I ranked the 2023 Booker Prize longlist from worst to best (and predicted the shortlist)

[@cmleidi]

What I liked about this list is that each book elicited a wide range of reactions. With the women's prize, there was usually a consensus around most of the books except for a couple of them where the reaction was at opposite ends. I also found that about half the Booker books started off great and then would nosedive in quality and/or have sections that needed editing. MY list (and I just finished the longlist an hour ago) from worst to best: Prophet Song, Pearl, This Other Eden, If Survive You, The Bee Sting, All The Little Bird-Hearts, Study for Obedience, A Spell of Good Things, In Ascension, Western Lane, How To Build a Boat, Old God's Time and House of Doors. For me, House of Doors was the only five star book in the list and my favourite by a wide margin. Knowing my luck with book prizes, Prophet Song will probably win. [A Spell of Good Things was also the last book I read.]

[@benreadsgood]

Definitely with you on that! It speaks volumes that our lists are almost in reverse 😂 It’s awesome when there’s lots to (respectfully) debate and discuss, rather than consensus.

[@shiningyoonie]

I'd be baffled if Prophet Song wins. I like the idea, just the execution was not strong enough.

[@benreadsgood]

This is the divisiveness of the list in action 😂 I thought the execution was banging!

[@readandre-read]

I'm about a third of the way into Prophet Song and the much-discussed streaming style seems to suit the plot and emotional tenor of stress and dread really well. I don't find it off putting at all.

[@benreadsgood]

Yeah, I definitely agree that it's the right form for this work. Super immersive and oppressive. Not usually the sort of writing I like, but I really got into it!

[@oyasumikisi4935]

Thank you for this video, I really like how to the point you were but still gave a good sense of how you felt about the books. You and another reviewer really sold me on reading Prophet Song, which I wouldn't have read otherwise, so thank you!

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks so much - that's kind of you to say! I wanted to keep it snappy as I've gone into more depth in my review videos, so I'm glad it was just enough. Hope you enjoy Prophet Song. I thought it was fantastic!

[@sandrazuks9017]

This format on ranking your booker reads is excellent. I think your short list was on point.

[@benreadsgood]

Thank you so much! 🙌 Keeping my fingers crossed that the actual shortlist will be close to my dream list.

[@CharlesHeathcote]

Great to hear your thoughts on the longlist. I gave up on How to Build a Boat as I could tell I wasn't getting on with it from quite early on. I commend your efforts in getting these read - even though our views differ, I was pleased to hear why. I hope that at least a sprinkling of the books we wish to see in the longlist make it.

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks Charlie! I think the start of How to Build a Boat is the strongest part, so you probably made the right choice. I've really enjoyed how wildly different people's reactions to the books have been this year. Even if it isn't seen as the 'strongest' longlist in recent years, it's been fun to see the wild variety of opinions.

[@YourTrueShelf]

Quite fun to watch this now that I know the shortlist! I've only read how to build a boat (which I really liked) & if I survive you - this one startes so well for me, but then it turned in to a real slog. I want to see character development and I didn't feel we got that here, I was disappointed. I will read Ayobami as I own her book already. Still kinda interested in the bee sting and prophet song.

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks Sarah! I was very pleasantly surprised my top three made it. Definitely recommend The Bee Sting, and maybe give a sample of Prophet Song a go before diving in - some people really haven’t liked it!

[@ferguscooper]

Well done Ben. Great work. Lots of reading and super predicting. Did this in vlog form last year and it’s so much work. Agree that the reading experience is rushed and it can end up seeming like a chore. I look forward to seeing how your predictions work out in November. But as Meatloaf said 4 out of 6 ain’t bad at all - in fact - damn good!! I found that my likes and what I expected would win were very different. For me, they rarely pick the best book. And it is the weakness in the process and in any book prize award. It is so subjective.

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks very much Fergus. It was harder going than I expected (made the mistake of not getting started right away!) but I enjoyed it. And I see what you mean about the process, but I think it’s both a weakness and a strength. The subjectivity and unexpected nature of it all is what makes it, for me, so exciting and interesting.

