Well after the longlist was announced I quickly got two of the books I ve not read from my local Library ,then brought another and finally after my birthday I had enough too afford a Kindle and a voucher to get some books and got the Last two books from the longlist which early Monday morning I finished In praise of hatred .We from the shadow jury are busy giving our views on the list and compiling a shortlist .But as shortlist is announced tomorrow I decide to pick my personnel six books and then later in the week will share our shadow Jury shortlist .
Winstons shortlist
Satantango by Laszlo Kraznahoraki
SatanTango was one of my favourite books from the last year ,I felt his prose are like wading through Treacle sticky , very tasty and tough going ,but should all books be easy ?
Traveller of the century By Andres Neuman
Set in an imagined town in medieval Germany ,Andres Neuman showed why he is so lauded in Spain and Latin america .
A death in the family by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Maybe this is hyped or maybe not but I found the way he made the everyday and family life sparkle as never before ,grim at times but hey life isn’t a bed of roses .
Trieste by Dasa Drndic
Well I felt this ahd HhHH are similar both quite stylistic books Iread both last year ,but it was this one that I still think over and am still touched by more than HhHH .
Dublinesque by Enrique Villa -Matas
A Joyce fan by Vila-Matas is writes a homage to his hero and the city he was from Dublin .Riba is also in the publishing buisness what is not to love .
In praise of hatred By Khaled Khalifa
Well I’ve yet to review but this openss Syria up although set in the past one can see the horrors people have had to endure .So much it was banned there .
So there we go ,I ve read all the books thought over ,digested and absorb and this is Winstonsdad’s view of this year longlist and my Favourites I must admit this years jugdes did a stunning job choosing this years longlist ,I Know there isn’t a bad book on the list having read them all .
So glad you liked In Praise of Hatred. I thought is was excellent, and it hasn’t been discussed much. The only difference between my list and yours is I had HHhH instead of Trieste. I didn’t like the book, I just figured the judges would. You may be right that Trieste, which in some ways is similar, might be selected instead. My personal preference for the last slot is either Kadare or Vásquez
I’ve only read one of these – Traveller of the Century, which I thoroughly enjoyed – but own Satantango, Trieste and A Death in the Family. I’ve had Dublinesque on my wishlist for ages too. Looking forward to reading them once I’m done with the Women’s Fiction Prize.
My list would be identical to yours apart from In Praise of Hatred – I’ve just finished this and really found it difficutl to take to. I’d probably put Vasquez in its place. I hope you’re right about Traveller of the Century and A Death in the Family as I haven’t yet read them as they were quite long and I suspected they might be on the shortlist! (I’ve still read more of the long list than ever before though!)
I have ‘A Death in the Family’ and ‘Dublinesque’ . I might read them but not so soon, I think.
Neuman and Vila-Matas are the only authors on the list I’ve read before, but I’d love to try out Knausgaard and that Krasznahorkai (I already own another one by him) and maybe a new/different Vila-Matas sometime this year. Will keep those other authors in mind for a future read as well based on your thumbs-up(s) here. Cheers!