PJE's Booker Blog: The A to X of the 2008 Man Booker longlist

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The thirteen books on this year's Man Booker Prize longlist are:

Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger
Gaynor Arnold - Girl in a Blue Dress
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
John Berger - From A to X
Michelle de Kretser - The Lost Dog
Amitav Ghosh - Sea of Poppies
Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs
Mohammed Hanif - A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Philip Hensher - The Northern Clemency
Joseph O'Neill - Netherland
Salman Rushdie - The Enchantress Of Florence
Tom Rob Smith - Child 44
Steve Toltz - A Fraction of the Whole

I couldn't love a jury more.
I knew John Berger had a new book coming out in September, but it never occurred to me that it might be in the running - I suspected he was blacklisted after his acceptance speech in 1972. King: A Street Story is one of my favourite books of all time, and I was terribly disappointed that it wasn't even shortlisted in 1999. I can't wait to read From A to X.

And a book about cricket as well! Marvellous.
(Although Susan Hill won't agree.)