Latest / Bookies' Favourite / International Booker Prize 2026 | Shortlist Reaction

Transcript

International Booker Prize 2026 | Shortlist Reaction · Bookies' Favourite

• 0:10
  Welcome to the Club Bookies favorite book club.
• 0:14
  We read literary shortlists and award-winning novels.
• 0:19
  We are an independent book club podcast with no affiliations to
• 0:23
  any literary award. The shortlist for the
• 0:25
  International Booker for Fiction was announced earlier today, and
• 0:29
  after our longlist predictions on Monday, Aaron and I will be
• 0:32
  looking at where we went wrong, what we like about the list, and
• 0:36
  what we'll miss from the longlist.
• 0:38
  We'll also be going through our schedule for the next 7 weeks,
• 0:41
  so stay tuned. I'm broadcast journalist Aaron
• 0:45
  Rice. You can find me everywhere at
• 0:48
  Aaron Rice Media. That includes Instagram and
• 0:51
  Goodreads. Hi, my name's Lucy and you can
• 0:54
  find me at Books 2026. That's books with AZI.
• 1:00
  Need to have a thing to say on these things.
• 1:02
  Maybe leave with my B in GCSE English that's given me the
• 1:06
  credentials that that you required for a podcast, Aaron
• 1:09
  just he read about my GCSEB and he was like this, this sounds
• 1:14
  great and he. We have to get somebody of this
• 1:17
  authority. So Lucy with AB in GCSE English.
• 1:22
  And what are your thoughts on the shortlist?
• 1:26
  I liked it. I'm very sad for the Duke and I
• 1:30
  was actually thinking about it as well.
• 1:32
  I'm really sad for women without men, though.
• 1:35
  I think that women without men maybe ended quite abruptly and
• 1:40
  felt more like a very short piece of strange fiction.
• 1:46
  I actually really, really enjoyed it.
• 1:47
  And I was, I listened to a girl on Instagram talking about like,
• 1:51
  I don't think she enjoyed it, but she was like talking about
• 1:54
  it. And I was agreeing with
• 1:54
  everything she said. I was like this, so interesting
• 1:57
  that she didn't like it, but she has like all the exact same
• 1:59
  opinions of me but just that didn't float her boat.
• 2:03
  I'm happy and slightly surprised that on Earth as it is beneath
• 2:08
  was was in there and that's one of the ones that I had on my
• 2:12
  wish list, so I'm really happy for that.
• 2:15
  What about you, Aaron? What are you happy with?
• 2:17
  With the the director, yeah, I didn't say that.
• 2:20
  I I'm not a fan of Nazi. Leave it there.
• 2:25
  I'm not a fan of yeah. I'm not a fan of Nazis.
• 2:28
  Well, as I said during our predictions episode, I'm not a
• 2:33
  fan of like World War Two books or just any content about World
• 2:38
  War 2. It's just not my thing.
• 2:40
  But I was kind of interested in the director.
• 2:46
  Let's jump into the the books that actually did make it to the
• 2:51
  shortlist. Oh, and again, it's only US 2 as
• 2:55
  per usual, but Colin will be joining us for some of the books
• 2:58
  and Hannah as well. Well, hopefully Hannah joins us
• 3:00
  for most of the books. Hopefully I've read most of the
• 3:03
  books obviously. Obviously me and you talking and
• 3:07
  you've read 15% of the book and you'll be like, well that's
• 3:12
  wrong from what I've read, but you'll know there was like 15
• 3:16
  pages inside out. And do you want to tell us about
• 3:19
  the first book that we will be reading on this shortlist?
• 3:24
  Very exciting and the one I predicted correctly and on Earth
• 3:28
  as it is beneath by Ana Paula Maya translated to to English
• 3:32
  from Portuguese by Padma Vishwanathan.
• 3:36
  This is 1 I have read and I really enjoyed it.
• 3:39
  I think there's something really interesting things we can talk
• 3:42
  about. It is so and it's it's a very
• 3:46
  scant novel and it almost feels like a screenplay, like it feels
• 3:51
  like when you're reading it, you're like, this could really
• 3:53
  work as a film or this could really, I don't think ATV show.
• 3:55
  I think a film would work, but but I feel like that could
• 4:00
  really put some people off. But I actually really, really
• 4:03
  enjoyed it and I thought it was very good.
• 4:04
  And I think it probably takes a lot to make something like that
• 4:07
  so good. Anyway, what are your thoughts
• 4:09
  on that? Yeah, it's the shortest book on
• 4:12
  the shortlist, coming in at 101 pages.
• 4:16
  And there's a domination for every page that.
• 4:23
  Took me way too long. I was like, your audition is
• 4:26
  different from mine. Yeah, so 101 and 1 pages.
