Everything You Need to Know About Booker of the Month

The Booker Prize is arguably the most prestigious award in literary fiction, having recognized “the finest fiction” written in English over the last 50+ years. For some, the Booker Prize longlist, shortlist, and winner announcements are as exciting as any film or music award ceremony.

When the 2019 Booker Prize longlist was announced, I challenged myself to read them all over the following year, before the next year’s longlist was announced. It was one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve taken on as a reader. I was excited to do it all again for the 2020 longlist — but that time, I wanted to bring others along for the ride.

That’s how #BookeroftheMonth was born.

For four full award years now, a ton of people have joined me in reading the 2020–2023 longlists together. Many of us became friends along the way, including people I’d never have otherwise met! In short, it’s everything I could have hoped for. So now that we have the 2024 longlist, it’s time to go again.

HOW BOOKER OF THE MONTH WORKS

Booker of the Month is a monthly reading group that anyone can join. There are 13 books on each year’s Booker Prize longlist, so we read one a month (doubling up just once), which gets us all the way through the whole thing over the course of 12 months. Follow along, and you’ll have read the whole thing by the time next year’s list is announced!

Here’s how to get involved:

  • Follow me and the #BookerOfTheMonth hashtag on Instagram. Tag me and use the hashtag when you talk about the books. I’ll be resharing!

  • Join the StoryGraph book club to get future meeting reminders and chat asynchronously, and the reading challenge to track your progress through all the books.

  • Join our monthly Zoom discussions — register for the next one below!

THIS MONTH’S BOOK SELECTION

In December, we’re reading Orbital by Samantha Harvey AND Held by Anne Michaels (it’s the one time a year when we double up!).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHEN ARE WE READING EACH BOOK?

So glad you asked. Here’s the reading schedule (so far) and key dates for the 2024 longlist. We typically meet via Zoom on the last Monday of the month (unless holidays get in the way!) at 8 PM ET.

  • Key date: July 30, 2024: Booker Prize longlist announced

    • August selection: James by Percival Everett.* Zoom chat: 8/26

    • September selection: My Friends by Hisham Matar. Zoom chat: 9/30

  • Key date: September 16, 2023: Booker Prize shortlist announced

    • October selection: Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner.* Zoom chat: 10/28

    • November selection: The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden.* Zoom chat: 11/25

  • Key date: November 12, 2023: Booker Prize winner announced

    • December selection: Orbital by Samantha Harvey* AND Held by Anne Michaels.* (Both are very short, and there are 5 Mondays in December.) Zoom chat: 12/30

    • January selection: Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood.* Zoom chat: 1/27

      • NOTE: This book has not been published in the US. Buy a copy from Blackwells in the UK and get free shipping to the US here.

    • February selection: Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. Zoom chat: 2/24

      • NOTE: This is the sequel to There, There. It’s not 100% required, but I do highly recommend reading There, There before you read Wandering Stars.

    • March selection: This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud. Zoom chat: 3/31

    • April selection: Playground by Richard Powers (for Earth Day!). Zoom chat: 4/28

    • May selection: Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel. Zoom chat: 5/19

      • NOTE: This meeting is a week early due to Memorial Day, but the book is short!

    • June selection: Enlightenment by Sarah Perry. Zoom chat: 6/30

    • July selection: Wild Houses by Colin Barrett. Zoom chat: 7/28

  • Late July/early August 2025: Next year’s Booker Prize longlist announced

*shortlisted

DO I HAVE TO READ ALL THE BOOKS TO JOIN IN?

Definitely not. You don’t even have to follow our schedule. Already read one of them? (Already read all of them?) Fall a little behind? Only want to read some of the titles? You are welcome here!

HOW CAN I GET AHOLD OF THE BOOKS?

If you decide to purchase the books, I urge you to buy them from your local independent bookstore or Bookshop.org, which shares revenue with indies. I also rounded up the books available for order or pre-order in the US right now in a Bookshop collection:

Of course, you can also borrow the books from your local library. If your library doesn’t have one of the books, you can always contact them and request that they purchase a copy.

If a book hasn’t been published in your country yet, you can buy the UK edition from an incredible bookstore in England called Blackwells. They ship to the US and many other countries for free! (Also, they have the best bookmarks.)

See you on Instagram! If you have any Q’s in the meantime, feel free to DM me. Happy reading!