Shortlist and pick a winner from the longlisted titles

Should we do this for longlisted titles as well? Choose a list of 6 of your favorite longlisted Orange titles. From those 6, choose a winner. If you haven't read 6, just list the ones you've read.

Feel free to update your lists as you read other longlisted works.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson -- Winner
The Time Traveler's Wife by Niffenegger
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Intuition by Allegra Goodman
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Great idea - I will be back!

Here goes:

Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig
Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel
An Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid

And the winner is...Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig!

Choosing a six strong shortlist from the longlisted books was far more difficult that choosing from amongst the shortlisted books, as I was nowhere near as fond of many of them, save for Hearts and Minds. The others were good reads, but not strongly memorable ones.

I've had some five-star reads from the long lists! Here goes:

The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi
Sorry by Gail Jones
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Girls by Lori Lansens
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

And my win would be....The Help! It may be a little saccharine, but hats off to Kathryn Stockett for such a strong debut novel.

Edited and updated June 5, 2013

Winner
The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall (2004 LL)
Shortlist
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris (2012 LL)
There but for the by Ali Smith (2012 LL)
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2004 LL)
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (2013 LL)
The Seas by Samantha Hunt (2011 LL)

Interesting -- I don't like the long list books I've read nearly as much as the short list ones. Anyway, this is what I came up with:

Ghost Road
The Hiding Place
The Keep
The Underpainter
The Swimmer

and the winner is: The Girl with the Pearl Earring

My 6 favourite longlisted Orange titles:

The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Unless by Carol Shields
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenberg
A Sin of Colour by Sunetra Gupta

and the winner is: The Flying Troutmans

I've read 7 long-listed books, and my enjoyment of them is definitely mixed. My shortlist is:

The Rehearsal - Eleanor Catton
The Long Song - Andrea Levy
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
The Hero’s Walk - Anita Rau Badami
The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller

I loved the first three, but my winner is definitely The Rehearsal, which is one of my favourite books ever.

Ooooooh.... I just found this thread (thanks to whomever posted on the shortlisted list) and I'll have to work on my lists now :)

I love reading how varied everyone's favorites are!

Too much fun! And isn't it good that people like different things! I'm off to explore The Rehearsal right now!
I tend to like the long list better. sometimes the short listed books seem safer to me...........and I have 7 again......

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald
Gilead by Marilynne Roninson
The Keep and The Bonesetter's Daughter by Jennifer Egan and Amy Tan - tied for last
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
The Seas by Samantha Hunt

And my winner is -----Fall on Your Knees!!! YAY!!!!!

.

Of the 19 Long Listed Oranges that I have read, the following
are my favorites:

1) Sorry by Gail Jones; 2008
2) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson; 2006
3) The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters; 2010
4) The Help by Kathryn Stockett; 2010
5) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; 2004
6) The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk; 2002

AND MY WINNING CHOICE WOULD BE:

Sorry by Gail Jones

Good choice, Belva!

Just found this thread. I've read 14 from the long list. My top six are:

The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Divakaruni
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Winner: A Mercy by Toni Morrison

And I've read 10 from the long list, of which my top six are:

The Ghost Road Pat Barker
The Girl with a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier
Brick Lane Monica Ali
Case Histories Kate Atkinson
The Help Kathryn Stockett
Gillespie and I Jane Harris

and the winner is...
The Ghost Road
(I was tempted to say Case Histories, but that is because of how I feel about the whole series of those books, not just the first one).

Most of my longlisted reads have been three-star: good, solid, but I'm not wowed. But some were quite good. My top six would have to be:

**The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam (2008) by Lauren Liebenberg**
Sorry (2008) by Gail Jones
The Keep (2008) by Jennifer Egan
The Help (2010) by Kathryn Stockett
The Girls (2007) by Lori Lansens
This Is How (2010) by M. J. Hyland

Early last year I answered:

Ghost Road
The Hiding Place
The Keep
The Underpainter
The Swimmer

and the winner is: The Girl with the Pearl Earring

My winner hasn't changed, but I'm just finishing Case Histories, which has been extremely enjoyable and will bump one of the others off the list. Not The Hiding Place or The Swimmer, and probably not Ghost Road, so pick one of the others because Case Histories is high on my list.