Booker Prize 2012

[Liam]

Another rather "pale"-looking list, I must say, with the exception of Mantel and possibly Levy and Eng (question, how was he even qualified to be nominated, I thought he was Malaysian?)

They've announced the 2012 Booker longlist today:

• The Yips, by Nicola Barker
• The Teleportation Accident, by Ned Beauman
• Philida, by André Brink
• Skios, by Michael Frayn
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce
• Swimming Home, by Deborah Levy
• Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel
• The Lighthouse, by Alison Moore
• Umbrella, by Will Self
• Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayil
• Communion Town, by Sam Thompson
• The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng

[Stewart]

Eng (question, how was he even qualified to be nominated, I thought he was Malaysian?)

Commonwealth writers are eligible, and Malaysia's in that group. So effectively, it's just excluding the USA.

I'm going to give one or two an investigation, but other than that, the Booker is a bit boring these days.

[Daniel del Real]

Haven't read Andre Brink but I had the chance to see him in a conference and have read good reviews about his books

[Stiffelio]

Brink is the only writer that I have read. He used to write very good novels back in the 70s. The rest on the list are virtually unknown to me. It seems as though they decided to ignore the well established writers this time. No Amis, McEwan, Gordimer, Mo, Boyd, Carey, Smith to name just a few who were in contention with new fiction and who had received good reviews. I'm particularly disappointed about Timothy Mo's absence from the list. His new novel was a comeback after more than ten years of silence.

[kpjayan]

Jeet Thayil, One of the long listed writer is discussed here : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle3684502.ece

I havent read the book, hence cant comment on his quality.

[Eric]

Now then, Flinnt, don't get stroppy with Uncle Liam.

When is the Booker announcement, anyway?

[Scott89119]

Shortlist out! Congrats to Mantel et al.

http://www.latimes.com/features/book...,6649581.story

[Flint]

Here's the list.

[Galatea92]

I wouldn't call either Nicola Barker or Will Self "pale", Liam. Stylistically, they're both pretty outrageous; neither of them writes the kind of straightforward narrative that usually wins the Booker.

[Liam]

Yeah, but compared to the kind of literature I usually read these are pygmies standing on the shoulders of giants, .

[Galatea92]

Yeah, but Chaucer isn't eligible for the Booker .

[Hamlet]

I've recently heard a rumour that Geoff Chaucer is living in Bethnal Green and writing again...

... so you never know!

[Flint]

I suspect that if there were a Time Machine Booker Prize, Chaucer wouldn't stand much of a chance - too hard to read.
Dickens, Thackeray or George Eliot would be more likely to win.

[Eric]

The failure of the Booker is to notice that the rest of the world doesn't always write in English. If some Brit wins the Nobel everyone in Britain drools, but the British publishing & bookselling, profits & bestsellers industry can no longer cope with literature as such, i.e. serious books. It's all hype and glamour, and interviews and readings (aloud). Adding a few names from "our former colonies" does nothing to disguise the sheer introversion of this prizes - write in English, or go away. Only Anglo-Indians and people such as André Brink who gave up Afrikaans because of the stigma, or maybe some bilingual French-Canadian can actually win the Booker.

Whether British fiction is insular is neither here nor there. It's whether the snooty British literary establishment is prepared to accept foreigners writing in funny lingos or patois - that is the point.

[Flint]

On second thoughts, the prize ought to be called "The Barnes-McEwann Prize". It should be awarded to Julian Barnes and Ian McEwann on alternative years.

[Liam]

Ian McEwann

You know, even poets should watch their double-n's. Perhaps especially poets, . It's McEwan.

[Flint]

You know, even poets should watch their double-n's. Perhaps especially poets, . It's McEwan.

You bloody teacher!