2014 Man Booker Prize longlist

This year's longlist has just been announced:

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt
J by Howard Jacobson
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee
Us by David Nicholls
The Dog by Joseph O'Neill
Orfeo by Richard Powers
How to be Both by Ali Smith
History of the Rain by Niall Williams

From the Man Booker Prize website:

"The first Man Booker prize to admit novels from across the globe as long as they are written in English has published its longlist. Following much discussion, the six judges chaired by philosopher Anthony Grayling chose 13 books by four Americans, six Britons, two Irish writers and one Australian.

"One former Man Booker winner. Howard Jacobson, is on the longlist along with two previously shortlisted authors, Ali Smith and David Mitchell. Also on the list are David Nicholls, whose previous novel, One Day, was filmed with Anne Hathaway, and the Anglo-Indian writer Neel Mukherjee.

"The American writers longlisted include Richard Powers, Siri Hustvedt, Joshua Ferris and Karen Joy Fowler.

"Following extensive consultation the Man Booker trustees decided this year to change the rules which had previously allowed only British and Commonwealth authors to be considered for the prize. New Zealand author Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 prize, commented: "I think it's a really great thing that finally we've got a prize that is an English-language prize that doesn't make a distinction for writers who are writing from a particular country."

"The Man Booker, which is awarded to the best novel of the year in the opinion of the judges, is worth £50,000 to the winner. Previous winners include Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring up the Bodies, and two novels where sales have topped two million copies each, Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

"The judges will meet again to reduce their longlist to a shortlist of six titles which will be announced on Tuesday 9th September. The winning novel will be revealed on the BBC television’s Ten O’Clock News direct from a black-tie dinner in London’s Guildhall on October 14.

"The judges for this year’s prize are Sarah Churchwell, Daniel Glaser, Jonathan Bate, Alastair Niven and Erica Wagner under the chairmanship of Anthony Grayling."

Let the discussion and the reading begin!

Edited to update touchstones.

Well, I will be heading to my local bookstore soon to pick up the five books that are currently available in Canada: the Ferris, Fowler, Hustvedt, Powers, and Williams.

Super excited for David Mitchell and Ali Smith; sad about Sarah Waters, but I will still read her new novel regardless. Surprised to see Karen Joy Fowler and David Nicholls on the list, both of who I think of as more mainstream, best-seller authors. I loved Nicholls' One Day, but I wouldn't have longlisted it for the Booker.

For any other interested Canadians, here is a list of when the other eight books will be available:
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan - Aug 12
- J, Howard Jacobson - Sept 1
- The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth - available on Kindle
- The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell - Sept 9
- The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee - available on Kindle, or on Amazon if you don't mind waiting 1-2 months
- Us, David Nicholls - Oct 28
- The Dog, Joseph O'Neill - Sept 9
- How to be Both, Ali Smith - Sept 9

I'm hoping the Kingsnorth and Mukherjee will become available again soon, and that a few of the others will have their publication dates pushed up.

Always so much excitement when the list is published . . . although I'm not very excited about this actual list. I'm happy for Richard Flanagan, although I won't read his book due to the subject matter and length of it. The David Nicholls book sounds interesting.

Hmmm....can't locate J by Howard Jacobson or The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth or Us by David Nicholls at my libraries. Some new to me authors that I'm looking forward to reading -

The books I'm most interested in on the list are the Hustvedt and Niall Williams. I'm also very intrigued by the Kingsnorth as it sounds like an interesting concept. The new David Mitchell would be a must read for me regardless of whether it was on any list.

For the rest, I'll wait to see some reviews around LT before deciding whether they are worth my reading time!

I finished my first book, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves which in a good way was much different from what I had expected. Not a winner, but not bad either. Don't read spoilers - for me it wouldn't have worked at all, had I known "the twist" before. It comes early enough, about 25% in, and really turns the book around.

I bought and started The Narrow Road To The Deep North and To Rise Again At A Decent Hour and used an audible credit for Orfeo. That last one and the Hustvedt sound intriguing. Some of the others aren't available for me yet. I'll definitely try to read the Ali Smith, the Kingsnorth and the Mitchell, once I can get them.

