Donoghue's book is being released here in the U.S. on the 13th - I am first on the hold list at the library thanks to Martin. I read a little about it, am very excited at the prospect of reading it soon. I can't believe Mitchell isn't on the list, I thought that book had BOOKER written all over it. Just not a Carey fan, although I slogged through this one. I will check and see which of these are available here. I can only hope they won't be as weighty as last year's winner.

Well, in the sense you mean (as in a fat book!), none of the shortlist are as weighty as last year's winner.

But in the sense of plenty to get into - I think it's a good short-list. Can't say for sure yet, but two-and-a-half I've enjoyed so far, and one is exceptional. Good start!

The prize is awarded on the evening of October 12th. Plenty of time to read all of them.

Well, I now have all six in first editions (or I will have when the Jacobson arrives in the post). I was able to get five of them straight from Waterstones, and all of them for a bit less that full price, too. I ordered a signed copy of the Jacobson (at a premium price, of course!) and then found a first edition (unsigned) in Waterstones...ah well.

I'll be reading and reviewing as I go on this thread, in case anyone is interested. I might as well summarize the two I've read so far.

The Long Song by Andrea Levy is a first-person story about the end of slavery in Jamaica. It's interesting, and kept me entertained, but I didn't think it was up to the standard of Small Island. But obviously the judges don't agree with me...

Room by Emma Donoghue is just wonderful; a moving story about a woman and her five-year-old son who have been kept prisoner in a twelve-foot-square room. I could imagine people being put off by the premise - don't be! I think it's marvellous - I cried at the end - and I've put a small bet on it winning.

Reading C by Tom McCarthy at the moment. Not sure how much I'm enjoying it, but it's kept my attention - to the extent that I've TWICE gone past my tube stop while reading the book...so I guess it must have something going for it. It's claimed to be "experimental", but I don't see anything desperately experimental about it.

OK, finished C.

Hmmmm. It's well written, I guess, and kept me interested. But there's a bit near the end where the hero of our story has a fever-induced fantasy, which is doubtless deep and meaningful to some, but to me smacked of self-indulgence.

The hero of the story is a man called Serge Carrefax, and tells the story of his life; it's all very related to the story of wireless communications too.

(Oh, and note to Tom McCarthy - if you're going to make reference to Chess, you should understand the notation properly. Otherwise, what you say makes no sense, and just irritates people like me who actually play the game. It wouldn't have been hard to find someone to put you straight on it.)

Can't see this winning, but it seems to be one of the favourites.

Martin, I agree with you not liking fantasies or dreams in novels unless they are there for a purpose, such as the solution to a problem. I feel that the author is cheating.
The creation of the fictitious has to be believable for me.
BTW... Am I wrong in recalling that you keep your Bookers in one bookcase? If so, do you shelve them by year? My old librarian instinct is still active and was wondering how you arranged your collection.

I am soldiering through Levy's The Long Song, which takes the startlingly view that slavery is and was really, really bad for everyone. (Yes, I stole that from somewhere. Nicholls, I think.) Really horrid things happen on nearly every page. It is really, really, really well-written.

I have C and am looking forward to reading that - I am much more interested in that period of history.

annpan - correct, I keep all my Bookers in one place, shelved in order of year. The winner is first, then the short-list in author alphabetical order. I have a laminated divider for each year with the year and the books printed on it. The bookcase has glass sliding doors with very dark film, to protect the books from sunlight.

Except that the bookcase is now full, and six years of them are kept temporarily in cardboard boxes while I design a new bookcase, which will keep all the books (including the sixty-five missing ones) up to 2015, if I have done my sums correctly. Or perhaps even longer....

But that's a separate project, which I'm intending to do at the end of October. I'll tell you all about it when it's finished.

An interesting article from Saturday's Daily Telegraph, especially for those of you who cannot stand books written in the present tense, which includes three of the Booker 'short listers'.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Modish Way of Writing?

I don't have a particular dislike for books written in the present tense (I loved Wolf Hall after all) but I heartily dislike it for documentaries. I couldn't watch David Starkey's royal programmes because of it -
"Henry is aware that Catherine can't have any more children and fancies young Anne instead'.
Since these were historical documentaries, the present tense was quite inappropriate.

