The only one I have read (just finished) is Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies, got to be better than the other stuff on offer, and certainly darker than Wolf Hall. Don't know how biased the judges are to a 'follow-up' book.
Could never read a book by Will Self . . . just to hear him on the radio is enough to put me off. ;-(

I'm reading The Garden of the Evening Mists now. I'm around the halfway point. I like it, but not as much as I thought I was going to. I think this is partly due to 1st person narrative in the present tense, which is very hard to pull off. Also, I haven't yet warmed to the narrator. Something about her is very off-putting. Maybe I'll warm up in the 2nd half. We'll see...

OK - as always, I'm reading the short-list and reviewing here.

Starting with Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

So, for a start, if you read and enjoyed Wolf Hall, you should read this, and you will enjoy it. The style is similar - effectively a first-person book of Thomas Cromwell, only written in the third person. She's learned from her previous book; it was sometimes difficult to tell exactly who "he" was in that one, and there is no problem (at least for me) in this one. The story is familiar - it's about the few weeks before and just after the execution of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell comes over as a remarkably sympathetic character, considering the single-minded determination with which he ensures that Anne Boleyn and her alleged lovers are executed. It's a marvellous book.

It can be read alone, without a doubt - but I think it's even better if you read Wolf Hall first - there is reference to Cromwell's relationship to Thomas Moore and Thomas Cranmer which are better understood if you've read the first.

Exceptional novel. She wouldn't be the first to win the Booker with a "sequel" novel - Pat Barker won the Booker in 1995 with The Ghost Road which is the third in a trilogy - but it would be a fantastic achievement to win the Booker with both the original and the sequel. For that reason alone, I'm inclined to think that this will not win. But it's certainly worthy of it.

btw - here is the discussion we had here about Wolf Hall. I for one would enjoy a further discussion about Bring Up The Bodies.

Here is a link that might be useful: RP discussion - Wolf Hall

Martin, thanks for posting that the "he" issue is no longer an issue in Bring Up The Bodies. I had decided not to read it because Wolf Hall was so annoying but I will download a sample and reconsider.

Narcopolis, by Jeet Thayal.

Hmmm. Very well written, and kept my interest. But oh, the subject matter is so depressing and dreary. There seems to be no sign of anything positive about any of the characters. It's basically about a bunch of drug addicts in Bombay. An Indian Trainspotting? (Not that I'm read Trainspotting, or seen the film...)

Not one that appealed to me; I'd be astonished if it won.

I'm leaving Evening Mists to last. So I'll give Swimming Home another go next.

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy.

It's short. It's well written.

And that's as far as it goes, as far as I'm concerned. This is the second time I've read the book - I did promise myself that if it was shortlisted, I'd give it another go. But it hasn't improved.

The basic premise is interesting - two couples, plus the daughter of one of them, go on holiday to a villa in the South of France. They find a good-looking young girl swimming naked in the pool (as you do)... She says that she had got her dates mixed up and was expecting to be able to stay in the villa; they find out that there is nowhere else in the village for her to stay, so they invite her to stay in the villa. Unlikely, but OK, so far as it goes. The story covers the week or so that follows.

But it just doesn't work for me. All the characters seem like caricatures to me. We have the brilliant philandering poet; we have the mentally ill fan of said poet, who desperately wants him to read her poem; we have the teenage daughter of said poet, who starts her periods during this week - deeply symbolic, I'm sure; we have the wife of poet who is a war correspondent and has spent most of her married life away from home. We have a cliche'd supporting cast (hippy druggy caretaker; ridiculously good-looking waiter in cafe; couple who run a junk shop back in London, the husband of whom collects antique guns; etc etc.) We have a thin story with a ridiculous ending.

We do not, I hope, have a Booker Prize winner.

I was put off by "Wolf Hall" for the same reason that Frances was. However, I have just got "Bringing Up the Bodies" from the library, so perhaps I will find the reading a bit easier to follow. Certainly the title is intriging!

FWIW, I liked Bringing Up the Bodies better than Wolf Hall - and I liked Wolf Hall. It is the only one I have read on the shortlist, although I have read a few from the longlist, and it gets my vote. Not that I have a vote.

Is Mantel going to write a third book? Would be interesting.

