I am not surprised that Mitchell is not on the list. If they didn't give him the prize for the exceptional Cloud Atlas, they shouldnt give him the prize for a good, but much less special, Black Swan Green

But I think that is whats happening with Night Watch. I liked it, but thought Fingersmith was the better novel and deserved a prize.

Eh, what do I know, I'm just a reader :)

I do need to take a look at the others, see if any appeal.

I have read Grenville's book and own a first edition-some of the others may not even be available in the US-I am going to check it out now. I liked Grenville's book for the most part but I wouldn't think it worthy of the prize.

Martin, you may not have caught the Radio 4 'Today' programme this am (Friday) but they had a piece on the 'Booker' and are looking for 3 members of the public to join in discussions with them.
You have to submit why you should be one of the 3, in 50 words or less.
You must be equally as good, if not better, than the other listeners.
Go for it!

Here is a link that might be useful: BBC Radio 4 Today Programme

You're on! I'm at work at the moment, but I'll think about it during the day, and put together my application this evening. Is it cheating to post it here and get your feedback before I send it?

Feedback has to be good as long as it doesn't swamp what you want to say. 50 words gives you little space in which to express yourself; only about 10 more than in your post above.
You really have to catch the eye of the judges. Just hope a load of disaffected not-chosen Booker authors don't join in!
Best of Luck.

Just a thought - something that might catch the eye might be if I were able to quote what some of you said - ie I'm more-or-less being nominated, rather than pushing myself forward?

I'd feel that I was representing RP rather than just myself, as well!

BTW - I have managed to get three out of the four books I don't already have as first editions directly from Waterstones, which is nice. The other one I have ordered from ABE at a bit over the cover price. But altogether, I've been quite lucky with this lot.

Started reading Mother's Milk. Slightly strange, but I'm enjoying it so far.

You have my vote!

Martin, go for it. You're our resident Booker expert here and I'm certain you will add much depth to a discussion on this year's short list.

Adam

Martin, you'd be perfect for this. Go for it, and good luck!

By all means go for it Martin-best of luck!

Martin, you are a good PR person for the Booker -- they will be lucky to have you on their panel!

A Canadian vote for Martin -- make sure you mention that this is an international book site and members from all over the world have nominated you. :-)

Well, team, thanks for your support. My application has gone off. Now we cross our fingers and wait.

Let's be realistic here - I'm not really all that likely to be selected. But hey! wouldn't it be fun if I were?

Think positive-We are a very perceptive lot here, and if we think you should be there....

When will they notify you?

Good luck, Martin. I'm sending good thoughts your way.

I just read an article on Yahoo from Reuters that bookmakers made Sarah Waters most likely to win the Booker at 2-1, with Edward St Aubyn being the second favorite for Mother's Milk at 3-1. I haven't read Waters' Night Watch yet, but I admit that I'm pulling for her simply based on her previous work.

Good luck to you, Martin. Is that "our" Waterstone that you go to? You make me wish to meet you and Anyanka there again.

Carolyn - no, it's the local Waterstone's to my work; it's on Ludgate Circus, down the hill from St. Paul's Cathedral.

Re: the odds on the Booker. It's normal to have a "favourite" and it's not a surprise to me that it's Sarah Waters - she's the most well-known author, at least in Britain, and the book is already a best-seller. But all the rest are very evenly split - there's no rank outsider either. It might change a bit after a couple of weeks, once critics and pundits have had a chance to actually skim through the books.

As usual, I'll be reading them and giving potted reviews on here. But I haven't selected the winner from the shortlist since Life of Pi won, so I wouldn't take my opinion in any way seriously...!

They are still asking for entrants for the Radio 4 Book Club. If they don't close it soon, it'll be hard to read six books in the time available....

Anyway, I've just finished Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn. Hmmm.

