Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Hello, I’m Bob, and this is my initial reaction to the shortlist for this year, which is:

Susan Choi- Flashlight
Kiran Desai- The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
Katie Kitamura- Audition
Ben Markovits- Rest of Our Lives
Andrew Miller- The Land in Winter
David Szalay- Flesh

I will be doing a separate shortlist video with a deeper dive into the list, as well as reading other books by the shortlisted authors, and doing an ‘alternative’ shortlist of other books by them- please feel free to send any suggestions if you have them!

All my best,
Bob