2019 Longlist

The Women's Prize for Fiction longlist 2019. Shortlist to be announced April 29th. Winner announced June 5th.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton
My Sister, the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite
The Pisces Melissa Broder
Milkman Anna Burns
Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi
Ordinary People Diana Evans
Swan Song Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
An American Marriage Tayari Jones
Number One Chinese Restaurant Lillian Li
Bottled Goods Sophie van Llewyn
Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli
Praise Song for the Butterflies Bernice L. McFadden
Circe Madeline Miller
Ghost Wall Sarah Moss
Normal People by Sally Rooney

thanks for the list mdoris

Check out the list: https://www.librarything.com/list/20521/all/2019-Womens-Prize-for-Fiction-Longli...
and rank your favourites as you read them!

>1 raidergirl3: That's an interesting and diverse list. I've only read Ghost Wall and Milkman - loved both. I have Circe on my kindle.

Thanks for posting. Could the touchstone for Swan Song possibly be corrected?

> fixed it. I also couldn’t find the correct touchstone for Remembered.

I’ve read My Sister, the Serial Killer, and I am waiting for An American Marriage from the Overdrive. I’ve only heard of a few others. Lots to investigate. Each year there are always a few that haven’t been released yet in Canada.

I also have Circe on my Kindle unread. I've heard of the P. Barker and A. Burns, and that's all.
I confess that I've been less than impressed with the winners specifically and the nominees more generally in the past few years. I'm always ready to have my mind changed and am off to do some research.
Thanks for the list, Ms. E.

Kindle had Milkman as a daily deal today, 3.99 Cdn. I wasn’t going to go out of my way to read it, but it’s hard to turn down a deal.

>5 raidergirl3: It's well worth a read. I recommend.

>5 raidergirl3: >6 Soupdragon: I know I'm in the minority but I wasn't impressed by Milkman. To me, it seemed a bit pretentious and gimmicky. But then, I didn't love My Sister, the Serial Killer either.

I did love An American Marriage. I haven't read any of the others, although Circe is one I've been meaning to read.

>7 TooBusyReading: I'm not in a rush to read My Sister, the Serial Killer. That does sound gimmicky to me.

Milkman does seem a marmite book. I loved the (unusual) voice but can see how others might not. It also has a first paragraph which doesn't actually make sense until a scene towards the end of the book, which I can imagine puts a lot of readers off right from the start.

I've read Silence of the Girls, Circe, Ghost Wall, an An American Marriage. I really liked them all and think they all deserve the long list nomination. Of those, I thought Circe was far and away the best book.

I got Milkman on Kindle, and it looks good to me.
i read through Amazon descriptions of the rest of the list, and I can't say that I particularly want to read any of them. Aside from content which didn't attract, I generally steer away from first novels and very short novels. I'm old and out of the mainstream, so I'll shut up.

>10 LizzieD: I'm glad that there are debut novelists included who wouldn't otherwise get as much attention but I am also wary of first novels. I am curious - but planning to read plenty of reviews (particularly LT ones by reviewers I know and trust) before committing. And there are some on the list that I just know aren't for me from their description. I would need an awful lot of persuading (plus probably a free copy with a lovely cover and nice clear print) before going near the Pisces book.

I don't mind short novels and thought Ghost Wall was excellent, (despite being ambivalent about previous Sarah Moss novels).

>11 Soupdragon: I would need an awful lot of persuasion ... before going near the Pisces book.

Funny you should say that, Dee. My daughter read that book a while back while visiting us. She left her copy here, sitting on a table in the room where we watch TV. I have not once been tempted!

I've read An American Marriage, Circe, and Ghost Wall from this year's list. I'm interested in Lost Children Archive, but not in a rush. I'm just going to sit on the sidelines and watch the prize unfold.

I've read Praise Song for the Butterflies and I really found it fascinating. I've yet to create a review or comments for it yet. I'm currently reading An American Marriage. I have My Sister the Serial Killer arriving soon from amazon. I've put Ghost Wall on hold at my library. I read about 100 pages into Number One Chinese Restaurant last fall, but it just did not catch my interest. I've tried to read Milkman when it was up for the Booker, but I found it very difficult going and gave up on it.

