Read the Women's Prize longlist with me?
Join me in reading it at random
In 2019 I read the whole Women’s Prize longlist in the order it most appealed to me. I read Anna Burns’ Milkman last as I was so sure I wouldn’t like it - I had somehow got it into my head that it was something entirely different to what it was. It turned out to be not just my favourite book on the longlist but one of the best books I read that whole year.
The Women’s Prize longlist for 2024 was announced earlier this week, and it is full of books I haven’t even heard of before. I’m going to have a good go at reading most, if not all, of it but to try and head off my own preconceptions based on blurbs and covers and vague instincts I’m going to do it at random. I’m also going to have a bash at using Substacks’s Thread function to invite anyone who is also reading the longlist, in any order and at any speed, to chat book club style and we’ll see how that goes..!
I have read zero of the books thus far although I had started The Wren, The Wren last week so I will finish that and then choose my first random pick. I’ll create a Thread chat at that point and hope to see some of you there..! For now, let me know what you made of the longlist and where you’ll be starting!
And if anyone is interested this ended up being my order of preference of the 2019 longlist, take from this what you will about my taste in books:
Milkman by Anna Burns
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Circe by Madeline Miller
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernice L. McFadden
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn
Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li
In the last couple of days I’ve started ‘River East, River West’ and also ‘Nightbloom’. I’m just under about half way with both but delighted that I’m enjoying them so much, I was absorbed pretty much immediately with both. Reading the list has started really well for me!
I actually think it's fun that so many are unknowns (to me, at least). Sometimes the literary world can feel quite small because the same titles get talked about over and over, but there are so many books published each year that don't get as much recognition! I was a big fan of Tom Lake, for example, but I'm actually glad it wasn't on here to make room for others with less marketing power than Ann Patchett. I'm really intrigued by Enter Ghost and The Wren, The Wren.