"The Observer" newspaper out of the UK uses the method of asking a range of poets, writers and reviewers to chose their best books of the year for them.
Peter Carey appears to be the only Australian invited to participate, and he has chosen Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.
The Australian books in the list include:
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper, chosen by Colm Toibin: "It is told with a novelist's eye for detail and flair for narrative, but there is also a passionate engagement with the story in all its complexity and a sort of rage that make the book utterly compelling."
Wanting by Richard Flanagan, chosen by Mariella Frostup: "..a brutal evocation of the fate of a young Aboriginal girl, adopted by the governor of Van Diemen's Land and his wife, and later discarded."
Ransom by David Malouf, also chosen by Mariella Frostup: "..a wonderful retelling of the encounter between Achilles and the Trojan King Priam in prose that's so good you want to eat it."
Peter Carey appears to be the only Australian invited to participate, and he has chosen Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie, and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.
The Australian books in the list include:
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper, chosen by Colm Toibin: "It is told with a novelist's eye for detail and flair for narrative, but there is also a passionate engagement with the story in all its complexity and a sort of rage that make the book utterly compelling."
Wanting by Richard Flanagan, chosen by Mariella Frostup: "..a brutal evocation of the fate of a young Aboriginal girl, adopted by the governor of Van Diemen's Land and his wife, and later discarded."
Ransom by David Malouf, also chosen by Mariella Frostup: "..a wonderful retelling of the encounter between Achilles and the Trojan King Priam in prose that's so good you want to eat it."