I read somewhere that the Nicholls book is a sequel of his best-selling love story... forgot the title and didn't read it. Has this been confirmed? I don't really want to read both.

Just made a list—vote your favorites up! I'm curious to see how the LT community does with predicting the winner.

https://www.librarything.com/list/9764/all/Man-Booker-Prize-Longlist-2014

>2 Cait86: Thanks for posting the availability dates in Canada, Cait. Here are the dates for the US and the UK:

To Rise at a Decent Hour: currently available in US and in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North: available 12 Aug in US (hardcover and Kindle); currently available in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: currently available in US and in UK (hardcover, paperback and Kindle
The Blazing World: currently available in US and in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
J: no release date in US , available in UK 14 Aug for Kindle, 25 Sep for hardcover
The Wake: currently available in US (Kindle) and in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
The Bone Clocks: available in US and in UK 2 Sep (hardcover and Kindle)
The Lives of Others: no release date in US, currently available in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
Us: available 28 Oct in US (hardcover and Kindle and 30 Sep in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
The Dog: available 9 Sep in US (hardcover and Kindle); available 31 Jul in UK (hardcover)
Orfeo: currently available in US and UK (hardcover, paperback and Kindle)
How to Be Both: no release date in US, available 4 Sep in UK (hardcover and Kindle)
History of the Rain: currently available in US (hardcover and Kindle) and in UK (hardcover, paperback and Kindle)

It's very likely that the books that are currently unavailable soon will be, particularly in the UK. I'll try to keep this list as current as possible; please feel free to post updated information on release dates as well.

I purchased the Kindle versions of the six books that are currently available in the US on Wednesday. I didn't own any of the longlisted books before the announcement.

>3 Nickelini: I'm almost completely unfamiliar with this year's longlist, Joyce, so I'm excited to get started on it. As usual I plan to read all of the shortlisted books before the award ceremony, and I'd like to read the entire longlist if I can by then, although I've never managed that feat.

>4 alexdaw: I didn't post the availability dates for Australia or New Zealand, but hopefully someone else will.

>5 japaul22: The Mitchell would have been on my must read list as well, along with the O'Neill, so I'm glad that they both made the longlist. I haven't had a chance to read about the other books yet.

>6 Deern: Thanks for that warning about We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Nathalie; I'll keep that in mind.

I don't know if the Nicholls is a sequel or not; I'll try to find that out this coming weekend.

>7 lorannen: Great idea! Thanks for setting up that list, Loranne.

>8 kidzdoc: thanks for the information on US availability, Darryl. I have never attempted to read the long- or shortlist before the announcement, but I would like to try a to squeeze in a few. My problem is they are nearly all unfamiliar to me so I'm going to watch this space with interest to see what my LT buddies like best.

>6 Deern: Deern: I agree that knowing the initial twist in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is detrimental - I am almost finished it, but my paperback copy gives away way too much about the book, as did some of the reviews I read. I am not really enjoying it, and it is one of those books that makes me feel manipulated. I also do not love the narrative voice, and the characters outside of the narrator are quite one-dimensional. It's rather heavy-handed with the messaging too, and I am adverse to preachy authors when they can't back up their messaging with exceptional writing.

FYI for everyone: The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth is now $3.95 for Kindle in the U.S.

>12 brenzi: 5.52 for this European here, but still a good price. Now I feel better about those 14 USD I just spent on the Hustvedt. Thank you!!! :)

>11 Cait86: I thougt about your post and in retrospect I decided that with those only half-developped side character plots, I should take off half a star.
Re. manipulation however, I felt much more manipulated before I knew the initial twist and I thought "oh please, dont give me what I fear you're going to give me". That twist really came as a relief for me and I was able to enjoy the main plot. Had I however known it before starting my read, I would also have been biased in a negative way. Hm... maybe that's also manipulation, but it worked well for me. :)

Katy Guest, the literary editor of The Independent on Sunday, wrote a humorous article which lampooned this year's Booker Prize longlist and the Booker Prize in itself, and provided an alternative list of the best books of the year, titled The Guest List 2014: Forget the Man Booker longlist, Literary Editor Katy Guest offers her alternative picks, based on the books that were actually chosen. Here's her list:

The award for the most American writer we can find, to show that we're, like, totally embracing the new rule allowing Americans into the Man Booker Prize: The Unwitting by Ellen Feldman

The award for a snazzy title that book clubs will love if only they can remember it: A Highly Unlikely Scenario: Or, a Neetsa Pizza Employee's Guide to Saving the World by Rachel Cantor; The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puértolas.

