I love the Booker Prize longlist for this exact reason, it's always packed with books I never would have thought to pick up otherwise.
Booker Prize longlist announcement time is like my super bowl a.k.a. a big deal. I love the lead up where everyone makes their predictions and how inevitably wrong we all end up being (except for a couple of titles I am so excited to see on the longlist!). I love the invitation to read widely and differently to what I normally might pick up, and I love the cultural moment where lots of readers are focusing on the same 13 titles and sharing their thoughts and favourites. I always read the winner, and often try to read the shortlist but this year there is so much on the longlist that I want to read that I thought I would do a little round up of the titles that are moving straight onto my TBR, the ones I've already read, and the ones that I may read if I get the time but otherwise will wait and see if they get onto the shortlist before dedicating my precious reading time to them!
About this year's Booker Prize:
The Booker Prize has been celebrating authors for over 55 years, and plays a huge role in the books that get the attention of readers around the world. The Booker Dozen is 13 books selected from 163 titles that are written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. The judges change each year which I love because the unique combinations of people bring their own flavour to the books that get selected. This year the judges are chaired by Mary Beard, a reknowned classicist who recently released a book about why we should all still be reading classics ('Talking Classics'). On the judging panel is one of my favourite authors, Patricia Lockwood, who writes weirdly wonderful and daring novels like 'Will There Ever Be Another You' and 'No One Is Talking About This'. Joining these two amazing authors are Raymond Antrobus, a British-Jamaican poet and writer, Jarvis Cocker, musician and broadcaster, and Rebecca Liu, writer and critic of books. It's an interesting group and they have chosen a fascinating longlist!
The Books on the Longlist
This year's longlist is a wonderfully strange one. The authors represent seven different countries, 2 of which have won the Booker Prize before (Douglas Stuart and Marlon James) and one who was a previous Booker Prize judge in 2022 (M. John Harrison). 10 of the authors are longlisted for the first time, and three are debut authors. I love this so much, the chance for new authors and voices who haven't had a huge amount of attention to get flung into the literary limelight. It's so exciting!
In terms of genre and subject the longlist is an absolute diverse treasure chest - including dystopian sci fi, crime thrillers, quiet meditations on morality, and books about the royals. The novels take us all around the world, from a hospital in Mexico City, to Kingston Jamaica, to the gritty underbelly of west Dublin, to the end of the world in a coastal town in Kent. I'm also excited selfishly because a lot of the books are quite short which purely makes it easier for me to read more of them (nothing against long books, it always just feels like such a big investment to commit to a giant novel whereas I'm much more likely to take a risk on a 200 pager!).
"Great books are not cosy. In their various ways, the novels we have chosen are (we hope) dynamite." - Mary Beard (Chair of the Booker Prize Judges for 2026)
The Ones I've Read
It's a great feeling to have already made a start on the long list without realizing! Two of my favourite books of the year so far have both appeared and I am STOKED. They are both so deserving of more readers getting lost in them.
The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
Shirl and I both adored this little book and Archie, our main character within who is grappling with grief and loneliness, amongst a world that feels like it is reaching some kind of limit. It's Elizabeth Strout at her finest, with precise and poignant writing, beautifully human characters, and moments between people that took my breath away.
'John of John' by Douglas Stuart
I am not surprised at all to see this novel on the longlist. I was introduced to Douglas Stuart thanks to his debut novel 'Shuggie Bain' which took my sensitive wee heart and trampled all over it with it's beautiful writing and even more beautiful characters. 'John of John' feels like Stuart at his finest yet, and is a novel about a father and son located on the island of Harris and grappling with identity, religion, community and love. It's gorgeous and not quite as traumatic as his other works.
The Ones I Will Be Reading
These are the ones that immediately have peaked my interest and will hopefully be able to read before the shortlist is announced. That isn't to say the rest don't also sound fascinating but time is short and I know realistically I may not get to them all so here are the ones I have already added to my cart!
'Switzy' by Emma Cline makes it on to the TBR because I already have a copy waiting that I was planning to read, and now even more so. 'Switzy' is about a man making one last journey, making his way to Zurich - his final spot where he plans to end his life. On this plane ride we get a meditation of life and it's memories. As this man's life is slowly slipping from his brain's grasp, and as the end itself looms with the plane's arrival, this novel sounds like an exquisite portrait and the kind of novel I often enjoy (reminding me a little of another favourite I read this year, 'When the Cranes Fly South'.
'The End of Everything' by M. John Harrison is the next title that immediately went to the top of my list as soon as I found out it was post-apocalyptic, I just love reading about all the ways the world can end (maybe to make the current moment feel less terrifying?). This novel is about a man who collects items at the tideline after a crisis that affected everything and has introduced obscure new creatures to the seas. It sounds unsettling and absolutely wonderful.
I love a great premise. 'The Renovation' is about a woman who is getting her bathroom renovated in order to enable her to better care for her ageing father, but instead of putting in a bathroom the builders have built a prison cell from Istanbul. It's a strange premise, and the novel itself is about exile and the cities that linger long after we have been forced to leave. 'Black Bag' by Luke Kennard is another book added to the TBR because the premise sounds weird and I love a strange book. in this novel an out of work actor decides to earn some money by taking part in a psychological experiment which involves him attending lecture halls while zipped into an oversized black bag. The novel promises an exploration of love and masculinity, and I need no further information - I will be reading it.
The last one, for now, that has jumped to the top of the list is 'Helen of Nowhere', a small and beautifully minimalistic Fitzcarraldo Edition (I love them) about a disgraced university professor being shown a new home and getting to know its previous owner Helen in a mysterious ways, I'm not sure what has drawn me to this one, but the fact that it's set in the countryside helps, and that it is described as 'a perfect fairytale for our times'
Hopefully I get time to read more of the longlist before the shortlist is announced in September but these are the ones I'm most excited to first pick up. I would love to hear about the books you are excited to read from the list and whether you've already read some too! I love Booker Prize season, it's a reminder how how the books are one part, and the community is another and together those two things bring my life so much joy, connection, and deep philosophical thought (as well as entertainment!). What a delight to be a reader!
