Hello readers!
I am blessedly on vacation! It’s a beautiful, sunny week so far and I’m happy to spend time relaxing and reading on the balcony, trying out new recipes and petting the cat. It’s been a productive reading week, with finally finishing The Mirror and the Light (review to come!) and being able to finish Red at the Bone in one day, so now I’ve read 7 of 16 longlisted books for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, DNF-ed 1, won’t read 2, and I’m 1/3 or so into another one. Not so many left to read – it’s pretty exciting to be moving forward!
The shortlisted books for the WP comes out tomorrow! I have failed miserably in reading the books for it on time, but I have no regrets. This year’s longlist was not very exciting to me and I am glad I decided not to read the entire list, but rather focus on the books that actually interested me. I’ve read many reviews, and feel quite confident in predicting which books will make it to the shortlist.
My prediction for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 Shortlist is:
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
- How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee
- The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel
- Actress by Anne Enright
- Hamnet by Maggie O’ Farrell
- A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
I think it’s not an exciting list, but the entire longlist was at best lackluster, so… *shrug* I don’t feel particularly guilty for guessing at a rather boring list (but a good one! I loved all those books, except for Hamnet, which I haven’t read yet. It’s just that there’s so little variety and NEW things).
Other bloggers’ predictions:
Callum McLaughlin – Reading the Women’s Prize Longlist | Wrap Up, Wish list & Shortlist Predictions
Laura Tisdall – Predictions for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist, 2020
Gil Reads Books – Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020: Reflections and Shortlist Predictions
All these posts are amazing, definitely check them out! I’m not-so-surprised to see that a few of the books are making it to every prediction so far. They’re really good: The Mirror and the Light, Girl, Woman, Other and How We Disappeared seem to be pretty solid contenders!
Weekly Wrap Up
The King of Crows by Libba Bray / Goodreads Ongoing
I kind of can’t believe I’m still reading this! I swear I really like it, I just don’t seem to find much time for audiobooks – I prefer doing my chores listening to a podcast or a Youtube video, somehow the shorter reads just suit me better for the task. But I will try!
The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel / Goodreads 4 stars, Review to come
I am done! Can’t believe it took me so long to read it, but here we are. I adored this. Getting immersed into the intrigue, scheming and backstabbing of Cromwell’s world was quite a ride, and I loved this book.
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes / Goodreads Ongoing
Okay, I am REALLY enjoying this. Which is completely unexpected, because I thought it would be much like Silence of the Girls – a good read, but ultimately not for me and feeling a bit like a chore. But no – this is exactly what I thought I was getting into when I started Silence of the Girls, and is such a delight.
Beach Read by Emily Henry / Goodreads Ongoing
I started this last week and so far it’s fun! I have seen some reviews saying that this is an amazing read, not only fluff but also bringing lots of character depth, so I look forward to picking it up again once I’m done with A Thousand Ships!
I really like your shortlist prediction, and would be so happy if that were the actual shortlist! I just started A Thousand Ships, and am also liking it much better than I expected (I had a pretty low bar going in, but still).
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Yes, I totally expected to be mehhh about A Thousand Ships, but I really ended up enjoying it! Looking forward to seeing what you think – did you read Silence of the Girls? What did you think?
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Yay, I look forward to seeing your review too! I didn’t read Silence of the Girls yet, but now I want to. Up until this year I thought I disliked Greek mythology/Trojan War stories, but I really liked Circe and now am liking A Thousand Ships hahah. Did you like Silence of the Girls? How do you think it compares to A Thousand Ships?
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I read it, yes! Honestly I much, much preferred Circe and A Thousand Ships – I loved those two, although I don’t normally gravitate towards myth retellings… Silence and Ships have lots in common I think, but the focus being too much on Achilles in Silence kind of damped my enthusiasm for it… like, I wanted to me more focused on the women. But other readers loved it so much, and more than Circe, so I think it’s just the kind of book that divides opinions! I’ll be curious to see if you like it!
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All things considered, I’d be pretty happy if your predicated list was correct! Thank you for the shoutout too! 😊
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The wait is almost over! I’m so curious!!
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I loved Hamnet, but I’ve yet to finish Mantel’s offering and I’ve a few of the other books ready to read when I find the time.
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That is so encouraging! I’m hoping to pick up Hamnet very soon, and it sounds so great plus I keep hearing positive things. Which is your favorite book from the WP list so far?
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I will not be happy if A Thousand Ships is shortlisted, but I’m on board with the rest of your predictions!
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I will defend the honor of A Thousand Ships even if it’s the last thing I do! Well, not really, but I think it’s actually quite likely it will be shortlisted – for some reason the WP judges love a Greek retelling. Did you read Silence of the Girls?
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Everyone’s predictions are quite similar, so one the one hand, I am hoping the shortlist surprises us, but on the other, that would mean that the not so good books are on the shortlist 😂 I can’t wait to see what you think of Beach Read – it really surprised me with its vibe and I quite enjoyed it
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Yes! It doesn’t speak well of the books that keep being left out of people’s predictions, does it?? I’m so excited to read Beach Read! Will try to read it a bit today 🙂
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I’d be very happy if your prediction list turns out correct! It looks pretty similar to my top choices from the longlist, though I swapped a few of my lower ratings into my predictions to brace myself for a less than thrilling outcome, ha. Hopefully we’ll have a good outcome!
And I’m so glad you liked The Mirror and The Light!
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A wise choice, to brace yourself for upsetting results. I, however, choose to live in foolish hope! I can’t believe we have to wait until September to find out the winner, though. Ugh.
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Congrats on finishing The Mirror & the Light!!! I’m glad you liked it – it makes me feel now that maybe it’s time to give the Cromwell trilogy a shot. What better time than quarantine, after all. Your shortlist looks pretty good – I would be content if that was the actual shortlist, as long as Dominicana and Girl aren’t there. I’m curious – what did you choose to not read, and what did you DNF?
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Yay thanks!! Was a fantastic book! I hope you like it – It’s not the easiest series to read, but I honestly love it so much. I’m secretly glad the WP list is making people give the Cromwell series a try!
If Dominicana and Girl make it, I will riot! These two I chose not to read, because they just sounded so awful and I didn’t want to hate-read them, you know? I DNF-ed The Dutch House, after a little more than 5% of the book. It just didn’t work for me in so many levels. Have you read it?
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Mantel won the Booker twice already and I ignored her both times, so maybe I can’t stop ignoring her after this! I have a feeling it’ll be longlisted again for the Booker this year, though.
DOMINICANA MADE IT I’M SO UPSET :(( I guessed it would but I derive no pleasure from being right. At the very least, Girl didn’t. Yes, I’ve read TDH, and it was pretty disappointing, considering it was the book I was MOST looking forward to on the longlist. But even TDH was not as bad as Dominicana. Oh, well. It doesn’t stand a chance against the perfection that is GWO anyway.
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I totally agree the new Mantel will be nominated. It will be so scandalous if they don’t though!!
UGH YES I can’t believe they’ll make us read Dominicana! At least I don’t have to pick up TDH again… ugh.
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I WANT YOUR PREDICTION TO COME TRUE SO BADLY OMG that is the ONLY shortlist that could save this garbage
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Girl, Woman, Other is staring at me, asking why I haven’t read it yet. Hamnet looks really interesting- Hamlet was the one play that I liked and it’d would be interesting to read the story behind it.
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I’m really excited about Hamnet, too! Sounds just so interesting. I hope you love Girl, Woman, Other, it’s reallyyyy amazing and has such great polyamory lesbian rep!
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I did not know about the rep! Now I’m even more excited to read it!
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Yes!!
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