Man Booker Longlist | The Reader's Room

Aug 23

20024 Booker Longlist: Orbital by Samantha Harvey

Up next for our panel is Samantha Harvey’s Orbital. Orbital is Harvey’s fifth novel. It has received some glowing reviews from various literary critics.

Cover blurb: A slender novel of epic power, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate.

Profound and contemplative, Orbital is a moving elegy to our environment and planet.

You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Keep reading to find out how our panellists rated this book.

2023 Booker Longlist: House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

Next up for our panel, we travel to Malaysia with Tan Tan Eng’s The House of Doors

Tan Twan Eng is probably one of the more well known authors on the list. He was born in Penang, Malaysia, and worked as an advocate in one of Kuala Lumpur’s leading law firms before becoming a full-time writer. His prior two novels were also listed as candidates for the Booker Prize. His second novel, The Garden of Evening Mists was shortlisted for the 2012 Booker prize and was named one of the 1001 books to read before you die (a list that brought several of our panelists together).

Synopsis from Booker Prize website: It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer, his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert’s, comes to stay.

Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley’s friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is – a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.

As Willie prepares to face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, including her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts – a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

The novel will be released in the US on October 17th, 2023 and you can pre-order your copy here

Keep reading to find out how our panelists rated this book.

2018 Man Booker Longlist: The Overstory

Next up for our Shadow Panel is The Overstory by American novelist Richard Powers. Five of our panelists read this book. We’re off to a rough start with longest books this year. Will this book break the trend? Here are our reviews… Read more

Aug 13

12 Comments

Man Booker Longlist: Sabrina

sabrina

And we are officially off and running with our Man Booker shadow panel reviews. First up is Sabrina, the first graphic novel ever nominated for the prize. Over the next month we’ll be posting reviews for each of the Man Booker longlist books. We hope you join us in reading the books and make sure to comment with your thoughts about each book

Four of our panelists read this book. Here are our reviews. Read more

Jul 20

16 Comments

2018 Man Booker longlist: Our predictions

It’s that time of year again! My personal favorite of time for our blog: Man Booker season!! The 2018 Man Booker longlist will be announced on July 24. Those of you who follow our blog know that we are obsessed with the Man Booker and for the last three years, BW and I have tried to read our way through the entire long list in order to make our predictions.

For those of you who don’t know, the Man Booker Prize is a major literary award that is awarded to “the best novel in the opinion of the judges.” The prize was created to “increase the reading quality of fiction” and “attract the intelligent general audience.” Each year the panel of 5 judges selects a longest of 12-13 books they consider to be the best books of the year. Books must be first published in English by a registered imprint in UK or Ireland and must have a publication date from October of the prior year through September of the current year.

Our shadow panel of judges returns this year and once again is comprised of BW and myself along with our four contributors: Nicole, Lisa, Anita, and Andrew (you can read more about them in our “about” section). Book Worm and I will be attempting to read all the nominated books before the shortlist is announced and our four contributors will be helping out along the way.

Each panel member has made predictions for which books will make the longlist. Panelists were able to nominate up to 13 books for the list but some chose to nominate fewer. Here are our thoughts and predictions: Read more

Jul 27

33 Comments

Introducing the 2016 Man Booker Longlist

man booker

Last week we made our predictions for the 2016 Man Booker long list. Today at noon BST the Man Booker committee announced the books that actually made it onto their long list. Here are the books that made the cut… Read more

Sep 11

6 Comments

2015 Man Booker Longlist: Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy

Next time I come up with a brilliant idea to try and read all the longlist books before the shortlist, please stop me. Luckily for me (unluckily for her since she got dragged into it too) I have a wonderful co-blogger who helped me out by tackling half the books. Will we make it through the whole longlist before September 15? It’s questionable, but we are getting close.

Next up… Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy. Find out where it ranks for us. Read more

Sep 10

4 Comments

Man Booker Longlist 2015: The Year of the Runaways Sunjeev Sahota

Less than 1 week away from the shortlist announcement and we actually might make it through the entire list! This last week has been a rush to get them all finished before the 15th. We’ll go back to our usual 3 days per week posting schedule as soon as we are done with the long list books. Next up… The Year of the Runaways by Sahota. Will this make our short list? Read more

Sep 9

3 Comments

2015 Man Booker Longlist: The Chimes Anna Smaill

With the shortlist being announced on the 15th, we are hoping to pick up the pace and finish all the longlist books in the next week. Regular posts will be delayed so we can try to finish up our longlist reviews and make our predictions. Next up in our 2015 longlist travels is another book we both read: Anna Smaill’s The Chimes. Find out if it makes our shortlist. Read more

Sep 8

10 Comments

2015 Man Booker Longlist: The Fishermen

We have officially moved into the second half of the long list with this next review. Thus far, we’ve only had two real standouts: A Little Life (reviewed by Jen) and The Illuminations (reviewed by Book Worm). Find out if this next one makes the cut. Read more