The Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018 Longlist

Oh how I love this time of year, when we find out the longlist of one of my very favourite book prizes, the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Every year I make an effort to guess the longlist (which I did on Youtube here) of which I invariably get about two or three right (somehow I guessed seven this year) but have huge fun in doing so before the longlist is announced and then read the longlist when it is actually announced. Which has just happened and here are the sixteen books that have made it this year…

• H(a)ppy by Nicola Barker
• The Idiot by Elif Batuman
• Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon
• Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig
• Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
• The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar
• Sight by Jessie Greengrass
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeymoon
• When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy
• Elmet by Fiona Mozley
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
• See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
• A Boy in Winter by Rachel Seiffert
• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
• The Trick To Time by Kit De Waal
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Whilst there might be some of my favourite books from the last twelve months missing I have to say this is one of the most eclectic and exciting longlists that I have seen in some time. And as with every year I will be joining in, especially as for the first time ever I actually have all the books, so it would be silly not to. I have already read five of the books, in italics with a link to the Schmidt which I adored, and may have another three in my luggage in Venice so have a good head start, and I will be reviewing (yes, those things are back) those I have read plus the ones I read as I go, as soon as I am back from holiday/honeymoon.

What are your thoughts on the longlist? Which have you read and what did you think of them? Are their any surprise inclusions of exclusions in your opinion? Let’s have a chat about it all in the comments below.

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Reader, I Married Him…

You may well have already seen this on social media, I wanted to share it on her too… The Beard, aka Chris, and I got married on Saturday.

After a really crazy week or so (one of my colleagues was killed outside our office, my stepdad was rushed into hospital with a heart attack, the Beast from the East and Storm Emma stopped a third of our guests getting there… oh and part the ceiling of the venue we were meant to get married fell in meaning a new venue was needed the day before the wedding) it was so lovely to share such a wonderful day with so many wonderful people.

So I wanted to share it with all of you who have lived it since the beginning. Plus a wedding is a really nice way (along with the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018 all starting this week) to get the blog back up and running.

How are you all? What have you been upto? I’ve missed you.