{"id":81618,"date":"2013-08-08T08:47:02","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T12:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=81618"},"modified":"2015-10-12T10:22:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T14:22:43","slug":"uconn-reads-the-long-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/08\/uconn-reads-the-long-list\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Reads: The Long List"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UConn<\/a><\/div>\n

I have to admit, I love \u201cbest of\u201d lists. Especially if prizes are involved. The Oscars, the Venice Film Festival, Cannes, Vanity Fair<\/i>\u2019s International Best Dressed \u2013 I follow them all.<\/p>\n

So you can imagine how eagerly I await the announcement of the Man Booker Prize Longlist<\/a>. The Man Booker Prize honors contemporary fiction from the British Commonwealth and Ireland, and is one of literature\u2019s most prestigious awards. This year\u2019s list was especially interesting, with an acclaimed debut novel as well as books that have stimulated some controversy.<\/p>\n

I enjoy trying to predict which Man Booker Longlist books will make it onto the Shortlist, which I like to read through, as a project.<\/p>\n

You can also imagine that I\u2019ve enjoyed putting together the UConn Reads Long List, now that nominations have closed. The list includes the most frequently nominated books as well as those brought forward by the Steering Committee for consideration. I hope it will provoke debate and conversation \u2013 and perhaps, like the Man Booker Prize, some intense speculation on our Short List!<\/p>\n

\"Things<\/a><\/div>\n

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart<\/i> (1959) \u2013 This celebrated novel received the most nominations. With Achebe\u2019s death earlier this year, it might be a good time to reconsider this classic African novel.<\/p>\n

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah<\/i> (2013) \u2013 About a young man and woman from Nigeria and their experiences under the Nigerian military dictatorship and in America. Emotionally engaging and intellectually ambitious, this book addresses the complexities race, identity, and experience.<\/p>\n

\"UConnReads_ImNotScared\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Niccol\u00f2 Ammaniti, I\u2019m Not Scared<\/i> (2004) \u2013 A beautifully written but challenging book. The story focuses on the social and political upheaval in Italy in the 1970s, and centers around the disturbing kidnapping of a child.<\/p>\n

NoViolet Bulawayo, We Need New Names<\/i> (2013) \u2013 A first novel by Bulawayo, who is from Zimbabwe. It traces the experience of a girl who finds her life torn apart in Zimbabwe and subsequently emigrates to the United States. Nominated for the Man Booker prize this year and generating a lot of excitement.<\/p>\n

\"UConnReads_Alchemist\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist<\/i> (2006) \u2013 Second only to Things Fall Apart<\/i> in nominations. A shepherd boy goes on a dream-inspired search for treasure in Egypt. A fable about finding one\u2019s \u201cPersonal Legend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness <\/i>(1902) \u2013 Blending adventure and penetrating psychological observation, this is Conrad\u2019s classic story of the colonial experience in the Congo. The book raises many difficult issues today around colonialism, cross-cultural understanding, and the nature of \u201cthe savage\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss<\/i> (2006) \u2013 The story of a young girl raised by her Anglophile grandfather in northeastern India. Her story is intertwined with that of her grandfather\u2019s cook\u2019s son, who emigrates to the United States. The book addresses issues of nationhood, modernity, and class in a moving, engaging narrative.<\/p>\n

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment<\/i> (1866) \u2013 A classic examination of the mental and moral anguish of a man who plots to kill a dishonest pawnbroker for her money.<\/p>\n

Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner <\/i>(2004) \u2013 Hosseini\u2019s stunning debut novel about two young boys growing up in Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover. There\u2019s a brilliant film version as well.<\/p>\n

Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go <\/i>(2010) \u2013 A beautifully written and compelling story of children at an unusual boarding school in England and their efforts to understand why and how they are considered special.<\/p>\n

\"UConnReads_The-Lowland\"<\/a><\/div>\n

James Joyce, Dubliners<\/i> (1914) \u2013 A collection of 15 short stories depicting Irish life in and around Dublin, when Irish nationalism was at its peak. Through acute observation and multiple narrative styles, Joyce reveals the different experiences of the protagonists.<\/p>\n

Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland<\/i> (2013) \u2013 Also nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Set in India and America, The Lowland<\/i> tells the story of two brothers who find very different futures in the turbulent politics of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

\"UConnReads_100YearsofSolitude\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude<\/i> (1967) \u2013 The story of the Buend\u00eda family through multiple generations, paralleling the history of Colombia from its foundations. A masterpiece of Magical Realism.<\/p>\n

Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle<\/i> (1998) \u2013 A highly acclaimed novel by one of Japan\u2019s leading writers. A man in suburban Tokyo goes in search of his wife\u2019s missing cat \u2013 and then his missing wife, touching on key themes of responsibility and accountability in marriage and society.<\/p>\n

George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London<\/i> (1933) \u2013 Not Nineteen Eighty-Four <\/i>(which was also nominated), but a compelling memoir of poverty in these two great cities.<\/p>\n

Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things<\/i> (2008) \u2013 The story of twins growing up in Kerala, India during the 1960s, when Communism challenged the caste system. A moving story developing out of familial and social tensions.<\/p>\n

\"UConnReads_Persepolis\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis<\/i> (2004) \u2013 This acclaimed graphic novel explores Satrapi\u2019s girlhood in Iran during the Islamic revolution. A great opportunity to consider the interplay of word and image in storytelling. The 2007 animated version won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Elif Shafak, The Bastard of Istanbul<\/i> (2008) \u2013 The story of an extended Turkish family in Istanbul and the U.S., this novel addresses the role of memory in identity, and the struggle for identity across space and time. Shafak faced charges of anti-Turkish sentiment for the way she addressed the Armenian genocide in this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UConn Reads Committee’s Long List includes the most frequently nominated books and some the committee suggested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":80454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[117],"class_list":["post-81618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 14:55:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81618"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105095,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81618\/revisions\/105095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/80454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81618"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=81618"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=81618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}