Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Booker Short List announced

The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt (Random House, Chatto and Windus)

Summertime by J. M. Coetzee (Random House, Harvill Secker)

The Quickening Maze by Adam Fould (Random House, Jonathan Cape)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (Little, Brown)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Little, Brown, Virago)

An interesting list. The only title I've read so far is the Byatt, which I loved to the point that it will be near the top of my year's favorites, if not at the very pinnacle. But Byatt herself often annoys me, and I would love for Mantel to win the prize. The only author on the list that I haven't read anything by in the past is Fould; I have The Quickening Maze on pre-order, though, and will no doubt have read The Truth About These Strange Times by then.

2 comments:

  1. It's beginning to sound like The Children's Book will be the book of the year this year. I need to get my hands on a copy.

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  2. I used to eagerly anticipate the announcement of the Man Booker shortlist, but it's become a bit of a joke to me. Colm Toibin is one of the greatest living writers (in my opinion) and Brooklyn could be his best work yet (tough to beat The Master though.) And to think that he was bypassed again is unfortunate.

    Fingers crossed for Mantel or Waters.

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