[@KierTheScrivener]

This is the content I am here for 😂 I didn't have time to read the longlist like I planned to but I loved hearing your thoughts.

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks Kier! Glad I could provide some vicarious experience of the longlist 😅

[@CharlieBrookReads]

Your top two are my top two as well!! Loved those books with my whole heart. Interesting to see how low Study for Obedience is on GR as that’s my no 3!! Your predictions have 5 in common with mine & Charlie’s … I think 😅

[@benreadsgood]

I need to go back and check out your vid! I was trying to avoid predictions before making mine, as I'm too easily influenced 😂

[@quillber]

Great roundup, thanks!

[@benreadsgood]

Thank you for watching! 🙏

[@cecilialau_]

Very interesting to see where the judges end up later today. Definitely a surprising list. Not too many that I’m personally too interested in. (I wonder if there’ll be a “controversial choice” even in the shortlist now that Demon Copperhead got so much attention from being left out or if it’s gonna be a bit anti-climactic with the waiting period being quite long. And some books not getting too much attention so they “can’t” be in the list, Idk)… - Goon on ya for getting through it, Ben! And in time and with subsequent videos! 👏 I also really like the point you made about how the order of reading and the urgency of it can have an effect on the experience. Very relevant point. And maybe once the shortlist is out, it might give ppl a chance to revisit or to simply try to analyse the choices. Idk. But congrats on getting through the longlist! 🤩💪🏼

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks!!! 🙏 It was harder than I thought it would be. Glad you agree on the speed and order thing... I thought a few times while reading the list "am I finding this tiresome because I just read another book with a similar theme?"

[@cecilialau_]

@@benreadsgood understandable. It seems very thematically heavy to the point where there are not enough “others” to go in between. But I know if I’d read them all I’d feel like the judges had to agree with me, haha, so good for you for being so chill about it 😅 Looking forward to your reaction to the shortlist if you’ll do that kind of video 🫶

[@ht6743]

Nice shortlist predictions! I could see your wishlist coming true, but I'm of the conspiratorial mindset that this middling longlist was orchestrated as a springboard for a Sebastian Barry career achievement coronation. Cynical, sure, and they certainly didn't go that route for Alan Garner last year, so watch Barry get snubbed today. I'm glad to see you champion If I Survive You, which many have shortchanged for its short-story format. Controversial or not, I'm rooting for it. Since you brought up Demon Copperhead, a rant lol. These shortlist predictions brought up all of those longlist snubs again, and the wounds are surprisingly fresh still. I sensed quite a bit of annoyance on the part of mostly British BookTube who basically said, get over it, Americans, Kingsolver has been justly snubbed and/or rewarded too much already. Maybe that's just haughty British arrogance that reads poorly overseas, I don't have the answer (and I'm not lumping you with them, BEN!). But I've also seen some great "de-Booker BookTube" vids and an astute rant from Matthew Sciarappa (sp?) that essentially called this Booker longlist garbage. Willful exclusions of Demon Copperhead, Birnam Wood, The Fraud, etc., go beyond simply five jurors having different tastes than the rest of the world, whatever. The Booker mandate wasn't met in the eyes of many watchers. When you say that the longlist this year is one-note/mid and could have included stronger books, it seems incongruent to then be so flippant about Kingsolver's exclusion, where the prevailing notion is that Demon would have most likely mopped the floor against the majority of this longlist competition. Needless to say, this is one of the most divisive Booker longlists I've ever seen in my lifetime following the prize. A fool's errand shortlist predictions: A Spell of Good Things, Old God's Time, Prophet Song, The Bee Sting, All the Little Bird-Hearts, The House of Doors.

