A little wrap-up of my International Booker Prize longlist reading.

I've read every title, except for The Witch by Marie Ndiaye, which unfortunately doesn't come out until 14 April. Right now, if I was a one person jury, based on twelve books from the thirteen, my personal shortlist would be as follows:

- The Remembered Soldier
- The Deserters
- On Earth As It Is Beneath
- Women Without Men
- Taiwan Travelogue
- The Duke

(Sorry, The Wax Child and Small Comfort, there are only six shortlist spots!)

Reading the longlist was a fun experience, although I don't want to admit how many extra hours of reading it took to read all of them before the shortlist would be announced, hahah. I think it's a well chosen list. The books sent me down countless rabbit holes and indirectly added many more books to my to-read list. Some books I would've never expected to like, but I did anyway. I certainly broadened my reading horizons through challenging myself to give all of these titles a fair try.

There were three themes that I noticed most strongly in the book selection:

- Unique writing styles, book structures or storytelling. There was stream of consciousness, multiple perspectives, odd narrators, poetry, mixed media, mixed timelines, books that could be peeled like onions, and more variety than I could list here. Every book had something going for it that was creative and innovative for prose.

- War, violence, intolerance, persecution and their repetition throughout the years. Whether it's focused on at a very small scale, or looked at from a bird's eye view, the way people reject each other, cause harm and work towards a reality that's destructive without learning from it (but also how it could be different), keeps coming back as theme. And how could anyone write a book without mentioning the yarn that our society is unfortunately woven from? But I think these novels offered perspectives and reflections on this wide topic that I appreciated.

- Historical context. Many of these novels deal with history. Stories based on true historical figures, both World Wars, colonial and imperialist history, significant historical events like revolutions or collectively remembered moments of terror, the idea of a personal or familial history and how it's entwined with world history, and so much more make an appearance. There's truly a lot, especially in connection with the previously mentioned theme. The history nerds and Wikipedia enthusiasts were having a field day with this list.

I don't want to climb onto my soapbox and cry about the state of the world again like I do on many days, but I feel bad and I often despair. I think reading literature from all over the world is vital in creating understanding and learning to work together. With access to translations from anywhere, we don't have to remain stuck in what our language region or country claims is reality. I don't have the words to express how much reading has expanded my worldview. Literacy and access to reading material will always be something I care deeply about. I didn't like every book on the list, but with the above in mind, I think it was a well curated list for these times. Lots to ponder individually, lots to reflect on as a society, lots to apply to our immediate surroundings and the uncertain future.

I don't want to make a definite pick without having read The Witch yet, but for now my winner would be The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje. A bit ironic because it comes from my language region! But honestly, I wouldn't mind any book from my personal shortlist winning, I'm rooting for all of them.

Anyway, I'm curious to see what the shortlist will be tomorrow.

#InternationalBooker2026