I read Boulder and was blown away on so many levels. The prose is amazingly poetic and has a very lonely feel to it. Like even the main character is looking outside of a shell of herself at her own life. It contains so many truths about the self, motherhood, jealousy, desire…it really hit home and actually made me see the viewpoint of motherhood from the vantage of the partner and that was so powerful for me. In hindsight I can see how I let motherhood consume me in a way that left little for my partner. It’s so easy to fall head of heels gaga over a perfect soft pure lil mini you. I really really loved this and want to reread it sometime soon. As for the rest, I only bought Time Shelter and The Birthday Party, but I’d like to read the others on the short list, but will I before May 23rd??? 😂 no. Why must the prizes be given so soon after the announcement? Are they assuming that our well-read selves would even have read these previously? I would opt for a two month wait from the long to short list and perhaps even a 6 week break from short to winner. It would be really agonizing for the recipients but would leave more time for the rest of us to consider and fit in the reading!
Yes! That's so well put and really interesting to hear what the story meant to you. And yeah, given the amount of books and page numbers it's a relatively short time to expect people to read so many titles. But I guess they want to keep a certain momentum. I think your timing suggestions are very reasonable though.
I: wish I could read all of them, but STANDING HEAVY and STILL BORN are difficult to get as a U.S. reader. I miss the days when it was so easy to find cost effective ways of getting the books on UK and European book prize lists.
I've just started reading The Birthday Party and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I can't wait to see where the story leads. Thanks for the endorsement.
I'm excited to see "Whale" on the shortlist. And "Time Shelter" but that was much more expected. I have a lot to read before May. And after. 🙂 Thank you, Eric.
Like you I'm thrilled to see both Boulder and Still Born, I loved both and can't pick a favorite! I have Standing Heavy out from the library, and was planning to finish The Birthday Party first but got bogged down. So without the pressing need now I think I'll give it a break and switch over temporarily. (I know you've said to stick with it, though!) I loved the concept of Time Shelter, but it was just a 3 star read for me overall, I felt like there was something missing that kept me from feeling engaged. And I'm stunned that Whale is here, honestly after having seen @BooksandBao's review I don't even want to try it! So interesting that the judges didn't see the same issues.
Definitely finish reading The Birthday Party at some point. 😊 I totally understand what you mean about Time Shelter. Yeah, I'm very cautious about reading reading Whale... but still curious. 😜
I've only read Whale from the longlist and I wasn't surprised it was shortlisted. Won't provide spoilers, but I will say Whale shares a lot of elements from One Hundred Years of Solitude, but is more digestible. If you enjoy One Hundred, give Whale a try.
I loved the way you described Boulder which I just finished yesterday. The themes about how motherhood changes a person and growing apart from one’s parter were really profound. I think fans of Sharon Olds will really enjoy Boulder.
I have been too busy with the Women's Prize longlist to read the International Booker longlist so far, but I made myself a shortlist TBR of Whale, Is Mother Dead, A System so Magnificent etc, J.H. Live in Lviv, The Birthday Party, and Standing Heavy. I was on the fence about Time Shelter, so will definitely add that.
I've been alternating between them which means I'm reading through the lists slowly but I'm really enjoying the experience. I'd love to know what you think of the Int Booker books when you get time to read some.
I always follow this prize and was excited for the short list. But I really only plan to read 2 from the short list ( Time Shelter and Standing Heavy). I will be reading Birthday Party, Pyre, A System So Magnificent, Ninth Building from the long list. But I always seem to get to them after the award. I think I still have Happy Stories Mainly left from the ones I was reading last year. Always happy for your views and making new discoveries
An interesting shortlist, even though I’ve read 7/13 on the long list only three made the shortlist. Really liked Time shelter, your sentiments echo mine on the Gospel …. Boulder I read last year so very good. Very disappointed Birthday party, Pyre & Is mother dead didn’t make the short list. Will read the rest of short list.Thanks for the video.
Read and enjoyed Boulder last year, so pleased to see it on the shortlist. Hope to read Still Life. Disappointed not to see Is Mother Dead on the shortlist.