As an aside. someone put Bailey's Prize Longlist 2019 beside each of this years" Women's Fiction Prize Longlist 2019 Books. What can we do about that? The prize is no longer called the Bailey's Prize.

>13 vancouverdeb: As an aside. someone put Bailey's Prize Longlist 2019 beside each of this years" Women's Fiction Prize Longlist 2019 Books. What can we do about that? The prize is no longer called the Bailey's Prize.

I found what you were referring to in the Common Knowledge section of the book. Common Knowledge can be contributed by any LTer, and likewise can be edited. I removed the word "Baileys" from the entry on each of the books, so it should be fixed now.

>13 vancouverdeb: Thanks Laura. I had gone through and added the Women's Prize Longlist books to the Common Knowledge a couple of days ago , only to find it changed by someone to the Bailey's Prize Longlist, so let's hope whoever changed my "Women's Fiction Prize Longlist" Common Knowledge doesn't do the same to you.

I bought Milkman but reading on my ipad isn't a habit yet, so I am not in a hurry to get to it. An American Marriage just arrived on Overdrive, and Freshwater is ready for pickup at the library. This should keep me busy for a while. I've been following the Tournament of Books which is why I read My Sister, the Serial Killer and now I'm mixing up the books from each list. I was going to avoid Milkman on TOB, but now I might read it.

I'm interested in Ordinary People by Diana Evans as I read her book, 26A which was on a previous Orange longlist and I liked. I don't see it available in my libraries yet though. Ghost Wall is similar - looks interesting, but not available yet for me.

I'm sure Circe is great, and I liked Song of Achilles but retellings of gods never really appeal to me, so unless it wins, I can't see me getting to it. Completely irrational to avoid a well-rated, easily accessible book, but there you go.

>13 vancouverdeb:, >14 lauralkeet: I noticed the misnaming! We will have to keep an eye on the Common Knowledge.

I made a List: https://www.librarything.com/list/20521/all/2019-Womens-Prize-for-Fiction-Longli...

for everyone to rank the books as they read them. Go add what you've read.

>15 vancouverdeb: oh wow, I didn't realize that. I hope it doesn't get changed again.

>16 raidergirl3: thanks for making the list!

>1 raidergirl3: Thanks for making the list.

I've read five of the books and think all of them are worthy of inclusion, so that's a good sign of a strong list. I had never heard of Bernice McFadden before this summer, when I saw her in an author panel at the Decatur Book Festival. She was impressive and clearly passionate about what she'd written, so I picked up a copy of Praise Song for Butterflies and got it signed and now I am very pleased with that impulse purchase.

>17 lauralkeet: No problem, Laura. It seems to be staying as The Women's Fiction Prize Longlist now.

I finished An American Marriage and it was so much better than I expected. I'm not sure what I had expected -something trite? But I found the book to be full of realistic, flawed, well drawn characters.

I am currently reading My Sister The Serial Killer. Seems like a great page turner so far. Once again, very different than I expected. So far, not the graphic and possibly gruesome read that the title suggests.

I finished American Marriage as well and wow, just wow. It made me angry, happy and sad, sometimes at the same time. I found that my loyalty to different characters changed as well. It really makes you think, doesn't it?

Oh! I also read The Pisces and Number One Chinese Restaurant. The Pisces was very odd and not something I would expect to find on any list, let alone this one. I generally like odd books but this one irritated me a lot. Everything just seemed way over the top with detailed descriptions about things I really don't want to read about. And the way it was written made me question whether the merman actually existed or was just a figment of her deluded mind.

Number One Chinese Restaurant was interesting but again, not something that I would expect to see on this list.

I'm slowly reading Milkman on my ipad, and I am loving it. It reminds me a bit of Anne Enright's writing, and certainly comes from the Irish tradition of stream of consciousness.
You would know pretty quick if it was a writing style for you. Interestingly, the few that have read it and ranked it on our list have all rated it #1.

I finished Freshwater which was uneven for me. There were parts I really liked, but also when it got into the lives of the gods/spirits living in the main character, was a little too far out for me.

American Marriage was heartbreaking, and I rooted for and against each character at alternate times. Truly real-life people, warts and all.

Next book for me is Normal People by Sally Rooney which I snagged on Netgalley.