Prize watch: I’m so giddy with excitement, it’s Giller Day! Well, the first of several Giller Days. The 2014 Giller Prize long list was announced this morning. I’m definitely behind in my CanLit this year (thanks to Reading Bingo, I suspect). I’ve only read ONE of these (Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab, by Shani Mootoo, which was very good).

A couple of these are on my impossibly long wish list. Miriam Toews made a big splash with All My Puny Sorrows when it came out earlier this year, and although I didn’t love A Complicated Kindness as much as the rest of the world seemed to, I would like to read this one. The Girl Who was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill and anything by Francis Itani have also been on my radar.

Take a scroll through the entire list of Giller-eligible books (or don’t, if you don’t want your to-read list to explode). As with most prizes, controversy abounds. There are disappointed fans out there who consider the list a snub of their favourite authors. Michael Crummy’s Sweetland and Kim Thúy’s Mãn are supposed to be excellent. I’ve also heard good things about Aislinn Hunter’s The World Before Us. Other big names not on the list include Douglas Coupland, Terry Fallis, Richard Wagamese, Emma Donoghue and of course, Margaret Atwood. I happened to really like Kate Pullinger’s Landing Gear, Claire Cameron’s The Bear and Linda Holeman’s The Devil on Her Tongue (though I can see how that one is not a typical “prize” book), and so far am enjoying Tom Rachman’s The Rise and Fall of Great Powers. (Hey, what do you know… now that I see the full list, I realize I read more CanLit than I thought!)

I envy the judges for reading all those books – but not for having to choose between them!!

One more thing before I let you go… check out longlisted author Arjun Basu’s funny reaction on Twitter to the announcement.