Tough choices in the BookTube Prize semi finals  

Glad you grew to love Tom Lake. It really resonated with me.and I liked your comments on how we shape and tell our own histories.

I came here specifically to see where Enter Ghost landed in your rankings! I always love hearing you talk about books.

Great to see how you chose your top books. Tom Lake is on my TBR soon. I haven’t read your top two so now they are definitely a consideration. 😊💙

House of Doors. Such a great book. how did it not make the finals? Loved Wellness as well. Thanks for your thoughts.

Great to hear your thoughts on Wellness because, whilst I loved it as a whole, I do agree with your points!

We were likeminded on books 5 and 6 and then our rankings diverged! 😊 It was an interesting batch; I also don't regret reading any of them.

Meryl Streep did a wonderful job narrating “Tom Lake” in the audio version. It seemed that Ann Patchett had written it specifically for Meryl Streep’s voice. I don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much as if I read the print version. Thanks for reading and reviewing the novels. Agree with you about ghosts and magic. The only ones I don’t mind are those that visit Scrooge. 👻

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing your reviews of each of these six books, Ros. I can't believe that House of Doors is out of the running. I also really enjoyed Tom Lake and Enter Ghost. I read Lone Women in the quarterfinals, and frankly, I was surprised it moved on to the semifinals. I enjoyed it, but I felt almost like I couldn't really compare it to the other books I was reading in that group. I haven't read The Reformatory or Wellness. I'm not sure I'd be able to get through The Reformatory, but Wellness I probably will eventually read. Really thoughtful reviews, Ros. Thank you!

I totally agree with what you said about The Reformatory. Thematically I think it was very strong but the way in which the story was actually executed just didn’t work for me either 📚 thank you for sharing!✨

House of Doors was my favourite book of 2023. It should have been shortlisted and won the Booker. I'm disappointed it didn't advance to the booktube finals. I'm not fond of Enter Ghost. I know I'm in the minority, but I found the plot contrivances (information withheld in ways that make no realistic sense for ex.) and the focus on the romantic elements to be extremely annoying. When I read the women's prize longlist, Enter Ghost was in the bottom four for me. I think Brotherless Night covers similar material, but in a stronger and more cohesive way.

Red neck (both figurative and literal, but not in any literate way) talking heads in the big, locked trunk, perhaps?? Sorry, I have not read any of the six. Your energy and enthusiasm for forging ahead with your reading goals astound me. The book set in Penang that (one would hope) drags Maugham through the gutter sounds interesting. Reading it might make me no longer wonder what kind of bondage Willie was actually up to.