2015 Bailey's Womens Prize for Fiction Shortlist

The shortlist was announced today; the winner will be announced June 3.

The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters
How to be Both, by Ali Smith
The Bees, by Laline Paull
A God in Every Stone, by Kamila Shamsie
A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler
Outline, by Rachel Cusk

Thoughts?

Having only read half of the list - for me, How to be Both.

I have only read one the short list, A Spool of Blue Thread, which I loved. Some of the shortlist simply do not interest me. There are still a couple of the long list that interest me enough to read them. Crooked Heart is one of them, as is After Before. Some of the short list I have looked at in real life, The Paying Guests and it does not interest me, nor does The Bees . I am bit disappointed, but that is okay. I often find books on the long list to be quite interesting.

I've only read The Paying Guests and How to be Both, but think the latter is much more prize-worthy.

I've been on a list for How to Be Both, and am now getting a little excited for it, with the good comments I'm hearing. I'm up to #3, but it could still be a while.

One of the other books available in Canada and at my library is The Bees. I'm not sure about it, but now that it is on the shortlist, I'll take a chance.

A Spool of Blue Thread has a crazy long line as befits a very known author. The other two aren't at my library. And I'm cheap - I library read all these books!

Like >3 vancouverdeb:, I'm waiting for Crooked Hearts, and I still want to read The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, good Canadian girl that I am.

I've read both The Paying Guests and Outline and both are excellent. I've got How to Be Both and hope to read it soon. I've heard good things about A Spool of Blue Thread, but I'm not sure about The Bees. Still, this is a solid and diverse short list!

I read The Bees last year. In its favor, I'll say that I loved the idea behind the book. It grabbed me right away and I thought it might be a favorite of the year. Unfortunately, I found that it went on too long and ended up thinking it might have packed more of a punch as a short story. I think it's worth checking out though, if for no other reason than it is very different than the other books on the list.

I was interested in three from the long list, only How to Be Both made the short list. (The others are The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and The Table of Less Valued Knights\. I'll have to look into the Shamsie and Cusks to see what they're even about.

I got a little crazy yesterday and reserved the entire short list at the library. The Bees and A God in Every Stone are already waiting for me! I have read The Paying Guests and wasn't wowed, although I don't think Sarah Waters can write a bad book.

Ha! I bought a copy of A Spool of Blue Thread yesterday. And I'm next in line for the library's copy of The Girl Who was Saturday Night.

I'm astonished that The Bees made the short list. I've put my thoughts on my 75 thread and will copy it here. As usual, I'm more attracted to some that didn't make it, but like Joyce and Donna, I'm sure I'll get around to some of them.

I have mixed feelings about the shortlist. I am delighted to see The Paying Guests on it, which I thought was wonderful with an ending that was more clever and subtle than I expected (though with Waters I probably should have).

Ali Smith, Kamila Shamsie and Anne Tyler are all authors I've read but admired more than loved, so I'm not in a rush to get to these, though I may well do so eventually. I started one of Cusk's early books about ten years ago and didn't get very far with it, but should probably give her another chance. If The Bees had been getting a more favourable response here, I might have given it a go.

I think I'll leave the shortlist for now and try to read the ones that appeal from the longlist. I've borrowed I am China and Crooked Heart from the library and hope to get to them soon. I bought After Before as a Kindle deal this week and I also have Elizabeth is Missing on my Kindle, but might delay that one, as the subject matter's been a bit close to home since my mother in law went missing recently and turned up confused and in her nightdress at the local police station.

>12 Soupdragon: Dee, I know we usually love the same books and reading your post I was chanting "Elizabeth is Missing" over and over ... Until I reached the last sentence. That is so frightening! I'm glad she is OK. The book is fantastic and deals with dementia very sensitively, but I completely understand why you might not be up for reading it.

Thank you, Laura.

I think I would like Elizabeth, so will try not to put it off for too long. Both you and a RL friend have now recommended it to me, so I'm beginning to think it's meant to be.

I have it on Kindle too. We'll see if I can tolerate it.......... We're getting close to that age ourselves.
Dee, that's awfully scary for you both and your mother in law. Glad she came to no harm.

I read Elizabeth is Missing quite a while back and very much enjoyed it. I gave it 4. 5 stars. But Dee, wait until you feel ready to read it. What a scary thing, with your mother in law going missing. So sorry about that. Hugs!

Thanks, Peggy and Deb. She doesn't have a history of that kind of behaviour and it is a worry. She has since had cognitive tests and the results came out surprisingly high. She has had depression since the death of her husband (Mr Dragon's step-father) at the beginning of the year, and may also have been dehydrated at the time.

As usual when I try to avoid a certain topic in literature, it pops up in what I'm reading anyway and Crooked Heart began with a description of the failing memory and mind of elderly ex-suffragette Mattie. It didn't bother me though, so maybe I don't need to avoid Elizabeth after all.

I found Crooked Heart to be full of charm and humour but a bit too light weight for a prize winner, so I'm not surprised it didn't make the shortlist.

Like Donna, as soon as the short list came out I put all of the books on hold at my library. I hope I enjoy at least one of them. I was very disappointed in reading the short listed ones last year.

Dee, so sad about your m-i-l. We went through 2 1/2 years of that with my f-i-l. One never has a worry free moment. Thinking of all of you.

I was hoping to get to all the shortlisted books again this year before the announcement but I don't think I'll make it, since so far I've only read three. A Spool of Blue Thread, A God in Every Stone, and How to be Both. I loved all three of these books, and it's hard to say how I would rank them. I think I liked A Spool of Blue Thread a little more than the last Anne Tyler I read, and I liked the other books a little less than the last books I've read by Shamsie and Smith. So I guess I'd like A Spool of Blue Thread to win, and I think How to be Both is most likely to win (of the three). I'm part way into The Outline and The Bees but haven't even cracked open The Paying Guests.

Dee, sorry about your mother-in-law. My f-i-l is experiencing something similar. Maybe don't read A Spool of Blue Thread, either.

Good call Anne, even though I didn't care for How to be Both nor did I care for Outline. I loved A God in Every Stone and The Bees and am yet on the library wait list for the Waters and the Tyler. I will still read them when they come in.