The Stella Prize Longlist: Discussion and Reaction 

Looking forward to reading a few of these. I'll need to remember to keep a list of those I can't access so that next time we visit my Aussie based son I can send him to the library before I arrive.

The Women Book Prizes are pretty amazing this year. This one might win for the most amazing covers. Looking forward to seeing what goes through to the shortlist. 😊💙

Love learning about all these books - I knew of a few but many I hadn't heard of! Thanks so much for sharing!

A fantastic list! I had Praiseworthy on my long-longlist predictions for the Women's Prize actually! And some amazing covers! The Swift Dark Tide 🤩 And it's great to see indigenous authors on the list! It was a glaring omission from one of Canada's most recent prize list...

Thank you for such incredibly thoughtful videos! You make me want to read absolutely everything ❤

Thanks for this Scott. Hospital does sound good. Deep in the Woman’s Prize but would like to read a couple from this list.

Thanks for introducing me to a whole slew of books I was unaware of!

There are some interesting books on this list. Yay! 😊 Thanks

Alexis Wright is a marvellous writer, I've been trying to read Praiseworthy since it came out but just have not had the bandwith and now struggling with a reading slump, so it will have to wait for me. Other than that I've only read Edenglassie which was well worth reading, unusually for me I preferred the modern storyline but mainly because I was in trepidation for the characters in the historical storyline. I'm actually looking forward to the Hummingbird Effect and quite a few of the others. Thanks for the discussion and reaction vid, Scott, hope you enjoy reading a few of these.

I was very surprised not to see Wifedom on the list but I’m excited for this list as a whole. I am most of the way through The Hummingbird Effect and am enjoying it so far, but I must say I am enjoying some of the perspectives more than others. I’ll wait to see how everything comes together in the end to give my final thoughts, though I will say I don’t think I was ready to read about a person in a nursing home during pandemic lockdowns (I had grandparents in that situation during lockdown and it all still feels pretty raw) because every time it’s that timeline I am getting super emotional about it!

The Body Friend sounds so good! So many of these. I love that includes nonfiction, graphic novels and poetry.

FYI:The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar translated from Persian by Adrien Kijek, nominated Stella 2018 & international booker 2020. It's one of my favourites but a ⚠️ full of magical realism.

I love your shirt Scott! Great sounding list - Hospital sounds fantastic, if not slightly unnerving. I will have to see what you recommend and then what I can find over here on the other side of the world. Thanks for breaking it down for us.

I’ve been really fussy lately. The book descriptions on many of the prize longlists (Women’s prize, Carol Shields, Stella) just haven’t appealed to me. The two I’m most interested in from the Stella are Hospital and She Is the Earth. Cobby Eckermann’s will be released in Canada in May 2024 and Rushdi’s is already available, so I feel lucky! Oh, and I’m interested in anything by Alexis Wright but I already have The Swan Book on my shelf so I have been reinvigorated about that one, which I set aside partway through when I injured my brain and haven’t picked it up since.

It's funny, The Carol Shield's prize basically has the American books most people expected for the Women's Prize, and the Stella prize is just a massive surprise bundle. Well, for me anyway. I am sadly ignorant when it comes to Australian fiction. Looking forward to your reviews.

My 👂 perked up big time when you talked about Abandon Every Hope - added to TBR asap

Completely off topic, but I am currently low key obsessed with Perth. I like to imagine that people who live there are affected in some charming way by their geographic location.

I hadn't heard of most of these, fab spotlight 🤩

sounds like some interesting books. Wish it wasn't so hard to get Aussie books here in the states. I keep beating the drum for them at my two libraries. Now I have new books I hope to convince them to buy. Thanks so much for another wonderful video. Love your channel

I loved Too Much Lip so I definitely want to read more by Melissa Lucashenko. So many other great books too. Thank you for talking them through with us 😊

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the list.

The only one I have read is Melissa Lucashenko's Edenglassie which was very good. I would like to see her get more international attention. I have tried Alexis Wright before but find I struggle and her novels are usually huge. I have a handful of other titles coming in next week so will see how we go.

Lots of great sounding books! Looking forward to any reviews you do of these! 😁

Getting back into booktube with this video means my wishlist has grown and I am on a search for Hospital, Feast, Body Friend and West Girls. 📚 Found this list more intriguing than WP, although I do have some WP on my wishlist & currently reading In Defence of the Act.

Wright and Lucashenko are both available at my library. I have never read Alexis Wright. I'm intimidated. I can't recall you ever reviewing one of her books before. Thoughts on her or where to start? Its frustrating that so few Australian books make their way here.

Thank you for this. I am in the UK and would not have heard about the Stella Prize. I could not find Graft in electronic form here, only as a hardback and quite expensive. Also, could not find Katia Ariel's book at all. I added Body Friend, Edenglassie and Hospital to my TBR. Was interested in Feast, but did not like the sample - the writing style was not for me, it felt as if the author was trying too hard. However, I am a bit like you said, a quick mood-based decider. So, it is very subjective.

I read Hospital last year when it came out and found it quite fantastic!

Great round up of the longlist matey! As a (proud) meat eater, I am still very much interested in the essay collection. I think there are arguments both ways, but animal welfare is 100% important. If it highlights realistic points I am happy to listen. What I don’t like is the insinuation that all live stock farmers are evil animal haters who torture their herds/flocks. I know so many farmers who care more about their animals than some pet owners do! I think balance is important at in the argument. Wow - that turned into a longer comment than I was planning 😂