It's Man Booker Season!

Man Booker Reading Plans

2018

Well, well, well, the Man Booker Prize longlist was announced earlier this week and it has been causing quite the stir in the literary community. This longlist not only has some interesting and experimental titles on it, but it also was released prior to the press embargo expiring by The Guardian. That press release can be found at this link. 

Regardless of press embargo discrepancies, the longlist has quite a few books that I was previously interested in reading and some dark horse reads that I had not heard of. The few novels that were on the longlist that I am particularly eager to get my hands on include: 

1. Washington Black by: Esi Edugyan
2. The Overstory by: Richard Powers
3. The Long Take by: Robin Roberston

Other longlisted titles that I had heard of include: 

1. The Water Cure by: Sophie Mackintosh
2. Normal People by: Sally Rooney
3. Warlight by: Michael Ondaatje

The remaining books on the list include a graphic novel, for the first time in the prize's history, and several other pieces of both crime fiction and literary fiction. They are: 

1. Sabrina by: Nick Drnaso
2. Milkman by: Anna Burns
3. Everything Under by: Daisy Johnson
4. Snap by: Belinda Bauer
5. In Our Mad and Furious City by: Guy Gunaratne
6. The Mars Room by: Rachel Kushner
7. From a Low and Quiet Sea by: Donal Ryan

I know, this list has probably come across your feed in one way or another over the past week, however, I am here to explain why I am going to aim to read the entire longlist and produce individual reviews for each on this blog. The Man Booker Prize is a literary award given to one writer each year who wrote what the judges feel is the finest fiction of that year published in English within the United Kingdom. This prize has awarded the honor to titans in the literary world such as Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith, Michael Ondaatje, and George Saunders; some of which are favorite authors of mine. Regardless of the author's notoriety, I know that if I spend the time and money to read a Man Booker longlisted book or winner I will find a new gem. For my love of the Prize, and all the past winners that I have read, this year I aim to read the entire longlist prior to the winner being announced on October 16th 2018. 

I hope you all join in and read some of these novels with myself and the rest of the world in preparation for the literary world's highest honor in the U.K.. I will be back soon with my book haul and my plans on how I aim to tackle this list.

Happy Reading!