The longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly Baileys Prize) will be announced March 8. I always find a lot of great reads from this list, like last year’s winner, The Power. The Prize considers novels written by women in English, published in the UK between April 1 2017 and March 31 2018. Here…
When I went on vacation I didn’t get to review some great reads, so I’m working on catching up. This one was my favorite. Alderman’s novel won the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2017, but I was a little afraid it wouldn’t live up to the hype. This book was amazing. It took a…
I found this book about a marriage in Nigeria fascinating and meaningful, although it wasn’t quite what I expected. The story begins with a married couple who now live apart. Yejide is going to see her husband after many years for his father’s funeral. Then the story takes us back to the early years of…
Both of these books were on this year’s Bailey’s Prize for Women longlist, although neither made it to the shortlist (in addition to Hag-Seed). The winner of the Bailey’s Prize will be announced June 7. Though quite different, these two books had several things in common. Both are historical fiction, both have a main character who…
For some reason I started this book several times; it didn’t quite grab me at first. I suppose a story about a theater director seemed like it might be pretentious. I should have realized that Margaret Atwood wouldn’t write a pretentious book. Once I gave this book a couple of chapters, I was hooked. And…
I don’t normally write catch-up reviews, for two reasons. First, I read these books in the middle of July so I don’t remember them so well, and I wasn’t exactly taking notes. And second, I’m not a big fan of the mini-review. You know I like to go on and on about a book. But…
I had heard so many good things about this book (it won the 2016 Bailey’s Prize) that I was nervous it might not live up to expectations. It absolutely did. I was immediately drawn into the story of Ryan, a fifteen-year-old boy with an abusive, alcoholic father who is experiencing love (and as he tells…
I heard great things about this book, and unfortunately I felt mixed about it. On the positive side, it’s an interesting historical look at the turn of the century whaling industry in New South Wales in Australia. On the negative side, I felt the story dragged quite a bit and I never warmed to our…
Pleasantville is part of a series about a Texas lawyer named Jay Porter. I try never to come into a series in the middle, but this book was on the Bailey’s Prize longlist so it seemed worth a try. Although coming in at Book 2 makes it difficult to write a good review, since I…
The Portable Veblen is my favorite book of the year, so far, and easily my favorite among the Bailey’s Prize nominees I’ve read. I was worried going in that this book was going to be too cute for me. I’m not a fan of books that are self-consciously quirky – just give me a good…
Thank you, Kate Atkinson, for this fantastic book. I’ve been a fan of Atkinson for years, but while I could appreciate Life After Life, the multiple-life plot device made it hard to really get into the story. A God in Ruins was exactly what I’d hoped for, and more. It’s about the life of one…
The Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction is an award given by the UK to the best novel each year written by a woman. Authors may come from any country. Each year the Bailey’s judges nominate a longlist of 20 books and a shortlist of 6 books. Bailey’s Prize winners include some books I’ve really liked…
The Book Stop 