Reading Reading Reading

Last year about this time a good friend tossed out the idea of reading as many of the Orange Prize long list books as possible before the Long list became a short list. So what's the Orange Prize you ask? It's a literary prize that was launched in 1996 which celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women's writing from throughout the world. The books I read from last year ranged from about four or five that were so fantastic that I'm still thinking about them; considering the themes, the characters the ideas; to very good reads that I wouldn't have picked up otherwise, to one that I just couldn't get into.

When the long list for 2012 came out yesterday I was poised at my computer with my local library's site open on search so that I could place holds on any and all of the titles that are on the shelves there. I was fortunate that most of the titles are either at my library or on the Vancouver Public Library 's list. Now I'm waiting for the first titles on my list to come available so I can dive right in.

if you're interested in joining me here's the list:

• Island of Wings by Karin Altenberg (Quercus) - Swedish; 1st Novel
• On the Floor by Aifric Campbell (Serpent's Tail) - Irish; 3rd Novel
• The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (The Clerkenwell Press) - American; 4th Novel
• The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue (Picador) - Irish; 7th Novel
• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (Serpent's Tail) - Canadian; 2nd Novel
• The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape) - Irish; 5th Novel
• The Flying Man by Roopa Farooki (Headline Review) - British; 5th Novel
• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (Quercus) - American; 4th Novel
• Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding (Bloomsbury) - British; 3rd Novel
• Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (Faber & Faber) - British; 2nd Novel
• The Translation of the Bones by Francesca Kay (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) - British; 2nd Novel
• The Blue Book by A.L. Kennedy (Jonathan Cape) - British; 6th Novel
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (Harvill Secker) - American; 1st Novel
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury) - American; 1st Novel
• Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick (Atlantic Books) - American; 7th Novel
• State of Wonder by Ann Patchett (Bloomsbury) - American; 6th Novel
• There but for the by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton) - British; 5th Novel
• The Pink Hotel by Anna Stothard (Alma Books) - British; 2nd Novel
• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard (Chatto & Windus) - British; 1st Novel
• The Submission by Amy Waldman (William Heinemann) - American; 1st Novel

First up on my holds list is The Flying Man. I haven't read any synopse of any of the books. I won't until I pick up the book to start it. Once I've started I'll post here about how it's going. 

Any good books on your reading list?