Giller Prize 2024

The long list for this year's Giller Prize is out and, as usual, I haven't read any of them although there are a number I would like to read.
A Way to Be Happy (no touchstone) by Caroline Adderson
Death by a Thousand Cuts by Shashi Bhat
What I Know about You by Eric Chacour
Bad Land (no touchstone) by Corinna Chong
Curiosities: A Novel by Anne Fleming
Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr
This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Held by Anne Michaels
The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
Peacocks of Instagram by ((Deepa Rajagopalan
In Winter I Get up at Night by Jane Urquhart
real ones by katharena vermette

Urquhart's and vermette's novels have just been released but Held by Anne Michaels has been out for a year. I just checked my city library catalogue and I would have to place holds for any. So not much chance I'll read any before the winner is announced. How about the rest of you, have you read any?

And let's keep this thread to a discussion of the books, not about the controversy involving Scotiabank's sponsoring of the prize. We can discuss that in another thread, if you like.

I haven't read any of them! Will definitely read Jane Urquhart and Katherena Vermette but not necessarily before the announcement. For now, they sit on the ever-growing wish list as I try to read the 60 on the TBR shelves....well, at least some of them....before buying any more.

Thanks for posting the Giller Longlist. I have only read This Strange Eventful History, since it is on the Booker Longlist for 2024. I'm thinking I might read In Winter I get Up at Night, and real ones. I'll wait until I can get them from the library though. I read 20 pages of Held and it was not for me. It was too poetic and impressionistic for my taste.

>2 LynnB: >3 vancouverdeb: The Urquhart and the Vermette are definitely reads for me and Curiosities has piqued my interest. I'll probably buy the Vermette since she is a local author and I'm hoping to get to the launch which happens next week. Our local literary festival starts in a couple of weeks and a few other authors are going to be making presentations so maybe I'll be persuaded to support them as well.

Based on your comments about Held I guess I'll get a library copy and see what I think of it. I had forgotten that This Strange Eventful History was on the Booker longlist. What did you think of it?

>4 gypsysmom: Here is my review of This Strange Eventful History, which I gave 3 stars. The story takes place over 70 years from 1940 to 2010 . But this is a generational family saga. World War 11 and the war for Algerian Independence are just background events. Patriarch Gaston and his wife Lucienne appear to have the perfect marriage, and their two children , Francois and Denise , aspire to have the same. Francois eventually marries a Canadian woman named Barbara, and they have two children, Loulou and Chloe. The story of Denise was quite interesting , as she struggles to find a husband and battles a mental illness. Eventually we reach the end of both Gaston and Lucille's lives , and this proved to be very touching. Much later , following a stroke, Francois muses "what he would not do to drive the Mazda one more time....How swiftly this life vanishes.. What he wouldn't give to take the kids to the Beach House one more time...hold Barb's hand one more time under the table like high school sweethearts...All that was most banal was revealed to him ,again, as beautiful, each physical sensation a tiny explosion of life , a burst of life..." page 388

Where this book falls down is in the vast amount of superfluous detail, which makes reading this book quite a slog. I was grateful read about 1/2 of this as a physical book, and the other half as an audiobook, as otherwise I might not have made it through the 423 pages.

This is a story taken from Claire Messud's grandfather's memoir, with Chloe , the daughter of Francois and Barbara serving as a Claire Messaud. This would have worked better as a more concise , non - fiction memoir.

Held is also on the BookerLong List.

>5 vancouverdeb: Thank you. 423 pages is pretty long if it isn't a riveting read. I don't think this will make it onto my must read list.

>6 gypsysmom: I think you are safe to skip it. I'm about 1/2 way through In Winter I get up at Night. It's a bit slow but quite interesting. I let you know what I think once I am finished.

In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart 4 stars 2024 Giller Longlist

Initially I was not certain that I would enjoy this story, but as the novel unravelled, I decided it was a very worthwhile read.

Emer McConnell is the daughter of Laura and John, and she has three brothers, Danny, Timmy and Patrick. Her father is a homesteader in the early 1900's Canada. The family reluctantly moves from Ontario to small town Saskatchewan. While John is unable to read, his wife has taken teacher training. In 1920's Saskatchewan, Emer is badly injured due to a tornado . Separated from her family, she recovers in a hospital populated by an interesting group of children. There is a child from a travelling theatre company, , a Jewish boy from a farm collective, and a girl from a Doukhobor community.

When the story opens, Emer is a middle- aged, single and an itinerant teacher in rural Saskatchewan. She is in secret relationship with a man she calls " Harp". If you read the Acknowledgments at the back of the book, you will discover the identity of Harp. For me, this increased my interest in the story, whereas I have read that others felt this decreased their enjoyment of the book. During her time in the Children's Ward, Emer casts her mind back to her family, her mother's entanglement with a powerful teacher, and the secret letters kept locked in her mother's drawer.

Some of Canada's darker history is covered in this book. Colonialism, racism and the Ku Klux Klan. Though this story is quiet and seems to wander at times, this was a very rewarding read.

Recommended.

>8 vancouverdeb: Thanks for that review. I've just placed a hold for the audiobook and the physical book with my library. It looks like it will be a long time before I get it but you never know, especially with the audiobook.

>9 gypsysmom: Glad the review was helpful to you, Wendy. I was lucky to the book so quickly from the library. Best of luck getting it sooner than later.

The short list is now out. The ones that made the cut are:
What I Know About You by Eric Chacour
Curiosities by Anne Fleming
Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr
Held by Anne Michaels
Peacocks of Instagram by Deepa Rajagopalan

Disappointing that the books by Urquhart and Vermette were dropped but, at least this year, all the nominees live in Canada. I haven't read any of them but I've now got library holds for Curiosities and Held.

Prairie Edge is on the TBR shelves.

And the winner is: Held by Anne Michaels.
I haven't read it yet but I do have a hold for it at my library. Only #30 on the list. There are 15 copies in the system so technically I could have it before the end of the year!