As someone else said, there is only so much I can read about the angst of the affluent. This is yet another story about a dysfunctional rich family. The father is one of those irritating people who can't have a discussion without it turning it into an argument. He drinks too much and is having an affair, because his wife is completely wrapped up in her second child and has been sharing a bed with the child since it was born. The older child (five at the start of the book) has a vocabulary of a twelve-year-old, and his little brother is nearly as articulate. The mothers are manipulative and selfish in different ways. One of them has given away her family home in France, which the father had been expecting to inherit, to a charitable foundation run by a scheming Irishman called Seamus. The other gets pleasure out of doing things which annoy her family - like making friends with said Seamus. Not a single reasonable person amoung all of them. I tell you, it was a relief to get to the end of the book.

Beautifully written, but who actually cares? Please, don't let this win the Booker. I'm astonished to see it on the short-list.

Oh, yes, and they go on holiday to the US in one part of the book; the view of the USA is downright offensive, even to me as a Brit. Everyone is fat, the hotels are all nasty, the food is disgusting. You get the impression that the author has never actually been the the US, he's just heard about it from people who don't like it.

You may have realized that I'm not really very impressed by this book.

Let's be blunt. It's well-written crap. The sort of book that gives the Booker Prize a bad name.

Geez, Martin, don't hold back! LOL!

I don't often read the Booker short list anyway, but I will most definitely give this one a miss.

Yes, Martin, please do tell us how you really feel. (Thanks for the review, though. I hate that kind of book.)

Now started reading (and enjoying much more) The Inheritance of Loss.

I wonder at what stage the BBC are going to make their selection? It's a week since the shortlist came out, and they want people to convene "during the week before the announcement of the winner on October 10th". Which gives people just over two weeks to read six books - which is a fairly big ask...

OK, so I'll be ahead of the game. But they surely shouldn't assume that.

Still, it's unlikely it'll be my problem.

Martin, I would think they want people who are doing exactly that -- reading the books because they want to read them in preparation for the announcement.

True, but they said that they'd be sending the books to the chosen three...not much point if we've already bought them...

Well, Martin, there are always your imaginary friends here at RP.

By the way, did you ever receive your chocolate cookbook? I had a little trouble reading the address.

OMG...

Did I never write to say thanks for that?? I could have sworn.....>blushWell, I do thank you - it was lovely. (I say "was" because it was recently kidnapped by one of my step-daughters to take to uni with her! Which is quite a compliment in it's own right....)

..in what way are any of you imaginary? I've only actually met three RP'ers, but I don't feel that any of you are in any way less real for that!

well, Agnes just suggested another imaginary party over on the CXXIV thread. I put you down for the beer, Martin.

Martin, you're welcome. Anyanka has said her daughter is working her way through the cookbook, too. Now I see why I have so many of them left on the garage shelf--I missed my market. The youngsters can handle the calories and don't know it will kill their cholesterol!

Back to the Booker. Just finished The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. Interesting book about an old judge, his granddaughter and their cook living in India, near Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas, during the times of the Gorkha uprisings. One of the problems I had with the book is the lack of any dates, as far as I could tell - you were sort of left to work out the dates of the various flashbacks from the contemporary references. My history is poor at the best of times, and I know precious little about the history of India. So I found it a bit confusing - I was never quite sure when anything was happening.

But I did enjoy the book - I found I could sympathise and understand the characters, even those I didn't like.

There were two threads to the book - the second thread followed the life of the cook's son who was an illegal immegrant in the USA. I found that rather less convincing - I just didn't find that the story was "fleshed out", so to speak.

Don't think it will win. But a good book, nonetheless, and one I'd recommend.

Now on to Carry Me Down.

Now that's more like it!

Carry Me Down by M J Hyland is a gem. Not a book that I'd have picked up in a thousand years, either. It's a first-person story about a twelve-year-old boy. (Which might be one reason why Black Swan Green wasn't shortlisted - two books with a similar theme. Though they couldn't be more different.) The boy has a talent - he can detect when people are lying. He's also unusually tall for his age, which means he's a bit of a misfit in school. He's an only child, and the family live with the father's grandmother. And it's the story of about a year, and what happens in that year.