I own stillborn* & planned to get Whale & Time Shelter, so I’m pleased to see those. *read the first page of it & had to have it! Blahdiggityblah, ty for another great video 📖🪱💚
Time Shelter is my favourite of those I have read. I ordered Boulder from the library and after your review was keen to read it , but turned out this copy was in Catalan!🤣
Thanks for this fine overview of the shortlist, Eric. I agree completely that failing to include THE BIRTHDAY PARTY is truly puzzling, a flagrant oversight. Inexplicable. I’m not done reading it, and it already feels like some kind of masterpiece; it’s certainly the most amazing novel I’ve read in at least the past year. The Proustian nature of it, those incredible sentences! I’m also happy for BOULDER and TIME SHELTER, though I have major problems with both of them. I think Baltasar’s love of the simile becomes a fetish, and, for all of her artfulness, too often read like a show-off gesture. I went back and forth with this one, put off by the hyper-obsession with certain stylistic tics and drawn in by the incredible tension of Boulder’s own deeply problematic character, and the wild evolution of her relationship with her lover. I also think Baltasar failed to land the ending; her story stops, more than delivers an ending. I’d echo your thoughts on TIME SHELTER. Engrossing concept and ideas, and a really inventive updating of Borges’s use of time as a force, history as a source of energy. And the power of nostalgia, like you noted. But also, as you noted, the narrator character is a pretty thin creation. Who, really, is this guy? What drives him? He remained abstract to the end, a mechanism rather than a fully realized character. (Odd, since other minor characters were far more vivid, almost immediately realizable for the reader!) I’ll try to get my hands on STILL BORN, maybe WHALE. Gauz’s book isn’t available in the US (it sounds slight). I have zero interest in Conde’s book. Kind of a deflating shortlist…
Really surprised not to see Birthday Party and Is Mother Dead on the shortlist. Still Born is my favorite of the shortlisted titles I’ve read but I still have Boulder to read.
I have copies of three of these, and I hope to read them all before the winner is announced. I'm about half-way through Time Shelter and I'm enjoying it a lot. I also have Standing Heavy and Boulder. I ordered Standing Heavy many months ago after hearing Marc Nash extol its virtues. I bought Time Shelter just before the long list was announced. I bought Boulder on Sunday. So I've lucky with my purchases, predicting the short list (sort of).
In my case I read Boulder that is an oustanding book, and I'm reading Time shelter. I want to read the books included not only in the short list, but also in the long list.
Oh and I still want to read Cursed Bread and Trespasses - not sure if Trespasses is on this list or the women’s prize but I have that to read as well. Another translated fiction that I bought and thought it had beautiful writing although I’ve only just started it was Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin, but it was first published in English in 2020. A beautiful Europa edition too! Did you read that? Was it long listed for 2020? Anyhow, considering the current short list, I would be happy if Boulder won or Time Shelter. Although I have to read some more of the others and then see if I feel the same way!
I finished reading the longlist only last night - just in time for the announcement! Only two of my top six made the final nominees (Whale and Time Shelter) - but to be fair, I thoroughly enjoyed my top nine books, and would have been delighted if any had been shortlisted. For the record, though, I would have been delighted had While We Were Dreaming, The Birthday Party, Is Mother Dead and Ninth Building in particular had made the final ballot. The only novel I positively disliked was Gospel - so I thought there was a reasonable chance it'd make it on, just to confound me! Thanks for the vid, Eric, always enjoy seeing what you have to say.
Ah interesting! I'm looking forward to reading While We Were Dreaming and Ninth Building soon. Having Gospel on the shortlist is such a strange decision.
Still born and Boulder appeal the most to me. I think birthday party and cursed bread would be quite interesting too. I'll definitely try to read them all.
Great! If you get a chance to read those I'd love to know what you think - though Cursed Bread is on the Women's Prize longlist. I keep getting the lists mixed up since I'm alternating between them. 😄
Standing Heavy, Boulder and The Birthday Party are my top priority, otherwise I'm too engaged in the Women's Prize at the moment. I will most definitely not read Whale, the misoginy in it seems really awful. Looking forward to more of your updates, I enjoy them very much!
