2023 Booker Prize: 13 Books to Consider (Part 1)

 I have been fascinated by the books formerly listed for consideration for the Booker Prize for a number of years now, and I've ended up reading many of the winners along with more than a few of the contenders. This year for some reason I can feel myself being sucked even deeper than normal into the whole Booker Prize process. I've read and reviewed only one of them so far, Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry, but I do have two more of the nominees on my desk that need to be read in the next two weeks. In addition, a few others from the list are on hold via my library system's website. All in all, thirteen books have been considered this year, with the winner to be announced on November 26. 

On my desk are: 

(Short List) Western Lane is a coming-of-age novel by London author Chetna Maroo about an eleven-year-old girl who becomes obsessed with playing competitive squash after the death of her mother. The little girl becomes so obsessed by the game and her training exercises that she becomes a loner, preferring the court even to the company of her sisters and father.

 (Long List) Ayòbámi Adébáyò's A Spell of Good Things is set in Nigeria and is said to "shine light on Nigeria, its gapping class divide and the shared humanity that lives in between." The book jacket description is not very clear on plot details, but it seems to be a story of romantic obsession that catches a young woman and her family squarely in the middle of a violent clash between two very different families.

And these will be arriving relatively soon:

(Short List) If I Survive You is Jonathan Escoffery's collection of connected short stories about a family from Kingston, Jamaica that has fled that country for the relative safety of life in Miami. The family arrives in Florida shortly before Hurricane Andrew and the 2008 recession that would follow the storm. Despite being pegged by many as just another immigrant family in America living on government handouts, these guys are determined to make a success of their new life.

(Short List) I've seen more buzz (pun intended) about The Bee Sting than about any of the other 2023 Booker books. Lots of people seem to think that this is the book most likely to win the prize. The publisher throws around various phrases like: "tragicomic family saga," "tour de force," "dazzling story about the struggle to be good at the end of the world," to describe the novel.

(Long List) The House of Doors is based on real events from the 1920s and has author Somerset Maugham as one of its main characters. It looks to be a complicated, highly atmospheric, novel about colonialism, revolutionary times, personal betrayal, and ultimate redemption. Honestly, this one doesn't appeal to me much at first glance, but I look forward to getting my hands on it and giving it a try.

(Long List) Elaine Feeney's How to Build a Boat is a coming-of-age about a thirteen-year-old boy who lost his mother at his birth. Things Jamie O'Neill loves most in the world include: "the colour red, tall trees, rain that comes with wind, the curvature of certain objects, books with dust jackets, rivers, cats, and Edgar Allan Poe." Jamie sounds like the perfect bully's target, but his dreams help him to survive everything that life throws at him.

Counting Old God's Time, this will have given me a look at seven of the thirteen listed books for Booker 2023. I already know that at least two of the remaining six are not available through my library, but I haven't checked on the other four at all yet. My nightmare is that they all start showing up at the same time because all are limited to two-week checkout periods for now. I don't expect to read all thirteen even in the long run, but I do hope to get my hands on each of them long enough to come away from the whole process with an informed opinion about the 2023 Booker Prize.