• 4:33
  I have this book already. So it's the only book that I
• 4:36
  already have from the shortlist. So it's going to be the first
• 4:40
  book that we will be covering because it's the easiest for us
• 4:43
  all to get our hands on. And we discussed this in the
• 4:47
  predictions episode. This is actually a prequel to an
• 4:50
  existing book of cattle and men, which won the Republic of
• 4:55
  Consciousness prize a couple of years ago.
• 4:57
  I'm definitely excited to jump into this one and I'm excited to
• 5:01
  to read a little Shorty. Hopefully our first episode on
• 5:05
  that comes out next week. So if you have any thoughts on
• 5:08
  it, please get in contact with us, send that in.
• 5:11
  And because we would love to feature more people's thoughts
• 5:14
  from the book club. Then moving on to book 2, we
• 5:17
  have She Who Remains by Renee Karabash, translated from
• 5:23
  Bulgarian by Isidora Angel. This book was originally
• 5:27
  published in Bulgarian in 2018 and in English has been
• 5:31
  published by Purani. So I remember studying like this
• 5:36
  culture whenever I was in school.
• 5:38
  But upside from that, I haven't like done a deep dive into
• 5:44
  anything like that. So I think it will actually be
• 5:46
  fun to get this perspective of like from fiction and somebody
• 5:51
  who's more familiar with these people.
• 5:55
  You've read it. Yeah, I've read it.
• 5:57
  I actually, it was one of those ones where I was like, I am so
• 6:00
  happy that this is on the list because this is going to be a
• 6:02
  really interesting one to talk about.
• 6:04
  As you said, it's it's such a unique culture.
• 6:07
  Well, yeah, I think it is a very, I mean, I don't know about
• 6:11
  every culture in the world, so I don't know what the world word
• 6:13
  unique really mean brings to this, but it's definitely not a
• 6:16
  cult, a type of culture that I would have ever read about
• 6:18
  before. And, and it's very quick read,
• 6:22
  but I think it it'll be really interesting.
• 6:25
  It'll bring up a lot of topics that we can we can discuss.
• 6:28
  And the third one on our list to read is Taiwan travelogue by
• 6:33
  Yung Xua Tsu, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King and
• 6:38
  it was originally published in Mandarin Chinese 2020 and
• 6:41
  published in the UK by and other stories in 2026.
• 6:45
  I said something wrong in our last episode in that I said that
• 6:48
  it was retranslated by a Chinese person.
• 6:52
  Is it the book is translated? If the book is a book that's
• 6:57
  kind of meta in its narrative and I'd say translation of So a
• 7:01
  Japanese woman wrote a book about travelling around Taiwan
• 7:05
  and then it's been retranslated into Chinese by a Taiwanese
• 7:08
  person and then translated into English by Lynn King in 2026.
• 7:14
  And I said in the last episode that it had been translated by a
• 7:18
  Chinese person as opposed to translated into Mandarin Chinese
• 7:22
  by a Taiwanese person. So the translation from Japanese
• 7:28
  to Chinese, is that fictional or is that did that actually OK?
• 7:35
  So basically the author has written it as if she's found
• 7:38
  this manuscript in Japan and she's translated it into Chinese
• 7:43
  in Taiwan. I, I'm surprised at how much I
• 7:46
  enjoyed this book. I wasn't expecting to and I
• 7:50
  really like, it's a strange one, but I really liked it.
• 7:54
  So I'm excited to, to hear what everybody else says.
• 7:58
  And it's one that I think that Hannah's going to like, she
• 8:00
  likes. Books.
• 8:02
  From this part of the world. And I think that you will like
• 8:04
  it, Aaron, because there's a lot of descriptions of cooking and
• 8:07
  you really like to cook. Yeah, well, we'll see if if I
• 8:11
  can rustle something up for that episode.
• 8:15
  Now that I've said it, I definitely will not have any
• 8:17
  time on to book #4 which is The Witch by Marie India.
• 8:22
  Translated from French by Jordan Stump.
• 8:24
  This one was originally published in 1996 and has been
• 8:30
  published by Quackress Publishing into English.
• 8:35
  So this is the only book that you haven't?
• 8:38
  Oh no, this isn't the only book. This is one of two books that
• 8:40
  you haven't. Touched.
• 8:42
  I haven't read. Well, I started reading it
• 8:45
  yesterday, but I didn't didn't actually have enough time.
• 8:46
  I kind of thought because it's short, I'll get it read and I am
• 8:49
  only on page 12, so I really did not get very far.
• 8:52
  But I'm enjoying it so far. I'm liking the writing.
• 8:55
  I'm liking what it's about. I'm yeah, I think this is going
• 9:00
  to be good. I'm excited to finish this one.
• 9:03
  I'm excited to jump into this one too, because I didn't really
• 9:06
  think that a book about a witch would actually make it like I
• 9:11
  thought the Wax Child might, because it seemed like it was
• 9:14
  doing something a little bit more different, a little more
• 9:16
  literary. I'm not saying this book isn't
• 9:18
  doing something literary, but just it feels more.