It's a wonderful story; the pressures of family life, the love that people have for each other no matter what, the awful way people can treat each other even when they love them - I was really impressed. Super writing, and a book I couldn't put down. Not too long either, a bit over 300 pages. Shot through it. Comfortably my favourite book of the five I've read.

Now The Secret River by Kate Grenville.

btw - the Booker Prize book club message appears to have disappeared from the Radio 4 Today web site. So I guess they are now deciding. If I don't get an email or call today, I imagine I can assume I've not been selected.

we're sending brainwaves at the committee...."pick Martin, pick Martin, pick Martin..."

. . . pick Martin, pick Martin, pick Martin . . .

I just placed a request at the library for Carry Me Down. They didn't have a single hold on it. People just don't have my resources.

Well, they obviously didn't pick Martin...

Oh well.

I have also seen a rumour that the Booker Prize presentation is not going to be broadcast live on BBC TV or radio. If this is the case, I'm really a bit annoyed. It's been on TV for at least the last three or four years; it's the biggest literary prize in the world; it surely MUST be live on TV - or at least on the radio.

Mustn't it?

well, look at it this way-they didn't pick you, so their judgment is obviously faulty-so the decision to not televise the award ceremony is not a surprise-
none of the major US awards-Pulitzer, Caldecott, Newbery-are televised-but the hot dog eating contest was...
I tremble for civilization sometimes.

The Secret River - it's pretty good, but it's just another story about a convict who is transported to Australia and makes good. Also had an annoying affectation of putting all the dialogue in italics, rather than the usual quote marks or dashes. I'm used to italics being used for what people think, so it wasn't easy to read. I enjoyed the book, but I'd be astonished if it wins.

I have to say that I think it's a fairly weak short-list this year. My own personal favourite is Carry Me Down, which stands out head-and-shoulders better than any of the others. But others will almost certainly disagree with me. I thought The Testament of Gideon Mack was at least as good as most of the books on the short-list, and I also liked Black Swan Green - though I can see why they wouldn't want both BSG and Carry Me Down on the shortlist.

I'm certainly not thrilled enough by any of them to risk a bet.

Anyway, I'm told the result will be live on the 10:00 news on the BBC. Looking forward to it, but not with the same sense of anticipation as I felt for the last two years. Last year was an exceptional short-list, and the year before had Cloud Atlas which I still feel is one of the best books of the last ten years, and should have won the Booker.

I'm going to re-read The Night Watch as it's a while since I read it - just to be fair.

So, in summary:-
Desai, Kiran: The Inheritance of Loss
A bit wordy, but I quite liked it. Confusing as to dates. Can't see this winning.
Grenville, Kate: The Secret River
A good yarn, but not what I'd look for in a Booker winner.
Hyland, M.J: Carry Me Down
My personal favourite - a powerful story about a family in Ireland, and the consequences when a young boy finds out more than he ought to know. I hope this wins.
Matar, Hisham: In the Country of Men
Probably my second favourite - a powerful story of a young boy in Libya under Gaddafi. I'd be quite happy if this wins.
St Aubyn, Edward: MotherÂs Milk
A horrible book. Well written, but not a single nice person among any of the characters. I am so sick of books about rich people's problems. I bet this one wins. Sigh.
Waters, Sarah: The Night Watch
A good book about the relationship between four women during the war. Written "backwards", so to speak - we find out what happened later in the war, and only later in the book do we find out how they got there. The favourite, and already a best-seller. I don't think it'll win, though I wouldn't be upset if it did.

Thanks for all the comments. I am going to London next weekend and will get at least "Carry me down" from Dillon's in Gower Street, my favourite bookstore in London. I can't force myself to call it Waterstone's yet.

Marianne in Sweden