nooo, don’t let the publishers get you down! you have excellent presence & really refreshing honesty in your reviews📚✨👏

I didnt mind Headshot. Held on the other hand was pretentious garbage - another example of a writer wanting to show off their ability with language ignoring plot, characterisation, and storytelling

NO YOU'RE AWESOME!! 😘😘

Im a bit like you with the longlist. I really enjoyed James and My Friends but have found the others a bit meh.

Stay bitter. Keep reviewing.

I'm 1/3 through Headshot - and it has sapped my will to live ... and screw Netgalley - you have PLENTY of presence, Andy!! (... although they approved my requests for the new Kushner, Hollinghurst and Ali Smith, all of which were AMAZING - so I also love them!! LOL)

I just finished reading this and the parallel between Doug and Annie’s relationship and the white slave owner’s view of an African slave…from being an animal to be trained to please to a person who better understands her situation and tries to escape and is returned to her owner to the benevolent white man who grants the slave her freedom because she’s been so ‘good’. I think a lot of people may miss the racial undertones, the issue of slavery and the whole ‘good white man’ myth. It’s also an interesting examination of what is sapience, when does a machine stop being a machine and become a person.

You're phenomenal with plenty of "presence." I always trust your insight. Thank you.

I just finished Orbital and while I didn’t hate it it was really meh. Completely forgettable. Flat characters, endless run-on descriptions of Earth. I think the author is just really fascinated by the ISS and wanted a story to shovel factoids into. I really don’t understand why it’s on both the Booker and the LeGuin lists. It should have been spaced out the airlock.

Your time will come! Don't give up. Love your reviews.

Pffft presence?! Well, you've got plenty of stage presence! Also I like a rambling mess.

I’m also struggling with this long list. I’ve read most of the list and I’m struggling to find enough books for a short list. I’ve dnf’d 2 of them and didn’t care for most of them and still havent got to the boxing book yet

Don’t feel too sad - we all adore you - hopefully, that’s what matters most!

This is my first year reading the long list, and I'm really not enjoying myself. Do the Booker judges read books?

you should switch to reading the women’s prize longlist next year instead hehe 😁

I’m only about 50 pages into Wandering Stars , and I did read There, There , but don’t remember characters’ names to their stories, so feel like that’s the part I’m missing out on 📕🪱💚

Thanks for the heads-up on the rotten books. I'm in the process of collecting all the (600 or so) Long-listed Booker Prize novels and these will sit unread on my shelf till all eternity.

What's your shortlist? Feel free to include the two you haven't read.

You have much more presence than I do and I got the Kushner. However, I am in the US.

I did read There There and this may be part of why I liked the second half a lot more than the first. I was impatient to get back to the Bear Shield/Red Feather family. I have Wild Houses checked out of the library, approaching with reluctance.

So… Held to win Booker 2024

I'm obsessed with nun books, but terrified of rodent books.... what to do.... what to do? I'm friends with a lot of local authors in my neck of the woods and one of them told me he follows this advice he got from another author: be glad about every rejection -- it puts you one step closer to an acceptance. Maybe this could help with the arc issue? I don't know, but I say, keep trying.... 🤷🏻‍♀️

Totally agree with your Headshot review, could not care less who was going to win.

Wandering Stars worthy of being on the list, but yes, yes, There, There should be read first . A vital voice. Tommy Orange is a national treasure. 4 stars

Could not read Stone Yard Devotional due to rodent phobia and similarly nun phobia.

I loved Held, btw.. read it twice

Loved it and Demon Copperhead and like you, my very favourite author right now.

Last comment got eaten up. Myself & Gem (Gem of Books) were wondering if you would like to join us for a Booker Plod? If you do let know and I will tell you my socials details.

I must say, I finished this book this morning after falling into this series and reading all 3 books within the week and I had an existential crisis.... and now.....6 hours later I am SO MAD!!! I may need help! LOL

I’ve always stuck to the rule of finishing a book once started..until today. I’ve been reading for nearly 70 years.

