. I very much want to read the other two, but have heard that The Rest of Our Lives doesn’t come out until next January, so I guess I’m waiting.
I’m surprised they’re going to make us wait for that one, @Kathleen_M. I guess it must have been published in Great Britain earlier. Still, you’d think they could let us buy a Kindle copy, if nothing else. Seems like they’re missing an opportunity to sell books ahead of the award. I know I’d have bought a copy, but I may be less likely to do so come January.
I’ve read Flashlight and Audition. Like Kathleen, I enjoyed Flashlight more than Audition. I don’t think Audition is on the same level as Katie Kitamura’s other recent work, i.e., Intimacies and A Separation. I also would have liked to see Endling (which is on the longlist) make the cut.
Thanks, @Elisabeth, that’s really helpful to know. I’ll definitely prioritize Flashlight on my (ever-expanding) TBR.
I’ve had my eye on Endling - seems like a book that would be up my alley. Guess I’ll need to pick up a copy of that one, too!
I read an article about the Booker Award a week or so ago and cannot accurately quote the source so you can take it with a grain of salt. But…a member of the Booker Selection Committee said the books submitted are getting worse and it is harder to find one to choose for the award. Personally I think fiction books are getting needlessly and ridiculously long. Flashlight is a good example: it was a good book, highly interesting topic, but could have been cut by a third and not lost any of its wallop.
The Desai book is on my list, but I think I will wait until the long days of an Ohio winter set in before starting it.
Thanks, @Leslie_R - Here’s an article on what Roddy Doyle, chair of the Booker Committee, said about this year’s books.
The article has many interesting things to say, but here are a couple of comments from it:
“The bigger issue is that publishing houses seem to be pouring much of their energy and resources into the commercial divisions that produce these mass-market books in the hope they will get BookTok hits. And while the BookTok crowds are swelling in number, reading has slumped among most age demographics. We are clearly in a reading crisis.
“In this climate literary fiction is increasingly neglected or made to sing loud for its supper. In a romantasy world of dragons and fairies, it is seen as Cinderella in need of a prince. You could say that the lighter commercial hits help to fund the harder, meatier fiction. But for more than a year I’ve been hearing from top book agents that this is the toughest environment in which to sell a literary novel they have known. This isn’t just the usual grousing, it’s agonised panic. There seems to be a crisis of confidence about how literary fiction is sold without the kind of searchable tropes #enemiestolovers or #cunningfemmefatale that helps genre fiction to connect to its audience. Publishers are frightened to take risks because they can’t see how a book will find its reader.
“That’s partly because of the axing of book programmes on radio and TV, from Sara Cox’s Between the Covers to Radio 4’s Open Book, as well as the closure of so many literary festivals, which gave fiction writers a platform…”
More to your point, @Leslie_R, the Booker judge didn’t say the books selected were subpar. It was more that many of the books submitted weren’t well-written.
It does seem as if there are a lot of really long books out there - some excessively so. And it’s not your imagination. I found a 2015 article from The Guardian that says books have gotten 25% longer since 2000.
Google’s ever-friendly AI says:
“Books have become longer due to economic incentives like publishers seeing a better return on investment with fewer, longer books to reduce transaction costs. Increased digital access and the prevalence of binge-watching have also encouraged longer formats, as they provide a greater escape from reality. Additionally, authors and readers now value substantial, complex stories that demand time and attention, leading to the rise of the “big book” as a literary form.”
Not sure how accurate that is, but there you go.