I started a book once that suddenly changed to the present tense. My head spun and I promptly dumped it!
Kath, I quite liked the example you gave of the program where Henry's thoughts were in the present. It made history come alive. Was that on the ABC recently?
Martin, I envy you having room for another bookcase. My daughter has my overflow and is running out of space too!

Ah, but Annpan - I don't have room for another bookcase! That's where the project comes in. I'll say no more now, and show you with photos at the end of October - so long as it all works out as I intend...

Martin, how intriguing! I am wondering how you will do that. Making room where there is none, sounds like "A job for Superman!"

In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut. A marvellous, lyrical, mesmerising book. Very short - only about two hundred pages. It's the story of a man (whose name is Damon) and his adventures when travelling in Greece, Africa and India. It's in three parts, called The Follower, The Lover and The Guardian, which are descriptions of the man's role in each of the three parts.

It's a first person book, sort of - it switches between "he" and "I" throughout the book, when referring to the hero of our story; I'm not sure what the differentiation is. But it didn't annoy me as I might have expected it to.

It's quite unemotional, but somehow manages to get a huge amount of emotion over. It's quite lovely, and I think it's a good bet for the prize.

My only caveat is that it's really three connected short stories, not quite a novel. But that's a subtlety for the judges to decide, not me.

So, two excellent books - both of which I'd be happy to land the final prize - and two good ones so far. It can't last - can it?

I think I'll go onto Peter Carey next - he reckons this could be his best book, and he's already won the Booker twice.

Well, well, well. At last a Peter Carey novel I have thoroughly enjoyed. Splendid romp through France and America at the start of the nineteenth century. Olivier is a French aristocrat, and Parrot is his English servant. Wonderful fun. That's three excellent books and two good ones. This is as good a short list as I have ever read.

Now onto Howard Jacobson, and feeling very optimistic - the judges obviously like the same sorts of books that I do!

Well, well, well. At last a Peter Carey novel I have thoroughly enjoyed. Splendid romp through France and America at the start of the nineteenth century. Olivier is a French aristocrat, and Parrot is his English servant. Wonderful fun. That's three excellent books and two good ones. This is as good a short list as I have ever read.

Now onto Howard Jacobson, and feeling very optimistic - the judges obviously like the same sorts of books that I do!

Finished! and with three weeks to spare.

The Finkler Question by Harold Jacobson started well, but went on too long. It's about the relationship between three men, two of whom are Jewish and one of whom is obsessed by what it is to be Jewish. The basic premise of the story seems to be that you can't understand what it is to be a Jew unless you are one - and I can't help feeling, as a non-Jew, the author was trying to make that point to me as well as the non-Jew in the book. I got a bit sick in the end of the whole Jewish thing - it just seemed to be wallowing in it a bit. It didn't help that the non-Jewish guy was such a pathetic prat.

I was enjoying it for the first couple of hundred pages, but it went on a bit, and got a bit too earnest for its own good by the end. Good book, but not one I'd expect to win.

So - three excellent books, and three good ones.

I'd be happy to see Carey, Donoghue or Galgut win. My suspicion is that it might be Galgut, though Donoghue the one I've actually got a few quid on. I think Peter Carey will not win, mainly because he's already won twice, and it would take a brave judging panel to give him the prize a third time.

The McCarthy seems to be the bookies favourite, but it's a bit unconvincing - and I didn't much like the hero of the story. Can't see Andrea Levy winning, or Howard Jacobson.

But what do I know?

We'll find out on Tuesday October 12th.

Anyone else read any of them? Siobhan, what did you think of Room? and The Long Song?

I have read Room and The Long Song. I liked the Donoghue, although I was a bit annoyed by the end of it with the narrator's voice. For an intelligent, fairly well educated five year old, I found words like 'underwears' grated on me - I just don't think he would talk like that. Young children often don't talk in 'proper' English, but I thought there was just too much of it. On the other hand, I loved many of the characters, especially Steppa and Officer Oh. Jack was just wonderful, and I admired his mother very much. All in all, I did like it.
The Long Song I didn't like nearly as much. I found most of the characters to be caricatures - the nasty overseer, the incompetent owner and so on. I desperately wanted to like it, as I loved Small Island, but just couldn't.