[@benreadsgood]

I'm always down for a cynical take 😅 Could definitely imagine a Barry win, and I kinda feel the same way about Tan as well. Glad to hear some love for If I Survive You as well! I get what you mean about the response to Demon. But I think my perspective is that with something so subjective as the quality of a book, I don't think any novel has a 'right' to be nominated for or win a given prize. Being disappointed that a book wasn't nominated feels like a fair emotional response to me: it shows support for an author that missed out, and a love for their work. Being angry though... not so much. Anger feels like something directed more at the books that *were* nominated, and I find that a bit unfair on the people who worked hard on those books. Even the ones I didn't like! I do still think that these lists are best appreciated as the opinions of 5 readers. And I would love to have been a fly on the wall during their discussions. It must be such a tough gig reading 150 books over a relatively short period and then having to debate them to find consensus on the 13 'best' ones. (It's worth pointing out that I'm a Demon Copperhead fan too. One of my favourite reads of the year for sure!)

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks for watching though, and for sharing your perspective. I really appreciate it! 🙏

[@ht6743]

Congrats on the milestone! Good luck today!😊

[@benreadsgood]

Thank you! 🙌

[@hasteyebooks]

Great video! I read a few and I've been mostly bored, bit dour as you mentioned. I did love House of Doors, so sad it didn't make the shortlist! The 3 Pauls made it haha. I tried Old God's Time but I just don't think that author is for me...

[@benreadsgood]

Thank you! The three Pauls must be a once-in-a-lifetime thing 😂 I thought the same about Sebastian Barry, but on a previous video lots of people told me his other books are very different (and very good) so I think I’ll give him another go at some point.

[@ameliabarlowbooks]

I’ve been saving your Booker series on my Watch Later playlist until today and have been hanging on your every word all morning! we hard agree with each other on The Bee Sting, I adored it so much 🐝 I’d love to see Pearl or The Bee Sting win, and I’ll be devastated if either one doesn’t get shortlisted. my shortlist predictions are: House of Doors, This Other Eden and Study for Obedience (because as those were the ones I didn’t get round to reading, that would be typical), Prophet Song, The Bee Sting and Old God’s Time. I didn’t think of the weighting that gives to Irish authors though!

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks Amelia! 🙌 I'm also keen to see Pearl and The Bee Sting on the shortlist. For Pearl in particular, I'm just really rooting for an indie publisher. On the Irish author thing: it's probably weak reasoning on my part. I just think that if you're going on about how the novels represent the best from around the world, having half the list set in Ireland seems a bit narrow-sighted. But it could happen!!!

[@benreadsgood]

Also I'm about 60% through your review video - I need to go back and finish it! Really liked how you saw denial as a running theme.

[@ameliabarlowbooks]

@@benreadsgood oh god, stop the video when I start talking about In Ascension lmao, I could do a better job of describing the back of my own head 🪐🛸

[@benreadsgood]

😂😂😂

[@lorrainefoord7384]

Very well done on reading them all! I hope to get to all on the shortlist. I've only read two from the long list, but I'm so excited to see the shortlist - the big question, being in Australia, will I get to find out tonight or have to wait until tomorrow morning? Old God's Time was very good in my opinion - I think age and time can really make a big difference - I find although I read it a while back I think of it often, whereas A Spell of Good Things I only just finished, after what seemed like a very hard slog. Will it be memorable to me in a month's time?

[@benreadsgood]

Thank you! It was harder than I expected 😅 The announcement is at 7pm BST, so I think that will be Friday morning in Australia. Can definitely see the arguments in favour of Old God's Time, I just really struggled with the writing style. I kept getting sleepy while reading it!

[@AliceandtheGiantBookshelf]

I only read Prophet Song but I think it is a fantastic book! Loved hearing your overall ranking and looking at it in different ways. 😊

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks Alice. Very pleased to see there is a big Prophet Song contingent in the comments. Not long to go now! 😱

[@KyWill-ji8sg]

Finished the longlist yesterday, prophet song is definitely my favourite am quite confident that it will get shortlisted as well as the bee sting not sure about the others though

[@benreadsgood]

I hope they do both make it - loved both of them!

[@joangavrilik3009]

I predict 3 books I liked: The House of Doors, The Bee Sting, and Study for Obedience, and 3 books I didn’t like: Prophet Song, If I Survive You, and This Other Eden. It will be interesting!

