Fun to see you and Anna together again. Very interested in several of these books: The Marriage Portrait, Demon Copperhead, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow to name a few. Would love to see Anna’s shelf tour!
Eric K. Van Dyke (dressed to the nines in his whistle and flute) hobnobbing with Babs Kingsolver: yep, I’d pay good money to be a fly on the wall! 😂😂❤❤
I loved Lessons in Chemistry, but then, I am a woman of a certain age, and I also had a career in the sciences, so it was right up my street. I read Fight Night, but didn't love it -- it was good, but it didn't wow me. Lots of great suggestions in this video -- I may have to watch it again to add to my TBR!
Thank you Eric and Anna. I love these prize prediction videos, especially when hosted by two bookish people .I have only read two of these, but I can tell many more are on the horizon.
I, predictably, haven't read any of these. I mostly read academic nonfiction. I still like hearing you talking about them. The one about the Troubles sounds interesting.
I read Tilly and The Bookwanderers during lockdown . The book was part of my last book haul -20 + books, I loved it so much that I re-read it a few months later. Now I want to read everything Anna James writes.
It's the most wonderful time of the year! 😊 I have Ghost Music on order from the library because I loved Braised Pork. I have done some strategic library reserving on the popular books which may be nominated so that I am not too far down the queue!
My only problem joining the conversation in the field of Women's Literature is the irksome belief I have nothing to say to them. This isn't to say I have so much to say in any other genre, but in those at least I can nurture the hope that someday I will return something back to the community. Thus, on a hypothetical level I appreciate these selections as good books I understand I will always be a spectator in their discussions. Thx - always enjoy listening to a good chat, especially when it's books!
My favourite video of the year! Not heard of The Disenchantment!! Sounds fab! There Are More Things sounds so so good. Need to pick that one up. I didn’t realise Maps was eligible, such a fabulous book. What a Mothers Love Don’t Teach you sounds amazing too!! So many good books, so little time.
Awe, thank you! 😊📚 And I think you're right - I just looked at it appears Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies was published on March 31st last year. I read it so late in the year I didn't even think to look. Between this and Mischief Acts I was really bad at double checking eligibility dates - I'm usually much better! Good opportunity to another shout outs to some great recents though. 😅
I finally made time to watch this and it was such a delight! I really hope Anna makes that bookshelf sort-out video. I'm looking forward to your longlist reaction video!
Half-way through Marriage Portrait and it is beautiful. Briefly, a Delicious LIfe also an absorbing wonderful read. Thanks for a wonderful video with a lot of great suggestions.
A Spell of Good Things better be on there. She was robbed last time. American covers usually aren't very good imo. I really liked The Lacuna too. I want to read Demon Copperhead next month. Anna you made Eric blush over the cockney accent.😂 This has been fun to watch as usual.
Ugh, I’m torn between wanting to see books I’ve already read or on my TBR already and having a push to move them to the top on the list and books I had no idea existed and I’m excited to discover! So, I guess a list that’s 50/50 of those???
Always enjoy a book tour so please keep us up to date. I was glad to see Disorientation on Anna’s list I hope more people discover it. I also really thought The Swimmers needs more love. What a great book. Added a few more of my list to discover. Always enjoy your videos and you and Anna together
Legit my fav vid of the year! Can’t wait to watch and see who you predict, here are some of mine, seems to be a heavy weight list from me so maybe they’ll go a different directions and choose some lesser knowns like last year! - demon copperhead - The whalebone theatre - The colony - The marriage portrait - Lucy by the sea - Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow - Best of friends - Nightcrawling - Birman wood - Our missing hearts - Trespasses - Shrines of gaiety Excited to see if we have an overlap this year!
Loved this! Great to get help us all get excited in the build-up to the longlist announcement. There’s an embarrassment of riches in eligible books this year - I almost feel sorry for the judges! My prediction list only has 5 books in common across both of yours. Definitely some that pained me to leave out, but it’s fun to guess 😊
I loved What A Mother’s Love Don’t Teach You so would be happy if that made it 😊 Wonderful to hear your predictions as always it did NOT disappoint ❤️Myself & Charlie picked 8 the same as you and Anna on our predictions. Getting closer to finding out what makes it!!! 🤩So blooming excited!!