I've read so much piss I could almost smell it

Odd. I was hooked from the first. The words just flew off the pages and I couldn’t put it down. Stupendous from the very beginning.

Really liked Lonesome Dove, but I would have Butchers Crossing by Williams just ahead of it. All McCarthy’s novels are fantastic, especially all the pretty horses

I quite liked this one, although I wouldn't say for me that it wove the stories together very well. The novel's structure inherently silos each story and their is little contemplation of how each story relates and contrasts with the others. You're spot on in saying how the novel reads like separate short stories and I felt this to be a bit of a weakness really. Each story in and of itself is great, especially the first four. There is some wonderful writing, brilliant scene-setting and iconic imagery utilised by the author throughout. I just wish that there was more of an effort to bind these tales together iteratively into a more cohesive overarching narrative. I also could have used more of a resolution, and as such would easily have read another 100 pages had it been on offer.

It's a weird book. It's not particularly interesting in itself but it keeps you hooked all the way

Great review - also JA provided me with one of the most memorable author book signing events I've been to from the book he signed to the hardcore fans that did a rap for him (three guys that had travelled most of the UK to attend nearly all his signings 😂)

I am half way through but don’t know if I can finish it.

I just finished it, and I agree with your take on the poems adding nothing to the plot, really. This will be a bit of a *spoiler*, but I also agree with you that the plot twist ruined the book a bit. However, I was left puzzled about why he didn't use the other girl from Iran as a possible explanation for who the artist was. It felt really weird and too convenient the way the twist happened-I mean, what are the odds? Also, the other characters in the novel-Zee, the dad, the uncle-could have been explored in much more depth if the author wanted to. Anyway, I'd give it a 4-star rating, though

You give me so many laughs! Even though, I enjoyed Orbital 🌎🌍🌏, you still made me laugh with your passionate displeasure in reading it. As always, I always enjoy your reviews and passion.

This is my least favorite of the first world. I felt like the revenge and Monza were kind of one note. Still good, but pales in comparison to the others. And UGH what is up with the Booker long list. Dreadful.

I agree with you. I was so hooked with the 1st one but this was has been quite a chore to finish. I might venture to read the 3rd out of curiosity.

I don't know if it is about the translation, but Haruki Murakami's are like children books.

I couldn’t agree more with you on everything! Exactly how I felt about the book myself . I was so excited going into it to get a female character as the lead protagonist and thought that she had really good traits that could have been developed more but she ended up feeling like a side character that I couldn’t connect to fully as well . Shivers was the star of the book and his whole arc was my absolute favorite part . The novel did drag for me as well and I had to go for the audio book to keep me engaged in the middle parts . I feel like maybe sometimes editors are reluctant to cut from books of big name authors . Also something else I found a bit weird (and this might just be me ) but I found it a bit unbelievable that Monza after going through all those horrible injuries was still like super hot . I mean I understand that her whole demeanor can be sexy and she has been really really attractive her whole life but she is described as being so broken after the injuries that I think it would have been ok for her to be a little bit like Glokta and her physical charm wouldn’t be the first thing every man would notice you know .

I liked the stories about Senkovi and crew but those are gone around the halfway point. Then some cool stuff at the end with Kern and Nod. Big chunk of slog between it

Oh my, how I hated Orbital. I couldn't stop highlighting passages that were p*****g me off, not usually what I look for in a book 🙄 I really loved both The Safe Keep and My Friends. I also read Stoner and it was every bit as brilliant as you said it was, thank you for sharing the love 😊

O crap, I ordered Headshot. O well.

I ve had the total opposite reaction. I ve got bored at the first 100 pages, and I ve got interested later. The first day pages are extremely plot predictable wargame part to be that long. I think that s the reason why I liked the next pages

Im surprised so many people like it. I wasnt really to impressed and i read it completely. Yes its wild and poetic, but also really weird at times.

I absolutely agree with your hyperbole. Masterpiece.

Damn yeah, I agree with you; it's very good and much of the writing is pure poetry. Fantastic, strange, sentimental... I won't forget it! Just finished it this evening. Thanks for the review! xx