[@benreadsgood]

That’s a very likely set of possibilities! I know the judges won’t be thinking like this, but it *would* seem surprising though if a majority-women judging panel eliminated nearly all the women at this stage though. Either way, you’re right: it will definitely be interesting!

[@rudy679]

My Predictions: Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow - All The Little Bird-Hearts Paul Lynch- Prophet Song - WILL WIN Martin Macinnes - In Ascension Chetna Maroo - Western Lane Paul Murray - The Bee Sting Tan Twan Eng - The House of Doors (I haven't read any of them) 🙃

[@benreadsgood]

💯 here for predictions without reading the books. That’s basically the basis of most of my predictions videos.

[@christelvanzyl5246]

I could not get hold of Prophet Song in South Africa yet, but will buy it in Dublin or London when I go there in twee weeks' time. (Lucky me going on a school trip as a chaperone teacher and we are going to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College!) At the risk of stepping on Goodreader toes..I agree with your rating of House of Doors. I think the readers of Goodreads are more often than not your "New York Times Bestseller" type of reader. Nothing wrong with that, but a novel like The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, for example, will be appreciated by a discerning reader who wants substance, not just an enjoyable "Crawdads" type of plot. (Maali, the novel, is so raw, original, gross, wise and informative about Sri Lankan history! It keeps one guessing. At times I cringed. At times I almost cried. Maali as a character is so deliciously flawed and yet he develops and even becomes selfless at some point. That is grit! That is solid writing! That is Booker winner material.) I hope one of this year's novels can fill Maali's shoes. Maybe Leigh can..... I am glad that you are warming up to audiobooks. It is such a wonderful treat to listen to a good book read by a brilliant narrator. Your video has been delightful - as always. How cool is it that you managed to read all 13 books! I am jealous.

[@benreadsgood]

Thanks Christel. Hopefully Prophet Song is worth the wait! Yeah I see what you mean about House of Doors - it’s good, but in a very conventional way. No bad thing but makes it hard to be excited about it and root for it in a literary prize. However you’ve now got me excited about Seven Moons. It’s on my shelf but I still haven’t gotten around to it. Enjoy your school trip 🙏

[@shannonsales7476]

I did not read all the books. The Women's Prize exhausted me. Do you think there's a POD amongst the Booker longlist? People seem to either love or hate The Bee Sting or Prophet Song. Are those the POD?

[@benreadsgood]

I've actually only seen a few negative opinions on The Bee Sting and Prophet Song. Not sure it's quite on the level of Pod, which was kind of the opposite... largely negative views but had some big supporters. Study for Obedience probably has the same ratio of love/hate, but I think for very different reasons. Maybe the closest is How to Build a Boat?

[@dylanwolf]

I've only read four of the books, Of those I would favour Study for Obedience (which I thought was trying to do something unusual and unique and I found it a very intriguing, absorbing and perplexing read) and If I Survive You (of which I can not understand why anyone would classify it as short stories - it is a totally cohesive novel). Prophet Song I thought was fantastically impactful and clearly contemporarily apposite (the UK today being just a short slide away from the totalitarian far-right regime take-over that the novel sets in Ireland) a terrifying read but not with the literary chops to win. In Ascension I thought was disappointing, a sketchily drawn insipid protagonist and a dull story with poorly tacked on sci-fi magical realism. I've just started reading a fifth, A Spell of Good Things which I'm impressed with so far. The Secret Scripture had such an awful and predictable ending that it put me off Sebastian Barry.

[@benreadsgood]

Yeah I'm with you and don't think If I Survive You is that controversial. It definitely tells the story of a novel, it's just written in short story form (and had a few 'short story-isms' that I wish it would have dropped, like overly re-explaining certain characters and relationships when they'd been explained in previous stories).

[@jenniferlovesbooks]

Interesting! We have five in common on our predictions - i have Old God's Time in place of This Other Eden.