The "You Saw Them Here First" award for Independent columnists and other writers you've read in The Independent on Sunday books pages: The Emperor Waltz by Philip Hensher; The Amber Fury by Natalie Haynes; Touched by Joanna Briscoe; The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh.

The up yours award for ignoring big publishers and doing it yourself: When the Professor Got Stuck in the Snow by Dan Rhodes.

The Margaret Atwood award for sneaking genre fiction on to the shelves of the Booker-buying public: After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman; The Fever by Megan Abbott.

The Relate award for making people think twice about marriage: Marriage Material by Sathnam Sanghera; Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo.

The oh my God they're brilliant at every sort of writing award (but not everybody has abandoned short stories for Booker glory): All the Rage by A.L. Kennedy; Storm by Tim Minchin.

The Salman Rushdie award for the best novel about everyday people affected by political events in the Indian subcontinent: A God in Every Stone by Kamila Shamsie.

The Anne Enright award for the Irish novel most guaranteed to make you cry: The True and Splendid History of the Harristown Sisters by Michelle Lovric.

The best novel featuring a dog now that Kate Atkinson's book jackets have all been redesigned so they don't have off-putting big ugly dogs on the covers any more: A Dog's Life by Michael Holroyd.

The best book about a world war in a year full of really predictable world war anniversary books: The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis; The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters.

The 'middle-aged man on a road trip' novel of the year: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue; The Planner by Tom Campbell.

The "look how self-aware we are" award for a novel that best pokes fun at the art or literary world: Fest by Mark McCrum; Lost for Words by Edward St Aubyn; The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

I have to say I really enjoyed We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and have reviewed it here.

I never felt manipulated and thought she soft pedaled her message.

Availability dates in Australia for the ones I couldn't find:

J by Howard Jacobson 15 October 2014 from Random House

Us by David Nicholls 30 September 2014 through the Mighty Ape

I've just bought The Wake online through Amazon, so there you go.

So far I've managed to borrow The Blazing World, History of the Rain and The Lives of Others as tree books from the local library and I've also downloaded We are Completely Beside Ourselves from the local library onto my Kobo.

I have now finished 6 of 13 (#7 Orfeo is half-listened), and so far for me this is a great list. I already have 3 stand-out favorites (The Blazing World, The Wake and History of the Rain) which are so different I can't really rank them. I quite enjoyed the Fowler book as well. The Ferris should probably not be on the list, but at least the reading didn't hurt like last year's Almost English or the horrible The Kills.

My dislike for parts of the Flanigan book are based on a personal dislike for that genre. It's like with The Testament of Mary last year - I didn't like it, but never doubted its list status. I guess it will even make it to the SL.

After three great books I am now reluctant to get to "The Dog" of which I have only seen very negative ratings so far. Didn't like the test chapter either. So I might get to "The Lives of Others" next and then I'll have to wait for the rest to be published.

Deern you are doing so well! You set a high benchmark indeed. I can't even finish one at the moment although I have severeal beside the bed. Let me know what you think of The Lives of Others. I started it and I really like but there are some challenging bits which make me stop and go "Really???".

>18 alexdaw: started TLOO yesterday and while it's long I hope to get through it this week, I have a 12 hr train ride on Wednesday. So far I enjoy it more than expected, because the over-rich family story is interrupted with those factual reports by Supratik. However I am having a real issue with Priyo's... err... "preferences". If those become more important, I can't recommend the book to any of my friends without warning.

>19 Deern: Very droll Deern - very droll indeed. Yes...I become somewhat constipated in terms of reading the book whenever Priyo's penchants are detailed. I admire your efforts and wish I could emulate them. Too many books. Not enough discipline. Or train rides for that matter ;)