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.

Jan - I have some sympathy with you about McEwan, I have to admit. But aren't all writers a bit formulaic? However, I can't let your assertion about "the ever increasing paucity of the Booker selections" go unchallenged. This year has not been a bad selection by any means; last year was a bit disappointing (all statements IMHO, of course!) - but the year before was quite marvellous. John Banville won with The Sea, The Sea and Julian Barnes, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ali Smith, Zadie Smith and Sebastian Barry were all shortlisted - and McEwan actually missed the shortlist that year with Saturday - a book that plenty of people reckoned was good enough to win. There were five quite marvellous novels out of the six on the shortlist. The year before that, Cloud Atlas was on the shortlist - that book in itself is one I would set against your statement about the paucity of modern literature. People forget that in the "good old days" there was also a hell of a lot of trash too. Perhaps your idea of waiting a few years and see which ones survive is a good one. Me, I think the Booker shortlist is normally a fairly good pointer to at least some of the future classics.

Martin, I was thinking about your comment that the success of all four men who knew each other in college was too much a coincidence. Actually, it can happen, and I know someone to whom it did. My husband, while not famous, had a very successful career as a cutting edge engineer and was involved in the fundamental development of wireless networking A friend of his from the rooming house they shared became a famous Hollywood director. Another friend from that same rooming house became a well known New York photographer. Yet another, not as close a friend, is now a world famous composer. You would probably recognize at least two of the names, and perhaps all three if you know the New York art world. The difference from the novel is that all four went their separate ways many years ago and did not maintain the friendship once they left their university. I myself have never met any of the other three men. I even forget the photographer's name myself because it did not mean anything to me, but I do remember the stories. I think this does happen at certain universities. It certainly did not happen at mine, at least not to me, but a high school friend of mine who went to my husband's university long after he was there is also acquainted with a number of highly successful people in her field.

And it's also worth mentioning a couple of firsts - Beatty is the first US writer to win the Booker, and The Sellout is the first paperback to win the Booker. The publishers, OneWorld, must be pinching themselves - they have published the Booker winner two years running, which isn't bad for a little independent publisher who were only formed in 1986.