Umbrella by Will Self.

I promised I'd give this a second try if it was shortlisted.

There is a good story here, about an old woman who is in a mental home in the seventies, and a doctor who takes an interest in her. We also have a parallel story about the woman when she was young and her relationship with her family and others and also another about the doctor later in life.

It's often quite interesting unpicking the various strands of different timestreams in novels like this.

But when the whole damn thing is ALSO written in a stream-of-consciousness way, with no paragraphs, no obvious dialogue and lots of use of references from the various timestreams, it just becomes hard work; I can't help feeling that this is an exercise in showing off how clever Will Self is. (The title is a reference to a quote from Ulysses by James Joyce - which sort of gives you a clue about what's going on here.)

I suspect that those who claim to enjoy it are those who like to feel how erudite they are, and how superior they are to ordinary readers.

But it IS a marvellous tour-de-force, and I'm forced to admire the fact that it's actually more readable that I would have believed. I actually got to page 150 (of about 480) before I finally decided that I'd had enough. It is just too much like hard work.

But you know what? I think it's going to win - and it will probably be a book that is studied in Literature classes in the future.

Alison Moore - The Lighthouse

I have to admit that all the books on the shortlist have improved on a second reading. This one has improved sufficiently for me to change my original long-list impression (of not much good) to a really quite positive review.

It's the story of a young man on a walking holiday in Germany. He starts at a hotel, and plans on arriving back at the hotel in a week's time. The book alternates between his story as he's on the holiday, and the story of the woman who runs the hotel. As he walks, he's thinking back over his life; the woman also looks back at hers.

I don't want to spoil anything - suffice it to say it's a very good story, but unfortunately has not a single pleasant character in it. But it has more depth than I remembered, and is actually quite gripping.

It's not going to win. But, on re-reading, I think it deserves to be on the shortlist.

Now, onto The Garden of Evening Mists.

The Garden Of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng

This is probably the most "normal" novel in the whole set. It's an account of a Straits Chinese woman in Malaya (as it was) and her relationship with a Japanese gardener after the second world war. It's written in the first person, from the point of view of the woman. (The author is male - I'd be interested in hearing from some of the other posters here how well you feel he succeeded in that.)

It's a very fine story, and written very well - some lovely touches in it. And it is a book which rewards re-reading, to my mind.

This year, the judges have definitely selected books which are unashamedly "literary" - the books have all seemed quite hard going on first reading, and have all improved on a second reading. My summary:-

Bring Up the Bodies - I'd love to see it win, but I think the success of Wolf Hall means it probably won't.

Umbrella - too hard for me, and in my opinion, too clever-clever. But I can see the quality of the writing, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it won.

The Garden of Evening Mists - a lovely novel - I'd enjoy seeing this win. I suspect it'll just fall short.

Narcopolis - naaah. To be fair, I've only read it once, but I can't see enough in it.

Swimming Home - Urgh. I hope it doesn't win.

The Lighthose - Much better on a second reading. Might be an outsider.

So - my prediction is Umbrella or Bring Up the Bodies.

Now watch Swimming Home win.

The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum on October 16th. It's normally made at about 10:30 in the evening, London time.

Just to remind you all - Booker Prize announcement tomorrow - normally about 10:30 London time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Booker Prize website

Hi again.

Couple of things. First, I found a program on BBC2 last week (good old iPlayer) reviewing the books on the shortlist. Intelligent - and contrasting! - contributions from John Mullan, A L Kennedy and Rosie Boycott. Link below if you're interested - they have done a good job of reviewing and discussing the books without giving away anything.

The other is to tell you that the Booker award is being covered live on BBC News 24 from 9:30 UK time - it'll be announced around 9:40. I'll be watching, of course!

Here is a link that might be useful: Book Review Program - Booker 2012

Bring up the bodies! Yay!

That is great news! I have been an admirer of Mantel's for a long time and IMHO her work was Booker-worthy. Can't wait to read her next one.

Wow! I wanted "Bringing Up the Bodies" to win, but I did not think it would because "Wolf Hall" already had. The judges got it right - on merit. I do think "The Garden of Evening Mists" is exquisite and it would have been worthy, if it had not been up against BUTB.