The Booker Prize longlist has arrived. I’ll do another post with some articles analyzing the list once the pundits across the pond have weighed in.
- Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey
- The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
- Gathering the Water by Robert Edric
- Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer
- The Secret River by Kate Grenville
- Carry Me Down by M.J. Hyland
- Kalooki Nights by Howard Jacobson
- Seven Lies by James Lasdun
- The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson
- So Many Ways to Begin by Jon McGregor
- In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
- The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud
- Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
- The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr
- Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan
- The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson
- Mother’s Milk by Edward St. Aubyn
- The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth
- The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Any of these you would particularly recommend?
I haven't read any of them, yet, but if I were going to chose two to start it would be Black Swan Green (which is sitting on my "to be read" shelf) and Seven Lies because I loved James Lasdun's book, The Horned Man. I'd love to hear any informed opinions, though.
I thought Lasdun's was brilliantly good; Lasdun and Mitchell are the only 2 I've read. The two I'm most excited about reading next are Claire Messud and Sarah Waters; both on all accounts very good but the advance buzz on Messud is particularly enthusiastic.
I have read and enjoyed Black Swan Green, and The Secret River is in my to-be-read pile.
I loved David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, so Black Swan Green is on my list to read even though I hear it's completely different.
Everyone loves Peter Carey except for me – I don't hate him, I just find him pretty good, not great.
And yes, Mitchell did get robbed for the Booker with Cloud Atlas.
MacGregor's If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things was one of the best books I read last year. I will certainly read his latest. And I'm reading Waters's Fingersmith now and can't wait to begin Night Watch