RSSThe Man Booker Prize shortlist opens new reading horizons
The recently announced shortlist for the United Kingdom’s preeminent literary award, the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, includes some real surprises. Of the nominees, only Sarah Waters remotely approaches literary-household-name status, and for the first time in the award’s history, the judges will be influenced by blogging members of the general public selected from ordinary reading groups from across the U.K.
The six shortlisted books are:
- The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai
- The Secret River, by Kate Grenville
- Carry Me Down, by M.J. Hyland
- In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar
- Mother’s Milk, by Edward St. Aubyn
- The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters
For a real treat, read—and participate in—the Man Booker Prize Library Reading Group blog, where members of the six selected British reading groups are writing about reading the nominated novels and the process of providing feedback to the judges. The enticing book discussions are sure to draw you in and to inspire you to add the nominees to your own reading wishlist.
You are obviously USA-centric! In Australia, Kate Grenville’s name is certainly a “literary-household-name”. Read the Secret River, and discover beautiful, lucid writing. An unparalleled sense of time and place. It is the most wonderful exporation of the meeting between the invaders/settlers of a new land and the aboriginal inhabitants.
by sydneywoman, 3 Oct 2006 at 7:37 am
Thanks, I will try Secret River. And while I don’t know the Australian literary world inside and out, I will say that one of my favorite books ever is Australian author Dorothy Porter’s novel in poetry entitled The Monkey’s Mask.
by Robin, 9 Oct 2006 at 3:02 pm
[…] Desai’s own mother, Anita Desai, has been shortlisted for the Man Booker since 1980 but has yet to snag the prize herself. Kiran Desai has not only received the award over her mother but, as Lee indicated, also beat out a very respectable 2006 shortlist. […]
by Cuppa Joad - the Alibris book blog : Kiran Desai wins Man Booker Prize for Fiction, 10 Oct 2006 at 3:24 pm