EP98: Any Good Books on the Booker Long List?

We're switching it up a little bit this episode, as the Booker Prize Long List has just been released and it's fun to talk about what they've chosen — plus, the judges this year are really interesting! These are "chosen from 153 submissions, celebrates the best works of long-form fiction by writers of any nationality, written in English and published in the UK and/or Ireland between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025." Some of the books we've read, some we've just heard about, some we have no idea about. Play along!  Here's the list as we tackle it: - "Seascraper," by Benjamin Wood, which is not available in the U.S.  - "The Rest of our Lives," by Ben Markovitz, which is not available in the U.S. (though Ben is from the U.S. and used to be a professional basketball player) - "Audition," by Katie Kitamura, which is so out there that Hannah legit doesn't know how to talk about it. No one seems to know what's happening with this book.  - "Endling," by Maria Reva, which we talked about quite a bit in EP92 (not 94, as Sam says on the pod, for no good reason), and is a substantive, interesting, weird novel, but maybe not Sam's favorite.  - "Flashlight," by Susan Choi, a National Book Award winner, which Hannah started out super excited about, but then her fervor sort of faded... There's some great stuff in here about Japan-Korea history and the immigrant story, in general.  - "The Land in Winter," by Andrew Miller, which Hannah hasn't read, but she does remember that "The Optimists" was big and she meant to read it.  - "Love Forms," by Claire Adam, who was published by Sarah Jessica Parker, who also happens to be a judge! But we're sure it's a coincidence. "Like a Claire Keegan novel written by Elizabeth Strout," apparently. - "Universality," by Natasha Brown, which we know is short and is all about words and meaning.  - "Misinterpretation," by Ledia Xhoga, which is similarly about words and meaning. We don't know much, really. But there seems to be a theme here.  - "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny," by Kiran Desai, who has a Booker Prize under her belt. This book is going to be big.  - "One Boat," by Jonathan Buckley, which is about a murder and a love affair on a Greek island.  - "The South," by Tash Aw, which is this year's young gay love story, Hannah thinks, though she's not sure, but it is the first of a quartet of novels, "a reimagined epic for our times." - "Flesh," by David Szalay, which is a stylish Hungarian novel, a coming-of-age sort of thing.