Ah great, your enthusiasm for it makes me even more eager to read it. So glad you feel that way, thank you! Good to hear we have so many overlaps. Not long to wait now! 😊📚
Great to see you both! I think it’s ok to be a little smug when you have followed an author from the start 😏 I’m the same as Anna with Maggie O’Farrell - After You’d Gone is still one of my favourite books. 😊
I also predicted Demon Copperhead, I will be so surprised if it doesn't come up. We have a few predictions in common! I wish I had realised that Fight Night was eligible this year, it was one of my favourite books of last year. Lots of books here that are new to me that I will check out sometime. Always love hearing your predictions and your book discussions with Anna. ☺📚
Thank you for this fun video! Briefly, A Delicious Life sounds so good, it's going straight into my TBR. The contrarian goblin in my head had written off Demon Copperhead and the Marriage Portrait when I saw so many positive reviews (it happens sometimes and I cannot rationally explain why), but hearing you speaking about them officially changed my mind, so I'm adding them to my list too.
Right? I really need to read Briefly, A Delicious Life whether it's listed or not. I can understand that impulse to be contrary but honestly I think they're worth all the praise. 😊
I have been waiting for this Women's Prize video. I couldn't resist the temptation to watch it right away. I'm eagerly expecting that the Women's Prize longlist will include a book from the Caribbean, so I checked out your choice by Sharma Taylor. It's not easy to get, at least not in the US. But if someone wants to see what her style is like, Amazon is giving away the Kindle version of a short story by her.
Yay! Always looking forward to this video and to the prize! Surprised to see Lessons in Chemistry here - I do think it has WPF vibes, but the marketing of this book was frankly all wrong. It's not quite what it sets itself up as. I have disorientation on my tbr and I can't wait to pick it up. Oh I had What A Mother's Love Don't Teach You on my first draft of my predictions but I'd picked probably too many Caribbean reads so I took it off.
I enjoyed watching this so much!! I feel like it really kicked off the women's prize season, I am incredibly excited now! I have no idea what will be predicted but I'd love to see The Marriage Portrait on there. Thank you both 💓 Ps. yes please, to Anna's bookshelf unhaul video!!
woohoo! i love this series of videos you and anna do every year. a real treat! going to try to read the whole longlist this year (eek- my first time!) but work is quite busy so the plan is to try to pre-empt as much as possible. i've read quite a few you've mentioned and excited to watch back with my tbr open and ready! i loved demon copperhead and am increasingly evangelical about it. i also really enjoyed the rabbit hutch - excellent ending imo! i thought lessons in chemistry was good as well, though hasn't massively stayed with me: it is a bit like eleanor oliphant but much more hopeful (thank god). wasn't so keen on some of the others though. hamnet changed my life but i struggled through the marriage portrait when i read it but, increasingly, with more time, i've enjoyed it more? it was generally quite well executed even if it wasn't 100% for me. for me, the biggest disappointment was tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. i'd heard normal people level hype around it and i generally adore rly hyped books, but i struggled a bit with it. i think my fundamental issue was that i didn't really believe the bond that sam and sadie had and that was the lynchpin for everything - for me, i saw no reason why they kept coming back to each other. idk. the last thing is to say that i don't think maps of our spectacular bodies is eligible. i bought it because i thought it was (lol, trying to get ahead) but believe it was published on the 31st of march 2022, like one day before the cutoff :( very cruel
Thanks so much! It's great you're taking on that ambitious task. Hopefully only quality books will be long listed to make a worthwhile exercise. And I'm so glad you feel increasingly strongly about Demon Copperhead because I feel the same. That's interesting Zevin's novel didn't work for you and I guess I bought into their bond more because of the sense of alienation they had early on. Also, they had long periods where they were quite separate as adults and their real connection was through a shared love of gaming and the possibilities it allowed them which they couldn't find in everyday life. I realised too late that Maps of Our Spectacular bodies just missed the eligibility date. Maybe the publisher hoped it'd be a contender last year. Ah well! It's still a great book anyway and she's currently up for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. 😄
I really, really enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry. It's fiercely feminist, wryly humorous, but also darker than I expected. I have quibbles with a couple of elements but I think it's well worth reading and I really appreciate what the author did.
My goodreads TBR just exploded! Currently reading Babel and enjoying it and Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow, is next up....maybe I'll start it.... tomorrow
An absolute delight as always - always my fave video to watch each year (I saw a comment by Matthew on Twitter that I completely echo, about loving your lists more than the actual list!!) I’d love to see Trespasses make the list, and have added so many to my reading list after you both spoke so enthusiastically about these titles 🫶🏻
I was looking forward to this video and really had fun watching it. You guys really set the tone for the prize season. I am keen on reading Birnam Wood as I loved The Luminaries. Really want to know what Anna makes of it. I am hoping that Janice Pariat's novel Everything the Light Touches is on the longlist. I am not sure if you have heard of it. Pariat is a writer from India.
Thank you! I'm so glad you think so. I'm very curious to hear what Anna thinks of Birnam Wood too. I've not heard of Pariat's novel so I'll look it up, thanks!