Time Shelter would be my main priority if I was to finish one before the prize announcement. Then Standing Heavy and Whale. After that I'd probably go with Birthday Party and Is Mother Dead. Despite the buzz, Boulder and Stillborn aren't grabbing my interest.
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by the longlist and so any shortlist wasn’t going to light my world on fire. But I am very interested in Time Shelter (so much so I grabbed a copy of the recently-released paperback), and may well dive into Still Born and The Birthday Party at some point.
I've been slowly enjoying The Birthday Party (Histoires de la nuit), without sensing the true or deepest meaning of it. I agree that it is well-crafted, in a way one rarely finds in an American thriller. However, with respect to the Shortlist, it seems unlikely I'll get to any of the others.
it depends on what you mean by political fiction since in a sense all these books engage with politics but I'd say Time Shelter discusses it the most overtly..
I read Boulder and was blown away on so many levels. The prose is amazingly poetic and has a very lonely feel to it. Like even the main character is looking outside of a shell of herself at her own life. It contains so many truths about the self, motherhood, jealousy, desire…it really hit home and actually made me see the viewpoint of motherhood from the vantage of the partner and that was so powerful for me. In hindsight I can see how I let motherhood consume me in a way that left little for my partner. It’s so easy to fall head of heels gaga over a perfect soft pure lil mini you. I really really loved this and want to reread it sometime soon.
As for the rest, I only bought Time Shelter and The Birthday Party, but I’d like to read the others on the short list, but will I before May 23rd??? 😂 no. Why must the prizes be given so soon after the announcement? Are they assuming that our well-read selves would even have read these previously? I would opt for a two month wait from the long to short list and perhaps even a 6 week break from short to winner. It would be really agonizing for the recipients but would leave more time for the rest of us to consider and fit in the reading!
Yes! That's so well put and really interesting to hear what the story meant to you.
And yeah, given the amount of books and page numbers it's a relatively short time to expect people to read so many titles. But I guess they want to keep a certain momentum. I think your timing suggestions are very reasonable though.
It's great to see Baltasar and Nettel in the shortlist 🎉
Yes! I’m really looking forward to reading Still Born.
Thank you for your book reviews, which are great as always. You have inspired me to read The Birthday Party. I'm curious about Standing Heavy, too.
That’s great to hear, thank you!
I: wish I could read all of them, but STANDING HEAVY and STILL BORN are difficult to get as a U.S. reader. I miss the days when it was so easy to find cost effective ways of getting the books on UK and European book prize lists.
I agree with you. I loved The Birthday Party. A 5* star read for me for sure.
It’s so good. Hard to believe it wasn’t shortlisted!
I've just started reading The Birthday Party and I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. I can't wait to see where the story leads. Thanks for the endorsement.
I’m so glad to hear that. Hope you continue to find it compelling and the ending satisfying!
Boulder is the one that calls to me most but you have got me interested in Still Born too now.
Great! Hope you enjoy them. I’m sure they’ll be really interesting to compare.
I'm excited to see "Whale" on the shortlist. And "Time Shelter" but that was much more expected. I have a lot to read before May. And after. 🙂
Thank you, Eric.
I will try to read them all. So far I’ve only read Time Shelter (had a bad reaction to that one!). Thank you for this!
Great! Hope you enjoy the rest more. 📚
I'm so excited to see Boulder, Still Born and Standing Heavy on this as they've intrigued me most
👍📚
That was very interesting and there's only one European on the list, which is quite a change. I will however start with Whale.
Whale sounds most interesting! However, Time Shelter sounds like a winner.
Like you I'm thrilled to see both Boulder and Still Born, I loved both and can't pick a favorite! I have Standing Heavy out from the library, and was planning to finish The Birthday Party first but got bogged down. So without the pressing need now I think I'll give it a break and switch over temporarily. (I know you've said to stick with it, though!)
I loved the concept of Time Shelter, but it was just a 3 star read for me overall, I felt like there was something missing that kept me from feeling engaged. And I'm stunned that Whale is here, honestly after having seen @BooksandBao's review I don't even want to try it! So interesting that the judges didn't see the same issues.
