We're three weeks away from the International Booker Prize 2024 award ceremony, so we thought it was high time to take a deep dive into this year's six shortlist books. In the first of two parts, we're exploring three of the books on this week's podcast episode. Listen in to hear what Jo and James make of them, common themes that run across the shortlisted reads and how the International Booker can expand one's world through literature.

In this episode Jo and James discuss:

• Their initial thoughts on the 2024 shortlist as a whole


• The common themes running through these books


• Brief biographies of each author, and short summaries of each book


• Their thoughts on the three books books discussed in this episode

Reading list:

• 
  The Details by Ia Genberg, translated by Kira Josefsson: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/the-details
  


• 
  Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/kairos
  


• 
  What I'd Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, translated by Sarah Timmer Harvey: https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/what-id-rather-not-think-about
  

A full transcript of the episode is available at our website.

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