Orange Prize Long List 2011

Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi
Whatever You Love by Louise Doughtry
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna
The London Train by Tessa Hadley (http://www.librarything.com/work/10752724)
Grace Williams Says It Loud by Emma Henderson
The Seas by Samantha Hunt
The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna
Great House by Nicole Krauss
The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
The Invisible Bridge by Julia Orringer
Repeat It Today With Tears by Anne Peile (http://www.librarything.com/work/9943556)
Swamplandia by Karen Russell (http://www.librarything.com/work/9772025/book/67694287)
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin
The Swimmer by Roma Tearne
Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Sorry, touchstones are their usual flaky selves!

What I have read:
The Invisible Bridge - a terrific book

On my wishlist:
Room
Great House
The Tiger's Wife - waiting to arrive from LibraryThing's ER

Now off to investigate these others! =)

I've only read Room, and really liked it. I won a copy of The Invisible Bridge during Orange January, so am looking forward to reading it soon. I have Great House on my wish list so if anyone would like to buy me a present .... :)

I've read Room and Whatever You Love and think they both deserve to be short-listed. I'm not sure how successful Whatever You Love will be, though because it's a harrowing read and I can't imagine all the judges appreciating it!

I have Jamrach's Menagerie and The London Train on my wishlist. I did get as far as borrowing The London Train from the library but had to return it before I got around to it.

I've read Room and Grace Williams Says it Loud, and highly recommend both books. I'll read Annabel for a Belletrista group read next month, and I'll plan to read The Memory of Love in April, as well. I'm continuing to support my local Borders by buying two or three books there every month, so I'll buy Swamplandia!, Great House and The Tiger's Wife later this week.

Great list- I loved Annabel and am so glad that it made the list.
I read Great House- amazing and am in the middle of Room.
I read Karen Russell's book of short stories St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and am looking forward to reading Swamplandia.

I've only read Annabel (which I liked), and The Swimmer is currently on its way to me.

I bought Room today as a celebratory gift!

My full take is here and includes links to the books available in the U.S. and coming soon.

I've read five of the twenty and look forward to many more. I'm planning to read the other 15 before the winner is named!

NomadReader - thanks to the link--your blog is really lovely. And I love the Guardian gallery that you link to . . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/gallery/2011/mar/16/orange-prize-longlist

edited to add . . . all the books are available through the Book Depository--great prices and free shipping!

I've read (and enjoyed) A Visit From the Goon Squad and have Room and The Invisible Bridge waiting to be read. And I've been wanting to read Great House, Annabel, and Swamplandia.

#9 - Carrie, a great wrap-up! Thanks for posting the link here!

#9: That's fabulous! Thank you for sharing your blog with us. I've saved your message for future reference.

I've only read Room, and I didn't love it as much as others. But I'm glad to see it on the list.

There don't seem to be any Australian authors on the list this year! I'm quite surprised, usually there's a smattering (or at least one or two) of Aussies. And I generally plan on concentrating on their books too, so I'm not sure where to start with the list when it comes to Orange July this year!

I guess I'll just dive on in. But I'm skipping that one about the mother grieving for the death of her nine year old daughter. No. Way. In. Hell.

>9 nomadreader:: Carrie, I subscribed to your blog in my Google Reader ! I look forward to following your posts there.

I have The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin on my list, along with Room by Emma Donoghue - Will check the others out over the next few days

I haven't read any of the 20 yet but really enjoyed that Guardian gallery of the books, and your blog post Nomadreader. I've just ordered The Swimmer, The Pleasure Seekers and The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives on Book Depository.

@ Nickelini - Yes! I got notification updates from Book Depository yesterday. I'm glad to see them respond so quickly to demand!

I'm about half-way through The Seas by Samantha Hunt and enjoying it so far. How fun it must be for her to have her first novel, which was published in the US in 2005, nominated for a prize in 2011 in conjunction with its British publication!

I downloaded Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela to my Kindle early this morning, and I'll probably get the Kindle version of The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi as well, as it was recommended by a Club Read member (steven03tx) whose reading tastes are similar to mine.

I've read none of them so far - looking forward to trying a few of them.

I've read Room, and my sister gave me Annabel for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to reading it, and have been holding on a bit in anticipation.
I was aware of Great House, as in I have it on my library list of books, so I must have read a good review somewhere.

I've read Great House and Room and liked both very much. I had A Visit from the Goon Squad requested from the library but cancelled before it arrived. Everyone speaks well of it but a tour of the music industry doesn't do much for me. I've downloaded to my Nook the 3.99 The Seas (thank you nomadreader). I read The Invention of Everything Else and found it unique, so I'm sure I'll like the new one. I also downloaded Annabel because who could resist? I've requested The Tiger's Wife from the library, and it will be in soon. I'll save the others for July. Looks like a good list.

>22 Citizenjoyce: THANK you for the hint about The Seas! I don't know how S. Hunt feels about it, but I'm in love with getting it for $2.99 on my Kindle. Now I have it and *Goon Squad* to be getting on with! (I started Our Tragic Universe which didn't make the cut, but I haven't read enough to know whether that was a wise decision.)

Bought myself The Tiger's Wife this week. Can I wait until Orange July...?

#24 - Tania: I will be reading The Tiger's Wife after I finish my current book (probably mid-next week). I saw "go for it"!

The only one that I'd read, when the longlist was announced, was Emma Donoghue's Room (which I read very quickly over the winter holidays, so I'll have to reread to compare it to the other nominees).

But I've since read five others, including Karen Russell's Swamplandia (more about that one here if you're interested) and Nicole Krauss' Great House, which I think would be among the more challenging of the list, based on bits of discussion I've heard.

I think Jennifer Egan's novel will be a demanding read in some ways, too, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. The Keep (longlisted a couple of years back) was such an intriguing novel as it went on.

Many of the others on this year's list are completely new to me, but I'm aiming to read as many as I can: hopefully I'll better last year's record of 16/20 titles. I'll be seeing Orange by the end of this season!

I wonder whether anybody has read Jamrach's Menagerie yet..... I got it from ER's, and it is not anybody's typical Orange nominee. I know everybody is doing the short list, but I'm at this point reading this one because I have to. Anybody able to give me encouragement or hints on how to enjoy?

>27 LizzieD:: Sorry that I can't help there, Peggy and also sorry that Jamrach's Menagerie has been disappointing. I've read two of Carol Birch's early books which were excellent but they were contemporary novels, quite gritty and pretty far away, it seems from the historical novels she's now writing.

Hmm sorry, I haven't read that one yet. But go, Peggy, go! =)

I have gone, Jill, and I should be able to post a review tomorrow. I think that a lot of the writing is beautiful after a somewhat lackluster start. It's just that this book is so graphic that I don't think I can recommend it. ("quite graphic" doesn't even begin to describe it. What were the Orange panel thinking???) In fact, I'm off to see who the judges were this year.