Definitely finish reading The Birthday Party at some point. 😊
I totally understand what you mean about Time Shelter. Yeah, I'm very cautious about reading reading Whale... but still curious. 😜
I've only read Whale from the longlist and I wasn't surprised it was shortlisted. Won't provide spoilers, but I will say Whale shares a lot of elements from One Hundred Years of Solitude, but is more digestible. If you enjoy One Hundred, give Whale a try.
I love One Hundred Years of Solitude so this does make me anticipate Whale much more! Thank you!
I loved the way you described Boulder which I just finished yesterday. The themes about how motherhood changes a person and growing apart from one’s parter were really profound. I think fans of Sharon Olds will really enjoy Boulder.
Thanks Shelly! I’m so glad you enjoyed Boulder as well. And (shamefully) I’ve never read Sharon Olds so many I should!
I have been too busy with the Women's Prize longlist to read the International Booker longlist so far, but I made myself a shortlist TBR of Whale, Is Mother Dead, A System so Magnificent etc, J.H. Live in Lviv, The Birthday Party, and Standing Heavy. I was on the fence about Time Shelter, so will definitely add that.
I've been alternating between them which means I'm reading through the lists slowly but I'm really enjoying the experience. I'd love to know what you think of the Int Booker books when you get time to read some.
I always follow this prize and was excited for the short list. But I really only plan to read 2 from the short list ( Time Shelter and Standing Heavy). I will be reading Birthday Party, Pyre, A System So Magnificent, Ninth Building from the long list. But I always seem to get to them after the award. I think I still have Happy Stories Mainly left from the ones I was reading last year. Always happy for your views and making new discoveries
Mr Anderson, I enjoy your work. Thank you…
Thank you! 😊
Very happy with the shortlist because it's a good reflection of the Longlist as a whole 😁
An interesting shortlist, even though I’ve read 7/13 on the long list only three made the shortlist. Really liked Time shelter, your sentiments echo mine on the Gospel …. Boulder I read last year so very good. Very disappointed Birthday party, Pyre & Is mother dead didn’t make the short list. Will read the rest of short list.Thanks for the video.
I'm still looking forward to reading Pyre at some point soon.
Read and enjoyed Boulder last year, so pleased to see it on the shortlist. Hope to read Still Life. Disappointed not to see Is Mother Dead on the shortlist.
I own stillborn* & planned to get Whale & Time Shelter, so I’m pleased to see those.
*read the first page of it & had to have it! Blahdiggityblah, ty for another great video 📖🪱💚
Great! Get ready for some great reading journeys!
Time Shelter is my favourite of those I have read. I ordered Boulder from the library and after your review was keen to read it , but turned out this copy was in Catalan!🤣
Whale is one of my new favorite books. I'm so excited it made it to the shortlist!
That’s great to hear! Makes me even more excited to read it.
Thanks for this fine overview of the shortlist, Eric. I agree completely that failing to include THE BIRTHDAY PARTY is truly puzzling, a flagrant oversight. Inexplicable. I’m not done reading it, and it already feels like some kind of masterpiece; it’s certainly the most amazing novel I’ve read in at least the past year. The Proustian nature of it, those incredible sentences!
I’m also happy for BOULDER and TIME SHELTER, though I have major problems with both of them. I think Baltasar’s love of the simile becomes a fetish, and, for all of her artfulness, too often read like a show-off gesture. I went back and forth with this one, put off by the hyper-obsession with certain stylistic tics and drawn in by the incredible tension of Boulder’s own deeply problematic character, and the wild evolution of her relationship with her lover. I also think Baltasar failed to land the ending; her story stops, more than delivers an ending.
I’d echo your thoughts on TIME SHELTER. Engrossing concept and ideas, and a really inventive updating of Borges’s use of time as a force, history as a source of energy. And the power of nostalgia, like you noted. But also, as you noted, the narrator character is a pretty thin creation. Who, really, is this guy? What drives him? He remained abstract to the end, a mechanism rather than a fully realized character. (Odd, since other minor characters were far more vivid, almost immediately realizable for the reader!)
