I don’t know if you follow the Man Booker prize, which is a prize given to the best book of the year by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, but the announcement of the winner is tonight. They first choose a ‘longlist’ of titles and then winnow it down to a ‘shortlist’ of six titles. This year they include: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters; The Glass Room by Simon Mawer; Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel; The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds; Summertime by JM Coetzee; and The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. In Britain, the bookies have the odds on Wolf Hall. Imagine betting on a book prize.
I usually try to check out all the nominated books, including those from the ‘longlist’, but this year not all have been published in the United States yet and well, the best laid plans and all that. I only got around to reading Brooklyn by Colm Toibin and I’m about halfway through listening to The Little Stranger. Brooklyn was a beautifully written book about an immigrant’s experience, but The Little Stranger has been slow moving. Part story of the vanishing upper class and part ghost story, I’ve heard a lot about the tumbling down Hundreds Hall, but I have yet to encounter a ghost. I want the ghost!
For a cheeky British digest of the nominated titles and to see the current odds, check out the Guardian book blog.
~ Dori
Read it or Weep 