2011 Orange Prize Longlist has been announced !

I don’t know about you, but this year, I am going to attempt to read all of the longlisted books before the winner is announced in June.  Right now, I have 7 out of the 20 books that have been nominated.  I have also read 2 of them, so I have 18 to go.  The shortlist will be announced on April 12, 2011.

Here are the nominees! Are you looking forward to a particular book on the list? Have you already read one or many on the list and cannot wait for your favorite to be shortlisted? Let me know !

• Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) – Sudanese; 3rd Novel

• Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch (Canongate) – British; 10th Novel

• Room by Emma Donoghue (Picador) – Irish; 7th Novel – Read this one and LOVED IT

• The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi (Bloomsbury) – Indian; 1st Novel

• Whatever You Love by Louise Doughty (Faber and Faber) – British; 6th Novel

• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Corsair) – American; 4th Novel – Have this one

• The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Bloomsbury) – British/Sierra Leonean; 2nd Novel

• The London Train by Tessa Hadley (Jonathan Cape) – British; 4th Novel

• Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson (Sceptre) – British; 1st Novel

• The Seas by Samantha Hunt (Corsair) – American; 1st Novel

• The Birth of Love by Joanna Kavenna (Faber and Faber) – British; 2nd Novel

• Great House by Nicole Krauss (Viking) – American; 3rd Novel – Have this one

• The Road to Wanting by Wendy Law-Yone (Chatto & Windus) – American; 3rd Novel

• The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) – Serbian/American; 1st Novel

• The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer (Viking) – American; 1st Novel – I have this one

• Repeat it Today with Tears by Anne Peile (Serpent’s Tail) – British; 1st Novel

• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell (Chatto & Windus) – American; 1st Novel – Have this one

• The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives by Lola Shoneyin (Serpent’s Tail) – British/Nigerian; 1st Novel – Have this one

• The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (Harper Press) – British; 4th Novel

• Annabel by Kathleen Winter (Jonathan Cape) – Canadian; 1st Novel – Read this one, and LOVED IT!

Stay tuned for reviews…If you have read any of these books already, which ones did you like, which ones were ok, and which ones failed miserably in your opinion? Let me know !

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