I’ll try to get my hands on STILL BORN, maybe WHALE. Gauz’s book isn’t available in the US (it sounds slight). I have zero interest in Conde’s book. Kind of a deflating shortlist…
Really surprised not to see Birthday Party and Is Mother Dead on the shortlist. Still Born is my favorite of the shortlisted titles I’ve read but I still have Boulder to read.
I have copies of three of these, and I hope to read them all before the winner is announced. I'm about half-way through Time Shelter and I'm enjoying it a lot. I also have Standing Heavy and Boulder. I ordered Standing Heavy many months ago after hearing Marc Nash extol its virtues. I bought Time Shelter just before the long list was announced. I bought Boulder on Sunday. So I've lucky with my purchases, predicting the short list (sort of).
I'm very excited to read Boulder and Time Shelter!
Fab! Hope you enjoy them. 📚
In my case I read Boulder that is an oustanding book, and I'm reading Time shelter. I want to read the books included not only in the short list, but also in the long list.
Oh and I still want to read Cursed Bread and Trespasses - not sure if Trespasses is on this list or the women’s prize but I have that to read as well. Another translated fiction that I bought and thought it had beautiful writing although I’ve only just started it was Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin, but it was first published in English in 2020. A beautiful Europa edition too! Did you read that? Was it long listed for 2020? Anyhow, considering the current short list, I would be happy if Boulder won or Time Shelter. Although I have to read some more of the others and then see if I feel the same way!
I finished reading the longlist only last night - just in time for the announcement! Only two of my top six made the final nominees (Whale and Time Shelter) - but to be fair, I thoroughly enjoyed my top nine books, and would have been delighted if any had been shortlisted. For the record, though, I would have been delighted had While We Were Dreaming, The Birthday Party, Is Mother Dead and Ninth Building in particular had made the final ballot. The only novel I positively disliked was Gospel - so I thought there was a reasonable chance it'd make it on, just to confound me! Thanks for the vid, Eric, always enjoy seeing what you have to say.
Ah interesting! I'm looking forward to reading While We Were Dreaming and Ninth Building soon. Having Gospel on the shortlist is such a strange decision.
Still born and Boulder appeal the most to me. I think birthday party and cursed bread would be quite interesting too. I'll definitely try to read them all.
Great! If you get a chance to read those I'd love to know what you think - though Cursed Bread is on the Women's Prize longlist. I keep getting the lists mixed up since I'm alternating between them. 😄
Boulder, Whale and Time Shelter appeal more to me. I will like to read them before the winner is announced, not sure I can.
Standing Heavy, Boulder and The Birthday Party are my top priority, otherwise I'm too engaged in the Women's Prize at the moment. I will most definitely not read Whale, the misoginy in it seems really awful. Looking forward to more of your updates, I enjoy them very much!
Time Shelter would be my main priority if I was to finish one before the prize announcement. Then Standing Heavy and Whale. After that I'd probably go with Birthday Party and Is Mother Dead. Despite the buzz, Boulder and Stillborn aren't grabbing my interest.
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed by the longlist and so any shortlist wasn’t going to light my world on fire. But I am very interested in Time Shelter (so much so I grabbed a copy of the recently-released paperback), and may well dive into Still Born and The Birthday Party at some point.
I predict that reading The Birthday Party will slow cook your world and then make it combust into riotous flames! 🔥
@@EricKarlAnderson in that case I think I’m going to need to check my buildings insurance before starting 😂
I've been slowly enjoying The Birthday Party (Histoires de la nuit), without sensing the true or deepest meaning of it. I agree that it is well-crafted, in a way one rarely finds in an American thriller. However, with respect to the Shortlist, it seems unlikely I'll get to any of the others.
Boy, you are fast!
Supernaturally fast! Think he had a sneak peak at Leila Slimani's notes? lol
So… Gospel…
🙁
Got Whale from the library
👍
Boulder is HIGH up my TBR
Great! Hope you enjoy it.
Hope Still Born wins it, my favourite by a mile.
I'm so looking forward to reading it!
🎉🎉🎉🎉
can u just tell me which books are in political fiction?
it depends on what you mean by political fiction since in a sense all these books engage with politics but I'd say Time Shelter discusses it the most overtly..
Standing Heavy was just not that good