Booker Prize Shortlist - anticipation
The Shortlist for the 2007 MAN Booker Prize is due to be announced today - any time between 2pm and 6pm, in all probability.
I'm disappointed that this year of all years I didn't manage to read my way through the longlist, which comprises only thirteen books this year. I started off with On Chesil Beach, the shortest of the books on the list, finishing it encouragingly quickly. I then picked up Self-Help, in search of something a little more caustic and absorbing. Much as I'm enjoying it, I have been enticed by other whole books in the meantime: Maggie O'Farrell's The Distance Between Us and a re-read of Atonement have both been sandwiched by paragraphs of Self-Help. I think that Self-Help is trying to be a modern Russian novel, but I don't know enough about the Russian novel to be sure.
And Self-Help is my source of anxiety for the Shortlist announcement. If it attains the coveted position among the six shortlisted titles, I will resume reading with renewed enthusiasm. If not, I am scared that I will remain suspended at page 216 for ever.
Here's my quick shortlist forecast, based on other people's opinions, and some wishful thinking:
Self-Help by Edward Docx
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho-Davies
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
Animal's People by Indra Sinha
The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
Darkmans by Nicola Barker
Becca
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