• 9:23
  Yeah, well, I was going to say a fantasy.
• 9:28
  Oh, OK, that. They wouldn't have expected it.
• 9:30
  OK, I don't know because I'm not far enough through it to be
• 9:34
  like, oh, this is what it's going to be like or this is it
• 9:36
  kind of feels almost magical realism me to me.
• 9:38
  Like as in. Yes.
• 9:40
  These are like these witches, but it's very much normal
• 9:42
  society and stuff. Whereas wax, well, again, I'm in
• 9:47
  Page 12, but wax child's very like right there.
• 9:52
  And like, again, from the perspective of a wax child,
• 9:57
  like, yeah, are you a bit sad that it's not in there?
• 10:00
  I am sad because yeah, I had the wax child and I, I I still do
• 10:08
  plan on reading it someday, but I will probably have to wait
• 10:11
  until this shortlist is completed.
• 10:14
  And same with We are Green and Trembling.
• 10:16
  Both of those books that that I already have didn't make it to
• 10:19
  the shortlist and so I will get to them.
• 10:23
  Maybe if you follow me on on Instagram or on Goodreads, you
• 10:27
  can encourage me to to actually get to both of those books once
• 10:32
  the shortlist is wrapped up. I feel like this book the witch
• 10:36
  is almost, you can correct me if I'm wrong.
• 10:39
  This is the vibe I'm getting right now.
• 10:42
  Is it almost like a Wizards of Waverly place?
• 10:45
  But like, I love the novelization.
• 10:47
  I've never heard of. What is that?
• 10:49
  Lucy, how have you never heard of Wizards of Waverly Place?
• 10:53
  We need to start a spin off podcast in which we watch and
• 10:57
  review. Isn't a book.
• 10:59
  No, the Disney Channel TV show, we didn't.
• 11:02
  Have that, yeah. Selena Gomez.
• 11:06
  She's like my age. I wouldn't have like watched any
• 11:10
  of them. I've no, I've no idea.
• 11:12
  She's a singer, isn't she? She's many things, but she was
• 11:16
  also Alex Russo and still is Alex Russo.
• 11:20
  Because they've done the thing on Disney Channel where they
• 11:24
  then do a spin off where everyone's older.
• 11:26
  So now it's called like Beyond Waverly Place or something.
• 11:31
  The basic premise is that there's a family of Wizards
• 11:35
  living in Waverly Place in New York City and they can only,
• 11:40
  they're, the three kids are being taught magic by their
• 11:44
  father, but only one person of each generation can, uh, keep
• 11:50
  their magic powers after they, like, compete for them or
• 11:54
  something. And so that's the vibe I get
• 11:57
  from this is that it's modern society.
• 11:59
  It's a woman who's trying to teach her children to have
• 12:04
  magical abilities. Yeah, I think more than one per
• 12:07
  generation is allowed in this. I've so so from what I've read
• 12:11
  so far, I suppose it's not really spoilery because I've not
• 12:12
  really read very much. But from what I've read so far
• 12:15
  is that she's quite meaty. Well, she uses the word mediocre
• 12:19
  herself and her mum was kind of powerful witch, but I think that
• 12:23
  her mum was like maybe had done something and kind of gone
• 12:28
  against the idea of being a witch and didn't want the pars.
• 12:31
  But she can maybe see into the future, but she doesn't really
• 12:34
  see that much and she's quite boring things.
• 12:37
  But then I think what's going to happen is her two daughters,
• 12:41
  they're twins. They are going to be more, more
• 12:46
  magical than she is. And she was she's there's going
• 12:48
  to be a bit of tension in the household.
• 12:50
  I imagine that's exactly the same as the Wizards of Waverly
• 12:54
  Place. Yeah, I I think that actually
• 12:57
  is, it's been a while, but I think that.
• 12:59
  Did that thing? Did that?
• 13:01
  Where? When was that started I'm
• 13:03
  assuming? When we were, when we were like,
• 13:06
  yeah, teenagers. So I think that in 1986 she she
• 13:10
  maybe is this. Do you think what Wizards of
• 13:14
  Waverly Place is based on? The 5th book of the 6th is The
• 13:19
  Knights, acquired in Tehran by Sheila Bazyar, translated from
• 13:23
  German by Ruth Martin. It was originally published in
• 13:26
  2016 and has been published by Scribe in the UK.
• 13:31
  This is the one Iranian book that are not Iranian book, but
• 13:34
  the one book based in Iran that's actually made it to the
• 13:37
  shortlist. It is indeed.
