The 2009 Man Booker Prize Longlist was announced yesterday and there is at least one novel, by Coetzee, that may cause a little consternation amongst some readers. Namely, is it fiction or not? This reminds me a little of Tom Keneally's Schindler's Ark, about which I had long discussions, and a minor "edit war", on Wikipedia.
Anyway, the longlist comprises:
AS Byatt - The Children's Book
JM Coetzee - Summertime
Adam Foulds - The Quickening Maze
Sarah Hall - How to Paint a Dead Man
Samantha Harvey - The Wilderness
James Lever - Me Cheeta
Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall
Simon Mawer - The Glass Room
Ed O'Loughlin - Not Untrue & Not Unkind
James Scudamore - Heliopolis
Colm Toibin - Brooklyn
William Trevor - Love and Summer
Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger
I haven't paid as much attention to the possible entries on this list as I have in the past, so I can't give you any thoughts on a possible shortlist, let alone a winner. "The Times" ponders the omissions - Atwood, Keneally, Banville - and indicates that the bookies are tipping Coetzee.