[@benreadsgood]

We can share in the glory if the ones in common are correct 😅 Could definitely see a place for Old God's Time, I just think it might be at the expense of The Bee Sting. And I really want to see The Bee Sting make the shortlist!

[@jenniferlovesbooks]

@@benreadsgood The Bee Sting is my winner prediction (I haven't even read it yet 😂)

[@ruthlounsbury4024]

How about reading the list for the National Book Awards??😮

[@benreadsgood]

I’m not sure I could take reading another complete longlist this year 🫠 There are a few books on the list I really want to read though: Blackouts and Loot are calling to me!

[@anonymuswriter4535]

Prophet Song is also at the top of the list from me. It is really griping and I have immensely enjoyed the writing style. 👍👍

[@benreadsgood]

I'm rooting for it! 🙌

[@anonymuswriter4535]

@@benreadsgood 👍👍

[@user-ny1wo1vp9r]

So when I hear about the 'controversial because short story' discourse, I keep thinking of Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung which was shortlisted for the international booker last year. Or are the rules for the international booker different?

[@benreadsgood]

The rules are slightly different for the International Booker, where short story collections are eligible 👍 They're actually not explicitly excluded in the English language Booker, the books just have to be "substantial and unified". But that's often interpreted as needing to be a novel.

[@choco1199]

Im so sad that you put How to Build a Boat last. It is my favourite one.

[@benreadsgood]

Ahhh I’m sorry! I still need to post my full review of that one, in which I’ll explain, but it just didn’t do it for me. It might have been less of a problem had the book and I had met under other (non-Booker) circumstances, but I just couldn’t see how it was on the list. I am glad you enjoyed it though. From the Goodreads section of the video you can see most people are not in agreement with me 😊

[@dqan7372]

My personally uninformed bet is on 1. Prophet Song (w) 2. The Bee Sting 3. In Ascension. 4. This Other Eden. 5. All the Little Bird-Hearts 6. A Study for Obedience Started Old God's Time then had to give it back to the library. Just bought A Study for Obedience a few nights ago after seeing that I wouldn't get Old God's Time back from the library for weeks. Then OGT came in today.

[@benreadsgood]

Clearly The Booker Prize is messing you about to force you to read more of the books 😂

[@mrl9418]

Well, you were prophetic

[@benreadsgood]

🔮

[@benreadsgood]

(I actually ended up switching over to wanting The Bee Sting to win. But oh well!)

[@abookhug]

I'm surprised to see Old God's Time so low and Pearl so high! :P

[@benreadsgood]

One of the main themes of the list (aside from absent mothers) is that the books have had elicited such a wide range of opinions. It's been so fun to see how differently people have reacted to the books!

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

Since I’ve only read three on the list. I want Prophet Song to win . I want The Bee Sting & All The Little Bird Hearts in the shortlist. ☘️👋🍀🇮🇪☕️📕📖📚💐

[@benreadsgood]

Happy to join you on Team Prophet Song! 🏆

[@sandraseldon6734]

Ascension was excellent. I did not like the ending of Bee Sting, although the author writes so well.

[@benreadsgood]

I can understand not liking the ending of The Bee Sting. For me it absolutely worked (even if I was at first like... WHAT?!)

[@bookofdust]

Thanks for tackling this monumental task! Just out of interest did you read Night of the Living Rez and Stories from the Tenants Downstairs? They and I Will Survive You were the short story collections that seemed to dominate last year, and the other two, for me, were far superior to I Will Survive You, which paled in comparison being in their shadow. Seeing it on the Booker longlist, I already discounted it as inferior to other books in its genre, and thus others on an award list of best books.

[@benreadsgood]

I haven't read either of those sadly. Night of the Living Rez hasn't been published in the UK yet, and I was waiting for Stories from the Tenants Downstairs to come out in paperback, but I see it was released last month. Will have to get my hands on it!

[@Tetsujin-28]

The reviews here are like Succulent pieces of boneless chicken marinated in ginger and garlic, spiced with freshly pounded black peppercorns, gram flour and chargrilled with beaten egg yolk.

[@benreadsgood]

😂😂😂