Bookish Enthusiasm

 Today was a big day for book nerds. The Aspen Words Literary Prize Long List was announced. 

I love the hype of a good long-list reveal. It feels like football playoffs or March madness. There is excitement and anticipation and buzz. 

When the National Book Award Prize List came out people were stunned. It was marked by short story collections, a genre that rarely gets attention on these lists, and debut authors that few people had heard of. The Pulitzer winner this year was also out of left field. A lot of people were scratching their heads about the direction of these two prizes. 

Aspen seems to be a bit of a mash-up of these other prizes with a few more widely known novels sprinkled in. And I like what I see. 

Am I surprised that Sea of Tranquility or No Land to Light On or even The Mutual Friend were left off this list...yes, a little. But I'm beyond happy for How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water. I can't wait to dive into Glory and Harry Sylvester Bird and Memphis and The Last White Man all of which have been on my TBR this year. Calling for a Blanket Dance is calling my name and so is If I Survive You which was on multiple awards lists this year. 

Long lists are intriguing to me because they often shine a spotlight on great books that I've missed because of the noise of book marketing money. I like it when I can recognize a few books and be surprised by a few. On this list, there is a book that I heard the premise for, got really excited to read, and then forgot about. I will be grabbing that one for sure.

Some book-people read all the books on a long list but that has never been the case for me. I am too easily distracted and read-alongs and book clubs tend to take precedence over being a long list completionist. 

But this list gives me hope. 

I've read a couple of these books already and a few of them are already sitting on my shelves. 

I know bookstagrammers who scoff at the idea of awards and prize lists. I get it. Snobby readers can make you feel bad for your reading choices. But I am no snob. I like reading across genres and would never yuck someone else's yum when it comes to books. I'm a big believer in, "that's just not for me, but I'm glad you liked it." 

But literary fiction is my favorite genre and book award lists do the hard work of culling all the selections for the year down to a manageable fourteen or fewer. So it's a good place to go for recommendations. Which I will be doing today...on my library website and at my local indie. 📚💰 

What looks interesting to you on this list? Have you read any of these already? Do you even care about awards lists?