• 13:40
  I've only started. I've only kind of as we
• 13:41
  discussed last time, I've only read a few pages, but I am
• 13:45
  enjoying it. I think it it can be really
• 13:47
  could be really interesting. There's two in the long list and
• 13:50
  this one has has made it onto the shortlist.
• 13:53
  And I'm still very sad for women without men because I thought
• 13:56
  that was really interesting. A book.
• 13:59
  Yeah. What about you?
• 14:00
  What are your thoughts? Yeah, I'm honestly surprised
• 14:04
  that the German book made it onto the shortlist.
• 14:08
  But but this is actually one of two German books that that have
• 14:13
  made it onto the shortlist. I'm excited to to dive into this
• 14:17
  and learn some more because as grim as it is, it is topical so
• 14:24
  I think it will be an interesting conversation.
• 14:29
  Especially because of the fact that it's like we've, I don't
• 14:32
  know, you're probably more into the news than me, but like, I
• 14:34
  just feel like I have no idea where this whole thing's going.
• 14:37
  But there's a feeling like, because I think this book is,
• 14:40
  and I believe that Sheeta Bazyar, because I was looking at
• 14:44
  her interview with the with the international Booker and it was
• 14:49
  kind of like she, I think her his family in Iran, or at least
• 14:53
  she was mentioning relatives in Iran.
• 14:55
  I don't know if they're still there.
• 14:56
  But I was kind of like, this is must be like, I mean, nice to
• 15:00
  have your book shortlisted for this kind of award.
• 15:03
  But at the same time, it's like the absolute turmoil that's
• 15:06
  going on in your country. And I just, yeah, it makes me
• 15:11
  really sad. And I think as well, it's like
• 15:13
  we we don't really know what's happening and we don't know, you
• 15:16
  know, what outcomes are going to happen of, of the current war.
• 15:20
  And yeah, I was thinking about it last night, like reading some
• 15:25
  stuff up on it. And I was just like, this is
• 15:27
  just a horrible situation. So it'll be, I mean, it'll be
• 15:30
  interesting to read and discuss about it.
• 15:32
  But I guess the, the feeling that there is this overarching,
• 15:35
  like this is history. That's not history, but like,
• 15:38
  this is history that's current, you know, that's so current.
• 15:41
  And yeah, I can't get over it how horrible it is on on the one
• 15:47
  hand. But I'm very happy for her that
• 15:50
  she's got this book shortly listed.
• 15:53
  And how about the 6th and final book that we will be reading
• 15:57
  from the shortlist? Yeah, this the final book and
• 16:00
  this is the one that you predicted correctly.
• 16:04
  It did blitzkrieg its way onto the list at the end.
• 16:09
  Let's create its way into the winning.
• 16:10
  Spot Well, I I think we'll have to read them all first before
• 16:14
  you can make that decision, but it wouldn't surprise me.
• 16:19
  It seems like it's a very popular book.
• 16:22
  Yeah, it seemed to me it was kind of the one that everyone
• 16:24
  was saying was going to be on the long list and the kind of
• 16:26
  one that everyone was saying was going to be on the short list.
• 16:29
  It was written by Daniel Kalman and it's translated from the
• 16:33
  German by Ross Benjamin, and it's also promoted by Quercus.
• 16:38
  Oh yes. Oh, so 2 from Quercus have made
• 16:41
  it to the shortlist and also it's the director.
• 16:45
  I don't know if we named it. Don't need to give the names of
• 16:47
  the books, that would make the podcast too easy, but it's the
• 16:52
  longest one of the shortlist and we were very lucky that we
• 16:59
  didn't have. And I am sad that we didn't have
• 17:02
  some of the longer ones because I did love the Duke and I was
• 17:06
  enjoying The Remembered Soldier. I kind of got 100 or so pages
• 17:09
  in, so I'm kind of like meant to put them in the backburner while
• 17:12
  I focus on the Witch and Turan and the director.
• 17:17
  So this is the only book that crosses the 300 page mark of all
• 17:22
  the books on the shortlist. And so it's coming in the 352
• 17:27
  pages. So we're starting with the
• 17:29
  shortest and we're finishing with the longest, which is
• 17:32
  probably the natural way to do it.
• 17:34
  But yeah, I'm, I'm excited for this one.
• 17:37
  Well, that's our our shortlist. I think it's a good varied mix.
• 17:42
  I'm excited to dive into each and everyone.
• 17:47
  I'm I'm also excited. I think this this should be a
• 17:50
  good year and sad for some that didn't make it, didn't make it
• 17:55
  to the shortlist, but I think we've got our work cut out for
• 17:59
  us with like themes and stuff like that.
• 18:02
  Well, you can read along with us and follow us on Instagram.
• 18:07
  We are at bookies favorite book club and you can also e-mail us
• 18:12
  that is down below. Follow us each on Goodreads and
• 18:16
  Instagram and we will see you next week.
• 18:20
  We will indeed. Bookies out.