Martin, good effort! Did you want to reread any of these books? If I have particularly enjoyed a book, I often start it again or at least pick out passages I liked.
Is Howard Jacobson that rather opinionated man who appears on TV book discussions? The man I saw once was talking about "Middlemarch". He said that if he were on a train and saw someone reading it with the wrong expression on their face, (looking like they were enjoying it as a soppy romance, I gathered) he would grab the book and throw it out of the window! I thought grimly if that were my book and I was strong enough, you would be following it, mate!

Do I want to re-read any? Interesting question.

I'll certainly be re-reading In a Strange Room at some stage in my life. The same applies to Room. I think it's likely I'll read PAOIA again too.

If C wins the Booker, I'll give it another try. (And I have to admit, I think C is the one with the most "meat" on it, so to speak - the one which might give us the best discussion here at RP.) I might also be tempted to re-read The Long Song if it wins.

The Finkler Question will stay on my shelf, unread. But I can well imagine many other people thoroughly enjoying it.

Five more days!

I know that several people have read and enjoyed Room. Any other comments about any of the books?

Martin -

I forgot that Room was a Booker finalist when I read and then commented on it the other day. I really enjoyed it, and was completely sucked into the story by the end.

Sorry to say that I haven't even seen the Booker titles at the library here. The Booker Prize does not seem to have the same level of importance to my librarians! :-)

I have heard the Peter Carey book is good - most of the book blogs I have checked seemed to have liked it in one or another...

Thr ohter night on the BBC World Service (in U.S.A. on Nat'l Public Radio) there were thumbnail interviews w/ all the shortlisted Booker Prize authors. Each one read a couple sentences of their novel, then the BBC asked them a couple questions.

I'm sure you could probably download those at the BBC-Radio Website.

P.S.: After all the glowing reviews here for "Room", I was surprised that it didn't make it on the shortlist.

Room is on the shortlist - what made you think it isn't?

We'll find out the winner tonight!

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson.

Sigh.

The only one I didn't like.

Still, looking on the bright side - a couple of days ago, I found a first edition copy in the charity shop at ã1:60 and put it immediately on eBay - I was expecting to get a tenner, but now I'll get twenty or more!

Martin, what a shame! I saw a newsclip today and it was the same man who was so dismissive of readers who had 'a wrong expression' when reading "Middlemarch!
Now, what do you do about your Booker Collection? Do you keep the winner, or, because you don't like it and will never read it again, not even give it 'house-room'? I presume you have another copy other than the one you put on E-Bay?

I personally sold 3 copies of this today (may have been more sold in the shop) and felt like saying 'now this is the least favourite of the Booker expert at my on line reading group - want to try one of the others on the short list?'

They had to go and pick the one that didn't even come out in the U.S. until yesterday!

annpan - oh, I keep them, even the ones I don't like! I just don't re-read them.

And yes - as it happens, I have a signed copy of The Finkler Question, which is now worth considerably more than I paid for it. When the short-list came out, it was the only one I couldn't find in the standard bookshops, so I had to pay over the odds for it - but you'd expect to pay a bit more for a signed copy in any case.

It looks like I'll get back what I paid for the signed copy by selling my unsigned copy. Not so bad, eh!

Well done, might as well break even if you can!
Did you see the news item about the first edition of "1984" found in a Sydney charity shop bin? What a find!
I was in my local library today and the librarian was very interested to hear that there is the RP forum. He has been following the Booker. I showed him this thread and he read your comments then said he had similar thoughts to you!
I hope he joins the forum, I shall remind him on my next visit.

I put my name on the list at the library yesterday for Room. I'm No. 133. I had tried much earlier but had misspelled Donoghue. The website is forever asking me if I meant something not even close, so why did it fail me when I needed it?

Well, I got just under seventy quid for my copy. I paid ã1.60 for it. Not bad!

I think I'll drop a tenner into the charity shop I bought it from in the first place to appease my conscience....

That is a kind thing to do. How much would your autographed copy be worth?
Your gesture reminded me of my late husband surprising a charity shop worker by insisting on paying more than the marked price for a book which he felt had been undervalued! His conscience thus appeased too!

To Martin Z. --

You asked me why I thought that "Room" wasn't on the Short List.

I was referring to that BBC-Radio show in which all the short-listed authors were interviewed. I didn't hear "Room" even mentioned; so thought it wasn't on the list. But I was in bed waiting for sleep -- so I must've "nodded off" somewhere during that broadcast ! !

Congrats on your book deal ! And, yes it seems a really good idea to give a little back to the charity shop that made that largesse possible. : )