As you know, I've been working on a secondary blog,
BookerMarks, with a few of my blogger friends to read through the MB Prize longlist. For the past 6 weeks, myself and six other bloggers have been reading through the nominees and attempting to predict the shortlist. Well, today the wait is over. This morning the MB Prize judges announced the shortlist, and uh, let's just say that there were a few surprises. For example, Will Self's novel,
Umbrella, ranked consistently low among BookerMarks readers, but it is on the shortlist. And the overwhelming favorite,
The Teleportation Accident, didn't make it. But then again, The Man Booker Prize is a British literary award, and I'm not a British audience. Anyway, without further ado, here is the 2012 shortlist:
Narcopolis - Jeet Thayil
Umbrella - Will Self
The Lighthouse - Alison Moore
Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel
Swimming Home - Deborah Levy
The Garden of Evening Mists - Tam Twan Eng
What do you think of this year's shortlist? To see reviews of titles on both the longlist and shortlist, head on over to
BookerMarks. Over the next month, we'll be keeping a close eye on the shortlisted titles as we read through the list, but for now, check out our
Shortlist Standings to see how we've ranked to eligible titles so far. The official winner will be announced on October 16.
