Thanks for the thread from me too, Southeastdweller.
Yes, Tarahumara, four of my picks made it to the shortlist -- and Fortuna chose those four as well! Great minds and all that 😁
I'm really pleased Fire Rush made the shortlist; I didn't find it an easy read in terms of the language, but once you get into it, it's an immersive experience. I'm a little surprised about Black Butterflies; I bought and read it at the last minute because it's still nowhere in my county library system. At least it's out in paperback now though. To me it felt a little like the work of a debut writer (not as polished in style as it could have been perhaps?) but it tells an important story, and feels all the more timely given that there is a war in Eastern Europe again today. 😥
And you correctly called Pod, Stokey! I will have to read that now. I've heard it referred to as cli-fi and I'm embarrassed to say it took me a moment to work out the abbreviation; the first thing that came to my mind was fiction about the clitoris. Ahem.
Fortuna, that's a shame about Kingsolver being rude IRL; I always imagined her as a warm mother earth type. I like her early novels best I think, like The Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven. In the later novels, she is sometimes preachy rather than subtle.
I didn't love Demon Copperhead either; ironically I think I would have liked it more if I hadn't decided I should read David Copperfield first, and loved the Dickens so much that the Kingsolver seemed to pale in comparison. So I don't think it will ruin the Dickens for you if you read the Kingsolver, Piggy. The two books are very different beasts and the Dickens is far more nuanced in terms of characterisation and voice.
I think it was a pretty strong longlist overall, as is illustrated by the fact that Barufisher read a lot of the list, and bolded some of the ones I didn't bold and vice versa.
Now that the shortlist has been announced I will return to my normal slow sedate reading pace.
How lovely about your retirement, BestisWest, congrats!