Books I’ve read and would love to see long listed for the Womens Prize Lessons in Chemistry Demon Copperhead Tresspasses by Louise Kennedy The Colony by Audrey Magee
I’ve only read Demon Copperhead and Night Crawling. Both paint the corporat3 5tate5 of Amur7ka well; I know these people 😔.... but I think I prefer the former . She got plundered, pain stricken, dope sickened Appalachia in the bottle .... pun intended. The latter was excellent, but I feel I’ve heard that story before despite her having told it better than most ... if that makes sense ..... Blahdiggityblah, appreciate this video !
Hooray! My favorite time of the year! This was a great video. I love the thought process both of you went through. I am with Ana on The Luminaries but I have not read Birnam Wood yet. Also, sadly, I think that Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies, Mischief Acts and The Swimmers all may have been published too early for this year’s Women’s Prize. I really hope there isn’t some huge omission of a really special novel. I would hate that.
Yay! 😊📚 Thank you. And you're right, I can't believe I wasn't more careful about checking publication dates. But I think all 3 are worth encouraging people to read anyway.
This is my first time watching your predictions and loved this video. Loved Anna too! Subscribed :) also adding most to Want to Read on Storygraph haha
What great fun! I have a few books to look up! Eric, do you have a replacement book for the one you picked that was ineligible? Anna, if you aren’t into trauma books, I would steer clear of The Swimmers.
I am reading Demon Copperhead for the booktube prize now, so I can’t really say anything about it. This is my first book by her. I never did get to the poisonwood bible 🙂
I love this annual video! I’ve read 9 of this list and excited for the longlist. I would love to see the Eric vs Barbara Kingsolver video. Sorry Eric but I think Barbara will come out on top.
Always love this video! Lots of notes taken about possible books to add to my TBR. I really don't think Lessons in Chemistry is prize-worthy. Whilst an enjoyable read there are so many better books out there. Would like to get to Demon Copperhead. A Spell of Good Things had better be there! I have a couple of books that I have 'put aside' already this year - one of which was Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - it just wasn't grabbing me. Anna has sold me There Are More Things!
Wow! Another brilliant video. My wife, Andrea, has a few of your predictions and ordered a few, too. She keeps asking me to find out at what time will the longlist will be announced. I don't suppose you would know, would you? I've sent a message to the Women’s Prize for Fiction, to ask them, but I haven't gotten a reply yet. It would be great if you could let me know. CHEERS! Dave
I didn't realise Fight Night was eligible! Very hard to see that not making it and then doing very well. These North American books with their separate UK release dates are troublesome. Great video! Loved it, a couple of books (1 each) I hadn't heard of, and very interesting to see what you both had and what you disagreed on.
It is tricky getting all the dates right and I made a mistake about two of the novels I picked (Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is also just out of eligibility I think) And thank you!
It was the novel I liked least on last year's list as well so there's no telling what the judges will decide - although there is a new set of judges this year as there is every year.
Thank you. I've only read three on your list - Trespasses, The Marriage Portrait and Nightcrawling. Some of these books I haven't heard of before and I'm now very interested in reading them. But, I already have too a large pile of unread books. What to do?
I don’t understand this. The Discoveries Prize is for unpublished novels, but these have covers so presumably have already been published. This doesn’t make sense!
@Eric, I bought There are More Things after seeing you haul it, now I’ve discovered you haven’t read it, lol! No The Colony? I’m shocked, it’s eligible, right?
Haha! Well I’m pretty sure I’d have said at the time I hadn’t read it and I just haven’t had time to yet. Sadly, I think The Colony was only eligible last year as it was first published in Feb 2022. But we true fans can keep shouting about it! 😊📚
Lol, we're just talking about a group of novels (some we've read and some we've not read yet) which seem likely to be listed for a literature prize based on books we're passionate about, what we've read about them and what we're excited to read next. Why shouldn't we do that? Nadia, how can you watch two people who spend an hour talking about books and this is your only comment?
Unpopular opinion. I gave lessons in chemistry 3 stars. I was so bored. It took me ages to get through and I almost DNFd it. It could have been 5 chapters shorter at least. Or more could have happened.
Oh interesting! I somehow missed more critical takes on it. I’m still interested in reading it but I think it’s good to have my expectations modulated.
@@EricKarlAnderson maybe I’m just impatient but it was just so slow and the cooking part of it doesn’t even start until you’re more than half way. I really wanted to love it because the storylines (and there is more than one) were so interesting to me but everything just took forever. I hope you love it though!
Eric, I have been following you for the past 2 years and find your channel exemplary. We both happen to like Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout. I have read all that Anne and Liz have ever written. Would be wonderful if you made a video for each of the writers about the books they have written. Your greatest fan.🌞🪔🙏
