The Booker Prize 2024 longlist has been officially announced and here are the 13 novels nominated for this year's award! It's quite an exciting group of books which includes some novels I've already read and loved. A new video is up on my YouTube channel discussing each book and the longlist as a whole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wyJx5_eDyk
I've read 5 of these thus far and I'm currently reading another. I'm especially thrilled to see Matar's “My Friends” included as I've been predicting it will win this year's Booker ever since I read it earlier this year. It's also fantastic that Everett's “James” is on the list as this is a brilliant homage to a classic and a new classic itself. Also, absolutely wonderful to see “This Strange Eventful History”, “Orbital” and “Headshot” included as I think they're all excellent.
The novels on the list differently approach common themes such as community, faith, family, trauma, war, the environment and friendship. They also use a variety of styles and incorporate different forms of genre including the caper, the spy novel, the family saga, the ghost story, the thriller and gothic fiction.
There are three debut novels on the list (“Wild Houses”, “Headshot”, “The Safekeep”) – I'm especially eager to read Colin Barrett's first novel since I think his short story collection “Young Skins” is excellent. I read Bullwinkle's novel while on holiday recently and I was surprised to find a story about female boxers so engaging. I've heard van der Wouden's novel is influenced by du Maurier's “Rebecca” but it's more queer and this makes me so excited to read it!
Authors Percival Everett, Samantha Harvey, Claire Messud, Rachel Kushner, Hisham Matar and Richard Powers have all been previously listed for the Booker Prize. There's a high proportion of female authors on the list with only five male authors included. It's great to see stories from many different backgrounds, cultures and nationalities.
Two books aren't released yet: “Creation Lake” and “Playground”. I know this always frustrates readers but it's possible that the publishers will push forward their release dates now. I'm most sceptical about Kushner's new novel since I had mixed feelings about “The Mars Room”. However, I'm SO excited to read Powers' new novel since I loved “Bewilderment”.
What do you think of the list? Any recent favourites included? Any you're eager to read first? Will you be ambitious enough to read the entire longlist? Any books you're disappointed not to see on the list?
