Booker Prize Longlist 2023

On By Steven StraussIn Books

Happy Booker Day!

AKA: Happy WHICH BOOKS DO I START WITH??? Day!

The 13 books longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize will be whittled down to a shortlist next month.

Which is unhelpful for those of us looking to begin reading NOW. But, how to choose what to begin with?

First, here’s the entire longlist:

  • Ayòbámi Adébáyò, A Spell of Good Things
  • Sebastian Barry, Old God’s Time
  • Sarah Bernstein, Study for Obedience
  • Jonathan Escoffery, If I Survive You
  • Elaine Feeney, How to Build a Boat
  • Paul Harding, This Other Eden
  • Siân Hughes, Pearl
  • Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow, All the Little Bird-Hearts
  • Paul Lynch, Prophet Song
  • Martin MacInnes, In Ascension
  • Chetna Maroo, Western Lane
  • Paul Murray, The Bee Sting
  • Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors

The facts of publishing narrow it down for us; nix the books yet to be released in America: All the Little Bird-Hearts, Prophet Song (to be released overseas next month), How to Build a Boat (to be released stateside on November 7), and The House of Doors (to be released October 17).

That leaves us with nine books. To decide my reading order, I weigh these imperfect factors:

  • Author’s Fame
    • How acclaimed are they? How many awards have their past books won?
  • The New York Times
    • Did The Grey Lady review the book? Was the author profiled?
  • Debut?
    • What’s better than following a career from the ground floor.
  • Duration
    • The shorter, the better. Calculated based on audiobook length.

I finalize my reading order by cross-tabulating these metrics. For instance, If I Survive You would be near the top … which is why I already read one of last year’s most hailed books.

So now we’re down to eight.

The order in which I plan to read them, and why:

  1. Western Lane
    • 4 hours. Debut. NYT reviewed.
  2. This Other Eden
    • 6 hours. NYT reviewed AND profiled. Author is a Pulitzer winner.
  3. Study for Obedience
    • To be released August 22. Short. Hyped up-and-comer.
  4. Old God’s Time
    • 9 hours. NYT reviewed. Thrice Booker-listed, twice awarded the Costa.
  5. A Spell of Good Things
    • 13 hours. NYT reviewed. Author was previously shortlisted for the Women’s Prize.
  6. Pearl
    • 7 hours. Debut.
  7. In Ascension
    • 14 hours.
  8. The Bee Sting
    • To be released August 15. Looooong. Previously listed for the Booker, Costa Prize, and National Book Critics Circle.

Happy reading!

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