2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist

The shortlist has just been announced:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Undertaking by Audrey Magee

The winner of the prize will be announced on 4 June.

The Guardian: Donna Tartt heads Baileys women's prize for fiction 2014 shortlist

Many thanks, Darryl. As usual, most of these are not as immediately appealing to me as some of the rest. I will read Americanah and The Goldfinch this year for sure and maybe The Undertaking and A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing when they are a little less pricey and I haven't been going overboard in book-binging.

Unusual for me, I've already read 3 of these: The Lowland, The Goldfinch, and Americanah. All good in very different ways.

I haven't read any, but I do own Americanah and The Goldfinch and am interested in The Lowland. I'll get on the reading part soon.

Got The Goldfinch yesterday. Can't wait to get deeper into it. Haven't read any of the others yet.

I've read The Goldfinch and have Burial Rites on my TBR list.

Unfortunately The Undertaking will not be available in the U.S. until September 2nd of this year. But I have loaded my Kindle with Burial Rites and The Lowland so I am looking to reading those but may not get to them until June. I have read Americanah and the other two I should be able to get from the library.

I've had Burial Rites in my TBR pile for a few months now - I'll make more of an effort to get to it. I was able to order The Undertaking by Audrey Magee from the from The Book Depository , so I look forward to receiving it.

I always forget about Book Depository and getting around North American release dates. You're a sneaky one Deborah!

I'm in a big line at the library for Burial Rites, but The Lowland is on its way to me now. I've read two already. Glad to get The Goldfinch out of the way.

Burial Rites was quite a dark read, but interesting. 4 stars. I'm about 1/4 - 1/3 of the way through The Undertaking and enjoying it very much.

So, does everyone agree with The Guardian's prediction that The Goldfinch will win? It actually was at the bottom of my list :/ At the top of my list is The Undertaking.

I've read all of the shortlist now except for Burial Rites which I'm reading now. I enjoyed The Goldfinch and I don't think I'd put it on the bottom of my list, but I'm kind of rooting for it not to win. In terms of predictions--last year the winner surprised me in that I don't think it was a very predictable pick. (May We Be Forgiven also happened to be my least favorite of the six but that's not the kind of surprise I mean.) So maybe the fact that The Goldfinch seems favored to win means it won't? My favorites this year are The Undertaking and The Lowland.

I liked The Goldfinch very much and definitely think it shows the growth of Donna Tartt's abilities. I'm top of the wait list for Burial Rites and a little further down for The Lowlands.

Anne, What did you think of A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing? Interested to hear what you both think of Burial Rites. . .

I'm rooting for Adichie all the way.

>14 brenpike: Brenda, I appreciated A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing but it was a tough read--in every possible sense. Maybe too tough. I am loving Burial Rites so far--Alias Grace plus Kristin Lavransdatter with a touch of Arnaldur Indriðason?

Hi Anne. Agree, completely, with you on A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. Difficult but also creative and daring on the part of the writer, I thought. I am intrigued that it is her first book and will be interested in seeing what else she writes.
I also liked Burial Rites . . . A compelling story well told. I've read Alias Grace but haven't cracked the copy of Kristin Lavransdatter I bought years ago :/
I'm anxiously awaiting today's announcement from the Bailey's Prize Committee.

A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing is the winner of this year's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.

>16 AnneDC: ooh, nice description of Burial Rites! that's why I am liking it so much. I liked all those books as well.

Wow . . . That was freaky timing!

Interesting and brave choice on the committee's part. I'm off to the site to read about their selection process. . .

>20 brenpike: I knew that today was the prize ceremony, thanks to a Facebook post from Rachael (FlossieT) this morning, and when I checked the prize's Twitter feed earlier this afternoon I saw that the announcement would take place at 7:15 pm BST. So it's only been 10 minutes since the announcement was made!

Thank you, as always, Darry, for your up-to-the-minute reporting :) What would we do without you!?

You're welcome, Brenda! I think you all would do quite well without me, though. :-)

Gasp! The very thought!

Agreed, Brenda!