The Booker’s Dozen: The 2010 Booker Longlist

In what seems peripherally related to our recent exercise in award aggregation, The Prizewinners, the Booker Prize recently announced their Best of the Booker, a prize to commeorate the 40th anniversary of the Prize and also to name the “best overall novel to have won the prize.” It went, somewhat predictably, to Salman Rushdie for Midnight’s Children – the book also won when the Booker gave out a similar award 15 years ago. Scott, however, makes a very compelling argument that J.G. Farrell’s “novel of imperial decay,” The Siege of Krishnapur, deserved to be honored instead.Meanwhile, in what seems peripherally related to our recent exercise in books-in-translation aggregation, The Prizewinners International, the Lit Saloon points us to The Times’ (UK) list of “the 50 outstanding literary translations from the last 50 years,” presented alphabetically. Some Millions favorites like The Master and Margarita, 100 Years of Solitude, and If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler appear. Interestingly, Edith Grossman, one of the most celebrated translators in recent years, does not make the list.

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award has unveiled its massive 2013 longlist. Recall that libraries around the world can nominate books for the prize, and these nominations, taken together, comprise the longlist. This year there are 154 novels on the list, nominated by 120 libraries in 44 countries. All of the books must have been published in English in 2011 (including translations).

Because of the award’s global reach and egalitarian process, it’s always interesting to dig deeper into the longlist. Taken as a whole, the literary tendencies of various countries become evident, and a few titles recur again and again, revealing which books have made a global impact on readers.

Overall favorites: books that were nominated by at least seven libraries.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (15 libraries representing Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United States)

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (9 libraries representing Belgium and the United States)

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (9 libraries representing Canada, Ireland, and the United States)

The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht (9 libraries representing Austria, Ireland, Norway, and the United States)

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje (7 libraries representing Belgium, Canada, and the United States)

The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst (7 libraries representing Belgium, the Czech Republic, England, Greece, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States)

You can also look at the list and see which books are favorites in different countries. Several books were nominated by multiple libraries in the same country. Here’s a few:

In Canada, Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

In Australia, Autumn Laing by Alex Miller

In New Zealand, The Conductor by Sarah Quigley

In the Netherlands, Julia by Otto de Kat, The Book of Doubt by Tessa de Loo, and Caesarion by Tommy Wieringa

There were also several countries with only one library nominating just one or two books. Here are a few of those:

From Iceland, The Map of Time by Félix J. Palma

From India, The Sly Company of People Who Care by Rahul Bhattacharya

From Jamaica, The Goat Woman of Largo Bay by Gillian Royes

From Mexico, My Two Worlds by Sergio Chejfec

From Sweden, The Dewey Decimal System by Nathan Larson