A different list

At midnight on Monday this week the Booker 2020 Longlist was announced and I was there! Well via the internet I was there. I had not planned to be around at that silly time, but it happened that that was the evening the family were driving up from Kent and they did not arrive until after 11pm. By the time we had sorted everything, got the girls to bed and poured everyone a glass of wine, it was midnight. So I got to follow the announcement and what was great about this was that I was able to follow the immediate reactions of fellow readers online - the reactions? Stunned, surprised, excited.

The list was nothing like anyone expected. Inevitably there were books that people had thought would be there and they were not. But the surprise came, not from what was missing, but from the fact that there were so many books that no one knew about.

One judge said: It  is full of bold writing, fresh writing, accomplished writing, from points of view that aren't always expected.  

I had heard of a few of them, but only had one and that was the one I had not read (Mantel). Most I knew nothing about. But they sounded interesting, so I took the plunge and ordered the whole list. And here they are (9 because 4 have not yet been published). I am not going to say anything about them, as I know nothing. I have started reading one, as I related yesterday, and am loving it. I am looking forward to some interesting reading. 

9/13 US based authors
9/13 Female authors
8/13 First novels
6/13 Authors of colour